February News Part 2

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

As suggested last time, the contract overhaul of the bogies has now been completed, bringing to a close the Carriage & Wagon element of the M&GN Society's Covid-19 support "package" for the North Norfolk Railway. The final part of the task was finishing off a few cosmetic items on the second bogie such as picking out the letters on makers plates etc in white and the preparation of some brake-gear pull rods. Immediately afterwards, the coach was lowered back down onto the bogies for the final time. Unless there are any further issues currently unknown to us, then E1866E should now not require lifting again during the restoration.

Electrical work continues with the wiring progressing both underneath and inside the coach. Various extra lighting circuits have been added, to allow flexibility for the type of lighting in use; with some lights operated independently just on this coach and others lighting and extinguishing in tune with the rest of the lights on the whole train, using the through wiring. Much of this is terminating inside the guards compartment which is having a new lighting box made to control the new functions.

Also ongoing is further polishing of the sliding light frames which are due to be fitted to the main windows in due course. Trusty Brasso is being used to improve their finish from the initial clean they all had last year.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Exterior painting has continued uninterrupted, with the normal distractions of a running railway not being present. The coach was rubbed down and the second coats of crimson and cream gloss applied, which has added depth to the finish and covered any misses first time around.

Shortly after, the two corridor ends of the vehicle were undercoated and glossed in black. 

Once this had hardened, the upper lining was marked out and so far the gold (ochre) line has been applied, along with about 1/4 of the black line so far.

Some more painting has also been completed internally, with the guards van ceiling receiving its final coat of white gloss, and the two side walls (which were still in primer) brought up to undercoat to match the first two walls pictured last update.

Some of the final woodwork for the side corridor has been completed and fitted, the most attractive of which are the horizontal handrails over the windows. These have come out really well and we are very glad we bothered replacing the missing originals now they are in place and looking nice. Also fitted are the replaced trim immediately below the sliding lights, which as already mentioned had been cut down/lost due to the previous owner fitting much thicker double glazed units to the coach.

A great deal of time has been spent fashioning curved blocks of wood to replace missing originals in the two end vestibules. These complicated arrangements that hide joins in the top corners of the carriage also support "pelmets" to cover sliding door mechanisms. They seem to come in about 5 different varieties, with modifications to the coach over the years not helping to work out what was original. In the end a compromise has been made and something resembling an original has been created that will perform the same task.

Maintenance

The first two (of around four) vehicles from the operational sets down at Sheringham have been tripped to Weybourne to receive repairs. They are Suburban Third W46139 and Suburban Brake Third E43357. The former had a worn draw hook (coupling) and has been in the shed for this to be changed for a good secondhand example.

The latter had a troublesome vacuum brake cylinder. This has been removed and the cylinder is now awaiting overhaul before it can be fitted back on.

Whilst E43357 is at Weybourne the guards van floor is receiving a few top up coats of red paint as it has naturally become a little worn in the five years since it was last done.

Workshop

The body of the clocking in machine appears to have now been completed, and currently awaits reassembly.