March News Part 3

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

Further work on the doors this week, with more repairs, more varnishing and more painting. The guards doors are looking more "corporate image" these days and are all one colour on the outside facing frames.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

This vehicle has now left the shed and has had fairly successful air brake and steam heat tests. Just one steam heater is now weeping steam on a gasket which will hopefully be nipped up next week. The air brakes all function as expected and the coach has ceremoniously traversed the yard up and down in air brake mode with the Class 08! Again we found one small leak to attend to on the reservoir side. The coach has also received an annual C examination and has been returned to traffic (again) for use on vacuum brakes for the steam gala next weekend.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

Progress continues to be made on most fronts. The final outstanding door, the landward guards inward door, is now almost complete and is now hung complete with weather strips, final adjustments being all that remains.

The paint preparation on the landward side also continues well and is almost complete.

The wheelset from the Sheringham end bogie has been painted up to gloss and is now ready to refit back into the bogie.

On the interior, varnishing of the side corridor has been completed, and the focus is now on the two vestibules, which are the final areas of varnished wood on the interior.

British Railways 1956 Tourist Second Open E4236 (BRONZE)

Work on the eighth conveyor belt vehicle has continued apace. This week, the exterior has received its final coat of varnish and is now externally almost complete. Just as well as it is due in service for the steam gala next weekend.

The small section of removed gutter was returned to place and sealed.

Before the varnish was added the end lettering was changed from white to ochre.

The varnish is how hardening before the windows can be scraped and cleaned. For some reason there is more ingrained brake dust and dirt in the glass on this vehicle than most others. We will rectify this if we have time. The interior is not the focus of the current works, however an unsightly ripped off patch on one of the tables has been filled in with blue paint to tidy its appearance.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)

This vehicle is now confirmed as the ninth conveyor belt coach and will be entering the shed shortly for the usual external treatment. In preparation for this, the lower half of the vehicle has been washed and rubbed down ready for a coat of maroon.

Inside the vehicle, the current works have continued, with the Holt end saloon window surrounds and seat edges re-varnished as required. In the more advanced Sheringham end, reupholstered seating is starting to be refitted, with several side cards and armrests being the first items to be refitted. A single seat back has been fitted to one end which is giving a taster for what the interior will look like.

British Railways 1951 16 Ton Ballast Plough Brakevan DB993707

The Oyster brakevan has sneaked into the workshop for one week for a partial repaint and re-varnish to smarten it up for the steam gala. This has been completed very quickly, with the sun bleached south end and the skyward facing surfaces given a coat of Gulf Red gloss followed by a rub down and varnish over the entire vehicle.

Also undertaken has been the plugging of a few holes in the roof which was then given a coat of grey roof paint.

London Transport 1955 20 Ton Ballast Hopper HW426

We are pleased to reveal that a small group of volunteers have offered to form a temporary team to restore one of our departmental wagons to a level where it can also be used in the demonstration goods train. The subject is the railway's remaining London Transport ballast hopper which in recent years has only operated on a handful of occasions in the closed season to spread ballast during major renewals.

The proposed works include freeing off the mechanical equipment so that it is ready to operate smoothly for a planned renewal project next winter. Some electrical and air braking pipework will be removed to free up space to fit a new "through" vacuum pipe to allow it to be used in the demonstration freight set when not being used for renewals. This will see the vehicle used and enjoyed more often than previously which is no bad thing. Finally, the chassis and hopper will receive a cosmetic restoration and repaint into a period livery.

All being well the project will be progressing one day a week and will hopefully progress nicely throughout this summer. The vehicle will be primarily worked on outside as an "extra" to the existing restoration programme. So far, the doors have been opened (they are stiff but still just about move!) and a few dregs of ballast and weeds cleared out of the hopper, leaving the wagon ready for restoration work to start "proper".

British Railways 1953 20 Ton Lowmac DB904093

Another wagon, ongoing for a few weeks now, but yet to feature in this blog is the GWR designed "lowmac" wagon which is in departmental use carrying the flail tractor. Its sole use is to trim the lineside vegetation during the closed season.

It has been looking rather careworn of late, so the Youth Development Club have been busy chipping off all of the loose paint and have now progressed to the application of anti-rust primer along one side and one end. It is looking better already! It will continue to be progressed at their monthly meetings.

Maintenance

Gresley Buffet car E9128E has entered the shed for some repairs before the steam gala. It requires two failed vacuum cylinders to be repaired and a sheet of glass replaced, which gained a crack some time ago. Both cylinders have been removed and are in the process of being repaired and repainted ready to refit. The old window has also been removed with the new glass having arrived ready to refit shortly.