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.