March News Part 1

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

Work continues to centre around the doors, particularly the double luggage area ones. These have required more work than envisaged but the second set is now over the hill with more minor fettling now required. As each set has approached completion, various painting has been undertaken on all the disturbed edges and areas.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

This "boomerang" vehicle has been returned to Weybourne yet again for more of the loose ends to be tied up to ready it for full service in the 2022 season (and beyond!). It has just been moved inside the shed, and is due to have the air brakes repaired and commissioned, the repaired steam heaters refitted and retested and some unfinished brackets from the new Control Emission Toilet painted up.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

Good progress has continued on the seaward side of the vehicle. Four out of the five doors from this side have now been re-hung with the final example still being finished off. This has allowed the sanding and filling to be progressed along this side which is now also almost complete, with only minor areas to attend to around the final door mentioned above.

Attention is now turning to the landward side again, which has three doors left to fit. A start has been made on hanging two of the three outstanding doors.

The bogie overhaul continues to progress slowly, with the final two leaf springs and hangars having been removed from the seaward side. These are now being cleaned up and painted ready for refitting.

On the interior, the guards van has been tidied up and the wooden window surround woodwork refitted to the window aperture. The whole compartment has also been lighted sanded back ready to receive a repaint. Due to its overall good condition, not much more is required in this area so hopefully it can be completed soon.

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

The seventh conveyor belt coach continued to be a major focus. Since the last update, the landward side had its gloss applied, along with the two corridor end doors, before the whole vehicle was rubbed down again and a coat of varnish applied.

A few days of finishing touches then followed, which included painting of the footboards and lamp irons, refitting of handrails and cleaning the glass. It was then shunted out of the shed and the under-floor generator was given a service. The coach has now been returned to Sheringham and back into traffic.

British Railways 1956 Tourist Second Open E4236 (BRONZE)

The eighth conveyor belt coach has replaced E1969 in the staging area for its turn. Unfortunately we found unexpected corrosion in the two top corners at the Sheringham end. What at first seemed like a few cracks turned out to be large expanses of fibreglass which had been applied by the vehicle's previous owners.

Once the gutter had been removed and the corner chopped out, further holes in the structure below was discovered. This work exceeds what has been allowed for in the conveyor belt programme but interim repairs were undertaken and the area boxed up again with new metal in an attempt to save this corner of the coach until it can have its turn for a Silver or Gold level overhaul. Hopefully it will hold the water back for the time being.

With the metalwork out of the way, the remainder of the vehicle has had patch areas of filler applied, again as a temporary measure, and patch primed which brings the coach up to the same level as the previous conveyor belt vehicles, ready for painting. The undamaged areas of the bodysides are now all rubbed down ready.

Towards the end of this week, work on the two ends included a coat of black gloss to seal in the various repairs.

The two end doors have also been rubbed down and undercoated ready for their new brown paint.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)

Following a meeting, M4958's repairs, previously limited to just re-upholstery, have now been upgraded to Bronze overhaul level, meaning the vehicle will receive a conveyor belt repaint although the exact slot it will occupy remains to be seen. It may be coach number nine or ten but we shall see. For the time being however we shall remain focused on the interior works. The painting of the crumbling paint on the hidden sections of the seating has now been completed and these all carry a fetching pink scheme now.

The floors under the seats have also been painted in green floor paint to help seal them and reduce the dust levels.

Two of the upgrades we were not originally planning for but have ended up doing are the re-varnishing of the saloon interior woodwork (which isn't much more than the window surrounds on this vehicle as it contains a lot of Formica) and repainting of the seat ends. The latter are being changed from white to grey as it will match the seating better and may stay cleaner.

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

Good progress has continued the last few weeks. On the exterior, the hand rails have been given two coats of white gloss, the small running board has been fitted at the Sheringham end and the lamp brackets have been fitted to both ends and the top part painted white. Windows have been scraped of excess paint and the roof has been finished with the painting of vents and flue bracket.

One of the final tasks has been the sign writing of the SR branding (smaller than before) and the all important vehicle number.

Inside the vehicle, the brake handle and lap fittings have been painted white, the pieces of quadrant over the duckets have been fitted and painted cream, the internal vent covers have been fitted and painted, the the stove flue has been fitted using heat resistant stove door rope where it passes through the roof, the seats have been cleaned and refitted and the edges of the floor have been painted black.

All that remains is to clean up the floor, prove that the flue doesn't leak and clean the whole exterior ready for display.

Maintenance

There is still a major focus on completing C examinations ready for the new season. With almost everything out for the Steam Gala event in April time is running out and it will be back-to-back exams until then.