May News Part 2

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

No progress to report.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Unfortunately the floor contractors let us down somewhat after failing to undertake the lino fitting which has left the whole coach in a state of flux as we cannot proceed until this is done. With the exterior complete and interior awaiting lino, the coach is now effectively stored until attempts to bring the contractor's proposed new laying date forwards are successful.

In the meantime the wheel flat protection valve has been completed as far as we can until the brake-gear is connected permanently. A start has also been made on moving the main steam pipe to accommodate the toilet tank. With limited work available, we took the decision to lower the coach back down onto the bogies for now as we can made more headway with the jacks in use completing repairs to FO M3116.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641 (BRONZE)

This vehicle has seen the most progression over the past two weeks. Interior works are now complete, including the top-up re-varnishing to the windows surrounds to protect them from the damaging rays of the sun.

Also replaced has been some signage in the toilet which had partially flaked off and was looking untidy. The droplight windows in the doors have all been adjusted where required, with one being too slack and refusing to stay shut, whilst most of the others were simply more stiff than we wanted when being opened or shut.

Moving onto the exterior, the single coat of gloss paint was completed fairly quickly, after which the masking tape was peeled off the original numbers and lining. Where these were damaged slightly, they were touched in with new paint before the whole vehicle was given a coat of varnish.

One of the things which E4641 never received during its gold overhaul due to lack of time was the lettering on the ends. This was added before varnishing and indeed is a requirement for when this vehicle is registered for use on the Cromer services.

The end doors, mentioned last time, have been completed and are now in gloss brown. The two end gangway face-plates were also cleaned down and given a coat of black paint.

One final essential task has been the scraping and cleaning of the window glass to remove the paint splashes that had fallen on them. Some other finishing works to bring up the outside appearance and finish off the repaint nicely has been the polishing of the grab handles and repainting of the rubber bump stops on the doors.

The culmination of all this has been that, five years after the coach was out-shopped from Gold Overhaul, it has now almost been reset and returned to that original condition/appearance. It has been nice painting a vehicle that only has five years of weathering on it rather than 20!

E4641 now awaits moving out of the staging area where some more lettering needs to be done to the underframe, but it is not far at all from a return to traffic.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (REPAIR)

M3116 has now been returned from storage at Sheringham for the completion of its repairs. It is still waiting for space to become available in the shed but whilst waiting in the yard, the life expired carpets have been pulled out of the two end vestibule areas. These are being replaced as part of the rather drawn out refresh that the coach has been receiving - it being 2019 since it last ran in a dining train. The two replacement carpets have been roughly cut to size and laid out in the vestibules where they are "settling" - having been on a roll for many years.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167

The main progress has been on the roof. After preparation works were complete, thin plywood sheeting has been prepared to fit over the uneven original tongue & groove planking to give a smooth surface for the outer roof covering.

The plywood was then carefully tacked onto the roof.

Other achievements have included the cleaning up of the roof vents, and also more wood preparation on the bodysides prior to painting.

Maintenance

M4958 has received some temporary seat bases from withdrawn classmate E4651. M4958 is the next coach due for reupholstering but is understandably having to hold out a little while longer given recent circumstances. Half a dozen of the worst bases that were either ripped or worn right through to the base material have been swapped out. The seat backs remain in the "Herring Bone" moquette that the coach arrived on the railway with so they have done very well.