Framed & Stitched Up

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 applying the first coat of specialist primer to areas previously coated in bitumen. By doing that sooner rather than later the team have plenty of time to assess how the primer reacts to the wood before we go any further. There’s still a lot of work to do, especially on the doors and underframe, but the fitting of new lower panels isn’t that far off and that visual sign of progress will be fantastic to see.

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Transport at KSE

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