Transport at KSE

 The phrase “putty in one’s hands” means very easy to influence, control, or persuade; like soft putty that can be shaped however you want. That’s wonderful...until you try that with 130-year old window putty that needs removing from the 20 window frames on NER diagram 15 coach No.2051. Quarrying granite with a rubber spoon is easier! After a slow going morning session the Thursday team did a bit of research which suggested that heat guns or infra red heat guns would soften it. We don’t have any infra red heat guns (or lasers, or light sabres) but the standard heat guns worked a treat and the team made great progress.  The putty job stopped at lunchtime because we have a self-imposed rule of no heat guns after lunch; that way if any errant spark or other burning is taking place the team have the opportunity to spot it and properly deal with it before home time. The team left excited about what might be achieved next week. You will see Stores Van No.2 and NER 7-compartment cler...

The Thursday gang returned to No.2051 to finish sanding down the frames reading for re-panelling. Task complete! One of the many aspects of the coach that make it such a remarkable find is that it is so complete with most of its brass fittings present. One of today’s tasks was the lifting of all the brass tread strips for each of the ten doors; not so much to clean them up (which we did, removing the thick bitumen) but mainly to get to the frame underneath.  Inevitably, some of the screws didn’t want to come out and so had to be drilled and dowelled. It’s boring but the team went home at the end of the day happy that the coach is just a little bit nearer to restored. The next week will focus on the minor frame repairs and removing the rock hard 140 year old putty from the window frames. 

The trusty (and steadily growing) team of SRC volunteers has been busy cracking on with NER No.2051, a diagram 15 five compartment third. There is a steady routine of the ‘2051 gang’ getting together every Thursday (and often Wednesdays as well) and they go home each week feeling that the coach is that bit further forward. They really have the bit between their teeth! The images from this week probably don’t look much different from a fortnight ago but the devil, or delight, is in the detail. With the lower panelling removed the few problem areas of the frame have been exposed and the team have been busy either stitching up splits (glue and screw) or else splicing in fresh bits of wood to replace rotten sections. Further to previous posts, we will do almost all of the work in house with the exception of one corner post which one of the volunteers will fund a specialist joiner to sort out.  It is hoped that the frame will be completed this month and in the next week or so we will be...

Following the arrival nearly April of a NER P7 hopper wagon from Beamish, the second of the two transferred to the LCLT from them arrived at Kirkby Stephen East on 6 May.  The team have wasted no time in making an initial assessment for restoration on top of the work they’ve already done to have the wagon in NER Central Division livery to run behind No.876. The exact cost is yet to be ascertained; the team are still working on this ahead of grant funding applications to a number of bodies. Restoration of the P7 not only adds an important wagon to the growing NER fleet at Kirkby Stephen but also helps tell the important story of the coal and coke traffic from east to west as explained in the Heritage Fund supported ‘Westside Story’ project to mark the bicentennial of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. While the focus of the LCLT absolutely remains on the locomotive, the SRC will be working with them to make sure that the railway can suitably mark the 175th anniversary of the NER...

With work cracking on in Loughborough on the C class , great effort continues at Kirkby Stephen East with rolling stock to give it appropriate rakes of 6-wheeled coaches and wagons to pull. A s well as privately owned No.131, the LCLT’s own No.2051, a diagram 15 five compartment third, is always making speedy progress thanks to volunteers from our friends and hosts, the Stainmore Railway Company.  These last few weeks have seen most of the thick bitumen coating removed from the body, and focus on renovating the knee irons reinforcing the frame. Indeed, after this week’s efforts by the team the bitumen is now completely removed from both ends and one side; hopefully next week will see it completely gone (although the doors will still need working on). From the photos it probably doesn’t look any different from earlier updates; this week has been about the annoying bits of bitumen stuck around the beading which needed rubbing back ahead of priming. We hope to apply some primer soon ...

 While giddy with excitement might be a slight exaggeration, it’s not far wrong. The team restoring NER coach No. 2051, a diagram 15 five compartment third, have definitely got the bit between their collective teeth.  Conversations this week have included rectification of any frame issues in the next few weeks and re-panelling of the lower sections. The waist height and above sections are all in very good condition and in the process of being stripped back to bare wood for priming and painting. A couple of our volunteers have taken the drop lights home to get them ready soonest. See if you can spot the mistakes one of them has made (all easily corrected). The numbers on the luggage tag are the size of the pane of glass for each separate drop light frame; annoyingly they are all different sizes! The panes aren’t broken (well, most aren’t) but for operational purposes we are replacing them with safety glass. The exterior is going to look very good very soon! There is of course a...