August News

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

Following a deep clean and major exam, this vehicle is now back in traffic giving us six members of operating vehicles for the vintage train for the very first time. However due to weight limits of some engines we will likely continue to operate the set as a five-coach formation. As 853 contains a guards brake, its return allows Pigeon Van 6843 to rejoin the Quad-Art set.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)

The main progress this month has continued to be on the roof. The scaffolding was successfully reset in height giving a better working level for the cantrail/gutter. This quickly allowed the edging strips, previously removed for the replacement of the canvas, to be refitted and sealed. Further coats of roof paint were then added along with a few final items of furniture bringing the roof project to a close. Some damaged timber cappings on the end of the vehicle have also been improved and replaced, along with cutting back of excess canvas hanging below. The scaffolding can now be dismantled and this is booked to be done with the contractor shortly.

In parallel with the roof work, door skin production and adjustment has also been progressing around several doors, although we will require the scaffolding to be removed before these can be brought to completion.

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

The beading for the lower sides of the vehicle has been ordered and will be delivered to the contractor's premises shortly. This will hopefully be fitted shortly, over the painted di-bond panels, and be painted bringing the bodysides to an almost completed state.

Roof canvas work has also been progressing, bringing the exterior of the coach ever closer to completion.

London North Eastern Railway 1945 Gangwayed Brake E70621E (SILVER)

This vehicle has progressed really well, with the interior of the larger Sheringham end saloon catching up with the Holt end. This has included roof and wall repairing, prepping and painting cream/white/brown as required. This same repair process has now moved on to the final two aspects of the interior: the inside faces of the doors and the guards booth. Both are now progressing with the sand paper, filler and paint all in evidence!

On the topic of doors, a great deal of effort has been put into both the two guards inward opening and the six sets of double doors, to finish the work started early in the year before the door team were removed to work on E3868 instead. All of the doors on the whole vehicle are now clad externally, mechanically repaired and doorways fettled to allow reliable opening and closing to occur after many years of being swelled shut.

The two gangway end doors have now been successfully rebuilt and fitted back into their frames.

The current focus on the exterior is the fitting of remaining door edge capping strips, which are being cut to size and screwed into place. The intention is still to have the vehicle usable by Christmas.

London North Eastern Railway 1936 Tourist Third Open 13251

The newly arrived Gresley coach has now been fully prepared for storage up at Holt. The older pattern LNER vacuum cylinders have been removed in order to dispatch them to another home as we do not use them. The bent gangway end has been removed and swapped for a spare which is undamaged. The bent example has subsequently been heated up and successfully reshaped so it can be used on another Gresley.

A decent tidy up and sweep out has also been done to the interior so it holds as little damp/mess as possible whilst it awaits restoration. The remaining items which will be used in its restoration have been audited and stacked neatly along with further seating so we have a nice kit of parts when the time comes. This is in contract to many vehicles on the NNR which have been stored in the past, where they have accumulated a huge amount of spare parts not intended for themselves, which have later presented a storage problem when the carriage is extracted to be restored! All being well 13251 will not present this issue!

The coach will now be tripped to Bridge Road Carriage Sheds at the earliest opportunity for storage.

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

All focus has been on the underframe and mechanical systems underneath, with the coach body remaining up on jacks lifted well off the bogies, and great progress has been made. The Sheringham end of the chassis has been needle gunned back to bare metal and painted back up to fresh black gloss. It is clean and shiny under there for the first time in many decades! The next task will be to complete similar works to the Holt end.

The braking system at the Sheringham end has been removed from the coach, freed off, checked for wear, repainted and in many cases refitted back onto the vehicle with silky smooth operation. The handbrake mechanism is now completed, and an additional safety valve added which prevents a vacuum brake being created until the handbrake is released. This has been Tee'd into the vacuum pipe and mechanically linked to the handbrake pull rod, all tucked away out of sight in the middle of the coach underneath.

Both vacuum brake cross-shafts and cylinders have been off, overhauled and refitted. Everything has received the standard clean and paint revival as we have gone. Being a Gold overhaul, the works are comprehensive and there is satisfaction in leaving no stone unturned.

A major step forward has been the installation of a brand new steam pipe system. This consists of a main end-to-end pipe and a subsidiary pipe that feeds all of the individual heaters. Whilst we still need to fit the heaters themselves and connect them up individually, the presence of the main pipework underneath takes us much closer to forming the steam system.

Finally, 24 volt conduits that suited the coach when it had a side compartment have been stripped off and the wiring removed from the main fuse box. This same wiring had been sawn off at floor level in any case during asbestos removal, so will need replacing as part of modifying the electrical system to suit an open saloon vehicle rather than a side compartment.

Over in upholstery, reupholstering of the twin seats continues. A missing folding arm rest has been replaced on a seat where it was found to be missing, which became a surprisingly complex operation!

British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868 (BRONZE)

Another coach which has progressed well, both inside and out. Internally the steam heat installation is now complete at the Holt end which brings a close to this aspect of the project. This has allowed the Holt end seating to be mainly refitted, with tables etc. to follow. This is still in progress but does not have long left to complete.

Externally, the coach's previous anniversary brown livery has been replaced with Crimson & Cream. All painting has been finished (an undercoat followed by two gloss coats) and lining applied to the top of the cream. The next task is lining the bottom and lettering.

The removed carriage roof board brackets are also complete having been rubbed down and repainted crimson. 

Maintenance

We are braving our way through the holiday season, where the number of cases of damage to the coaching stock rises dramatically. Thankfully there has been nothing too serious, but there has certainly been a steady stream of repairs and faults for us to work through! Mid season "A" examinations have also been undertaken as and when required.