Multiple Roofs and Doors to Nowhere!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853 (BRONZE)

No progress to report.

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

The two main areas of progress have been tables and door skins. The tables have now been prototyped and following some feedback and ergonomic testing with chairs inside the saloon, it has been decided that the former school tables can be used with little modification on the single seat side, but will have a new leg design for the double seated side. These new legs are now in production, along with stripping back and revarnishing of all the table tops.

After a long period without attention, the exterior is being looked at in the form of replacement door skins. Originally, Thompson carriage doors had steel cladding on the lower halves of passenger doors and fully over luggage doors, which screwed to the front giving a smooth appearance. A design flaw of these skins is water getting in round the edges causing corrosion of the skin and rotting of the timber frame. This skin design is now being modified to wrap round the edges of the door offering greater water protection whilst maintaining original exterior appearance. So far, two new skins have been fabricated, with their curved folded edges, and trial fitted to doors on the landward side of the vehicle.

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

No progress to report.

London North Eastern Railway 1945 Gangwayed Brake E70621E (SILVER)

The vehicle has now lost its position in the shed and will be berthed outside for some time. Before it exited, efforts were made on jobs to make the vehicle as watertight as possible. This included the sealing of the new exterior cladding on the seaward side, matching those on the landward. Cladding has also been cut and fixed to the two ends, meaning only the doors now remain.

On the subject of doors, the two inward opening examples have continued to progress, with new lower panels being fitted, the woodwork sanded, filled and primed ready for full repainting in due course.

A brief window of opportunity to house the vehicle in the staging area emerged, allowing the new roof covering to be fitted. The old roof was first prepared before the new PVC covering was stretched over and secured around the perimeter, with low maintenance recycled plastic rather than the original wooden sections.

Work on the interior has slowed as resources were diverted from this area onto the tables for 1866. However a start has been made on undercoating the ceiling, with the first sections at the Sheringham end being treated.

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

Exterior bodywork has continued to progress. Both ends are now ready for reskinning, following the completion of all structural framework repairs. This includes a new floor plate at the Sheringham end and replacement lower sections on all four crash pillars, mirroring the contract repairs that were undertaken 12 months ago at the Holt end. Hidden steel is being painted and protected before it is covered over.

Work is also preceding on the fake doors and windows along the seaward side of the luggage area, that will house the cooking range. This has been a fascinating project of deception, involving the welding in of an old upper half of a door skin to give the original relief to the former droplight, bolting hinges to the outside of the skin, adding fixed door handles and adding strips of steel to provide relief where the doorway weather strips and window frames would have been.

The effect is not fully finished, as some of the details will be achieved via the use of matt black paint and lines to represent gaps and folds, however a good idea of what we are trying to achieve can already been seen. The end goal is for the coach to look as original as possible on the outside, despite the massive interior changes we are making to the original Brake Corridor First interior. Once the second window frame has been welded on, the main metalwork for this part of the body will be completed, and we can start on sanding and filling.

Internally, the second of the two replacement bulkheads has now been fitted, bookending the main passenger saloon. The second example is similar to the first in changing the doorway from being just off centre rather than on the far side, as part of the conversion from side corridor to open configuration. Unlike the first bulkhead, the second was able to be formed with parts of the old bulkheads joined together and cut into new shapes, with one half even remaining in situ during the conversion.

The vehicle is now due to spend a period in the staging area where we will no doubt make use of the platforms and overhead safety lines for the next areas of restoration.

British Railways 1959 Metro Cammell Railcar Driving Motor Composite Lavatory W51505 (BRONZE)

The newly arrived DMU vehicle has seen the most dramatic changes of all during the last month. The roof has been a major area of attention, as we knew it was leaking badly in several areas. Many BR era roof vent blanking plates were replaced and/or resealed, along with the removal of former water tank fittings and breathers which were all letting water into the interior.

All the old roof paint was also scraped off by hand, before two coats of fresh paint were applied, completing this vulnerable area.

The interior will be improved further on a future works visit, however initially we have deep cleaned the entire area from floor to ceiling to reverse the five years of damp storage and water damage as best as we can. Loose paint has been chipped off to stabilise it, missing panels glued back on or replaced and the toilet locked out of service, as we don't use them on the Class 101's. Now that the roof has been resealed, all of the seating under the roof leaks (which had been removed by a very forward thinking volunteer at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway where the coach had been stored) was returned into its correct position. A single seat base had been damaged too much by the water ingress, so was sent down to upholstery and recovered. Although not award winning, the interior is now fit for human consumption once again!

Again, corrosion repairs are not being tackled this time, however we spend around a week temporarily improving the cosmetic condition of the exterior. The 1990's high-intensity headlight has been removed backdating the appearance of the cab front by 20+ years.

This was followed by some patch painting and then several coats of gloss on the front end and cab doors to freshen them up, a trick we also employed on powercar 51192 earlier in the year. The rest of the bodysides had patch painting where the paint had fallen off in large chunks, followed by a rub down and varnish all the way round. Despite the quick and limited nature of the work, it has transformed the exterior appearance of the vehicle and it can now enter service without embarrassment.

The final stage of the works prior to an entry into traffic is mechanical. Normally in the hands of the Loco department, we are assisting in this case whilst we have the lifting capacity and whilst the vehicle is already inside our shed for the other works. A wheelset swap is required to repair damage to the front bogie which suffered wheelflats at its previous home. The vehicle has now been lifted in order to undertake this.

Other works completed have included the changing of a buffer and fitting of replacement vacuum cylinders. We do not envisage 51505 requiring to stay with us much longer as the remaining mechanical work is all that is now outstanding in our original schedule for the vehicle. It is anticipated that further work will be done to it in 12-18 months time all being well.

Maintenance

A start has been made on steam heating repairs, with at least four coaches throwing up issues after testing. Unglamourous but essential work each year!

A prettier task was the recommissioning of the L.E.D. lighting systems on the vintage train, which have never been used before despite being incorporated into the restoration of the set. It was very satisfying to see the system in action, which was enjoyed by a private charter run into the evening last month. The vintage train is available to hire, day or night, for anyone who wants a special train along the North Norfolk coast!