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.