Rolling Stock Roundup - NER Passenger Vehicles

As this is a fairly new blog, and some readers may not know about the goings-on at KSE, we've put together something to bring you all up to speed. As there's rather a lot, we'll start with the North Eastern Railway (NER) passenger vehicles: 

N.E.R 6-Wheelers
Amongst the collection at KSE is a cohort of NER 6-wheeled coaches, that we hope will pair perfecrly with NER C class No.876: 

    

    131

One of several important vehicles for the NER microcosm at KSE is NER Passenger Brake No.131. Not only will it form part of the appropriate Timeless Trains passenger rake, it will also join Stores Van No.2 in a stores train.

For this update, we see the main frame repairs, including the bottom rails, almost complete and, with the body now lowered down on to the chassis, correctly aligned and secured in place, attention has turned to installing the new floor.

As can be seen in the attached photo, this stage of the work is also approaching completion and we look forward to reporting further progress as the job continues.

    2051

Another of the Timeless Trains fleet that look superb, and highly appropriate, behind C class No.876, is NER 5 Compartment 3rd No. 2051. Ahead of restoration the team have been keen to fully understand its condition and what is required to restore it. The bitumen-painted, failing canvas has been stripped off the roof to reveal, much to our pleasure, roof boards in very good condition.

    1111

Also on site is NER Diagram 9, No.1111. This vehicle, having arrived on site in 2018, is on a 30-year loan with the LNER Carriage Association (LNERCA). 

Other N.E.R. Passenger Vehicles 
Also based at KSE is a number of larger, restored, NER Passenger Vehicles. 

    NER No.2

With restoration all but complete, all that remains is the installation of material that tells the story of the J21, and the Stainmore route. Normally residing on the Darlington platform, here it is looking resplendent in August 2025. Whilst not built as a passenger vehicle, it is intended to carry passengers in the staff compartment. 

    OLD GENTLEMAN SALOON

After a lot of patient work, which has included, amongst others, carefully drilling out many screws which had been in place for approx. 50 years, volunteers have now succeeded in removing intact all the various mouldings to release the old sections of plate glass on the south side of the 'Old Gentleman's Saloon'.

Each piece of glass appears to have been previously installed by a different method using various combinations of putty, mastic, arboseal etc - it has very much kept us on our toes! We are now almost ready to begin fitting the new safety glass which is already on site - approx. half of the rebates and mouldings have been cleaned up - just the remains of a few screws which sheared off are still to be extracted and then we are good to go.

With the glass removed, the windows have been temporarily boarded up to prevent access as can be seen in these two photos just in case our 4-legged friends get any ideas regarding a nice relaxing sleep in one of the armchairs! In case anyone is wondering, you will see that there is one large piece of glass that has not been removed - this had already been changed before the vehicle arrived at KSE.

As ever, very many thanks to all the volunteers involved.

    N.E.R. 818

On loan from Beamish, NER Clerestory No.818 has been restored at KSE, entering traffic in 2024. It is currently used on our operating days (and is very popular with passengers), paired with Gresley teak No.3669.