Asbestos Stripping Completed

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

The brass windows have been examined for size variation to ensure that the new glass being ordered for the sliding lights and quarter lights will fit. The glass is now on order.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

The coach has continued well over the past few weeks, with part of the new cant rail fitted kicking off the major woodworking repairs nicely. Other woodwork has included screwing down many of the roof boards.

On the exterior, the second of the two gangway ends have been removed, along with the "buckeye" couplings and the buffers after the latter were found to be seized. If that were not enough, the underframe has also been needle gunned.

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

The asbestos stripping has continued well this week with the lower half sheeted up and the steam heat pipework all removed and disposed of.

This then allowed phase three of the work to be completed at the end of the week, the stripping of rope pipework in the toilet compartment and guards compartment. This done, the coach has now been handed back over to us for restoration work to start proper.

British Railways 1958 Brake Corridor Second M35148 (SILVER)

The new lighting in the accessible saloon has now been wired in and the panelling replaced in front of the lights. The lighting levels are, as expected, much improved.

At the other end of the coach, the toilet water tank has been dropped for testing, which was completed successfully.

The previous water leaks had however corroded some of the roof framework, which has been caught fairly early and now quickly welded back up again.

Three out of four passenger doors have had their varnished wooden cards removed and stripped back to wood ready for varnishing up again. More window surround woodwork, intended for the windows which were removed some time ago, have also received two further layers of varnish.

On the exterior of the vehicle, the fitting of the passenger communication apparatus at the Holt end continues and has run into alignment complications which have required some packing pieces to be made.

The next window has also been refitted and bedded down back into its frame. This leaves three left to refit.

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

More steel sheeting has been cut to shape ready for further body repairs.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

No progress to report.

British Railways 1950 12 Ton Box Van B755094 (Maintenance)

Not a full restoration, but the repairs to the failing sliding door which is regularly used on this stores van have progressed nicely. The door is now substantially back together and has been hung loosely back on the vehicle, ready for further adjustments and for more furniture to be added back on.

British Railways (LMS Design) 1949 20 Ton Brakevan B950133

The finishing touches mentioned last week have been largely done, with final painting and lettering progressing along with sealing the stove pipe back into the roof. It just needs some more lettering completing along with the side lamp brackets returning to the four corners and then the vhicle will be released back into traffic.

Maintenance

Maintenance continues to be varied, this week has seen some extra woodwork in the form of TSO 4236 requiring a repair to a window glass retaining bar which has rotted away with condensation and damp.

Asbestos Stripping Starts

Hopefully everybody enjoyed the last gala event of the year last weekend, Showcase, which included the Vintage, Quad Art and Demonstration Freight sets along with a few dining cars that are only available to sample by ordinary ticket holders a few times a year. Sadly we now settle down to more mundane timetables as we look towards Winter and the closed period.

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

No progress to report.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

No progress to report.

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

The asbestos removal contractors have been visiting and have completed the first week of their work. There are three phases of removal and the first of these has been successfully completed. This involved sealing off the former passenger compartment areas and removing heater insulation.

By the end of the week the coach had been lifted up into the air for phase two to commence: the stripping of the steam heat pipework underneath. This has only just started with around a third of the area being sheeted up ready. This will of course continue next week.

Whilst the contractors have been working, for obvious reasons no further work has been attempted on the coach!

British Railways 1958 Brake Corridor Second M35148 (SILVER)

The corridor opposite the guards compartment has continued to progress with the newly installed side panelling panted up to cream gloss. The window glass, retaining bars and outer wooden trim were then subsequently fitted. Some adjustments have been made meaning further painting is required to finish off, however the area is now looking much more complete.

Inside the accessible saloon, the new LED lighting bars have all been fitted into place and are being wired up. The wiring has been simplified so that the whole compartment comes on with one light switch, rather than the previous four. This has been done mainly because the previously intended feature to be able to light up one side only, or one end only, is never used.

On the exterior, corridor connection bellows refitting has been coming on at the Holt end. This end includes the passenger communication vacuum gear which hit complications when we found further areas of corrosion that needed attention. These repairs are now being undertaken after which we shall be finishing the bellows.

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Both door pillars on the doorway currently being repaired are now rebuilt with new metal replacing the extremely untidy British Rail patch repairs. These have now been primed with a view to start refitting the door, hinges and jambs next week.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

A very productive day was had coating the underframe in its entirety in a coat of black gloss to protect it in time for the upcoming winter weather.

British Railways (LMS Design) 1949 20 Ton Brakevan B950133

The van made a temporary appearance to the Showcase Weekend and has now quickly been returned to Holt Museum for finishing touches. 

Maintenance

The control switch box to improve the changeover from generator power to shore supply on RBR E1969 continues to be built up and is now ready for testing.

Gold Projects Progress

This weekend is the Showcase event which features regular shed tours at Weybourne Works including the carriage shed. Do come and see in person what we have been doing if you can!

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

Work has continued slowly on some door adjustments but many resources have been directed elsewhere recently.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

Work is progressing well at Lee Sharpe's workshop, the coach has been stripped back with all the rotten wood and woodworm affected areas removed. The scale at the end between the underframe and body has been removed, all the corner brackets on the frame have been removed and a start has been made fitting new corner brackets.

Around half of the frame work has been de nailed sanded and painted in Aluminium wood primer.

The three lower roof boards have been removed both sides to allow new stainless steel tie bars to be fitted replacing the rusted originals. One corridor end face plate removed, the hand brake column removed, plus the guards cupboard removed plus all doors removed.

This restoration is being funded by the late Keith Porter’s legacy, but at present it looks like the estimated cost of the restoration is going to exceed the allocated £75,000, so any donations towards the restoration would be greatly appreciated by donating to the Joint Heritage Coach Fund.

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

The all important asbestos contractors are booked in on Monday morning in order to make a start. As part of this, the former passenger compartment end of the coach and the guards compartment have been cleared of all loose items so that they can do their work and dispose of any contaminated materials.

More good news is the arrival of the replacement steelwork required to repair the coach ends and all the doorways. These are now set aside for when we can deploy a suitable contractor to do the works.

John Howard continues to chip away at the battery boxes. Now that the landward side is complete, the seaward side has seen further stripping for both metalwork and woodwork replacement and repairs to start in earnest.

British Railways 1958 Brake Corridor Second M35148 (SILVER)

Much interior work has continued on the vehicle. All of the compartments have had their ceilings repainted which completes this task.

Two of the four have also been completed in terms of re-varnishing. The remaining two are in the process of having the window glass and surrounding woodwork refitted before these can then have final varnish.

Inside the guards compartment, the walls have been prepped and are being repainted. The corridor opposite the compartment, which had water damage below the window, has been replanked. 

The accessible saloon now has the sliding door at the end and associated cover panel refitted. The covers for the uplights have been varnished but are awaiting the LED light conversion before final fitting. This saloon is now the most advanced and will most likely be the first main area completed fully. 

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Work on the body has restarted on a limited basis with repairs to one of the seaward side passenger doorways progressed.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

The underframe is now ready for gloss black, which will hopefully be applied before winter sets in.

British Railways (LMS Design) 1949 20 Ton Brakevan B950133

The second coat of bauxite paint has been applied but the running boards and remainder of the chassis are still to complete. The van will temporarily be in sue for Showcase weekend before being returned for finishing off. Nevertheless the vehicle is certainly now on the home straight!

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B783071 (Maintenance)

Not a restoration, but over the summer a project to repair and renew the doors on one side of one of the box vans used for storage has been ongoing. Much wood repair was required but it is now completed and coated in "good enough" brown! The same group have now moved onto similar van B755094.

Maintenance

The control switch box to improve the changeover from generator power to shore supply on RBR E1969 is now being constructed and is coming together nicely. Hopefully it will be installed in the vehicle before too long.

The project to repair the door 

Workshop

A set of ramps which have been generously donated by Greater Anglia have arrived recently. There will be more official publicity concerning them and their impact on the railway soon, but for now they get an honourable mention here. They will most likely be deployed on brake coaches in the months ahead.