London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)
The last of the windows has now been restored with its rounded corners bringing this job to a close. Several of the brass internal window surrounds are now being cleaned up ready for fitting.
The interior has not seen much else but the area has had a good tidy up which has made things look a lot better!
On the underframe, two direct admission vacuum valves have been fitted into place, onto the new pipework fitted some time ago.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open M14021 (GOLD)
The first task of the mammoth restoration was clearing the luggage van area of accumulated parts so that we could start work.
Evidence of the vehicle's days as a support coach was evident including a tool shadow board on the wall.
This done, the Sheringham end has been dismantled for steel replacement. Internally the last ceiling panel has been removed along with the end wall, sliding door and side walls. The large timber which sits on the steel floor plate at the end has also been removed. Externally, all of the furniture has been removed from the steel skin, along with the corridor connection and its associated bellows and woodwork. Finally, the steel skin itself has cut off revealing the skeleton framework behind.
The results are by and large good. Much corrosion has been removed in the form of the skin, however most of the framework is in reasonable condition, caught just in time, so can be retained. The usual lower sections of the main structural end "crash pillars" have however succumbed to damp and will be replaced.
British Railways 1956 Brake Corridor Composite E21103 (SILVER)
This vehicle has been occupying most of our time, in a big push to get it completed and launched at the 1940's weekend. The lettering was completed along with the British Railways roundels on the side, which was followed by a return to the staging area where the final varnish coat was applied.
The characteristic yellow stripe above the first class compartments has also been applied.
With the exterior painting finally complete, all of the trimmings were rapidly refitted, including the carriage destination board brackets, brass grab handles and guards handrails. Brasswork was polished, emergency equipment refitted to the brake and windows cleaned. The footboards received two coats of paint.
As is usual with vehicles in for Silver or Gold overhauls, a myriad of smaller snagging jobs were also attended to, cleaning up or repairing little niggles too many to list here. The volunteer team excelled themselves in getting a huge list of "little jobs" done over a three day period.
With the coach now complete, but 40's weekend getting too close for comfort, a final day was spent giving the coach a full C examination, which ran without issue until the coach body ride heights were measured and it was discovered the vehicle was riding unacceptably low! A slightly stressful setback considering the event was almost upon us!
A focused day followed (the day before the event which was supposed to allow the operations department to shunt the vehicle into a set at Sheringham) jacking the coach off and on its bogies several times to adjust the ride heights up to acceptable tolerance. In a great display of teamwork, the coach was finished at 1600, attached to the last train of the day at Weybourne, and following a quick excursion to Holt, arrived at Sheringham by the early evening and shunted to take its place for the event the day after! Everyone involved should be pleased that their efforts together allowed Cinderella to go to the ball!
British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open 4667
The third Mark 1 resident in the shed is the new static Holt waiting room of course. The exterior repainting has progressed well with volunteers applying Southern Region green gloss all around the vehicle and keying up for a second coat. This followed, with just one quarter of one side still to complete.
British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918
Following some time away, and several days of rain where work was unable to continue, the pipe wagon project has started again with further needle gunning and rust protection primer applied to more areas of underframe and sanctions.
British Railways 1953 20 Ton Lowmac TDB904093
No progress to report, although a shunt allowed a decent photograph to be taken of the wagon, which hasn't been possible in recent weeks.
Maintenance
The usual snapped chords, loose wooden trim and ripped seat upholster have been attended to to keep on top of running repairs. In addition to this, faulty toilet doors have been repaired on TSO M4958 allowing the toilets to be returned to use, and the plumbing in TSO E4641 has also been flushed through to allow its toilet to be reinstated.
The most drastic change however has been inside suburban TLO E48001, which had an intensive two days having its temporary "Covid dividers" removed, turning it from a compartment configuration back to open.
The walls were remove, then the luggage racking returned. At the same time, the toilets were reopened.
