February News Part 1

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

The news that everyone had been waiting for! The second of the pair of bogies that has been under contract restoration was reassembled this week, with all of the prepared components fitted into place. This first consisted of lifting the bogie frame onto the reassembled wheelsets, which in turn had been prepared with the fitting of the axleboxes to the axles with their white metal journals. With a "rolling chassis" achieved, several days were spend reassembling all of the brake linkages, pull rods, brake blocks with their associated pins and bolts. Various alignments and positions were checked along the way with greases/lubricants also applied where appropriate. The big finish was then lifting the sprung central bolster back into the centre of the  bogie all but completing the overhaul.

The two completed bogies have now been moved "across the way" and are now positioned ready to refit to the coach, all being well next week. There are a few unfinished components underneath the coach which require cleaning and repainting whilst the body is still lifted on the jacks, after which the contracted element of the project should be formally completed when the coach is lowed back down and reconnected.

The electrical work continues with lots of investigations and referencing to original electrical schematics to ascertain the correct sizes of wire to fit to the recently installed underframe trunking. An extra junction box has been fitted below an original BR fusebox to accommodate some of the extra equipment.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Exterior painting has progressed well over the last two weeks. The primer was quickly completed, after which the divides between the red and cream were laid out. A layer of undercoat followed before we arrived with the gloss version of the classic British Railways Crimson & Cream scheme. By the end of this week the first (of two) coats had been applied to both the red and cream elements. Whilst there are still two more coats to apply along with lining, the coach already now pretty much portrays what it will look like when finished.

Sometimes, when waiting for various coats to dry, the exterior can't be progressed for the whole of the working day. During these periods of an hour or two, paint is also being applied to the guards compartment (the luggage compartment was painted recently but the guard's booth itself remained in primer). So far the ceiling has received its first coat of gloss, and two of the four walls have been undercoated, including the inside of the door.

The other main task of completing the interior of the side corridor and two passenger vestibules also continues. Following on from the Holt end fitted last time, the final piece of ceiling for the entire vehicle, the Sheringham end (or middle) vestibule, is now in place. This ceiling had survived and had been prepared a few years ago, with just supporting timberwork to replace before it could be refitted. Extra bulkhead trim modified in the 1990's has been returned to original spec: we think it was doubled in size to prop up a collapsing ceiling at that time. This ceiling has also been painted in gloss but will be needing a second coat. Beading for both this area and the Holt end vestibule has been produced and is being painted on the bench.

Also on the bench is a motley collection of woodwork which are replacements for items we have declared either missing or damaged beyond repair. The coach's previous owner had fitted double glazing units which were much thicker than original glass, so some of the finishing woodwork from around the window had been lost to accommodate them. Also removed were the varnished poles which sit in front of the windows along the corridor and act as a handrail. Luckily we had just enough from a scrapped coach many moons ago to return the handrail arrangement to original format.

This sort of thing is becoming much more of an issue as the years go on, there are lots of railways who have no regard for the original fittings of Mark 1 stock, seeing them as consumables rather than historical in their own right. Lot of "conversions" are done to suit the needs of the railway at the time, usually involving cheaper materials, and original items are either sawn up beyond repair or thrown in the skip during modifications, making historical restoration in the future by a new owner difficult or impossible! It would not be so bad if the removed material was tucked away by the previous owner and thrown in the coach when it is sold on to keep the options open in the future, but this is very rarely the case! The window handrail poles are a small example of this: a nice feature simply binned during its earlier preservation life. We are very lucky that the 1970's/1980's/1990's members of the railway's C&W team carefully stripped several scrap coaches and squirreled away many original features, which 30 years on can allow another of the railway's coaches to be returned to true 1950's condition (Rant over!)

Also included in the woodwork being restored is a second pair of internal door panels. One pair had been restored in advance but we have found to be without the second pair. These are not the best examples in the world, but have been rubbed down, bleached and are now being re-varnished. The window poles mentioned above are receiving exactly the same treatment, with the cast "end caps" cleaned up and sprayed silver. Originally these were anodised aluminium finish, but they were in too poor a condition to polish up.

Maintenance

The annual "C examinations" on the running stock at Sheringham has now started. As part of this, two sets of stock have been positioned in the main platforms at Sheringham (not currently in use for obvious reasons) and each has been split apart, to allow examination of the buffers and drawgear at the ends. Brake testing will follow along with door and interior inspections. At least two sets will be prepared to allow for an optimistic programme of services in the 2021 season.

The next coach due to come in the workshop to be finished, First Open M3116, has been trapped in at Sheringham by track renewal, so whilst we wait for it to be extracted for us, some more bits of pieces (bogie brakegear safety slings) for the vehicle that were left behind in the workshop are being repainted ready for refitting.

Workshop

Not a great deal of other work has been possible, however a clocking in machine has made it into the workshop and is being restored by a single volunteer. It has been rubbed down and the body is being french polished. The mechanism has been removed and has been spray lubricated, I am not sure as to its predicament in terms of whether it works or not, nevertheless the bell rings when the plunger is pulled!