Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853
The past few weeks has seen the coach surge towards final completion and a return to passenger service for the first time in over 90 years. The beautiful shading contained within the exterior lettering has been completed, allowing a coat of varnish to be applied to the bodysides and ends to end the exterior work.
Other finishing touches to the outside have included a final rub down and paint of the full-length footboards along with touching in of other items such as buffers and sections of underframe so the whole thing looks its best. Stars to denote the vacuum cylinder release pull chords have been sign-written onto the underframe, after the chords themselves were added with nylon rope. The brakes have been tested statically and a few mechanical tweaks made.
A snagging list has been created which contains rather boring "odds and sods" which have been found to be wrong with the vehicle upon inspection. These are being worked through with only about a day's work now remaining.
Internally more finishing touches such as final painting and adjustments of fittings have been made before the areas were declared complete and the final job undertaken: painting of the floors. This was done in both the compartments and in the guards areas.
Signage has also been added to windows and doors for the benefit of any neanderthals who want to hang their entire torso out of a moving train rather than just a bit of their head like most normal enthusiasts!
We now await a final test run and exit from the shed after which the underside can be lubricated and the vehicle weighed.
London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)
Exterior work has been focused on the doors contained at the guards end of the vehicle. Several of these have now been removed and are in the process of having the external steel skins removed.
The fixings attaching the skins to the frame need replacing and several doors require repair and adjustment as required. Several doors have drooped over the years so need loosening up and resetting using clamps etc to bring them back into a truly square shape.
Others have some rot within the framework so are also having small sections repaired where needed. One door in particular has two side completely rotten so will have to be rebuilt with just the small cross sections remaining.
Internally, toilet sink plumbing continues steadily, with the recent focus being on mixer valves which prevent the hot water tap becoming too hot, this being a modern requirement.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)
Bodywork continues. The Holt end is now complete in terms of repairs, with the seaward side doorway receiving a new strip of metal top-to-bottom.
The corroded sections of skin on the galvanised roof have also been replaced with new sections welded in.
With the Holt end milestone completed, the metalwork turns to its very final phase for this long-running vehicle: the upper level repairs to the Sheringham end. This end is nowhere near as rotten as the Holt end, this becoming very apparent as the landward side corner has been cut back, cantrail repaired and skin returned on top all in one week. A nasty dent in the corner has also been knocked out improving its appearance greatly. A few small roof repairs have been made in the middle and now the seaward side corner is all that remains to be tackled.
Door work continues steadily, with the landward side middle door receiving its grab handle and also having further adjustments to get it swinging in and out of its frame properly. These doors are very time consuming but have to be right if trouble free operation is expected in the future.
The rebuild of the two Holt end doors also continues, but progress has been limited to making sure the two wooden frames are sound and coating them in red primer.
Inside the coach, the arrival of a long overdue shipment of hardwood timber has allowed a start to be made on the interior reassembly, which should hopefully be a dramatic transformation. Before large sheets of restored paneling can be fitted however, the more mundane supporting woodwork must be replaced and/or refitted if the originals survived. So far most of the lower and side supports that surround the windows have been produced, primed and screwed into place.
British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)
Less progress than the other coaches in the works, nevertheless the removal of wasted steel outer skin from the Sheringham end is now complete, it will now rest until the welder moves on from E21224 onto this project.
At the Holt end, corroded and surplus items have been unbolted from the bufferbeam and the remains needle gunned to clean up the mess that was present before.
British Railways 1957 Corridor Second W25189 (BRONZE)
This has seen the bulk of volunteer resources put onto it recently, so good progress has been made. The fifth (of eight) compartment has been rubbed back to bare wood so is now ready for re-varnishing.
Meanwhile, the first four compartments to be tackled have now had four coats of varnish each, so their end appearance is now starting to come through.
One particular compartment had severe water damage so the ceiling has been removed prior to replacement.
Meanwhile three other compartments have had their ceilings patched up and repainted to freshen their appearance.
With the steelwork repairs around the windows having been completed along the landward side, we are preparing for the glass to be refitted. This has meant painting the window apertures, cleaning up the glass of old sealant so they can be re-bedded, and preparing the wooden gripper bars that hold the glass to the steel.
The bodywork repairs themselves are progressing really well, with the Holt end pictured last update now being completed,. This end was in worse condition than the Sheringham end so has been a bit of a slog but it is now back in a reasonable state.
This done, window bottom replacement is now proceeding along the seaward side,which is the final side to be tackled. Once all the windows are sound once more, the lower sections of the body will be repaired.
British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254 (GOLD)
The replacement of the roof has now been completed with the new canvas receiving its final coat of black paint, it now has the best roof of any freight van on the railway!
The re-skinning of the four sliding doors has now been done, with all four new panels also painted in primer. Currently being restored are all the handles and other fittings that belong on the door.
A few small metal repairs to the corrugated ends have now been completed, so these are next for the repainting treatment.
