Over the Christmas and New Year period the Open Third was placed in the carriage shed in order for the areas of lifted varnish to be scraped down and made good. There had been quite extensive water ingress in some of the mouldings and also a couple of windows were leaking but as the coach had not been varnished for two years this was to be expected. The leaks were sealed and the blown areas of varnish scraped down and sanded. Over the next few days a coat of gold size and three coats of varnish were applied to these areas. The end vestibule doors were also sanded and given two coats of varnish. The only down side to this work is that much of the poppy and cream lining has been scraped off the mouldings and so will have to be touched back up. Negotiations are taking place with a vinyl wall covering manufacturer to try to make and suitable match with the brown rexine that used to cover the walls in 1930's Tourist stock. It may be feasible to have a special batch made, as none of the current designs look anything like to original samples that we have managed to recover.
Len Clarke continues to prepare components from 24109 at home and has now had six of the sliding sidelights rechromed following the painstaking dismantling and cleaning up of the many brass fittings that make up these windows. The reusable main teak body panels have been repaired, bleached and varnished and are now back at Pickering ready to fit. Hopefully progress can continue on 24109 during 1999 but at the time of writing the power supply to the LMS Sleeper, the mess coach and 24109 has failed and there is a reluctance to repair the fault. Hopefully something can be resolved when a power supply is connected to the workshop.
This coach has benefited from the scrapping of Mark 1 SK 25142 as we have recovered the compartment seats and put them into storage. When reupholstered into LNER moquette these seat frames and backs will almost be exactly the correct size to fit the Thompson compartment. Also recovered were the BR compartment steam heat radiators and valves that can also be used in 1623.
Significant progress to report in the workshop with now much of the large pile of ash now been transported to Harrogate for machining into seat frames for 56856. Further deliveries of teak and sorting out much of the junk are now resulting in large areas of bare floor, which are now being painted as and when they appear! Currently the roof is being insulated prior to fitting sterling board. The main problem over the winter has been lack of a power supply that has made working conditions unpleasant.
The LNER Coach Association has now a web site thanks to the hard work of Andrew Daniel. There is a brief history of the Association, a stock list with a link to the history and restoration of Buffet Car 641 and also several technical pages. These pages contain information that we have learnt during restoration projects and which has also been passed down to us from sources such as Les Browning (ex LNER Doncaster). For instance there is information on fitting teak panels and roof canvasses to name but two. The site is at: - http://www.well-hill.demon.co.uk/lnerca/
| Camera | 07349 | K.S.Wilcox |
| Personal CD Player | 03166 | D.Nesbitt |
| Engine Driving Experience (Fairbourne Railway) | 09706 | Showering |
| Tickets for NYMR Diner | 08153 | A.C.Pickersgill |
| £10 Gift Token | 09634 | A.Penney |
| £10 Gift Token | 07547 | P.R.farish |
D.Cullingworth 18th February 1999
Read last newsletter (December 1998)
© 1999 L.N.E.R. Coach Association.