October News Part 3

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

The recently installed interior planking on the insides of the double doors have now been filled, sanded smooth and treated to a coat of primer.

The latest mechanical project is to install a linkage from an exterior mounted handle up through the floor to operate the modern valve internally which will drain the water system (from the sink/toilet assembly). This is currently in progress but the exterior plate on the solebar has already been fitted. This has been taken from a Mark 1 vehicle (Thompson vehicles originally had a different arrangement) as it has been thought desirable to have a consistent system with the current Mark 1 fleet.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The vehicle is still in use on the line and we have decided to keep it in traffic until the end of the month to allow a second suburban to be released from duties for repainting.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

The works to the welding of the Sheringham end have now been completed, an important milestone! Strips have been replaced up the side of the corridor connection as well as the top and bottom of the vehicle in the normal places for Mark 1 degradation.

Also for the corridor connections, more of the ancillary components have been grit-blasted and primed ready for refitting in due course.

The next focus on the metalwork is the spot-repair work to the lower "skirt" which runs right round the bottom of the vehicle. Failed rivets need replacing and some limited patches chopping out and renewing.

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The two reclaimed windows, which we now believe are from a Class 108 DMU, have been receiving investigations this week so ascertain whether they are a better fir for the wheelchair saloon than the current examples, which are ex-double glazed frames which have relied on large amounts of sealant to hold a single pane in place... After much experimentation, we believe the Class 108 windows will take glass inside some rubber we have in stock, which will hopefully seal better in the future. The glass is now on order so we have a few weeks to clean up the frames now that we know they are going to be used.

Finally, some more of the sliding windows from the currently dismantled compartment windows have been cleaned up.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041 (BRONZE)

The repainting work has continued well this week. The seaward side received its Crimson red gloss during the start of the week and towards the end, the landward side was lightly rubbed down and a finishing coat of varnish applied. The Sheringham end was also so treated giving the coach a real shine once again.

The roof has also benefited from a repaint.

Some limited sign-writing is in progress to repair some damage caused when the door signage was taped over to paint the coach red, and some of the colour peeled off with the tape!

Less obvious has been some interior repairs just to catch up on a few defects that have cropped up over a few years in service. Several damaged "First Class" and "No Smoking" stickers have been removed and replaced.

Some varnish on the second class interior compartment doors has been rubbed back and redone as it had reacted and come out in hives in some places. Also inside the compartments, an armrest which had fallen off has been replaced and several screws on wobbly armrests replaced or tightened up. lastly, a small woodworking repair has been made to a piece of window surround woodwork on one of the doors, which had fallen out at some point and not returned to us!

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

Painting continues, with progress remaining good so long as the weather holds. The veranda gates have received top coat, with some extra-long bolts cut down to size. Foam has been applied to the gap between the "new" veranda and the platform, this will be cut flush and sealant added before the original protection strip is reattached.

Both sole bars have now also been undercoated.

On the body itself, top coat has also been applied to the seaward side.

Southern Railway 1952 Covered Carriage Truck S1439S (BRONZE)

Repainting of the repaired areas is now underway.

60 Years A Slave!

This week (Tuesday to be precise) was the exact 60 year anniversary of Roger Ison joining the M&GN Society. Roger has volunteered continuously for all of those 60 years in various areas around the railway, his first involvement as a 14 year old actually predating the creation of the NNR! He has latterly been a Carriage & Wagon volunteer and indeed is one of our longest serving. We marked the occasion by presenting a novelty cake which depicts Roger is his classic orange overalls (which he has worn for many years) scraping down the roof of a Mark 1 CCT vehicle, an internal joke as Roger has almost single handedly scraped almost every carriage roof in the NNR's fleet! The cake was followed by a poignant reflection by Roger of his time at the railway, particularly the early years, and how it has shaped his life, sometimes in unexpected ways. Well done Roger for putting in such as exceptional level of service!

Workshop

Yet more station platform trolleys are being repaired, some to quite extreme lengths, I have lost count of them all now!