October News Part 2

It's been a busy few weeks with a much larger number of vehicles than normal entering and exiting the workshops.

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

The brake rodding for this vehicle was refitted in time for a full vacuum brake test which was completed with success. This was followed up by a quick tidy up and removal of all tools etc from inside the vehicle. 129 was then removed from the shed and transferred to Bridge Road sheds for further storage as there has been no requirement for the vintage train to run since the Covid revolution. The vehicle is however ready to run in the vintage train in the future, other than a session being weighed which will be undertaken as and when.

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

The requirement to prioritise work for the Norfolk Lights Express (NLE) meant that the contract bogie overhaul for this vehicle had to be paused, however the first of the two bogies was still able to be lifted back onto its two wheelsets before work stopped. This was possible after the main leaf springs, which had been sent elsewhere for overhaul, had been returned to us. The brakegear was also assembled meaning this first bogie is now complete minus its centre sprung bolster, which is still in the shed awaiting work to start on it. The first bogie is now outside under a tarpaulin which has created extra work space for other projects. The second bogie is still on timbers on the floor and will be the main focus of attention once the bogie work restarts.

Work elsewhere on the coach has been limited, however the Holt end gangway faceplate has been modified slightly to take countersunk bolts which will hold the new sewn bellows which are complete and awaiting collection from the specialist in Cromer. The faceplate has been cleaned and primed in readiness for receiving its bellows.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (BRONZE)

The "play coach" at Sheringham is now getting close to completion, just as well as the weather is becoming increasingly normal for this time of year i.e. a bit rubbish! Both sides have now been completed and treated to some maroon gloss paint. A few volunteers are now left on the coach finishing some similar repair work to the two ends which will no doubt be painted soon finishing the job.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Again due to NLE preparations the initial burst of activity reported last time had to be scaled down, however progress has not stopped with a small dedicated group of volunteers keeping the flag flying on the interior!

The compartments continue to be built up with the reading lamps being wired in and fitted into place along most of the compartments. These have required a lot of modification work to their supporting brackets so have required so much more than just screwing back onto the wall!

Elsewhere in the coach un-glamorous but essential work continues, including applying more filler and in some cases wooden blocks to level up the floor so it's ready for lino to be laid. Some more small ceiling panels have also been fitted into place at the Holt end around the toilet entrance, as part of the project to build back up this vestibule.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (REPAIR)

This vehicle had to be completed to allow its space in the shed to be taken by vehicle(s) requiring work to ready them for NLE. Accordingly, a lot of resources were directed towards it and in a high octane week all of the bogie and wheelset preparation works were brought together. All of the repainted and renewed components were refitted into the bogie frames including the turned wheelsets. Packers were inserted around the springs to raise the height of the bogie as the turned wheels were smaller in diameter than before, and the coach was already suffering from low ride height due to old springs relaxing slightly. Brakegear was also reassembled on the bogies before the vehicle body was lifted again and the two bogies returned to place.

The good news was that the coach was complete once again and (following a brake test) was suitable for transferring away from Weybourne. The bad news was that too many packers were inserted meaning that the coach was now sitting too high! Sadly we were out of time so the coach has been sent out but cannot be used in passenger service - just as well it is an open coach and is not scheduled to be used at all this winter! It will of course have to return at some point to have its ride height reset.

Not mentioned but also ticked off the list was the installation of the interior curtains. For some time the dining train team have desired curtains to be fitted to the set, but it's been difficult to schedule in as there has often been more important matters to attend to. However the coach's extended stay this time did allow for the the curtains to be produced, and the required dismantling and modifications to the coach's interior made. They look very nice and should hopefully be a great addition to the dining experience. A bonus will also be the upholstery should now have an extended life as the curtains can be drawn when the coach is not in service, cutting out a lot of UV damage from the sun.

British Railways 1958 Brake Corridor Second W35148 (REPAIR)

Immediately after M3116 left the workshop the first of two coaches that required attention before running the NLE trains next month came in: the railway's main brake with disabled conversion. This coach is very highly desired by the operating department and seems to run on almost every day we open to the public - there is no doubt at all that this item of rolling stock, by some margin, operates the highest mileage of any vehicle, powered or non powered. For this reason it is an extremely difficult coach to "catch" to do any work on, and it is looking a little worse for wear these days - however it is required for the NLE trains so was brought in for a couple of days to have its Sheringham end bogie removed and dismantled to allow for a wheelset swap - as one of them had suffered wheel flats in service.

We arranged for a replacement wheel to be turned on the wheel lathe in advance so that the time the coach was out of service was reduced to a minimum. Very pleasingly, the formula 1 wheel change was completed without any major problems and later the same week the coach was back together again, tested and returned to Sheringham ready for the NLEs. It really does feel like all we have worked on is bogies for the last few months!

British Railways 1957 Corridor Second W25189 (REPAIR)

The next coach in for NLE preparations was the Chocolate & Cream Corridor Second that had only recently been released into traffic following an overhaul and repaint. Sadly it was not to prove the success that W35148 was. The original plan was to lift the coach and repair the steam heating pipe which had half a dozen holes in it along its 60 foot length. It had been inspected prior to the works and where the pipe was accessible (in the centre of the coach) larges sections of (harmless) fibreglass insulation had been found. The coach has before now only been used in the summer but following the Covid revolution there was a desire to form an entirely compartment train for the NLE which would require heating - so it was required for it to work for the first time.

Sadly, after lifting the coach off its bogies it was discovered that sections of the pipe normally inaccessible was insulated in (harmful) asbestos insulation, so work was not able to even commence. Specialist contractors are required to safely remove the material and this would not be possible in the timescale before the NLE seasons starts, so the coach was lowered back onto its bogies for a rethink. It was decided (for now at least) not to proceed with the heating repairs so the vehicle was returned to Sheringham where it will now stay for the winter season. Given that social distancing is set to be with us for a far while longer, once the weather warms up again in 2021 it is likely that W25189 will be very useful again during the main season.

British Railways 1955 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001 (CONVERSION)

When a vehicle with 8 compartments such as W25189 gets removed from the train that is going to run through the winter months - it causes big problems when most of the pre-booked trains have already sold out! We have no interest in disappointed customers whatsoever, so the novel solution to this potentially catastrophic problem was to convert one of our open coaches, that has fully working heating, into a compartment carriage. Our Third Lavatory Open suburban was the most suitable coach to do this work to, mainly because it has exterior doors for every seating bay allowing us to partition off each set of seats yet retain full access on and off the platforms. There are 8 seating bays so the converted vehicle can theoretically become an exact replacement for the stricken Corridor Second vehicle.

With just over a week to complete the preparations, we are currently in full swing to get the vehicle completed. We didn't want to damage the coach in any way so an interesting design was formulated which involved removal of the luggage racks, then using the luggage rack fixings on the walls to bolt a framework in lace to fix the partition walls to. So far this framework is now all in place throughout the coach.

The wall panels were then measured up and cut out of plywood and have been treated with danish oil ready for fitting. They are currently drying ready for fitting to the coach next week.

The project has without doubt raised the eyebrows of those who prefer the coaches historically unaltered, however the railway is still very much fighting the devastating economic fallout of the Covid situation - so most of us have accepted that this needs to be done to get us all through this. We have tried our best to balance the coach's historic value by ensuring that the conversion is completely non-destructive and reversible. We are eager to see how it looks when it is done!

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second E51228 (REPAIR)

Work on the brakevan refurbishment has continued, with the wall panels now in brown undercoat. Work has temporarily halted as the vehicle is required in service for October half term services. Also in preparation for these services, half of the seating has been removed and taped off to prevent keen visitors from exchanging bodily fluids - the revised layout is a similar approach to that being taken by the mainline railway operators, who of course run a lot of similar open layout diesel multiple units trains. This is all of course part of keeping the railway a responsible place and safe for our visitors.