London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)
Vacuum leak testing has continued, with the coach split into two halves to hunt down the annoying leaks in the main steel vacuum pipe that runs from end-to-end. The first half has now been sealed sufficiently, whilst the second half has a series of leaking joints had had been disturbed as part of restoration efforts to date. This will now form the focus going forward on this job.
Interior woodwork components continue to be progressed with some nice varnished examples starting to emerge.
The ceiling panel former mentioned last time has been tested with some scrap Di-bond paneling and found to be successful. The centre lighting console running the length of the passenger saloon has been clad and the remainder of the roof space insulated ready to receive the ceiling itself.
London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)
Contract restoration in Derbyshire continues now that the vehicle is safely delivered into its new workshop facility where works will be completed. The move went well and it is now in an off-site facility not connected to a heritage railway.
Now that the disruption associated with the move of a business is settling down, works to 16631 have restarted. The non-brake corridor end has been a focus of attention with paneling now fitted, prepped and painted.
The replacement gangway connection which was sent westwards is being cleaned and prepared for fitting to the end.
Close to the same end, a further door has been hung successfully.
Finally, side panels have also been rubbed down for further painting.
London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)
This vehicle has seen good progress made with the exterior restoration now almost complete, aided by consistent good weather at last! The remainder of the woodwork repairs were all completed, with the same areas patch primed and later patch undercoated ready for the big day utilising corporate volunteers.
A group of nine enthusiastic employees from Aviva made very short work of applying the gloss maroon to the side of the vehicle, in fact it was finished in just one hour! We hope they had a satisfying time and it certainly made a difference to the coach's appearance. The long footboard was also coated black later in the day.
The vehicle is now complete other than a second coat of maroon on the bodyside and also black painting of the ends.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)
Whilst progress continues to be made at a strong pace, much of it is similar to that already pictured in earlier updates. Continued floor repairs continue to be made at the Holt end with more rotten floor supports made good. We area also making progress on mapping out the new toilet onto the existing floor so we can modify the floor supports to take the relocated walls. Bodywork at this end is also doing well with some skin work along the seaward side renewed.
In the guards compartment, more wall planking continues to be restored and in some cases, actually refitted to the walls. The biggest change however has been the dividing wall between the guards compartment and former luggage, now kitchen, area. This bulkhead has had its two windows plugged to create a solid wall, so that things won't get awkward is there are any scandalous feuds between dining train guards and kitchen staff! A section in the corner of the same wall has also been cut away to take the relocated emergency equipment cupboard, which itself has been on the bench last week undergoing stripping and restoration. The movement of the cupboard is part of the scheme to widen the adjacent corridor to make the waiter's path easier. We are trying to make a clever design which will allow the cupboard to form, a handy shelf inside the guards compartment but have a flush fitting door that will open outwards into the kitchen, on the extremely rare occasions that the emergency equipment may be needed.
The side wall between the guard and corridor is now whole again, with a revised section being built and a BR style window added to keep enough light inside the reduced size guards compartment.
British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)
Lower lining has been reapplied along the landward side where it had been damaged by repairs, and other signwriting to the lower half completed meaning the coach was ready to move back into the staging for cosmetic works to continue on the upper half of the coach.
Cleaning and painting of the replacement springs for the centre bolster of the Sheringham end bogie has continued.
Repairs to the inside of the vehicle are now fully completed, the last task being the completion of fitting replacement draught excluders to the six passenger doorways.
British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)
Two milestones have been reached, both with a painting theme. Firstly, the maroon glossing of the cab interior has been completed, allowing the painting of the cab desk and window surrounds to now start.
Secondly, all of the lining has been applied, consisting of three bodyside lines that wrap round the cab front and corridor ends. This means that signwriting of lettering and solebar details can commence.
We have now started the task of refitting the windows, which in some cases is proving a challenge!
Latterly this vehicle had been running without batteries. We have now fitted a set and following replacement of a blown fuse now have a charging system working once again and all the lights on the vehicle have been proven to still work.
British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)
This vehicle has now officially transferred from HQ at Weybourne to the out-stationed team up at Holt who will be bringing this project over the line. It was positioned under the awning at Holt next to the museum for work to start.
British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)
With B740918 transferred to Holt, this has freed up capacity at Weybourne to start the Lowmac flat wagon, which is Weybourne's wagon project for 2024. We are going to be needing some help on this one from the Youth Development Club (YDC), who wasted no time in getting stuck in the same week the vehicle arrived from Holt. The YDC have degreased and jet washed the landward side and both ends ready for repainting to start, much needed as the wagon's last repaint was as far back as 1996, when many of the YDC adult helpers were themselves children or teenagers!
Other volunteers have now removed all of the rotten timbers which conspired to withdraw the wagon from service late last year. Removal of wasted bolts has also occurred and sections of corroded metal normally hidden by the planks has been needle gunned back stable and recoated in paint to protect the areas going forward.
The new timber for the deck has now arrived so hopefully it will not be long before they are cut to size for fitting.
British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)
The vehicle is now completed! (cue applause!) The Holt team have done a great job repairing and repainting this vehicle which will made its debut at the "Festival of Rails" event in the demonstration goods set.
Workshop
We recently took delivery of a lot of workshop equipment, as part of a rail industry supplier warehouse surplus sale. We are very pleased with our equipment, many of which were "bid on blind" as they had brief or incomplete descriptions with no pictures in the list! The stuff, new old stock obtained at a reduced price compared to brand new, will keep certain parts of our workshop well stocked for many years saving much funds which can be ploughed back into the coaches themselves. All these crates have needed splitting down and the myriad of components pigeon holing into respective places around the workshop, which has taken some days but we are getting there!
