More Windows

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

Progress has been limited to applying more coats of paint and furthering of existing tasks/projects on the vehicle.

London North Eastern Railway Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

The first of the four wheelsets has now been successfully turned on our in-house wheel lathe.

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

All of the bodyside windows have had the hidden backs painted in a first coat of gloss and work continues on drilling and tapping various new screws to repair damaged trim.

The cleaning of the aluminium luggage racking mentioned last week has progressed really well with all of them now returned to their former glory. During the process we have discovered that we are actually two racks short of fully furnishing the main passenger saloon, so we are investigating options to rectify this.

The door overhauls continue steadily. The first one has now been finished (as far as we are going with them for the time being). Meanwhile the second door has had its main skin cleaned back and coated in primer, and all of the mechanical components overhauled and refitted, leaving just the wooden elements left to restore. The third door has been started and has now been stripped down into its component parts and is part way through paint stripping of the outer skin.

British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (SILVER)

The seaward side remains the focus with much of it now being sanded and filled in the areas where the steel is good. Almost all of the windows have now been removed from this side.

The window frames are now in the process of having the old sealant removed from the rear faces before being cleaned back to bare aluminium.

The window apertures, where the frames sit on the bodyside, are being cleaned back and rust treated whilst the opportunity is there to access them.

Meanwhile the two end doors continue to be treated and are now up to their gloss coats.

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

Work has continued on the brakevan interior whilst the Locomotive Department are busy underneath the vehicle. The walls have now all been rubbed back ready for a repaint, which itself has been partially completed.

A series of equipment brackets/aids are also being fitted to the walls to improve the tidiness of the area. Brackets for fire extinguishers, fire beaters, sweeping brushes and wheelchair ramp are all in the process of being made up. This was done to sister vehicle E51228 a few years ago so M51188 was somewhat overdue.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

No progress to report. With weather so poor it is likely that this project will drop away from these notes until the Spring when drier conditions allow work to restart.

Workshop

Several other projects in the workshop continue to thrive. the Sheringham platform trolley rebuild is doing well with woodwork now completed and primer applied.

A small but essential task to renew the seals in the rams which allow us to move our lifting jacks is now complete, with the repaired wheel/handle arrangements returned to their places on the jacks. These will be needed later this month when we lift M14021 for the first time.

The last of our current batch of vacuum cylinder overhauls has been mechanically rebuilt and tested successfully. It now awaits repainting. We now have a set of three, one for the Pipe Wagon restoration and two spares for the 2023 season.

A further six battery charging leads are being prepared in order to upgrade temporary ones we put into use at Sheringham earlier in the year. This has involved careful restoration of some very old plug units which have been sitting in stores for a very long time!