With all the sidelights now fitted, and the ends coming together well, including the gangway connector in place at the south end, and that for the north end nearly ready to go up, the team have had a busy few months of fruitful activity. In the interior, fitting out is progressing in the saloon and the southern of the two compartments.
The first photo above (from Dave Clarke) show the south end bogie which was run out for overhaul on 13th October. Ray Medhurst, fresh from the BASH project, is taking that on. The second of Dave's photos, from August, shows progress in fitting panelling and mouldings around the sidelights on the interior.
All of the steel sheeting on the coach sides is now complete, and only one door remains to be hung. The electrical side is progressing, and thoughts are turning to the preparation of the ends to take gangway conectors.
A lot of effort in the last couple of months has gone into the fabrication of under-seat steam heaters for the saloon. These are now being installed.
The project has benefitted from an influx of manpower, partly from some of the team who had worked on the LCDR coach. The ceilings in the mid-vestibule, toilet and the short corridor towards the brake are coming along nicely, and the inner roof in the brake has been transformed.
The photo on the left (by Dave Clarke) shows Stuart Fielder's work in the middle vestibule, as of 7th January.
The photos below, also from Dave, show that the ceilings in the compartments are progressing well, and that he, Roger Lamb and Dave Chappell have made good progress stripping of old paint and painting of the inner roof in the brake van area which is, in parts, up to first undercoat. The wiring is in place, and can be completed once the painting is further advanced.
Work re-started on this project about a year ago, initially concentrating on sorting out some problems with the steel bottom sides. With 1464 finally outshopped in April, the team helped on Mk.I buffet car 1818, before getting fully back into the restoration of 2526.
The photo on the right shows the repanelled east side of the brake end, with the guard's door re-hung and the luggage doors re-instated (these had been removed and sheeted over in departmental days). The photo below shows work progressing on the re-instatement of the main passenger saloon, with Andrew Baker seen pinning the revarnished veneer panels back in place between the windows.
The revarnished corridor wall ready for re-fitting. The main problem in refitting it was to determine its exact position of the base of the partition on the new floor, since there are few verticals in the carriage to act as a reference!
Work is seen here underway, grinding excess weld from the welded-in window frames in the compartments (right). The other photo shows the new steel bottom side member and pockets welded in to the brake van area.
Re-sheeting of the passenger area is nearly complete, with window frames going in on one side. Work is also under way on the last section of the underframe. Interior of the saloon is starting to come back together.
Page last updated 17 October 2007 by Richard Salmon