February News Part 2

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

The vehicle interior, full of clutter from restoration both before and after the lockdowns, had a good tidy up this week and some of the walkways and floor have reemerged! This has brought an air of optimism and arguably could be considered a form of early spring clean...

The door lock and matching striking plate have been fitted to the second set of double luggage doors at the rear of the vehicle.

On the landward side double doors, the suitably tidied up edges have received more painting. Finally, the large section of internal varnished pillars which flank the hinged corridor door have been stripped back ready for a revarnish.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

At long last, the new door jambs and varnished door cards have arrived from the suppliers, meaning the priority job of hanging the doors can restart. The Holt end seaward side door is the first to be started and has had a quick test-hang already, but this has highlighted some major alignment issues so it will be a while before it is hung properly.

The final compartment (number 1) has now been varnished meaning we are very close indeed to closing the doors on the five passenger compartments and declaring them completed.

British Railways 1960 Restaurant Buffet (Refurbished) E1969 (BRONZE)

The seventh conveyor belt coach took a slight back seat this week as staff were engaged in preparations for this year's mainline Cromer operations (more of which below) and assisting in ultrasonic axle testing across the steam, diesel and (mainline) Mark 1 fleet. Nevertheless both end doors are now in undercoat, the footboards have been cleaned and primed and the roof has been given a full coat of paint.

Towards the end of the week in an effort to regain time, a push was had on the seaward side which is now resplendent in Crimson & Cream gloss.

British Railways 1956 Tourist Second Open E4236 (BRONZE)

The eighth conveyor belt coach has received a thorough clean of its steam grime to ready it for further works before it can be painted. Several areas of corrosion have been identified during this process so we will have to decide how many cans of worms to open!

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (REPAIRS)

More seat frames have received a brush down and primer paint and the Sheringham end saloon is almost complete. Other works have included cleaning up the Formica side paneling around where the upholstered side cards normally fit and a quick re-varnish of the seat edges, both made much easier by the absence of the seating.

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

The final painting works have continued well, with both platform ends being undercoated and glossed. The external rails have been rubbed down, primed and undercoated.

Two of the half doors which were stiff to open have been eased.

Inside the cabin, the join between green and cream has been tied in, the vacuum brake pipes have been painted red, the brake handle and lamp brackets painted white and finally, some paint work around doors has been touched up.

Maintenance

This week we had a visit from our friends at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway who assist us in running the dining train to Cromer. One of the most exciting parts of the visit were the inspections of two new vehicles for mainline use (Sheringham-Cromer only). Both of these have had Gold overhauls and will be a significant improvement to BGK M81033 which has now reached such a poor condition it is no longer suitable for "international use". The net gain of one coach means we now have five coaches registered which is great news as it offers options in terms of having a higher capacity (64 seat) coach on the set for the first time, and it also allows either of the two normal passenger vehicles on the set to be swapped out if we have a problem with them, which is a resilience that up until now we have not had.

The "Cromer fleet" for 2022 therefore now consists of:

• RBR E1969
• FO M3116
• SO M4372
• TSO E4641 (new)
• BCK E21224 (new)