Since the last update things have progressed well on Mk1 No.4046 and MK2 No.5145. Volunteers and paid staff alike have been working to keep the railway going and to keep up the motivation and progress on these crucial projects.
4046 has come on leaps and bounds. The walls, windows and doors are all firmly in place and have since received a coat of anti-corrosive green paint. The window glass from delivery to installation was just over a week and hopefully now that will all stay in place until the next overhaul. Apprentice Josh has been working with Ben on the internal fixing of the panels as well as the laborious process of staining and varnishing the panels. Each panel has been stained twice and varnished four times! We have agreed we want one toilet and one cupboard in this coach similar to 4392 and 4354. The two units are partly erect (as much as they can be until the plumbing is sorted), these are a little more traditional being mortise and tenon joints, and as you can see, we have added some new wood but saved what original we can. One water tank is installed with the second being installed by the end of September as this needs more TLC than expected.
The refurbished dynamo, regulator, charging sockets and fuse box have been fitted ready for final testing on the arrival of the batteries. All internal cable runs have been pulled in both for the audio, lights and the event audio which is a separate circuit. One bay of seats has been trial fitted to check the alignment. When we are happy with the test bay Josh will machine all the seat bases ready for upholstery.
MK2 No.5145 we got a little carried away with… All the south end has been stripped allowing for a new floor and supports in the vestibule end. The same will happen on the north end. Internally all the windows are being stripped. Some leaked and it was viewed that the larger work now would be easier than pulling the coach from service in the future to patch and repair the windows. The lights have come down for converting to LED and allowing for individual switches to each of the lights. There will be renewed cable for the heating circuit. The seat bases removed previously have been sanded and repaired and repainted where required. There are now sat in storage ready for installation.
And in other news…
You may have noticed that we had Pullman “Carina” delivered last week. She has now been sheeted to protect from the elements until a time when we can get her into the shed. For now though a catalogue of her parts will be formed and we can start sourcing items for this unique coach.