Carriage & Wagon News: December News Part 2

Due to illness unfortunately we skipped a week but are back in the saddle now. Progress is slightly slowed as people understandably start to wind down on the approach to Christmas, with the added consideration of several volunteers taking another break from volunteering following the latest government guidance. However two weeks' news in one update means we still have a respectable output to show.

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

No progress to report.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

We have been informed that the new toilet has now been fitted and we await the coach's return with interest. It was fitted extremely quickly so the team up there must be well versed in the process following the number of North Yorkshire Moors Mark 1's which have been similarly treated this year. What was nice is that we received compliments from their team as to how nice the coach was restored. The underframe stripping and repainting in particular must have made E21224 a much more pleasant coach to work underneath than some other examples.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

A full set of doors have now been repaired, with all of them that required new steel welding in around the bottoms, windows and hinges completed. They are now stacked up awaiting refitting to the vehicle.

On that same note, we now have two staff engaged in the door refitting. This has started on the landward side with the two passenger doors being the first to be tackled. We find these very time consuming with many dry fits and trail runs during the process. They are first hung loosely onto re-sited hinges, which have back plates welded onto the new framework (recently replaced in many cases). Once they are square and swinging in and out of the aperture nicely, the second stage is to fit the wooden door jambs into the steelwork, with much chopping of wood and trail/error to achieve the correct fit. All of the door catches, locks etc also have to be let into the wood at this point. The lock and catch mechanism is then fitted and finely adjusted. This done, the door is removed yet again for the two corner weather strips/caps to be fitted on the door edges. Only then, after all the aforementioned parts have been painted on their rears and sealed in to protect from water ingress, can the final assembly and fit occur. This door fitting will very likely dominate the effort on the exterior of the coach for some time.

Also on the exterior, the Holt end corridor connection end woodwork is being refitted now that the steelwork has been cleaned and painted. These have all suffered problems one way or another so have taken several days to get on, however it is close to being completed which will allow the rubber bellows to follow soon.

The bogie overhaul has slowed but continues, with cleaned down areas being brought up through the painting stages.

The glass for the two replacement wheelchair saloon windows arrived, so was fitted into the frames on the new rubbers. This was not without difficulty and it was certainly the right decision to fit these on the bench rather than on the vehicle. The two windows are now complete and can be refitted at the next available opportunity.

Most of the internal window woodwork is currently off site receiving varnishing, but those windows which have painted interiors are still being repaired with various primers and undercoats being applied.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

The fourth of the conveyor belt coaches was completed immediately after the last update and is now outside awaiting dispatch to the sheds up at Holt.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Brake Third E43357

The fifth of the conveyor belt coaches has arrived from Sheringham for the same treatment as numbers two, three and four. In a well rodden path to regular visitors, E43357 actually came as a surprise as we new this once had not received as thorough an overhaul as the other three suburbans during their major restorations, so we were expected more serious corrosion to be setting in on this one. However generally this proved not to be the case, which was a bonus. The "usual treatment" completed so far:

Washed of steam grime
Out of date passenger signage removed
Roof repainted
Window bottoms resealed
Grab handles removed from the outside
Bodysides rubbed down, washed and painted in a coat of crimson paint
Landward side windows scraped of excess paint

Given the vehicle was slightly worse off than some of the other suburbans in some areas, we have also done one or two jobs which so far have been only to this vehicle. This included the removal of two doors which went to the "door hospital" for new sections to be welded in, as the corrosion was too great to patch or ignore. Given E21103's doors were being treated at the same time so all of the equipment was set up and ready, this happened very swiftly and the doors were soon patch painted and returned. One of them has been refitted with the second still to do.

We also decided to apply a coat of black paint to the ends, which we didn't do on the others, in order to cover the 1970's "Kings Cross suburban" signage which was applied to this vehicle in error. A new 1950's style template is currently being produced so we hope to put something more period on the end if the template arrives in time before the vehicle leaves us.

Internally, all was generally good, but there was an attack of mold in the guards van, particularly around the ceiling, so this was attended to by a hardy soul who scrubbed away above his head! There was also a "problem compartment" which had a missing armrest, some loose paneling and a sheared off nut which holds the brass grab handle onto the outside. Half of the compartment was stripped, along with some trim, to instigate all of the repairs before being quickly reassembled, so one wouldn't know we'd been there now. Whilst the opportunity was available a full "armrest audit" was also undertaken with tightening up and refixing of panels where required.

We have a few days left before the end of the year where we will focus on getting the vehicle varnished. We hope to have E43357 substantially completed before New Year as the ambitious conveyor belt schedule aimed to have the first five vehicles completed by then. However we may just need a day or two in early January to complete any final window scraping and refitting of handles etc. Nevertheless we are on track to "be where we want to be" (as they say) for the start of the 2022 season.

British Railways 1961 English Electric Type 3 D6732

Heritage Painting continue to impress with their speed and quality of finish. The main bodysides of the loco have progressed well through all of the stages of preparation and painting with gloss now in evidence. Even the British Railways roundels are now in place.

The nose ends are slightly behind with one end still being prepared whilst the other is in the first gloss coats. The loco is starting to look rather nice indeed.

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

The last two weeks has seen a focus on painting as the brakevan gets ever closer to completion. The interior of the cabin has received several coats of primer/undercoat, including the ceiling.