A Long Overdue Update...

North Eastern six-wheeled coach restoration

It is a while since we reported on the progress being made with our North Eastern Railway (NER) six-wheeled coaches.

Diagram 171 - Full Brake No.131

Since May of this year, a considerable amount of work has been completed on the bodywork of 131. The body frame repairs and the cutting and fastening of the external panelling are complete. The application of panelling, or sheeting which is the correct railway term, has used a particle board marketed as “Tricoya”. This sheet material is guaranteed to have a working life of 50 years in wet conditions. It is somewhat expensive so that marking out and cutting requires much thought and care to make the best use of an 8ft by 4ft sheet.

With the sheeting completed work has been directed to the fastening of the planted mouldings. A lot of mouldings were to hand. Some had been reclaimed from an earlier unsuccessful restoration project, but some new material has been made. Enough material is to hand to complete this work. The mouldings are screwed in place with small gauge screws. The mouldings are also sealed onto the surface of the body sheeting with a mastic that can be
painted. 

The newly installed floor presented an unanticipated problem. The floorboards were stacked and left to dry out for a considerable length of time before they were cut and fastened. The prolonged hot weather this summer caused further drying resulting in wide gaps opening between the boards. The boards were taken up and relaid to close the gaps. This was a somewhat tedious and time consuming job, however it was worth completing as across the width of the floor the cumulative shrinkage was 28mm.

The mechanical side has not been forgotten. 131's body has been sitting on a 31ft long six-wheeled underframe. A diagram 171 guard's and luggage van should have a 32ft long underframe. Cutting the six-wheeled underframe underframe and inserting the extra foot was never an option. 

To retain the correct proportions two six inch sections would have to be inserted which would impact the structure of the frame quite markedly. We have opted to extend the underframe by six inches at each end in a way that does not affect its structural integrity. This has been achieved by planting a suitable thickness of oak faced with steel 20mm thick onto the existing headstock. The original headstock was cut back to align with the solebars. The oak was cut to match the height and length of the modified original headstock. Buffer spindle openings and a drawhook opening were cut in each section of oak. Two twelve inch wide lengths of 20 mm thick steel were cut to length and profiled to NER pattern. Buffer spindle openings and a drawhook opening were cut in each section of steel. These aligned with those in the oak. The fastening holes for the gedge plate and the buffer spindle guides were marked on the oak and the holes drilled. The holes were drilled slightly oversize. This was to allow us to make adjustments when we ready to fastening everything in place. The oak was then used as a template to mark out the steel for drilling. Once each length of steel was drilled it became a template for drilling fastening holes through each of the original headstocks. This proved to be something of a slog despite the use of a decent mag-drill with good quality cutters. 

Once everything was prepared each end could be erected. The oak was positioned first and retained with long bolts at the centre where the gedge plate is fastened. The steel was then lifted on and secured on the long centre bolts. This made everything safe. The large diameter bolts to secure the buffer spindle guides were pushed through the original headstock, the oak and the steel faceplate and the guides positioned on the bolts. The nuts were put on and after the alignment was checked and everything was correct the fastenings were tightened. By the way steel and hardwood sandwiches were found on the NER. P3 0-6-0 2392 belonging to the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group has a front buffer beam constructed in this manner.

The photo shows the finished arrangement. Yes, the buffer spindle guides are upside down.This is quite deliberate. We will not be coupling 131 to other vehicles using a shunter's pole. A member of the train crew will go in between 131 and the neighbouring vehicle,tie on and connect the vacuum bags. The buffer spindle guides are of LMS origin and are marked as such. Making NER pattern buffer spindle guides is not affordable and the likelihood of finding four of the correct pattern not all that likely. Should some be acquired in the future there might be a new home for the LMS examples. We have not spoilt them by grinding off the lettering and using them the correct way up.

One remaining job is cutting and fastening the gedge plate at each end. The plates will be plasma cut by one of our contractors. We will complete the drilling before fastening. Painting will be completed and then the draw hooks or gedge hooks will be re-fitted. The drawbar extensions for these have been made and are ready for installation. The buffers have been cleaned up and will be painted before fitting. The rebound rubbers for this job are to hand. An outing to the archives at the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York included access to diagram 171 general arrangement (GA) drawings. As a result of this some work has been added to the list of jobs to do. Copies of the drawing have been ordered.

Diagram 15 - 5 Compartment 3rd No.2051

Most work has continued to be directed at stripping down the coach body. The roof boards are largely free of old canvas and canvas bond. The stripping that remains to be done here requires scaffolding for safe working. The body sheeting has also been stripped of bitumen and sanded back to a good finish revealing mahogany that is generally in very good condition.

Some of the planted mouldings have been recovered. These have been cleaned down and repaired. Some mouldings are too damaged to be worth recovering and replacements have been made. Canvas clamps/gutter mouldings are generally in good order. These too have been cleaned up and will receive repairs where necessary so that they are ready for re-use. 

The rotten floorboards have been removed. Damaged and rotten floor supports are in the process of being removed. This is a difficult and dirty job that is being completed in a confined space. New floor supports are available and the replacement floorboards have been machined and are in store ready for fitting.

Work progresses on 2051's replacement underframe. Shortening is in hand and the replacement headstocks made. Rick Turnbull, one of our contract joiners, machined these. The solebars were taken down and all of the surviving fastenings that secure parts of the running gear were removed. This involved some heavy work with a sledge hammer. The holes will need plugging with hardwood dowels which will be glued firmly in place. The steel fittings that help to secure the underframe are being removed, wire brushed back to bare metal and painted.

The outing to the NRM referred to above also included access to a diagram 15 GA drawing. This has very useful detail relating to seat construction. A copy of this drawing has been ordered. A grant application has been made to cover the costs of upholstering the seats. A further small scale drawing confirmed that diagram 15 thirds were gas lit.