February News Part 2

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

No progress to report.

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

Sadly after such an impressive pictorial update last week we cannot match it two weeks in a row! At Weybourne an LNER pattern handbrake wheel has been extracted, cleaned down and primed ready for reuse in the BTO when it returns, as its original was missing when the vehicle was purchased.

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

A further six feet (or so) of bodyside has been cleaned back to bare metal, a task which is getting close to reaching the half way point.

British Railways 1958 Brake Corridor Second M35148 (SILVER)

Painting is getting close to completion with the landward side now brought to the concluding stage of two coats of maroon gloss. Next week should see the seaward side, which has currently only had one coat of gloss, follow. The mechanism for the passenger communication apparatus has also been secured properly to the Holt end of the coach and at the Sheringham end, the rain hood which goes atop the corridor connection has almost been refitted.

On the interior, the door securing chains for the accessible area have been fitted to the relevant doors which was one of the final jobs to complete in this area. Thorough cleaning work to the toilet has also been completed with just some minor revarnishing to be done to finish off. The Holt end vestibule is also doping well, with the new ceiling panels now all in place and most of the varnished wall paneling refitted. The sliding door and its mechanism should be next.

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

Further bodywork is being progressed. The third and final door to be rebuilt (the drivers door) has been a major focus this week with the corroded steel pillar being remade as required. Some areas of surrounding skin have also been chopped out and patched with new steel, which finishes all the welding work to the seaward side, an important milestone, especially so given that this side was far worse than the landward.

With our new member of staff getting into his stride, we have been able to double up the steelwork effort on this vehicle, with him starting a new front at the rear of the vehicle on the landward side. This week windows have been stripped out and the rear saloon investigated of all suspected areas and a good start made on those repairs. One new window bottom pressing is in the process of being fitted, and two smaller repairs done to the other windows in this saloon that are only corroded in very localised areas. A major area has been above the rearmost door, which was in bad order behind the gutter, but remarkably the doorway below and the door itself remain in good order so need no disturbance.

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

No progress to report.

Workshop

The "drivers box" for the 7F steam locomotive pictured last week has been painted, completed and fitted back on the engine.

Maintenance

Vacuum leakage has been reduced a fair bit on TSO 4958, but a defective seal on one of the vacuum cylinders has been identified as the main remaining offender. None of our seals in stock are of the correct size (a quality control issue we seek to address with the supplier) so it will have to be investigated further at a later date, so for now we will seek to swap 4958 (and sister 4843) with TSO 4236 and BCK 21103 for the latter to have their C exams progressed prior to half term week.