September News Part 4

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

Work on the interior continues to move forwards. The most visible difference has been the fitting of much internal door planking in the luggage and guards areas. Two sets of double doors and an inward opening guards door have been treated - note the planking is still to be painted once its finished and fettled. Nevertheless it is nice seeing the previously skeletal doors fill out!

Also in progress are the varnished corridor end hinged doors. Several rotten panels were removed some time ago and new ones are being made from strips glued together and then planed flat. The replacement set has been machined and any holes and gaps filled.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The preparations for the sink fitting, introduced last week, continue, but we haven't posted a photo yet as the relevant items are still not quite in place. It is important to get the plumbing and preparations correct before final fitting!

A small job completed has been fitting felts into the door edges of all the internal sliding doors. These cushion the blow slightly when the doors are slammed shut, and some of them had degraded or fallen off over the years so we have stuck some velcro (the furry side!) in as a modern alternative, and looks much better than some might think!

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

The mundane stripping of doorways has continued in a similar fashion to previous weeks. The seaward side guards doorway in particular has done well and has now become the first of the doorways to have had the metalwork, where required, renewed. This also involved replacing wasted fixings for the guards handrails, which will avoid the "it came off in me 'and mister!" scenario in the future!

A section of "lower skirt" adjacent to this doorway has had its old rivets removed, the joint cleaned up, and will be re-fixed soon.

The required welding repairs have also been made to the Sheringham end, seaward side corner, at the top. Framework done, the panel-work soon followed and now only requires the gutter returning.

Volunteers have been particularly busy continuing the paint up the small mass of parts removed from the two corridor ends. Nearly all of this is complete and in gloss black now, although we did find a small box of metal parts from the Sheringham end which got missed, so these are now behind are are only just being cleaned up...

Possibly the largest visual change has been the fitting of X of the aluminium window frames back into the coach, which shows the pace at which the reconstruction is continuing the progress at. It won't be too long before glass can start to be returned to the vehicle making the compartments sealed again.

The woodwork from two (of the five) compartments has been removed from the window surrounds and stripped back of old varnish ready for repairs. These are required to be repaired and revarnished before we put the glass back in, as several of the wooden components actually pin the glass into the frame.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167 (SILVER)

This week the Sheringham end veranda doors have been fitted and these are now ready for the "furniture" to be added. Brian has begun

The painting of the underframe has now begun, and Holt Museum visitors have been told not to feed the workers!

Workshop

The station bench, which has been mentioned in several updates, is now assembled once again, and has been painted up to gloss. There must have been some areas requiring further attention however, as by the end of the week there were areas of primer in evidence again.

"The Earl Haig" headboard was completed on time for its big day, with two large Poppy symbols added to the original wording. It had its moment of glory this weekend and although I wasn't present I am informed it was well received. What we hadn't realised was as well as doing a trip on the locomotive 90775, the headboard played a more prominent role and was revealed on the platform during the ceremonies. Hopefully the headboard added to the occasion.

September News Part 3

A slightly update this week that is a little light on photos, as I have been incapacitated for several days following side effects of the Covid vaccine. Service is expected to resume next week!

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

This week has again mainly seen a continuation of existing tasks described in previous updates. The vacuum cylinder which had a hole in it, discovered a while ago, has had a patch welded on, which hopefully makes it vacuum tight now. Given the cylinder sits mainly out of sight there was no need to let in a flush plate.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The only progress on the vehicle has been an initial assembly of the sink and pedestal arrangement along with its taps and pipework. Nothing as yet has been able to be fixed down or in place as certain design elements had not been confirmed, however this should be able to progress shortly.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

Removal work has continued to be the focus, and we have now reached the point where both corridor ends are fully stripped and therefore suitable for the welding repairs to begin. Not too far behind are the doorways, which are being progressively stripped down as volunteer resources allow. These continue to throw up surprises, with an initially "worse than thought" condition seemingly apparent, leading to us considering whether to do all of the doorways as a matter of course. However further strip downs are subsequently revealing better than expected metal behind, despite the wooden door jambs in front being fairly rough... The best theory is that during the coach's previous NNR major overhaul, random doorways were tackled rather than all of them, and that the original wooden door jambs may have been reused to save cost, so we are now encountering a mix of (reasonable) 20 year old and (rotten) 60 year old metal, both hiding below similar looking wood. We just need an X-ray machine now to tell which is which!

Our admirable team currently employed exclusively on cleaning and repainting, have moved on from the window frames and are now tackling all of the removed material from the corridor ends so they are presentable and ready to refit when the time comes.

These involve both wooden and metal elements with the latter having received some welding repairs to make them good again. The wood, where rotten, is currently "paused" while we await our woodworking saws to be put back into commission following some repairs and operating changes. Around 3/4 of the metalwork from the Holt end corridor, which was tackled first so is therefore the most advanced, has now been painted up to gloss black.

The last of the window glass removed from the coach has been fully cleaned up and is ready to be refitted into the frames, once the latter have been returned to the coach body-sides. Also cleaned up have been the aluminium trim that surrounds the sliding lights, on all five of the compartment window frames which have been removed from the coach. These often unseen cleaning tasks will ensure the coach's windows look presentable and open/shut effectively in the years ahead.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167 (SILVER)

The brakevan up at Holt, has now been shunted under the awning outside the museum there, so workers now have the added element of interacting with an interested public as they work! Some LED lighting has been added under the awning to make it more suitable for restoration and particularly repainting work.

Following extended preparations, the first door has been fitted.

Two hays have been spent cleaning the associated furniture, removing the old paint and rust etc.

Prior to the move undercover again, the rust from the underframe was removed and coated with rust inhibitor, ready for undercoat.

Workshop

Again, it is a case of "more of the same" - the bench mentioned in previous weeks has received further painting and edges closer to reassembly. "The Earl Haig" headboard is receiving final finishing and is halfway to having some poppy signs added to it. Finally, the damaged casting from Wissington is now completed and is completely covered in filler, with extra angles added to various parts to ensure is slides in and out of the sand properly when it is used as a pattern for the new one. This all had to be very precise and it took much longer to achieve than first envisaged. Seeing it all in white, it is hard to believe there's metal below!

September News Part 2

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

Works on the doors and end corridor "bellows" continues to progress on an ongoing basis. Further attention is being given to the underside of the coach, with the new vacuum pipework which will "feed" the Direct Admission valves being the latest addition. These haven't been fitted yet but are in the process of being made, along with the required brackets to hold the new pipe to the chassis.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The increasingly famous "trouser buster" heater (see previous updates) is now complete following the grill being screwed onto the wall, meaning there is no way we can set fire to any guards.

Also on the steam heat system, the remaining pair of brackets for the relocated steam pipe have been fitted making the system complete and self supporting again. The pipe now awaits a steam test using a locomotive before we can sign off the whole system and consider lagging it with insulation.

Given E21224's intention to run to Cromer, mainline suitable tyre slippage markers have been applied to all of the wheels. There are 24 stripes in all so they are now well covered!

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

Again we have been very busy pushing forwards with the bodywork overhaul. On the body itself, the focus has been more on stripping down than renewal at present, so the landward side window bottoms remain to be welded up. However several of the doorways, which are going to be a challenge, are now being dismantled. This consists of removing an outer aluminium finishing strip along with any furniture such as brass handles or steel handrails, followed by the wooden door jamb and any surrounding interior woodwork. There are eight doorways in all and only one is in good enough condition to leave alone entirely!

Also stripped off have been the ends of the gutters at the Sheringham end and a small section of body skin behind. These often let water in and was in a terrible state on a previous coach we undertook work on, but thankfully only around six inches of water damage is apparent in the framework on E21103.

Also on the ends, more stripping of the furniture has been achieved (at both ends) with the wooden sections that bolt onto the steel mostly removed. Some of these have been taken onto the bench and all the old sealant scraped off with the wood then having a light sand to prepare it for repainting.

Other items from the end including the lighting jumper cable mounts and the coach data panel have also been removed for similar treatment. All of the items on the ends have to some degree corrosion behind them where water has become trapped over the years. The largest item(s) is the metal "hoop" that forms a tunnel for people to walk through. Both of these have had any loose paint removed and a sand to ready them for repaint.

Lastly, the final aluminium window frame which was removed (from the landward side of the coach) has been cleaned back to bare metal, primed inside and out and gloss painted on the inside. This means we almost have a full set of windows to refit back into the vehicle (the two windows for the wheelchair accessible saloon are currently under review as they may be changed).

We also have a full set of glass fully cleaned following sterling efforts by several volunteers to get us ahead of the game and ready for a swift refitting process.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167 (SILVER)

The vehicle is currently awaiting movement under the awning at Holt for its repaint/overhaul to be completed.

Maintenance

"A Exams" are now in progress at Sheringham, with all of the various running coaches having come through the busy summer "red service" unscathed. These exams are fairly light so are progressing without issue. Trains continue to be busy with extra coaches being added to some services, a happy situation indeed!

New moquette (upholstery) has arrived, and will be used to reupholster TSO M4958 over this winter. This is currently the worst vehicle in the fleet for seating degradation and has been a source of frustration as it is a very good coach overall which is spoilt by the seating appearance. We're looking forward to upholstering it in a red material (a colour we are currently short of in the fleet) and transforming it's appearance.

Workshop

We continue to offer our services to the rest of the railway for non carriage work. Three projects are currently underway: the first is a station bench which is having its wooden components replaced with new.

The metal ends have been cleaned right back and repainted ready for the new wood.

The second project is a casting off steam loco Wissington, which is being turned into a pattern for a new casting after the original was damaged. All of the bolt holes and ports are being blocked up and imperfections smoothed out with filler, which will create a nice smooth shape to form a pattern from.

The last item is a wooden headboard, which has been produced, painted and signwritten in preparation for a special train later this month.

September News Part 1

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

Again this week is somewhat of a "more progress ongoing" type of update, with the previously introduced tasks such as door fitting work and the corridor connection bellows both being moved closer towards completion.

The inward opening guards doors are having their handles fitted whilst on the corridor various metal hoops are being fitted and sealed to the varnished wooden end located on the vehicle itself.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

With E21103 taking priority, sister E21224 is progressing at a more relaxed pace, although the jobs in hand are rather less severe than E21103's... On the exterior, all of the emergency isolating valves, and the air brake cocks on the bufferbeam ends, have been given a further two coats of red/yellow as required, as they hadn't had enough when we first painted them. Worth remembering is that yellow and red are both quite poor covering paints, so often need more coats than most other colours. Underneath the coach, the moving of the steam heat pipework to avoid the future fitting toilet tank has been completed, with around half of the new supporting brackets also completed. Two more brackets are all that remain to be fitted before the brand new steam system can be tested for the first time.

Sticking on the theme of steam heat, the historically inaccurate replacement guard's heater never received its custom made grill we had planned for it. This week, said grill was fabricated using off-cuts of steel bar and angle, married up to a sheet of stainless mesh ordered in. After painting in heat-proof silver, the creation is now ready for fitting into place, and will stop the heating element (taken from a passenger compartment) burning the guards angles or igniting their trouser legs!

Just next to the trouser-busting heater is the guards desk, which as mentioned in earlier updates had been rather scuffed and needed a piece removing from it to get it to fit past the relocated air brake pipework. You would not know this now however, as the holes have been filled and any poor areas recoated in cream gloss, so it now looks most presentable once again.

A final minor niggle rectified has been the fitting of the compartment door stops to the floor. The doors ran for a week or so without them, but longer term the enthusiastic opening of the doors would have damaged the runner mechanism without the supporting stops at the bottom. Three got lost during the restoration so new ones were cut faithful to the originals, and the whole set had new rubbers fitted after the blocks had been varnished.

A start has been made on the partial final fitting out of the toilet. The coach will be having the toilet itself fitted by contractors later this year, however there is no reason why we cannot add all the other components in advance. The first of which has been the skirting boards. These have been made and painted on the bench and were cut to size and fitted this week. The bin and sink now remain to be tackled, the latter requiring plumbing work to make operational.

Although no work has been done inside the compartments, I couldn't resist another photo as they look so good with the lights on, especially the two first class ones!

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

This has remained "priority one" and we continue to make good, swift, progress. The remaining windows, on the landward side, which have been selected for removal have now been extracted. All the window frames for the seaward side have now been fully cleaned back to bare aluminium and the inside edges painted up into gloss, to form a barrier between the alloy frame and the steel coach. Cleaning of the glass panes themselves is also now in progress, as we hope to refit these back into the coach in record time.

Meanwhile, the window apertures in the coach bodyside have all been repaired on the seaward side, with the landward side now in progress. Most of these repairs have been patches to the bottom edge of the apertures.

The two windows from the wheelchair accessible saloon, which are of a different design, have been removed and set aside for now, as we will replace them with standard windows if we can.

The most advanced side, the landward, has had all rusty metal cleaned back where the windows will be relocated, and the "hidden" areas painted up into gloss to match the window frames.

With the window shapes coming to a close, attention is turning more concertedly to the doorways, which will be more involved than the windows. We are currently in the process of stripping them down, removing the wooden door jambs and assessing how badly the steel framework behind has corroded. Unlike some areas of the coach, which have come out better than we expected, these are looking rather ominous with lots of corrosion and distortion being found. It is likely these will take somewhat longer to sort out than the window repairs.

The two corridor ends continue to be stripped down by willing hands. The focus has been on the Sheringham end corridor this week, with the metal "hoop" being separated from the wood fixed to the bodywork, in order to remove/release it so that repairs can commence.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167 (SILVER)

Replacing further woodwork in the verandah area has been slow progress, however they are almost there, thanks to the Carpenter, his router and labourer!

The roof vents and chimney fittings are now in place ready for painting, which became the last task prior to the team's scaffold structure and tent being removed, bringing the brakevan back into daylight.

The new access has been used to jet wash and tidy up the underframe, which looked untidy compared to the much fresher body!

Most of the rubbish has been cleared from the restoration area and the inside of the van prepared for the next phase of works. It is hoped for the vehicle to be positioned under the awning of the Holt museum to allow the final exterior painting to take place. Before the vehicle was exposed, paintwork concentrated on the landward side, with two top coats applied to make life easier if/when the vehicle moves under the awning, where access to the seaward side will be easier. Meanwhile ironwork (handles, catches etc) have all been cleaned up and treated ready for undercoating. 

Maintenance

Maintenance work has focused on gala preparations for the steam event this weekend. We had been informed several vintage coaches would be in use so efforts were made to complete the engineering acceptances for GER 853 and M&GN 129, the latter being re-examined after having its new chassis fitted. Part of the outstanding work was testing, as subsequently passing, several welds. As far as I'm aware all was well so these vehicles are now fit for regular traffic in the future.

However it later transpired they weren't required but at least they will be ready for next year, or indeed the tail end of this year if required. The Gresley Buffet car was also brought to Weybourne for gala  preparation, the first time it had been used since Covid. Mold had struck the inside, on most of the surfaces including the ceilings! This was attacked by a team who blitzed it and returned it to former glories! The vehicle also had a mechanical exam to pass it fit for use again, and it was delivered to Sheringham for forming into a gala set of coaches.

Finally, a start has now been made on a round of "A exams" for the regular service vehicles.

Workshop

The now normal stream of non-coach items have been being quietly processed in the workshop. The ex Ipswich platform trolley has been completed and finished in Great Eastern blue. This was replaced by a vintage wheelchair from Sheringham which has been repainted, given a general MOT and had its arms reupholstered. Also arrived has been a broken clock and a rotten bench, both of which are now also in progress!

Finally, we are preparing a headboard for a special occasion later this month, the inscription of which will follow in due course. The board has been cut out, sanded, primed and glossed in blue. It will be lettered shortly.