Carriage & Wagon News - September 2011
LBSCR 8-Compartment Third 2403
Since our last update in July all doors have now been repaired and refitted to their appropriate compartments and most have also had their lower body panels fitted. The country end has now had all the body moulding fitted in place and that end has been undercoated. Derek Gardener is still making headway with “re-engineering” the ex-body frame into a door for the extended London end compartment. However it is taking much longer than originally anticipated to “make” the door so it would actually have much quicker to start from scratch, but at least when it is complete the door will contain original elements from an SR coach even if it won't actually be from 2403. On completion of repairing all of the doors Pete Jardine moved on to fitting the body mouldings on the lower body panels, he then set about fitting all the door locks. Andrew Asher has made a start at scumbling the London end compartment and will repeat this for the other compartments as soon as they are ready for this process. The roof hoops have been fitted in all compartments and once the outer surface of the roof has been cleaned and prepared work will start at fitting the canvas which was ordered towards the end of August and has now arrived in C&W.
Please click on this link to see latest information & photographs on the restoration of 2403.
LBSCR 10-Ton Open 27834
There have various hold ups in repairing & fitting the draw gear, but as the associated photos show the repair and fitting has now been completed. However the delays did not bring work to a halt as the time was used by John James to cut and plane the timbers which will form the sides of the wagon. The painting of these was undertaken by John Clarke. Dave Smart has made four new corner posts which will hold the timer sides in place once they are fitted to the wagon. It is hoped this wagon will be finished soon and hence enable the wagon department to start on their next project.
Please click on this link to see the latest photographs on the restoration of 27834.
SECR 4-compartment Brake Third 4149
The carriage body was brought into the C&W on our accommodation underframe in early August once the work on the 6349 was complete. As the associated photos show several lower body panels have been removed to reveal where remedial work will be required on the body frame, some of the damaged timber sections have already been replaced by John James. Many well rusted knees have been removed and replacements have been made and painted, but not yet fitted.
The bogies & underframe, which are all still out in Griffins Field Sidings, have now been spray painted black . During this work some damage was discovered on one of the bogies, possibly from an accident in the past.
Although the metal work of the underframe has been de-rusted & repainted it is still to be decided if the repairs to the badly rusted sections will be handled by C&W staff or if it will be put out to contract.
The work on 4149 will be put on hold at the end of September and the coach body bagged up again, this will enable it to taken back to the sidings to clear space in the C&W workshop.
Please click on this link to see the latest photographs on the restoration of 4149.
PMV 1046
Peter Clowes has been steadily working away in several areas including finishing off the paint work and making & fitting two new buffer back plates, one at the London end and the other at the country end. The work on the body is just about complete now but work is still required on the underframe before the van can be used.
LBSCR 8-compartment Composite 6349
The repaint of 6349 continued throughout July and and as announced here the carriage re-entered traffic looking very smart in its new crimson livery on the 4th August. Please see this link for a video of 6349 leaving Havenstreet for Smallbrook.
Please click on this link to see the latest photographs on the restoration of 6349.
LBSCR 3-compartment brake third 4115
As reported in our July update it was hoped to make a start at stripping the body from PMV 1669 so that its underframe can be used for the restoration of carriage 4115, we're very pleased to report that this work has now commenced out in Griffins and it is hoped that very shortly the PMV will shunted into the C&W sidings which will make the strip down much easier.
Coming up next…
As reported above 4149 is due to vacate the C&W workshop, this is to enable the four wheel carriages to come in for their annual revarnish. It is hoped that whilst the four wheelers are in for this work there will also be space to bring in PMV S1046 so that the work required on its underframe can be progressed. Once the work on the four wheelers is completed it is intended that 4145 will come into the C&W workshop to repainted in crimson. Also between now and our Christmas running period the stock which will operate the Christmas service will all under go their “B” exams.
PMV 1669 will be moved into the yard so that work to remove its body can be progressed. As the draw gear has now been fitted on 27834 it is hoped that this project can shortly progress to completion and thus the wagon team can make a start on their next project, which will be the LBSCR Cartruck 60579. This will craned out of its storage site and relocated at the back of the C&W workshop where work can start.
New volunteers
All new volunteers are made very welcome in C&W, we always try and fit your skills or desires with appropriate tasks in C&W and it goes without saying but the more volunteers we have the more restoration and maintenance that can be done to the IWSR rolling stock. So if your interests are in carriages or wagons (we now have a dedicated team for these) and you're are interested in becoming a volunteer then please contact Clive Miller on 01983 882204 or please e-mail Clive on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Further pictures of IWSR C&W Dept. progress can be seen on C&W team member Derek Atkins’ website.