August News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

A good week for 853. External progress has included yet another rub down of the gloss paintwork, to provide a key for the final coat, which will be varnish. More exciting has been a start made on the lining. Being a pre-grouping (1923) carriage, even a lowly third class crate such as this has an extravagant level of lining around many of the doors, windows and body panels. The form of this lining is beginning to emerge with yellow now being applied along the upper section of the guards area on the landward side. As with coaches of any era and livery, the lining brings it alive.

Internally, the "3" symbols to denote the class of the two compartments have also been applied to the doors. A surviving GER photograph was part of the reference used to ensure these looked right.

Last week it was reported that three out of the four compartment bench seats were complete. This week has seen the final example join its friends so both compartments are now fully seated.

Also in the compartments, a start has been made on attaching the luggage rack netting in place. This netting was left over from the Suburban 4 restoration project and looks right at home as the process of manufacturing luggage netting in 1955 was no different than in 1899.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)

The laying of the flooring mentioned last week has continued apace and the Sheringham end has now been done meaning the vehicle is fully floored! This is a relief as there is now a solid base on which to build up the rest of the interior. Whilst many advocate the "top down" approach, it is still nice to have the flooring done and dusted.

Moving onto the walls, the arrival of a large quantity of insulation has meant several sections around the luggage van end of the vehicle have been insulated.

This in turn has allowed many of the pre-cut and prepared wooden wall planks to be fitted. The wall opposite the guards office is now fully planked.

Elsewhere in the vehicle, smaller jobs also progress, including the plumbing for the toilet. A heat exchanger salvaged from a Mark 1 is being fitted which should provide hot tap water when the steam heating is on.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Bodywork continues. A large repair section around the Holt/Landward corner is now fully welded in flush and has been protected with paint. The platework in this corner which part of the passenger communication apparatus mounts onto has also been restored and refitted on top of the new material.

The corridor end woodwork, removed from the same end, has now been repaired of its rot and is being repainted so it can be refitted. It has made it as far as undercoat so far.

A start has been made on varnishing the compartment side of the corridor wall. This consists of ten panels (two in each compartment) and these need to be progressed so that they matched the fully finished wall paneling which is currently in store and will hopefully be refitted soon. So far, six out of the ten panels have had their first coat, with more planned.

Further down the coach, in a mirror fashion to Thompson E1866E, wall planking is started to be test fitted to the guards office area. It has been a long time since this was removed so it was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, however volunteers have done well in retrieving the exact bits that came from those locations.

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)

Not as much done to this vehicle this week. However more of the Sheringham (toilet) end has been stripped out including the window on the landward side. This is needed to make the area completely clear to renew this whole end given the rampant corrosion.

The area facing renewal extends to just beyond the toilets up to the first passenger doorway. This arty photograph shows the usual Mark 1 horror to be found once the doorway is stripped out, whilst also including the coach number for evidence of its crimes!

Meanwhile, "on the bench", the cleaned up shock absorbers for the corridor connections have all been primed and undercoated. Eight of these are for E4521 with the remaining three coming from the Holt end of E21224.

British Railways 1957 Corridor Second W25189 (BRONZE)

There is always a flurry of jobs when a "Bronze" overhaul first comes into the shed and a few pieces fall off it after we lean on them! Given we are tackling end repairs to the vehicle, naturally some of the furniture from the ends is removed to deal with corrosion. This has included the lighting jumper cables and data panels. They have all been cleaned down and are now ready for repainting, with the data panels already in primer. These are unrecognisable from how they were before, the letters could barely be seen as so many layers of paint had been applied in the previous decades. The layers proved it hadn't been cleaned back to metal since it was built in the 1950's.

Already mentioned were the end repairs. The Sheringham end is the current focus, all of the lower crash pillers have been dealt with and new panelwork welded on top, on both sides of the corridor connection.

This has allowed work to move upwards, with a rotten section replaced around where the lighting jumper fits...

...and another section in progress in the top corner where the roof typically leaks and lets water ion,. The top of the piller is still in good condition in this area so hopefully the damage has been caught early on this particular one.

Also visible in that photo are the remains of the original inspection steps. These had been plated over by BR with unsightly large riveted patches. Whilst we are not replacing the steps this time, we will do a better job of removing the old ones, which are having the patches and the stumps ground flush.

Volunteers have been busy removing the required window glass along the bodysides (8 need removing for repairs) with the first two panes now out.

The repairs to the three door lock escutcheons, pictured last week, have now been completed which becomes one of the first jobs ticked off the list for this vehicle.

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254 (GOLD)

The roof canvas had been applied and bedded in this week, what an improvement given the vehicle had no roof when it arrived at the NNR!

Repair sections continue to be welded into the bottom of the body of the vehicle, a long strip being put in along the Holt end.

The axlebox oil reservoirs and bearing pads have been removed from the four wheels. The trays will be cleaned and reused, whilst the pads will be replaced with new examples, which luckily are still produced and available to buy.

Workshop

After a small break, the "Not to be Moved" boards mentioned a few weeks ago have been completed after the lettering was applied. These are now complete and await dispatch back to Sheringham where they belong.