Carriage & Wagon News - September 2010
LBSCR 8-Compartment Third 2403
Great strides have been made in this project since the last report. Firstly, all work on the new north side main frame member has been completed and it is now fully installed in the coach body. At the same time the London end of the coach was detached from the rest of the body and moved out the appropriate distance, thus making space for the planned wheelchair compartment. As well as 2403 now having a new north side main member it was also deemed necessary to replace the section of main member at the London end. Once he had made and fitted this, Derek Gardener then switched his attention to the south side of the coach. Here he formed a scarf joint in the cut section of the main member and then made the new section needed to rejoin the detached London end panel back to the rest of the coach body. With all the work on the main members completed the London end panel can be dropped into place, which will then enable work to start on extending the cant rails on both sides of the body.
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Steady progress has been maintained on reinstalling the windows in the north side of the coach. Derek Atkins has now put windows in all the compartments except the two at the London end of the coach. These can not be dealt with until main member and cant rail work at that end is complete, making that end of the coach body rigid once more. Focus has now switched to the south side of the coach where Derek has removed all of the windows and Pete Jardine is renewing the body mouldings. Derek Atkins is following along behind cleaning and repainting the window mouldings and will in due course refit all of the windows.
Thanks to the efforts of Gary Walker, Gary White, Dave Smart, Stuart Butt, Kevin Colley and Derek Atkins the underframe has now been fully repainted and reassembled. The underframe was moved back to the C&W sidings during July where work is progressing to fit the brakes and the steam heat pipe work.
It is hoped that work on the coach body and underframe will have progressed to the point during September which will enable the temporary underframe currently supporting the coach body to be replaced with the shiny new (old??) one currently sitting outside of the C&W workshop.
LBSCR 10-Ton Open 27834
Although lack of space has so far prevented 27834’s new frame from being swung round over the C&W tracks, it has not prevented Graham Redfern and Andrew Tavener fitting lots of the iron work to the underframe. This includes all four ‘W’ irons together with the associated 8 spring hangers. Graham and Andrew have also installed several of the metal components which help to hold the oak beams of the underframe together. Their most recent task has been to cut new buffer back plates and attach them to the buffer shanks ready to install on the underframe. Although road space in C&W will be limited for some time, this will not hinder progress on 27834’s rebuild.
LBSCR Bogie 5-Compartment Brake Third 4168
We're very pleased to report that 4168 returned to the C&W workshop in late July to enable its restoration to continue. As previously reported the compartments are complete from the seat backs upwards. One of the first tasks on 4168’s return to C&W was performed by Gary White, who marked out and drilled the floors to take the pipe work for the steam heaters. The next task in each compartment was to paint the walls and floors where the seat bases will eventually go, John James then fitted the lino in the centre floor section.
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Although externally the coach body had been given a protective paint coat before work was suspended back at the end of 2009 it was deemed necessary to sand that off and fully repaint the bodywork. It took Gary Walker several days to do the sanding, he then started the repaint by applying undercoat. John James has refitted ventilators to the brake end doors and Andrew Asher has painted their inside panels.
SECR Bogie Saloon Composite 6375
6375's extended stay in C&W came to and end at the end of July. It was known that the saloon ceiling needed replacement, however during this work it was discovered that one of the partition walls was in a very poor condition and hence this too needed replacing. Over a few weeks, John James rebuilt the partition and fitted the new ceiling. The saloon was then fully repainted and some of our newly manufactured lamp shades, as described in the March 2010 C&W News, were fitted. It was identified that the upholstery was somewhat tired, so the seats in the saloon and the ‘country end’ compartment were fully reupholstered with SR pattern moquette, obtained as part of a swap deal with the Swanage railway.
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The repainting of the south side of the coach was completed, Pete Jardine then applied the lettering. The exterior of the coach body was then varnished and, after undergoing the usual ‘A’ exams, the coach re-entered traffic at the start of the main holiday season. Because of the Operating Department’s urgent requirement to have this carriage back in traffic (to cope with the record passenger numbers we are currently enjoying!) one task still has to be completed, the ‘London end’ compartment will have the seats reupholstered.
SR PMV S1803
Following it’s move from the Barn Field earlier in the summer, S1803’s usual resting place is now on the delivery road adjacent to the C&W works where it is to serve as additional workshop space. Some years ago, before it was banished to the Barn Field, S1803 could be found in a similar location where it served as the railway’s Mess Coach and Bar, a role it inherited from the two Chatham Brakes when they came to the head of the restoration queue in the 1980s. For those that don’t remember that far back, 4149 was the London Group Mess and provided food, 4145 was the Solent Group Mess and provided drink! Effort is now being put into sprucing up it’s exterior, some of the end panels have been cleaned and repainted and Peter Clowes has made and fitted new doors. When time allows the rest of the outside panels will follow suit.
Sadly, although bad sections of the roof had been patched with felt, during the very heavy rain of late August, it was found that several others areas had been leaking like a sieve and much of what was stored inside had been soaked! The full roof will need urgent attention before anything else can happen with S1803.
Coming up next
For the next few months work will be continuing on 27834, 4168 and 2403. The seats in 6375 will be finished when it can be withdrawn from traffic.
Historic Wagon Restoration Department
A Historical Wagon Department is being formed to take on responsibility for our fleet of original Isle of Wight railway wagons, a collection that is the envy of many other heritage railways. The inaugural meeting of the Department will take place at Havenstreet Station on Saturday, 18th September 2010 at 2pm, chaired by Gary Walker. The meeting is open to anyone with an interest in securing the future of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s historic wagon collection and is willing to give either moral or practical support to the initiative. Gary is looking to recruit practical help to reinforce the already impressive restoration effort, gather ideas as to how best to utilise and display the historic stock and also for assistance in raising funds to support the work – even wagons are not cheap to repair or overhaul!
New Volunteers
New volunteers are always welcome, the more we have the more restoration and maintenance that can be done to the IWSR rolling stock. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer then please contact Clive Miller on 01983 882204 or please e-mail Clive on clive59olds-steamrailway@yahoo.co.uk
Further pictures of IWSR C&W Dept. progress can be seen on C&W team member Derek Atkins’ website.