February News Part 4

Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129 (BRONZE)

Interior sign-writing continues this week with all five compartment ceilings now completed in their very attractive blue lining.

Next are the third class symbols on the insides of the doors, with several now applied and more to follow. These are plain black and arguably slightly less attractive, but then again we are talking third class during the era where class divisions were in their heyday!

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

Thompson carriage fans eager for an exciting update will sadly be disappointed: this week has been a mundane "more of the same" affair with all resources directed towards the ongoing task of door rebuilding. Strip down....cut out....splice wood...fill....etc etc.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The paint preparation work officially commenced this week with the air sander and filler stepping into play: so far much of the Holt end and approximately 1/3rd of the landward body-side have been skimmed with filler and smoothed back. This process is likely to be repeated in the Blogs for the next month at least...

Work to ready the corridor connections for service continues, with all the gear for the Sheringham end now fully prepared and in gloss black paint. The missing nuts and screws have also now arrived, which means reassembly of both ends can potentially be done next week.

The internal woodwork for the Holt end doors is now nearing completion and has received a penultimate coat of varnish this week. The doors around the guards end continue to be progressed with cutting and fitting of new internal planking being completed on the seaward guards door and one of the landward luggage doors.

Missing interior compartment trim has now been sourced and now needs sanding down and varnishing before fitting. The beading for the toilet area has received several more coats of varnish, building up the layers. Meanwhile along the corridor, we are now very close to being able to refit all of the paneling, as the supporting woodwork timbers that bolt to the bodyside steel framework are now all in place, with any missing examples replaced.

Inside the luggage area, the final missing ceiling panel has been cut to size, primed and the hidden rear face coated in gloss to protect it from condensation.

All of the ceiling panels are now in either primer or undercoat, so can be brought up to gloss next week before fitting.

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)

Steelwork to the Sheringham end is almost complete, with the end roof hoops fitted this week.

The door rebuild project continues with some parts grit blasted back to aluminium and corrosion dug out of channels where it shouldn't be. Five out of the six doors are now also sanded smooth ready for repainting and eventually building back up.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (REPAIR)

The Holt end bogie has now been dismantled and the two wheelsets extracted for tyre turning. Axle 1 has already been turned to profile and has been chipped down and prime painted before it is reassembled.

Meanwhile Axle 2 has been lifted into the wheel lathe and is in the process of being turned down to correct profile.

The only other progress has been the removal of a leaking suspension damper on the Holt end bogie for replacement by a new example.

Maintenance

Despite passing a brake test whilst in the workshop, recently out-shopped W25189 decided to fail on brakes just before it was tripped from Weybourne back to Sheringham. Further investigations showed a faulty vacuum cylinder which couldn't be rectified in situ so it was been removed for overhauling. When opened up, water ingress was discovered along with corrosion to the main piston. The cylinder was rebuilt towards the end of the week with a spare piston taken from another dead cylinder and reassembled with the usual new rubber seals and ancillary components. The cylinder has been successfully tested on the test rig and now awaits refitting to the coach.