Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853 (BRONZE)
Painting of the lettering of this vehicle is progressing steadily, with completion of the vehicle and a return to traffic expected in June.
Great Eastern Railway 1897 6 Wheel Saloon Third 37 (BRONZE)
Our latest addition to the Vintage Set has now arrived, on a five year loan from Stately Trains (based at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway). The vehicle is a 6 wheeled third class saloon (although its livery suggests first class) and will add 38 seats to the train which can often be a victim of its own popularity when running. Of Great Eastern pedigree and now back in East Anglia, it is a great fit for the set.
Following arrival, the vehicle has been in the shed at Weybourne for remedial works, commissioning into NNR service and a major exam so it can join the fleet properly. After an extended period of running and a brief spell in storage, we had a list of items to get through. The four doors have all seen the handles and locks reinforced and repaired where they were loose, and door edges eased where they had swollen with edges repainted where required.
On the underframe, some buffer packing has been added to firm up the buffers and eliminate play, a spring has been adjusted and a loose bolt on the headstock replaced.
Internally, a lot of loose and/or damaged trim and paneling has been repaired and refixed into position, which is worth it so they don't become problematic in the near future when running the vehicle. A set of blinds used at the E&BAR but not favoured on the NNR have been removed and will be moving to another ex Stately Trains vehicle recently relocated to the Mid Suffolk Light Railway. Any other loose items have been tightened up so the interior is now ready for use.
The vehicle is now almost completed, the only outstanding task being the fitting of a replacement passenger communication valve, after which the coach will be examined and passed to the Operating Department.
London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)
Having cured onto the vehicle, the replacement roof canvas has seen a further coat of bedding compound applied onto the outer surface this time, turning it a fetching shade of yellow! Missing roof furniture such as vents and rain strips have also been added.
The next task will be the application of grey roof paint, after which the scaffolding surrounding the vehicle can be lowered slightly to allow all of the capping strips to be fitted around the edges of the canvas.
London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)
Much like 1866, roof canvassing is the order of the day over in Derbyshire. Around half of the vehicle has been bedded down so far.
London North Eastern Railway 1945 Gangwayed Brake E70621E (SILVER)
The brakes have now been reconnected, joining the overhauled vacuum cylinders to the swapped bogies. As part of this, the brake rods were shortened to allow for the fact that the new bogies are 6 inches longer than the old ones. The brakes have now been adjusted up and tested successfully.
Inside the coach, good work has continued in the Holt end saloon. The walls have received further sanding and filling followed by a coat of white undercoat to highlight any final areas to attend to.
Meanwhile the ceiling at this end has seen the steel supporting ribs picked out in brown, these really set off the ceiling nicely and completes the work required in that area.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)
With the doors of the coach now fitted, pink primer has been able to be applied around the entirety of the vehicle, making it all one colour for the first time in many years. The next major task has been gangway end overhauls. The gangways were removed from the coach which has allowed the clean ends to be painted up to black gloss ready for the replacement woodwork and final end furniture to be prepared and fitted.
Meanwhile, the two gangways themselves have been off the vehicle being cleaned up and re-bushed where required. The front faces of these were in a bad way and have required some work to turnaround, which is currently still in progress.
British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open NN3868 (BRONZE)
The interior overhaul is progressing nicely. The involved window woodwork for the Sheringham end has now been fully repaired, bleached and varnished up. This allowed all of the window glass to then be refitted with its wooden bars, leaving just the main window surrounds left to fit.
Other work on the interior has included ceiling paint, of which around half has been done. All of the table brackets have been reinforced by attaching them to the steel under the window rather than the wood, a modification we have very slowly been rolling out across the fleet where we can. The tables themselves have been repaired where required, the edges repainted brown and they are now stored ready to refit after the seats have gone back in.
The seat ends themselves have now been bleached and are awaiting varnishing. Replacement seat ends for the Holt end saloon, which are damaged, have been extracted from storage and are in the process themselves of steadily being sanded down. The Holt end is unlikely to be disturbed or progressed until the main repairs to the Sheringham end are completed.
Maintenance
The first A exams of the season are now starting to come around, which are being slotted in between the staggered annual C exams still being completed on individual vehicles.
Workshop
The workshop has benefitted from a big Spring clean to clear the decks and put us in a good position for the main season's activities ahead. We are also looking at ways to continue and step up the yard tidy project which commenced last year.
