Carriage & Wagon News - December 2011
LBSCR 8-Compartment Third 2403
Since our last report steady progress has been maintained in several of the work areas on 2403. After a long and hard ‘slog’ Derek Gardener completed making the additional door for the London end compartment north side which he then hung in that compartment, John Milddleton then employed his panelling skills on the door. Both sides of the carriage have had all their lower body panels fitted by John Milddleton and body mouldings were made and fitted by Pete Jardine. All ‘imperfections’ have been suitably filled this enabled both sides to receive their first undercoat. Suitable timber has been obtained and cut for the packing strips along the edges of the roof and it is hoped these will be fitted before Christmas. Both of the London and country end compartments have been fully scumbled and also have had their view frames fitted. Tony Woodfield and Mark Williams have been undercoating & glossing the compartment ceilings which enabled Andrew Asher to follow on by scumbling the compartment walls. John James has been working his way through all of the seat backs slightly modifying their shape to more neatly fit in the compartments, once completed he's been springing them and covering with hessian ready in due course for their moquette to be fitted. Derek Atkins is cleaning, repairing and then revarnishing all the door ventilators.
{/webgallery}Please click on this link to see latest information & photographs on the restoration of 2403.
LBSCR 10-Ton Open 27834
John Clarke has spent many a happy hour painting the corner posts and side timbers for the wagon. John James, after fitting and bolting down the floor planks, installed the side walls & associated metalwork. Once the walls had been fully fitted John Clarke set to gloss paint them, then Peter Clowes did the sign writing. During November a last few mechanical items were fitted so that in early December the wagon was moved out of C&W and it is pictured here next to 27730 which is due into C&W shortly for its own repaint. To read Colin Brock's account of the Heritage Wagon Group's restoration of 27834 vist the Latest News pages.
{/webgallery}Please click on this link to see photographs from the various stages of the restoration.
SECR 4-compartment Brake Third 4149
As mentioned in the last update the work on this carriage was to be wrapped up at the end of September and it was then bagged up and taken back to the sidings until the workshop space allows the work on the carriage body to resume. Although little has been done on the carriage body since the last update some work has been done on the underframe. The bogies have been partially reassembled and refitted to the underframe which enabled it to be moved and free up other vehicles which had been ‘trapped’ behind it in the Griffins sidings.
{/webgallery}Please click on this link to see the latest photographs on the restoration of 4149.
PMV 1046
Peter Clowes has completed the work on the outer parts of the body which now shines in the sun and proudly displays its lettering. He has also started cleaning & repainting the interior, however this has been suspended for the winter. There is also still work required on the underframe but again this will not be completed before spring.
{/webgallery}LBSCR 3-compartment brake third 4115
As stated in the last update the underframe was brought to the C&W sidings so that the removal of the superstructure could be completed using the power feeds available from the workshop. The conversion work required to make underframe suitable for fitting under the 4115 carriage body has now been suspended until the better weather arrives next year.
{/webgallery}SECR 4-compartment Brake Third 4145
And then there were two! In mid-October 4145 came into the C&W sidings for its ‘magical’ transformation into our second crimson coach! Several people were involved in this work which consisted of removal of all paint from the metal panels and thorough rubbing down of all the woodwork and some mouldings were replaced. The London end buffers have been removed so that the wear in the draw-gear can be addressed. New pins and bushes are being made for each end, in addition new pins and bushes are being made for some of the brake gear. These mechanical items being worked on are the initial part of the annual A exam which will be completed before the carriage is made available for traffic again.
{/webgallery}LBSCR Cartruck 60579
Now that the restoration of 27834 is complete work is already in hand on the next project for wagon group within C&W. There is a very large pile of oak in our workshop which John James has been cutting, planing and jointing so that the wagon can be reconstructed. In parallel work is in hand to clean and repaint the metal components.
{/webgallery}PMV 1803
The completion of the work on 27834 enabled the wagon team to spend some time addressing issues with their own workshop i.e. PMV 1803. Given the past problems with the leaky roof it has now been felted which should keep the wet stuff at bay for some time now. The country end door north side has now had steps fitted which should make access to the inside much easier when the wagon is moved around the sidings, as happens quite often! The country end has now been fitted out with substantial shelves. Lastly in late December and whilst the Santa specials were in operation someone with a red hat and white bead was spotted ‘camping out' in the wagon!
{/webgallery}What else has been going on?
Four of the four-wheelers have been into C&W for their annual rubdown and re-varnish, each then had their 'A' exam carried out.
{/webgallery}Coming up next
Before the start of the next running season it is intended the following will all undergo a rubdown revarnish, followed by their ‘A’ exam: The remaining two four-wheelers, i.e. the push pull set, LBSCR bogies 4168, 6349, 2416 and SECR bogie 6375.
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.