April News Part 1

 London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

Work on the interior wiring continues. Where this all centralised inside the guards compartment there is now a large additional piece of trunking added to accommodate it all, the ends having been terminated accordingly.

Inside the passenger saloons, although not immediately visible many crimp connections have been made around the area to allow the fitting of the various lighting fittings in the future.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The exterior is now completed, with all "finishing touches" made. Items such as the cast end data panel have been fitted into place and various emergency items painted red, raised lettering picked out white etc. We can now concentrate solely on the interior, and indeed the remainder of the underneath work once the vehicle is removed from the staging area. The final exterior task was cleaning up all the window glass, cutting off the excess paint and then further cleaning and polishing to make them shine.

All of the internal components mentioned last update have been fitted, so the luggage area in particular is now looking almost complete. The locking bars for the luggage doors, associated door chains and final chalk boards have all been fitted, as have the porcelain lighting fittings which was the final piece in the ceiling jigsaw.

The sliding doors for the caged area are now also back in place. These were originally from sister BCK 21103 (currently in service), stripped out many years ago but found to be in more complete condition than 21224's doors. Never throw anything away!

Inside the guards van, all of the missing face-plates for the electrical boxes have been restored, painted and fitted.

Also painted is the vacuum pipe, emergency valve, guards seat base and handbrake wheel/pedestal.

 

Various hooks and brackets have also been picked out in black, which contrasts nicely against the cream walls. The vacuum and air brake gauges have been fitted to this area and look very smart. The guards van is further behind the luggage area but is catching up.

Inside the passenger areas, the doors have now all been numbered (a requirement for mainline running) and two of them have had their check straps fitted so they can't open further than they should do. Another day has been spent on fitting the compartment reading lights, but further work is required before they are finished.

Inside the toilet, a few items such as mirrors have been fitted to the wall, and unsightly holes in the Formica have been gently filled and painted cream to try and hide them. We are fairly limited as to how much further we can go in the toilet, until the flooring is laid and the contractors fit the vax-o-bog 5000 to allow us to enter the 21st century!

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167

The upper verandah ends have now been rebuilt with the new galvanised skin at Weybourne.

The holy stove pipe has also been sleeved, and repaired externally, to fix the obvious issue it had. This has been painted up in heat proof silver and, along with the verandah ends, awaits dispatch back to Holt to team Bedell, Maynard & Turl.

Maintenance

Composite Lavatory E43041 is now complete again, the vacuum cylinder having been overhauled (successfully after several false starts) and refitted to the vehicle. The footboards have been repainted on the vehicle whist it has been with us and some repairs made to the upholstery, in particular the first class armrests which were suffering. Some required door lock repairs have also been made. The coach is now ready for service and is awaiting the completion of W35148 before they are tripped back to Sheringham to take part in the railway's first passenger trains on the 12th.

Corridor Brake Second W35148 has now had the failed drawhook and buckeye coupling on the Sheringham end replaced with spares from stock. Like E43041, the footboards have also been repainted to spruce them up during the coach's stay, and a temporary repair has been made to the vacuum valve underneath the handbrake which prevents drivers getting vacuum brakes when the handbrake is applied. The vehicle is now also complete and awaiting a return to Sheringham.

The plan is for these two vehicles to be swapped with two more: one of which will be the designated spare vehicle for the proposed train to be used from April 12th ("A" set) and the second will be the first open coach to see attention for some time, which will prove to be a multi purpose coach to be used potentially in both ordinary and dining trains a little later this season (all being well).

Workshop

The agricultural jack is now finished, by the look of it. I forgot to take a photograph, and will try and include one next time, but it looks very nice painted up in brown and green.