Carriage & Wagon News - November 2010

LBSCR 8-Compartment Third 2403

It’s now just over a year since 2403 came into the C&W workshop and we have come a long way in that time, as you will see at the end of this latest report a very significant event happened in late October.

As can be seen by the first photo even the inclement weather couldn't stop work being done on the braking system and heating pipe work for the underframe. Kevin Colley and Gary Walker erected this stylish (??) tent to enable them to carry on regardless of the rain.

By late September Derek Gardener had completed the work on the new main members to enable the London end compartment section to dropped down, he then started work on cutting new pieces to extend the cant rails on both side of the coach. Once the extended London end section had been fixed in place Pete Jardine & John James then set about fitting new floor boards in the now extended compartment.

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 Derek Atkins spent several weeks removing all windows from the south side of the coach and  doing the stripping, cleaning and painting ready to start the long haul of reinstalling them all again, the first window being put back in place by early November.

Because of loose and corroded screws and gaps between roof boards, many are being removed, stripped, cleaned and refitted to close up all the gaps. Those not removed being stripped and cleaned in situ.

As the London end compartment will allow space for wheelchair users, the partition to the next compartment is having a doorway cut and a genuine Southern Railway internal door fitted to allow access by their travelling companions.

Not quite so obvious to the passer-by is that Andrew Asher has put in a lot of effort sanding down the compartment interiors.

 Last by no means least in late October the coach body was raised, the temporary underframe rolled out and the newly restored donor underframe rolled into place underneath, as can be seen in the last picture. Currently the body is still resting on sleepers on the underframe, there is still a small amount to work to do before the body can finally be lowered down and bolted firmly into place.

LBSCR 10-Ton Open 27834

 Buffer castings on one end have now been fitted, this ties that end together. The new straps to tie together the other end of the wagon have been prepared, the remaining buffer castings will soon be fitted. The wheelsets have been sitting, cleaned and repainted, at the end of the C&W workshop ready to be fitted under the wagon.

LBSCR Bogie 5-Compartment Brake Third 4168

Steady progress has been maintained on 4168, however this has been slightly retarded due to the need to divert resource to the 2403 underframe project. That being said, the lighting in the brake end has been completed and John James has fitted the seat bases in the passenger compartments. 4168 is the first user of the new C&W hard standing (more of that later) to enable the country end to be lifted and the bogie to be removed.  The bogie is now inside C&W being dismantled and the wheelsets from the Scottish underframe, which have been cleaned and repainted, are in the process of being fitted together with refurbished brake gear. While the bogie is in the workshop new buffer brackets are being fabricated and fitted.

 Winter Maintenance

Since our last report the usual winter maintenance program has begun and to date 2515, 2343, 6378 and 6336 have been rubbed down and re-varnished. Additionally 4 carriages have so far been through the “B” exam process.

PMV S1803

 The programme of work to tidy up  PMV 1803 and make it the wagon team’s work shop continues. However after the major  set back in late August when the roof leaked like a sieve in the heavy rains, it was taken into the workshop for several days so the roof could be painted with bitumastic in the hope of keeping the water out. So far it looks like this has been successful and the PMV is now back in the C&W sidings where you can see by the associated pictures the north side painting has been completed and very nice it looks too. Over time it is intended to repaint the rest of the body work.

What else has been going on?

 As mentioned earlier in this report there is now a concrete hard standing on one of the workshop roads. This work was completed by the P Way team (a BIG take you to them) together with outside contractors in early September. As can be seen by the associated pictures a section of track was lifted and the track bed dug out. This enabled the tack to be relaid with concrete sleepers and then set in several tons of concrete. Now this work has been completed we now have of track which will enable both carriages and engines to be lifted so appropriate work can be undertaken, in addition to the existing wheel drop and hoist facility.

 Coming up next....

SECR Brake Third 4149 will be moved into the workshop for a week or so whilst the coach body is transferred onto the accommodation underframe. This will enable its own underframe to be shot blasted and then assessed to establish what repairs are required to return it to traffic.

LBSCR Brake Third 4168 will come into the workshop for final finishing and testing. Then the remaining 4 bogie coaches will be brought in for annual revarnishing/repainting.

We will also be removing the body from the next donor PMV for use under LBSCR 4 wheel Brake Third 4115.

New volunteers

 We'd like to welcome John Milddleton and Derek Edge as new  C&W team volunteers. New volunteers are always welcome, the more we have the more restoration and maintenance can be carried out on the IWSR’s historic rolling stock collection. If you are interested in joining us then please contact the railway’s Volunteer Coordinator Clive Miller on 01983 882204 or e-mail Clive at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it