London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)
Further fitting of the interior insulation has been undertaken, ready for areas to be panelled off.
Meanwhile, components have been progressing on the bench, including a correct pattern LNER letter rack for the guards compartment and several steam heater covers intended to go down the side of the vehicle.
London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)
No progress to report.
London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)
No progress to report. All that remains outstanding from the previous repaint work is some finishing off round the black painted corridor ends.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)
The floor repairs and bodywork continue to progress along the seaward side. We are now almost at the half way point for this side of the main passenger saloon. The most recent work includes re-skinning under the windows towards the Holt end, and adding a lower repair section to the bottom of the bodyside.
Guards van reconstruction also continues. The planking is now fully fitted to the seaward side wall, which allowed the door jambs to be installed along with hinges and, excitingly, the door itself. This is actually the first door to be successfully permanently fitted to the vehicle, only seven more to go!
Much sanding and filling of the wall panelling has also been undertaken to create a really nice and clean environment, rather than just painting over the old surface. This sanding has been on the three non-planked walls that form the compartment.
Work is now focussing on replacing the ceiling in the compartment. We deliberated whether to change it or not, but decided to as we will not be in this position again for another 30 years at least! A new ceiling gives the opportunity to remove the old slots for the periscope mirrors, which have been patched over for most of the coach's history. The new panels have been cut to size and successfully dry fitted, they are now removed again for painting.
Volunteers have been doing well stripping down table light bulb surrounds ready for repainting. These are from open style stock so are one of the components not original to 14021 but essential to creating the new open saloon in an authentic format.
British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)
This vehicle, the next to be out-shopped, is now very much on the home straight. The exterior works to the body are now all but completed, with replacement lining applied to the upper half of the coach which was then masked up and repainted in a fresh coat of maroon. The vehicle has since been rubbed down again and completely varnished all the way round. This completes the exterior other than a few very minor touching in and window cleaning tasks.
Internally, the vehicle is now also finished, the final task being adjusting and finishing the replacement door draught excluders.
Only the replacement of the broken bogie coil springs now remains. We had hoped to complete this vehicle in time for this weekend's 1940's event, but we will sadly be around a week short!
British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)
The main area of progress has been the window fitting, which is always a challenge with this design of vehicle. The teams involved have done very well, with the seaward (driver's) side now all fitted back into place, and half of the other side also completed. It will not be too long before the vehicle is ready for exterior varnishing.
New tooling has now been produced for some perished internal rubbers (yet another rubber section!) which would have prevented us refitting the interior after the windows were fitted. This is now in production and should arrive next month after which we can start reassembling.
A few minor cosmetic finishing jobs are being done on the bufferbeams and chassis, before the vehicle is moved back into the staging again. This has included lamp brackets (black) and axlebox covers (yellow).
British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)
No progress to report.
British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)
The Youth Development Club have been busy priming the chassis of the wagon, the first coat of which is now 75% completed.
The "bodysides" (what little of them there is on a Lowmac) have also been undercoated in brown, ready for the vehicle's new Bauxite livery.
Finally, the replacement wooden planks have been cut down to length and test fitted before coming back out to be treated.
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