Farewell Chassis

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

No progress to report.

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

Contract works continue at LS Engineering.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E (BRONZE)

This continues to be the priority project in the works at Weybourne. The second coat of roof paint has been applied which was the final task for the roof. The destination boards have also been completed, with several coats of varnish applied, and have been hardening before we reinstate them on the roof.

The seaward side is now also nearly completed, having been rubbed down again and given a final coat of varnish. Only window cleaning is now required on this side.

The landward side is not too far behind and is steadily catching up with the seaward side. A large amount of effort has been put into the painting side, with the last few weeks seeing undercoat applied to the upper cream band and two coats of cream and red gloss being applied to the upper and lower sections respectively. This now means that painting is complete on this side, which is now hardening prior to varnish application next week.

The two coach ends have been brought up as far as black undercoat. The floor was found to be lifting around the Holt end corridor, so this was stripped down and corrosion removed before sticking the lino floor back down and refitting the brass tread plate. Surrounding platework has also been cleaned up and painted. Both gangway faceplates have been cleaned down of old grease and undercoated.

Inside the vehicle, the work to rationalise the coach's electrics has been completed and we have a simple 240V and 12V system now. Also fitted is a shore supply socket and changeover switchgear, so that the fridge can be run unattended overnight without the generator running.

Hopefully it will not be much longer before the coach is returned to traffic.

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

Some major restoration work to the interior has been restarted after a long period on the back burner. The guards compartment has been selected as a small self contained area we can make progress on. Firstly it was cleared out of accumulated rubbish, some of which was still lingering from its previous home. With the area empty, several items attached to the walls which we are not retaining were removed. The largest such item is the original "pie oven", which whilst being a nice and original feature, is being sacrificed so that the wall space it occupies can be utilised for other equipment. This has to be done as the guards compartment is being reduced in space slightly so it will have to have a cleverly designed layout to accommodate all the emergency and guards equipment.

With items removed, the sliding entrance door has been taken off its runner and the old lino removed from the floor, revealing the somewhat rotten plywood below. Both the plywood floor and support bearers that the bulkheads and sliding door sit on require partial replacement, so we will now start looking at these floor repairs so that we have a firm base upon which to rebuild. The floor in the adjacent side corridor has been fully removed to facilitate repairs, and to clean up the top of the chassis below which had been rusting and pushing the whole floor upwards.

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

Progress has slowed again whilst there is a big push on 9128, however things are still happening. The front end skirt has been filled smooth and given a coat of black primer to protect it.

Also at the front, the three cab windscreens and destination indicator glass have all received replacement rubbers and have been refitted to the vehicle, making the cab a sealed area once again.

The cab interior has moved into the repainting stage, with the ceiling now in gloss white.

Work on the battery boxes and replacing the rubber on the side windows also continues steadily. The window rubber replacement in particular is very time consuming but we are approaching the half way point thankfully.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

With better weather now with us, another few sessions have been possible on the landward side of the vehicle, which has been filled in many areas and a coat of primer applied to the whole side. One or two planks have been left out as requiring more work, but the bulk of the side is now getting there.

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

The Holt based team have now completed replacing timbers on the seaward side and additionally have  almost completed the Sheringham end.

The Holt end timbers have been replaced and this area is now ready for ironwork to be replaced. The buffer beams will be painted in due course.

The weather continues to be the biggest drawback. Space is limited under the museum awning, so a dry day is needed to push out and complete the landward side of the vehicle.

Brian has been beavering away with painting and has managed to get a first top coat on part of the landward side. Most of the seaward side is now primed and part undercoated.

A rough estimation, weather permitting, is that the vehicle may be completed in July all being well.

Disposals - B732930

A week or so ago, the discarded 4-wheeled chassis from M&GN 129 was tripped from Bridge Road sheds to Weybourne, where its vacuum cylinder was removed prior to the chassis being collected and transferred to a new home at the Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust in Aberdeen. We have struggled to find a future for this chassis that didn't involve the scrap man, so we are extremely pleased that it has been saved for use under another vintage carriage body north of the border. We wish the new owners all the best in their heritage endeavors.

For the record, the chassis was from BR Tube wagon B732930, made surplus to our requirements following the restoration of a more historically accurate 6 wheel chassis for M&GN 129 a few years ago.