London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)
The same door pictured last week, has seen further progress with three horizontal struts now in place.
However the majority of the focus has been on stripping and swapping parts from the Gangwayed Brake vehicle which will be ready to be returned to storage at Bridge Road soon. The guards steam heater is in the process of having a guard made for it out of modified mesh material.
The swinging/folding guards table has seen a lot of attention and is now in place inside E1866E.
The largest items are the gangway connections. Allready mentioned last week was the swapping of the two gangways between E1866E and the BG, with the latter now having an incorrect Mark 1 style gangway so that E1866E can have a "proper" GResley era one.
This week the other (Sheringham) end gangway was also swapped between the two vehicles. We now have the two Gresley gangways intended for E1866E on the floor so that the canvas bellow material can be stripped off for repairs.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)
The long awaited compartment refits are now able to progress. Compartment 1 now has the majority of tits paneling and trim back in place with compartment 2 in progress. This is important to get going if we are going to achieve our target of having this coach ready for the 2020 main season.
The new boarding which goes below the compartment windows at ankle height mentioned last week has now been completed, rather than fit them all at once they've been left in the compartments and are being fitted at the same time as the wall panelling pictured above..
Meanwhile the doors continue to progress with the double doors and the guards inward doorways on the landward side being the current ones under scrutiny. The hinge side door jamb on the guards door is now fitted after nuts were welded on the inside to accommodate the future handrails for the guards to climb in and out. Decent sized handrails and footsteps are becoming more important as most of the guards are now older than the heritage stock they're guarding!
We've also seen smaller jobs progress, with several sets of aluminium equipment which got "missed" a few years ago when we cleaned up a lot of stuff. The scoops which accommodate the passenger emergency chains have been stripped back and spray painted silver.
Also treated to a shine up has been the steam heat controls from the passenger compartments.
British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)
The woodwork for the two toilets has received a further coat of varnish this week.
Two new pressed steel ends have arrived from the South Devon Railway: these will be fitted next year to the Sheringham end of the vehicle after it receives its welding repairs to the heavily corroded framework.
British Railways 1957 Corridor Second W25189 (BRONZE)
All of the compartment ceilings have now been repainted with the exception of the missing ceiling (compartment 6). However the component parts for this compartment are all painted up as far as first gloss coat as these are easier to do before they are fixed upside down. We are expecting to have this ceiling fitted next week.
Compartment re-varnishing continues with several now rubbed down ready for their final coat, however we won't actually varnish them until all the windows are refitted and disturbance in the coach is down to a minimum.
Due to staff holidays there hasn't been any progress on the bodywork preparation but this will resume next week.
The window apertures on the seaward side are now repainted and ready to receive the glass back in place. Maybe another job for next week?
British Railways 1956 Tourist Second Open E4236 (REPAIR)
This repair has been delayed by around a week as the wheel bearings we needed to swap were not the correct profile so needed reshaping by hand. This was a very laborious and skilled process and has taken six man-days to achieve. However we are now there so hopefully the wheels are now ready for swapping next week.
The bearings have to be marked and then slid around where they will sit and removed again. Where the markings are rubbed off there are high spots which can then be gently removed and the process repeated, until the white metal surface is showing signs that it is sitting evenly.
Workshop
Given that E4236 has come in for its emergency repair and that Great Eastern Railway 853 is finished, it is worth noting that for a short while at least we have four BR Mark 1's in the workshop undercover at the same time, a first in the NNR's history.
Is there any evidence of the autobuffet that was once fitted to 25189 or was it all eradicated when converted to standard. Also you should talk of Pullman gangways not Gresley gangways. There is a slight difference between Gresley and Thompson gangways. The latter has a flatter in the doorway. Its not unknown for a carriage to have both fitted. The NRMs buffet is a prime example. As always a very informative blog keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteNo, we need to differentiate between the two different shapes used in the 30's/50's. We would therefore refer to the gangways fitted to the Mark 1 stock as "Pullman" style. If we called them all Pullman it would get confusing.
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