A Change of Direction

17101 has now been put to one side in the storage shed whilst we get on with our winter program.  We expect 17101 to be resumed around next April.

We have purchased three vehicles which formed the kitchen, service and power supply of the Elegant excursions dining train on the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway.  The first of these to arrive is a TSO, 4331, which has been converted into a kitchen car, and is pictured here inside the shed.

The intention is to add two of our seating vehicles to make a dedicated five car dining set, with the capacity to cater for larger parties.

To make the set stand out as obviously different, we are going to paint it in Crimson and Cream.

In the kitchen, Henry has been getting behind the cookers and work tops, to clean out the inevitable grease build up.

The cookers moved forward to reveal the pipe work.

There are a few repairs to do before the repaint can take place.  One is the usual build up of rust underneath the door entrance, which will require the vestibule floor to be replaced.

The steam heat hasn't been used for years, which we will require to be working.  When tested we found a number of leaks, one excessive one is pictured below.

Another picture of the same.  This is just behind the buffer beam and is on the ninety degree bend.

One reason for the excessive corrosion at this point might be this strange repair.  The pipe with the slot in it below is the soil discharge pipe from the toilet.   The slot has been cut out to fit it around the steam heat pipe, this means that the discharge from the toilet would be constantly soaking the pipe.

As we have five vehicles to repaint, we have decided to move the jacks, this will allow an uninterrupted run of staging all the way along the vehicle at the back of the shed.  Here seen standing like silent sentries along the side of the shed.

TSO number 4777 being rubbed down in preparation for painting.

One job carried out on 4777 is the replacement of all of the door hinge ball and pin sets, one of which is pictured below.

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07th October 2014

  

Progress continues on 17101, the internal fibre glass end panels have now been fitted.  They have been suffering badly from exposure to light, the orange areas seem to be original, with the lighter yellow areas having been exposed to sunlight.  These panels will probably have to be painted.

 

 

The toilet floor has been covered with linoleum and a new base rail has been fitted

Another project in its early stages is the creation of a dedicated weed killing wagon.  Below is the chassis from a mermaid wagon, the body had become very rotten and was beyond saving.  A large number of the tipping body fittings have been removed at this stage, there just remains the two main guides, which will be cut soon to provide a level chassis top.

 

16th October 2014

The mermaid chassis has now been levelled off and is now outside the shed.  It will be shot blasted and primed in about two weeks time.

 

Another close up view of the levelled off chassis, this will provide the base for the new wagon body.

 

Back on mark 2 17101, the toilet walls have been re-built.  This view has been taken looking through the window aperture.

 

Another view of the toilet walls, taken from the corridor.

 

The large double glazed windows, of which six out of the eight windows have been stripped down to remove the glass, have begun the process of being put back together again.  All 45 of the 2BA screws have been drilled out, re-tapped and renewed.  The rubber seals have been cleaned out and refitted using a rubber sealant similar to that which modern car windscreens are fitted with.  The windows suffered badly from leakage, therefore we have sealed the rubber on to the glass, sealed it into the frame and sealed the frame onto the body.  Hopefully this will stop any water getting in in the future.

 

Two of the windows that have been riveted back into the frame.

Mark 1 TSO 4777 has been removed from the running set, brought into the shed to begin the process of a repaint.  Over the next few weeks we will be receiving three new coaches which will form a separate dining set, these will be joined by 4777 and SO 4477 to form an independent five coach dining set.  It is intended to paint this set in Crimson and Cream.

Taylor starting the rubbing down.