M51188 Released

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

This week work has continued to focus on the windows. There were not enough brass internal window surrounds owing to the conversion from side corridor to open configuration so some reproductions have been made out of several pieces of brass cut, bent, soldered and milled into a respectable shape! They have turned out very well and have been test fitted this week and are now out for polishing up properly.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

Applying so much labour to the window frames is starting to pay off, with this mammoth task coming close to an end. All 12 frames have now been fully cleaned back to bare aluminium, including all of the associated separate trim, quite a task in the end. Two of the frames have also been assessed and all the trim test fitted back on, a process that involves much drilling out of old screws and thread tapping of holes. This process is slow and steady so will continue for the next few weeks.

In the meantime, the frames have all had the painted areas primed in special etch primer to protect them, and the outer ring which sits against the steel bodysides have had a first coat of gloss. These layers are to try and separate the steel from the alloy to limit the adverse reaction between the two metals.

With the frames coming to an end, we have moved onto other components stripped off the vehicle. Also aluminium are the luggage racks, which have been salvaged from a scrapped open coach as 14021 wouldn't have had this type during its days as a compartment coach. They are in a bad way cosmetically but by gentle cleaning with great patience they are coming back up very well indeed.

A start has also been made on overhauling the doors, which are a mix of steel (guards) and aluminium (passenger). So far two passenger doors have been stripped down to a bare casting with all their individual components off and being cleaned up and/or repaired ready to put back on. The door castings have been stripped back to metal and one has been etch primed.

The woodwork for the first one has been test fitted and has been sanded down and bleached. The parts are now being built back up again with new varnish prior to refitting. The doors will probably all be at different stages for some time yet before they all drift back together again!

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (Silver)

Good progress is also being made with the other dining coach in the works.The work to repair, sand and fill the lower 1/3 of the vehicle has now been completed, with the seaward side being run along much quicker than the landward as it didn't have the awful varnish on it that had caused damage. The upper sections have now been started, with the vehicle being moved into the staging for better access. Several more windows have now been removed to allow the bodysides to be prepped.

The coach ends and corridor connection, whilst generally in good order, is now being repaired and resealed where required, in order to keep the water out. We found one of the long pieces of wood bolted on the end of the vehicle had randomly rotted on its own, so this has carefully been removed without disturbing any surrounding material and will be replaced. 

The two end sliding doors from the corridor connection have been removed, stripped back to bare metal and are in the process of being painted up. One end is at the primer stage whilst the other is in undercoat.

British Railways 1956 Gangwayed Brake (Kitchen) M81033

Work to fine tune the generator continues.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

The exterior finishing touches have been applied, including painting of footboards and various bolt heads and handrails. With the exterior completed, the vehicle has been moved out and is now handed over to the Loco Dept next door for their own mechanical winter maintenance to be done.

We are finishing off the guards van improvements at the same time. The whole ceiling has now been painted so it is fresh white and all one colour! After much head scratching we managed to reconnect the guards lighting which had decided to stop working whilst the vehicle was in the shed. We may well do some more brake van improvements to better hold the emergency equipment before we declare the vehicle fully finished.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

No progress to report.

M51188 Repainted

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

Work has been solely focussed on the interior, with some ceiling panels for the toilet and adjacent vestibule being prepared and painted.

The hardwood internal window surrounds for the oval windows are also being worked on, with some having been test fitted.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

Again, the progress has been directed towards window frame cleaning, with the half way point starting to come into focus. All of the steel stufs have now been extracted from the frames (which is a relief) and work to re-drill and tap sheared off examples and test fitting the trim back on has started.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (Silver)

The lower half of the landward side continues to be stripped and the BR skirt welded up where possible.

The whole side is now in progress and is in different stages with some areas quite smooth again now having been filled. Some massive dents have been pulled out as the previous contractors who undertook bodywork on this vehicle applied filler to a far greater thickness than is advisable.

British Railways 1956 Gangwayed Brake (Kitchen) M81033

No progress to report.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

The final touches to the repaint have been applied with the bufferbeam going into red followed by all the colour coded details into their respective shades. This has really brought the cab back to life.

With the painting completed, the whole vehicle received another rub down and has now been varnished. This completes the exterior planned.

Internally, the guards van ceiling repairs are complete and have been patch painted. This has showed up just how discoloured the rest of the ceiling is however, so we will now look to give the whole area a coat of gloss.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

No progress to report.

Maintenance

Vacuum cylinder repairs and repainting continues to give us a small pool of ready spares.

Workshop

The Sheringham platform trolley, which has become practically a new build project, is now taking shape with the framework for the bottom deck now completed.

M3116's Overhaul Commences

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

Progress this week has included machining of woodwork for the remaining guards area toplights. A second woodwork task has been the completion of the new footboard installations. Lastly, an ex Mark 3 sleeper toilet effluent tank has been extracted from store, having been removed off sleeping car 10525 almost 30 years ago. It has had various ports removed, blanked off or modified as required, and is currently being waved under the coach to start to assess the mounting arrangements that will be required.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

An unexciting week which has seen more progress on cleaning the removed window frames. The first one has now been fully cleaned back to bare aluminium with several others now in a part completed state.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (Silver)

Our next overhaul project has now arrived and has been brought into the shed, M3116 being the next vehicle (following E21103) to have a Silver level overhaul. Being a dining car much in demand by the commercial side of the railway, it will be prioritised over the winter so that it does not miss too much of next season. Dining train substitute TSO E4641 will cover for M3116 until the latter is completed.

Although agreed that the coach was cosmetically desperately in need of an intermediate body overhaul, the initial assessment of the vehicle has recorded good news, the later design of window frame has saved the coach and the extent of the corrosion is not as bad as we had feared. The ends and doorways are also in much better condition than most we encounter.

One area that has degraded however is the lower (red) section of the landward side, which has been damaged after a well meaning volunteer applied inappropriate varnish around five years ago. This varnish was attacked by UV light in an unusual way and broke down, also splitting the layers of paint below. In conclusion, the whole section is now unstable and requires stripping off completely back to bare metal to start again. The good news is that the rest of the coach wasn't coated in the varnish so is OK, and more good news is that the steelwork below is not corroded, so following the stripping of the lower half we can proceed as normal. So far, around half of the coach has been stripped and some filling has also occurred. Whilst we have the coach in, we are also doing our test to weld up and stabilize the now-failing British Rail repair "skirt" to the bottom six inches. There will be lots more of this work in the weeks to come.

British Railways 1956 Gangwayed Brake (Kitchen) M81033

The electric box of wizardry controlling the new generator has continued to be built up in the workshop ready for fitting.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

Speed of progress has picked up again on this project, the 16th and final Conveyor Belt vehicle. The gloss painting has now been completed, with the corridor end, seaward side and cab end all being treated this week. We are currently in the process of flatting it off again in preparation for varnish.

On the interior, the ceiling repair has continued, with replacement paneling being cut, painted and fitted into place, followed by the replacement beading. It is now complete again and now just requires further coats of paint.

Norfolk Lights Express Preparations: SO M4372, TSO M4843, BCK E21103 & CCT E94464

Another week has seen further NLE preparations occupying all departments around the railway. Early in the week saw the two main generators loaded into CCT E94464 followed by the fitting of the newly designed exhausts. This was followed by E94464 & TSO M4843 being tripped back to Sheringham where they formed the final vehicles in the main NLE set. All of the cabling was then routed through the new floor hatches between the two vehicles successfully.

Other works have been assisting the contract company in building speaker mounting boards for the in coach sound systems, and changing the seat numbering above the seats on BCK E21103 and SO M4372 to reflect the NLE and Santa Special pre booking ticket system now in use.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

Progress on chassis cleaning and painting continues but is becoming hampered by the increasingly poor weather. Inside the shed, a replacement vacuum cylinder has been needle gunned and will eventually be fitted to the wagon.

Maintenance

During the pre-NLE works trains, a problem was reported with the brakes on the SR brakevan. This was investigated and the brakegear was found to be partly sticking on one axle. The problem was unable to be fully eliminated but dismantling, easing, lubricating and reassembling got the system working correctly again.

Following steam testing of the two sets of coaches in use this winter, a leak was found under Gresley Buffet E9128E. This was in an awkward place above one of the bogies and was coming out of where an old radiator had once been blanked off. A new blank was fashioned and drilled/tapped into place and we will await the result next week.

A spare vacuum cylinder has also been overhauled ready for next season, this will give us a quicker changeover time when the next one on a running coach fails.

Workshop

The wheel chocks have now been completed having been brought up with two coats of gloss yellow.