Good progress has been made on 1623 over the last weekend, with it sitting inside the new vintage vehicle shed at Pickering, with 3 of the 5 large steel side panels being refitted.
Before the panels could be refitted, all of the timber framing where the panels touch the frame, received a liberal coating of Waxoyl under body sealant. This is in addition to the fungicide treatment, and silver oxide paint that the frames have already been coated with. The steel panels themselves, have had all the gunge and rubbish removed from the backs of the panels using a flapwheel, have been treated with Jenolite (phosphoric acid protective coating), and then they too have received a coat of Waxoyl, in an attempt to prevent them rusting.
All of this protective work that has been carried out is a far cry from what happened when the coach was built in 1950, when the builders simply attached the panels to the coach without any form of preventative covering at all!
The centre panel on the corridor side of 1623 awaiting fitting
With all the panels and framing on the corridor side prepared, the centre panel became the first to be refitted, a task which was helped as the panel has cut outs for the door hinges in one end. Lining up the panel cut outs with the hinges, enabled a good fit to be achieved at that end, which then helped align the other end of the panel correctly. The panel was then clamped in place, whilst it was screwed to the frame.
With the centre panel in place, attention turned to the end panel, which needed fitting on the corridor side, this being the last missing panel on this side - the other end panel having been refitted and painted in scumble teak finish some years ago. Before this panel could be refitted however, a template was made out of a sheet of plywood, with the positions of the screw holes on the panel around the trademark Thompson oval window, and the template was then used to transfer the screw hole positions onto the wood frame, which was necessary to make sure screw hole dimples around the window fit flush.
With no hinges to help alignment, this panel was more difficult to line up and fit, however after a lot of care and attention it was lined up, clamped and then screwed into place, meaning that the corridor side of the coach is now complete.
The completed corridor side of 1623, showing all of the metal panels now in place.
With the corridor side complete, attention turned to the compartment side of the coach, and the decision was taken to fit the centre panel, this being the biggest but also the easiest of the three panels to fit. As with the other centre panel, it was lined up at the hinges end of the panel, and then adjusted to align at the other end, being firmly clamped in place, and then screwed into place. This leaves the two end panels on the compartment side still to be fitted, and it is hoped that both of these panels can be refitted before the August coach week (23rd August to 31st August), all help very welcome!
Two of the doors that Andrew Daniel has rebuilt
Overhauled electrical box, ready for refitting
In addition to helping refit the steel panels on 1623, Roger Melton collected some valuable spare parts on his way to Pickering, 2 doors from the VSOE, which had been on their Gresley baggage coach, and then 13 LNER vacuum cylinders from the SVR. These have all been unloaded and put into store, and it is hoped that several of the cylinders can be overhauled and held ready, so that if a failure should occur, a quick swap and return to traffic can happen.
This coach which is owned by the NYMR, and is due to be adapted to allow disabled visitors to ride in it, has been moved into the new shed to dry out, and to allow repairs to be carried out to the cant rail.
Gresley 43632 inside the new shed at Pickering
A warm welcome is extended to any reader who fancies a look round to see what we get up to. If you have a spare 20 minutes at the NYMR after your journey, do ask anyone in the shed and we will be pleased to show you around - it's well worth seeing.
We are usually there every weekend.
The website has been updated, with July news uploaded, new photos of 1623 and 43632 added, and an updated printable sales form uploaded.
