April News Part 3

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

The toilet door frame/surround mentioned last time has now been installed following several coats of varnish.

Both vacuum cylinders have also been raised up into position.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

It should not be too many more weeks now before this coach reaches the end of its stay with us and returns to service, with hopefully one more concerted effort to see it through. On the outside of the vehicle, a start has been made on the painting with the seaward side getting its first primer.

The Sheringham end, which is slightly lagging behind the rest of the coach, has been progressing well with the reassembly of the corridor bellows being completed leaving only the springs and "rain hood" to finish at the top. This advanced state has allowed the final 5% of bodywork preparation at this end to start.

On the underframe, the landward side has been the focus to bring it to the same completed state as the seaward. Due to a current lack of suitable paint, we have been cleaning down and preparing the side ready for painting when it arrives. This is now 3/4 complete.

The Sheringham end bogie is now completed, with final adjustments to the pull of the brake rods being completed. The modified rods will be crack tested before service but we shall get both bogies tested at the same time.

The Holt end bogie has been receiving a de-grease and scrape down prior to it being steam cleaned outside. This bogie will receive an external clean up and repaint and will have its uneven brakes brought back to standard, but won't receive the full strip down and overhaul that the first bogie did. At the end of the week E21103 was lifted which released the Holt bogie to be moved outside.

Interior paneling out in the wheelchair saloon and Holt end store cupboard (former toilet) continues to progress steadily.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)

The ninth conveyor belt coach is now completed externally, with the gloss paint being applied to the remaining bodysides, followed by another rub down and a coat of varnish all round.

The usual round of finishing touches to lamp irons, grab handles, window cleaning and sign-writing then followed. The vehicle will now exit the shed, to make way for the Quad-Art set, and be positioned outside again for the interior works to continue.

On the interior, the Holt end vestibule has now been rubbed down and given a freshen up coat of varnish, which it looks much better for. Provided there is time, the same will be done to the centre and Sheringham end vestibules. Re-upholstery work also continues steadily with the aim of having this vehicle back in service for the summer. 

London Transport 1955 20 Ton Ballast Hopper HW426

One thing that cannot be said of the ballast hopper team is that they have wasted their unexpected time undercover! It has been a flurry of noise and activity as more and more of the wagon has been needle gunned and/or wire wheeled to remove and stabalise 40+ years of corrosion.

The vehicle's handrails at the operator end have been cleaned down and two of the three hopper door wheels removed as they were loose and require shimming. The through vacuum pipe has been constructed, very swiftly, and is now dry fitted awaiting further works and clamps.

With the Quad-Art set fast approaching, notice was served on the wagon to return outside, and the final few days inside were spent applying a first coat of bitumen paint to the inside of the hopper, and a coat of grey primer to the outside, including sole bars and bufferbeams. Very quickly the hopper has transformed in appearance!

British Railways 1953 20 Ton Loriot DB904093

No progress to report.

Hurst Nelson 1944 4 Wheel Petroleum Tank 5304

The next project selected by the Holt Wagon Team is the Shell tanker which had been looking rather sorry for itself. Following the Steam Gala it was shunted under the museum awning for work to begin. The years under the trees at Holt has discoloured the paintwork with sign-writing in particular suffering.

The original plan was a simple clean down and full repaint, given that there was little serious corrosion or visible degradation present, so a start was made on the seaward side, spraying down with traffic film remover followed by a jet wash. The result was excellent, especially the sole bars, which are so good it is now thought that they may not need painting after all.

It is expected for more updates on the tank wagon project to come, especially as we are now entering warmer weather.

British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167

Although this vehicle was completed for the Steam Gala at the start of the month, sadly due to illness a group photo of the team behind it was not possible. We can now rectify this! Left to right are Peter Maynard, Brian Ashby and Peter Bedell who alongside Peter Turl (retired) masterminded the project to restore the SR brake. The finished vehicle is a credit to the four of them and brings fresh colour to the freight train, which is now the best (and longest) it has ever been. We live in a golden age for wagons!

Maintenance

The vacuum cylinder mentioned last time for DMU trailer car M56352 has been overhauled and refitted to the vehicle, which in turn has been returned to service.

"A" exams are now due for the main mark 1 running set, which has seen the suburban set out for a few days this week to cover whilst the vehicles were looked at.

April News Part 2

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

Work on further improving the fit and integrity of the double doors continues although as is often the case with this kind of work there are no major milestones to report.

A new piece of woodwork that has been started is the toilet door surround which was removed from the vehicle some time ago and has been stripped of its old varnish this week.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

Externally the vehicle is reaching maturing in terms of refitting and repair work. The final outstanding area, the Sheringham end, has been started now that access has been improved. The woodwork behind the gangway has been refitted to the end with the rubber bellows due to follow shortly.

The seaward side underframe has also been a focus this week, which is receiving a cosmetic clean up and repaint. The solebar, footboards, visible trussing and battery boxes and equipment have all been brushed down and painted gloss black. It looks much better for it.

During one of those days when everything comes together, all of the various parts from the dismantled Sheringham end bogie were grouped together and refitted, with first the leaf spring and suspension arrangements being rehung closely followed by the bogie frame being lifted back onto its two wheelsets, one of which had been tyre turned some time ago. The following week was spent fitting all of the brake-gear and pull rods back into place. Whilst the refit was successful, we now wish to rectify a long running (10+ years) problem with this bogie, where one of the axle's brakes pulls on before the other. This required re-welding of certain pull rods to bring everything back equal.

The interior has not been forgotten, with varnishing now at an advanced stage. The corridor and three vestibules are now fully varnished so this refresh work is now practically complete. The final task for this area is to replace the four lower door card panels, which are currently being custom fitted to each individual door.

The compartments have been finished off by having all the missing signage reinstated with replacement transfers. This included First Class and No Smoking signs.

Work has also recommenced on the paneling out of the wheelchair saloon, with the second half being progressed this week. The person doing this will be on holiday for a while so its completion will still be a while however it has made a good start.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)

The ninth conveyor belt coach has had much freshen up work completed now that it is inside the shed. The roof has had all its loose paint chipped off and has now been fully repainted.

The bodysides have been rubbed down and washed ready for repaint, 1/4 of which has been completed.

The corridor ends have had a freshen up, with the corridor "tunnels" repainted black, the doors repainted brown, lamp irons picked out in white and all the painted handles cleaned back to bare metal and refitted to the doors.

Internally, the middle vestibule, which for some reason was much worse than the others, has had a repaint to smarten its appearance.

London Transport 1955 20 Ton Ballast Hopper HW426

The hopper wagon, originally agreed to be an outdoor project, has taken advantage of a spare undercover bay in the shed, so has been immune from wind and rain the last two weeks. This has allowed progress to surge forward at an accelerated pace. The outside of the hopper "tub" has been needle gunned back to bare metal and in the most visible areas is being wire wheeled to a vary smooth finish. 

The Holt end bufferbeam, coupling and buffers have also been wire brushed of 40 years of rust and lack of attention.

Surplus and corroded wiring conduits and air pipework have been removed from the sides of the wagon, which both allows the extremely corroded and hidden areas behind to be treated but also creates the space needed for a through vacuum pipe to work its way down the sides in due course.

Progress is good and although we don't make promises it is hoped the hopper can debut at the Summer Steam Gala.

British Railways 1953 20 Ton Loriot DB904093

No progress to report.

Maintenance

Last week a vacuum cylinder failed on DMU car M56352. It was removed from traffic and the following day the cylinder was removed. It has been dismantled, overhauled, repainted and reassembled and towards the end of the week passed its test on the vacuum cylinder test rig.

Workshop

The team who normally work on Thompson coach E1866 have been tidying up the area of the shed next to their project. New benches, shelving and drawers have been installed and the area is much improved.

April News Part 1

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

No progress to report.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E (REPAIRS)

The Gresley Buffet car has spent a week in the works having some remedial works to allow it to run at the Steam Gala. It had two defective vacuum cylinders and a cracked bodyside window. A replacement window was ordered in advance so by the time the coach entered it was ready to swap. Luckily Gresley windows are fairly straightforward to remove and refit and this was undertaken painlessly with the new window refitted and sealed in after two days. Some light repainting work around the window was done to blend in the new sealant.

The two vacuum cylinders were each removed in turn, rebuilt and tested on the vacuum rig before being refitted hastily back onto the coach as the Steam gala approached!

The coach was then removed from the shed, its short stay over, and had a spell over the pit to test and adjust the brakes up, oil everything underneath and complete a C exam. This done, and only just in time, the vehicle was whisked away to be formed into its set down at Sheringham.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

The leaking steam heater has been removed, repaired and refitted again just in time for the Steam Gala! This will be the final report for this long running Gold overhaul, as following the Steam Gala the coach is finally expected to be staying at Sheringham permanently as a mature member of the running fleet! It is likely that this vehicle will venture out onto the mainline very soon.

British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)

The final door is now completed with only the surrounding doorway trim now outstanding. This has become the next area of focus for the door refitting team, who are also looking into replacing and refitting the remaining paneling from the wheelchair saloon.

The paint preparation on the landward side has now also been completed so the two ends are now the only bodywork outstanding before the exterior painting can commence.

On the interior, varnishing of the two vestibules continues, and has been aided by the refitting of the large sliding door at the Holt end corridor end.

At the other end of the coach, painting has progressed well with the guards compartment now resplendant in cream, with various items picked out in black.

British Railways 1956 Tourist Second Open E4236 (BRONZE)

The eighth of the conveyor belt coaches has now been completed and left the shed.

Before it left we had chance to scrape excess paint from the windows and give them a much needed clean. Door handles were refitted and masking tape removed. The repair on the damaged table was also completed and the whole table given a coat of paint so everything matched.

The final task on the vehicle was undertaking a start of season C exam on it, following which it joined one of the service sets to take part in the Steam Gala.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)

The ninth conveyor belt coach has now been moved from outside the shed into the staging area replacing M4236. The first task has been the emptying out of the last of the old seat cushions, which had been lingering in the vestibules, to allow full access inside for proposed vestibule re-varnishing work. All redundant Covid seat allocation signage has also been removed from the windows.

On the outside of the vehicle, which is where the main focus will be, a strong start has been made on chipping off any loose roof paint off the sun damaged landward side.

We intend to work on this coach for the next few weeks before moving too many other vehicles around, as the operations team will need a rest following all of the gala movements before and after the event!

British Railways 1951 16 Ton Ballast Plough Brakevan DB993707

There was enough time to paint all of the handrails and plough lifting equipment in white before the brakevan was removed from the shed (along with E9128E and E4236) and tripped down to Sheringham to be reformed into the goods set ready to feature in....you've guessed it, the Steam Gala!

London Transport 1955 20 Ton Ballast Hopper HW426

This has made great progress by the miniature wagon team in the few days it has been in progress. The three ballast discharge doors have been repeatedly oiled and exercised to the point where they are probably not going to get any easier to wind in and out. This work is essential to keeping the moving bits moving and not have issues in the near future.

The rest of the focus has been on the inside of the hopper. It has been cleaned down and brushed thoroughly to remove any remaining detritus and prepare the rusty surface for paint. A coat of rust inhibitor primer was then applied all over the inside, which has reacted and stabilized the surface ready for further coats.

British Railways 1953 20 Ton Lowmac DB904093

No progress to report.

Workshop

Within all the chaos we managed to find time to repaint one side of the 7F loco tender which had been suffering badly in the sun.

Maintenance

It has been all hands to the pump in order to get all of the toys out of the box for the Steam gala, with a flurry of exams and paperwork completion undertaken to allow everything to run at the event. This was finished the day before so all is well. Perhaps the highlight was a 12 wagon goods train passing the shed on Wednesday which, following careful consultation with long standing members at the railway, we now believe to be the longest train of wagons ever to be assembled and run down the line in the NNR's history! This is a great achievement and shows how well volunteers have done in recent years in getting out of traffic wagons back into serviceable and presentable condition. 13 wagons (one more) are set to feature at the Steam Gala, albeit split over two sets. We hope to see a 12, 13 or even 14 wagon goods train feature at a future event, now that we have the vehicles to enable it. One of the brakevans on the mega formation was the newly out-shopped SR brake, which the team up at Holt have been working on. It has made its big debut on the set for the Steam Gala.