My last report was four months ago, and then I had mentioned that we had just started work on the maroon FK (Corridor first) 13326. That coach had been running in service for more than five years yet was thought to be in pretty good condition. How wrong we were.

There were tell-tale bubbles of paint and some rusting under three of the windows. Once we got the coach inside and it had dried out, these were investigated it was found that matters were far worse than we had expected. Water had been getting into the seal at the bottom of the large windows and had rotted both the wooden and steel framing, and the steel body panel below. It all had to be stripped out and be rebuilt. Of course, inevitably that meant that much of the internal compartment had to be removed to get at it.

Another job which is now being done on all exterior passenger doors when a coach is in our workshop, is that each one is removed from the coach and is then stripped down to its basic components.  All are refurbished and the door is rebuilt. In future, that should save vast amounts of trouble for us.

All interior upholstery has been cleaned and repaired. 13326 is now finished after four months hard work, and is ready to go back into the rake.

That just left one final maroon coach which had not been attended to; SO (Open second) 4798. We have three of these type of coaches in service; one in each rake. They are a bit of an anomaly, in that they are a standard Mk 1 open coach, but the seating is arranged on a 2+1 basis, so there is much more width to each seat than in a standard open coach. A relatively small number were built, so we are fortunate to have three. They are very comfortable to travel in, as they appear to have been intended for second class dining.

4798 is one of those coaches where the bodyside is flush with the glazing. This is a very poor design because however well the window is sealed, water gets in and the bodywork around the windows begins to rot. It was a design that caused problems and had to be changed early in the Mk 1 build programme. For that reason, you will see the majority of Mk 1 coaches with an aluminium external frame around the windows. This both stops and conceals a rotten bodyside. Inevitably the bodywork around some windows on 4789 needed attention, so we have brought this into the shed for remedial work. It has to be done quickly.

After the repairs were done, a decision was taken to give it a quick once over coat of paint to match the others; and in particular to paint the roof dark grey like the rest. So when finished, it should look very smart - although it was actually only refurbished three years ago. It also gives us a chance to give the inside and especially the moquette a heavy clean and repair.

The reason why we have to do 4798 quickly is that we have to start work on one of the Elegant Excursion coaches; 3091 MARGUERITE in mid September. We have a 'window of opportunity'between 22nd September and early December to overhaul and refurbish it. It is already booked and needed for the Christmas dining trains. First impressions are not encouraging as it clearly requires a good deal of remedial work - not least by our door repair experts. This one really will be a race against time. I will update you on progress next time.

Outside in the Barn, our wagon repair team have been making great strides forward. The LNWR Van 47972 was brought inside several months ago to cure a persistent roof leak. It ended up with all bodysides and framing being removed as it was totally rotten. It is now being completely rebuilt with new timber, and ironically, the roof has not yet been looked at.

We also extracted a BR Shocvan from one of the storage sidings, and much work has already gone into restoring that. Very careful removal of the remaining paint on the lower bodysides revealed that the original number was B854239. This is a wagon that was built at Faverdale works in Darlington in 1957, to Diagram 1/218 and to Lot 3008.

A shocvan looks like a standard BR Box van, but - as its name suggests - the body is constructed so that it can slide on the chassis against large horizontal springs. The theory is that when the wagon is shunted, the shock of buffering up is taken by the chassis. The body is unaffected, so that fragile cargoes such as china and glassware can be carried without too many breakages. Apparently, one of the hazards of sending goods by rail was that there was so much fly shunting and rough handling that much of the goods was found to be smashed on arrival.

Shocvans could be distinguished by short vertical white painted bars on the bodyside, and ours will be finished like that. We do not plan to use ours for rough shunting. It is planned as another stores wagon, and will end up parked at the front of our shed.

So now finally, after nearly two years of hard work our maroon set is almost ready to go back into regular use. The plan is that once 4798 is completed in mid September, that we shall put the complete rake into regular service. The original plan was then to withdraw the carmine & cream set and refurbish some of those coaches, but time has overtaken us.  There are at least three of that set that need work, but that would mean having to leave the chocolate & cream set in use for that period.

Sadly, a number of the chocolate & cream set are also becoming quite poor, and we cannot leave them in service that long. Therefore, what has been decided is that we shall make up a rake of the better of the two current service rakes, and withdraw the rest for overhaul. The plan is that the rake next year will comprise BSK 34929, TSO 4763, RBr 1675, TSO 4772, SO 4787 & FK 13329. Those withdrawn will make up a spare rake for use on gala weekends, and can be refurbished in rotation.

One of the consequences of making up this mixed rake is that as you can see, there are no compartment coaches. That means that this rake can be used on our ever popular fish & chip trains next year, and we can accommodate even more passengers than before.

So that is the plan. Obviously, a lot more work is going on in addition to what I have detailed above. The second RBr (Restaurant Buffet refurbished) 1672 continues to progress; as does the BSOT (Open Brake Second with Trolley) 9000. More on those two next time, although I have included a picture of the RBr, so that you can see how we are dealing with the challenges posed by the bodywork.

Richard Johnson
03.09.08