The finest event in the railway's calendar, the Mixed Traction Gala, is now behind us and a variety of coaching stock was in action for the event, the most unusual probably being the vintage set. We displayed our two historic BRUTE trolleys over the weekend, on Weybourne station.
London North Eastern Railway Brake Third Open E16631E
An exciting development to report on for anyone interested in the pre-nationalisation fleet resident on the NNR, is the purchase of Gresley BTO E16631E. This coach, originally numbered 43556, was built for the LNER by Cravens in 1938 to diagram D196, a six-bay open saloon with 48 seats and a modest sized brakevan. The vehicle is now believed unique as the only 48 seat brake (most preserved Gresley Brake Thirds have larger brakes and less seats).
It has been secured only after a large legacy from the Estate of Keith Anthony Porter, an M&GN Society member of some years. The legacy will enable E16631E to be restored at Ecclesbourne Valley Railway by Lee Sharpe Engineering and the vehicle will remain at its current location (Epping & Ongar Railway) workshop space allows a move to Derbyshire for work to begin, hopefully later this year.
E16631E becomes the fifth and final member of the long term "LNER Mainline" set, which is set to become the first full rake of LNER stock to be preserved externally in its later (British Railways) condition, painted Crimson & Cream. The full set should eventually be formed from the following vehicles:
- Thompson Brake Corridor Third E1866E (currently under restoration as a Brake Saloon First with wheelchair access)
- Gresley Tourist Third Open E13548E (stored undercover awaiting restoration)
- Gresley Resteraunt Buffet E9128E (restored and operational)
- Gresley Corridor Third E12493E (in static use at Sheringham, awaiting restoration)
- Gresley Brake Third Open E16631E (stored off site awaiting contract restoration)
The M&GN Society has aspirations to also fast-track the restorations of the TTO & TK by utilising outside contractors, provided the required large donations and/or legacies can be attracted! Clearly this set is in its early stages of realisation, however it it still great news to see this latest development, which coupled to continued restoration progress at Weybourne, may see three of the five coaches of this set run together much sooner than many may have thought!
London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)
A new area of focus has been cutting out of the sausage shaped upper windows around the luggage area, which had been paneled over during the previous owner's steel-work skin replacement but not yet cut out. This is being done with a hole saw of the correct size and is a slow but rewarding task.
In other news, the toilet wall has now been fitted bringing this area enclosed once again.
London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74
The Quad Art set (conveyor belts 10 to 13) continues to be worked on, and sadly was therefore not available for the Mixed Traction Gala, however the short term loss will be a long term gain as the damage caused by the intensive service life over the Covid period has now been repaired. Since the last update, the landward side has been brought up to the same standard as the seaward side, i.e. fully varnished.
The foot-board painting has been completed on 48863 & 48864, with the remaining two coaches due to be done once they have been removed from the staging area. We have also been making good progress on cleaning the windows, both of two years worth of "road dirt" and also stray varnish.
Tyre turning has now started, with the first two wheelsets being the replacement ones, currently under the stored Thompson BG, now outside and in the process of being turned using a revolutionary new portable ground lathe. Some teething troubles have been encountered, but some material has been cut from the first wheel and the contractors will return next week to continue the task. Their work is fascinating to watch.
British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)
The underframe repainting is now completed with the two buffer beams now as shiny as the sides. We are now looking at the situation with the batteries, which have been out of use for a few years now. We are hoping to swap a few cells and with luck a made up secondhand set can serve the coach for a little while going forward.
The exterior is progressing well with both bodysides now in undercoat. A few small items such as window frames have received their first coat of gloss but no main panels were attempted as towards the end of the week the temperatures went bananas!
The interior has seen the greatest change. The four passenger door cards have now been varnished up, meaning the passenger areas are now all but complete. The wheelchair saloon has received several coats of cream gloss and is now resplendent once again. The finish line is in sight!
British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958 (BRONZE)
Upholstery continues. We now have all the remaining stragglers in the workshop for recovering, they are mostly the base units. All of the backs are now done and fitted loosely in the coach, with final fixing to follow.
Re-varnishing of the remaining two vestibules (the first was completed some time ago) has now started with rubbing down complete and varnish to follow shortly.
London Transport 1955 20 Ton Ballast Hopper HW426
Painting has been the order of the day with several coats of primers and undercoats being applied, with most areas now up to undercoat at least. The red and black livery is now starting to show through, especially after the first gloss coat was applied to parts of the hopper body.
Some mechanical work has also been completed, with some new lids being fitted to the sides of the hopper door mechanisms which will aid greasing and inspections in the future.
British Railways 1953 20 Ton Loriot DB904093
Another working party is planned this weekend where it is hoped to finish the last of the cleaning and priming work.
Hurst Nelson 1944 4 Wheel Petroleum Tank 5304
Painting has also been the theme for this wagon project! All of the undercoating has now been completed on the tank and underframe, the latter being particularly fiddly and time consuming.
This done, top coat has started to be applied to the underframe, in the areas that will be black. Good weather has led to good progress!
