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LONDON & SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY DINING
CARS Nos 70 AND 76 |
This modest website is intended to provide an open
scrapbook relating to the activities of Charles James and myself, who are in
the process trying to restore a pair of ex-LSWR dining cars on the
John Down
POTTED
HISTORY | OUR AIMS | PHOTOS | AN ARTICLE | SO_FAR | FUTURE PLANS | GIVE US A BRAKE
Here is a
potted history of each coach
No 70, was built Eastleigh
to dia 42 as lot 1601 in 1907 as clerestory roofed Restaurant Composite
Renumbered 4132 by Southern Railway when LSWR was absorbed. In 1931 the
clerestory was removed, the kitchen and pantry area were also removed and
replaced by, in order, lavatory, compartment, compartment, lavatory, flanked by
the previously existing side-corridor. At this stage the vehicle was renumbered
7832 During World War II, in 1943, it was commandeered by the Army and given
the number WS1641 and later ARMY3321. It was converted to an Ambulance Car for
use in Casualty Evacuation Trains and was bases at Netley, near
No 76, was built Eastleigh
to dia 42 as lot 1601 in 1908 as clerestory roofed Restaurant Composite
Runumbered 4138 by Southern Railway when LSWR was absorbed In 1931 the
clerestory was removed, the kitchen and pantry area were also removed and
replaced by, in order, lavatory, compartment, compartment, lavatory, flanked by
the previously existing side-corridor. At this stage the vehicle was renumbered
7838 During World War II, in 1943, it was acquired by the military for use by
the USA Transportation Corps and given the number USTC202. It was converted to
an Ambulance Car for use in Casualty Evacuation Trains and was bases at Netley,
near
Our
aims...
Our
aims differ. Charles will concentrate on 76. He plans to restore the vehicle
essentially to its as new condition, replete with clerestory, and with the
kitchen area appearing largely as it was - complete with Bostwick gates. Its
livery will be in the original salmon pink with dark brown below he waistline.
The southern end on which the roller shutter door currently is fitted, may
sport a pair of end windows.
I
will concentrate on 70. I plan to restore the vehicle to something approaching
its nondescript condition,so the elliptical roof will remain.. One lavatory
will be fitted, but the space previously occupied by the remaining lavatory and
two compartments will be given over to a passenger service area (ie buffet and
sales counter) and 'glory hole' area which will serve as a running workshop and
personal quarters. As yet he is undecided whether the coach will appear in
early BR(S) green livery or early SR 'Maunsell' livery of sage green and
varnished wood droplight frames.
Neither
coach has any guard's braking facility, that is an internal brake wheel, brake
setting valve and vacuum gauge (it appears they were both dual braked and
sported external brake handles). Neilher can work either singly or with its
partner without an additional brake coach.
The story of the search is described below in ‘Give us a brake’
Here are three photographs of LSWR coaches extracted
from other sites - we are not sure what the copyright implications are here,
but all three came from the Vintage Carriage Trust at: http://www.vinatgecarriagetrust.org/surveystatus.asp from whom we have not sought approval to publish
, but to whom we gladly acknowledge any copyright.
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This
is No70 at Blaenavon, on a typically murky day. The railway yard is at about
1200 ft and the weather is always a problem - if it isn't raining or snowing,
its blowing a gale. This view looks south, and on the right of the picture
can be seen the remains of some industrial structures which form a wall and
give some protection against the Sou'westerlies |
Coupled
immediately south of 70 is 76, and this view looking to the north shows the roller
shutter door. At the north end of this coach and the south end of No70 there
is an aperture from which gangways once projected. These have now gone, but a
temporary wooden bridge provides communication between the coaches. There is
a shadow to te right of the coach because the sun is shining (very rare!) |
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LSWR
COACHES
by Charles James
Now,
unlike the LMS (which was very big) and the GWR (which was very grand), the
Southern went about the business of doing what it was best at in a thoroughly
railwaylike way, and that was carrying passengers. It's quite true, of course,
that many of its passenger's journeys were quite short. But even quite short
journeys were undertaken in the most sumptious manner. To be carried for a
jolly few days by the sea at Brighton (or a naughty few nights) by its
constituent, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway was the height of good
fashion (the Southern later provided the Brighton Belle), whilst on the London
Chatham and Dover the epitome of taste was provided on the Dover boat trains
(later of course to provide the route for the Golden Arrow). However the
longest journeys were provided by the London South Western Railway.
Many of the departures from
In
order to satisfy the needs of the decidedly upper crust passengers on these
trains, (many of whom about to embark on the transatlantic liners of the time),
the LSWR built a series of very fine gangwayed, clerestory, restaurant cars at
their works at Eastleigh (near Southampton). The first eight were built during
late 1904 and 1905. Another, rather similar, series of eleven were built in
1907/1908. A further two differing pairs were built in 1910 and 1912.
Originally, their elaborate panelling was painted in a startling livery of
salmon pink uppers, with a very dark brown below the waistband. When the
Southern took over in 1923, they were repainted in lined olive green with
varnished wood window frames. Although several continued as restaurant cars
until a few years after the Second World War, many had considerably more varied
careers than this. By now you might be beginning to wonder what this has to do
with the railway at Blaenavon. The answer is that, not one, but two of them are
secreted away down at the bottom end of the railway yard.
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LSWR Restaurant Car No.67 as it appeared when newly built |
The oldest of these, which carried the LSWR number 70 was built in 1907. It was one of the second series and served as a restaurant car until 1931, when it was converted to a 'nondescript'. This was a uniquely Southern Railway name for a vehicle that was classless. The conversion consisted of removing the central kitchen and pantry area . At the same time the clerestory was removed. At each end the a two- or three-bay saloon containing 2+1 seating was retained. In the centre of the coach the kitchen and pantry was replaced by , in order, a lavatory, two compartments with three-a-side seating, and another lavatory. The existing side corridor in this area was retained. Thereafter the vehicle led a fairly humdrum life until the Second World War. It was commandeered by the War Department, converted to an ambulance car, where it served with the Army (in khaki livery) based at Netley (again near Southampton), as part of a Casualty Evacuation Train. After the war it was transferred to the Longmoor Military Railway in 1955, until it was rebuilt as a cinema coach in 1967 for use at the miltary base at Marchwood. It was retired to the Mid-Hants in 1978 where it served in a variety of non-passenger rôles until it was purchased by a private owner and transferred to Blaenavon in 1993.
In many ways the other vehicle, number 76, had a similar career until the war. Again it was converted to an ambulance car, for use this time by the USA Transportation Corps, carrying the number USTC202. After the war, like it sister, it was returned to the British military, when it was transferred to Netley and converted to a Breakdown Coach. This conversion necessitated the removal of one end gangway and the installation of a roller shutter door. It was transferred to MOD Bicester in 1969 for use as a ferry vehicle carrying military equipment around the country, also being retired to the Mid-Hants in 1977. It was purchased by the same private owner as 70, and came to Blaenavon, also in 1993.
Since then both vehicles have remained unloved, and unwanted on site. The rain and wind at Blaenavon have torn off all but a few fragments of the roof covering, rot and fungus have infested the interiors, windows have been smashed, ceilings have collapsed, mouldering panels have bowed and split, floors have rotted away, and, unchecked, time and nature will take their inexorable toll.
However both vehicles have changed hands in the last few weeks, and a careful examination has revealed that whilst the main timbers which sit on the solebars (the 'bottomsides'), and which are made from American White Oak are beyond repair and will need replacement, large expanses of the side framing are of mahogany in almost perfect condition. And although most of the securing screws in the roof have rusted beyond redemption, most of the roof planking is at least recoverable, furthermore some of the internal fittings (particularly doors) are unquestionably original.
However, it is difficult to walk though their quiet dank interiors, without looking at the walls and pondering on what they have seen. Before any of us were born, they entertained excited ladies and gentleman on the first leg, perhaps, of a five day sea-crossing to America, perhaps on the Lusitania or Aquitania - or even the Titanic. Within the vehicle and under white and gold lincrusta ceilings, the rich and the famous would lounge on seats of velvet or soft floral material. Curtains would be of fine damask, whilst wall panellings were of walnut or satinwood. Fittings would be of delicately filigreed brass, whilst tables would be decorated with small cut glass vases containing fresh flowers. Obsequious attendants would scurry from the pantry hatches carrying tables d'hote of printaniers for starters, with grilled turbot to follow, roast sirloin beef and vegetables for the main course, and polished off with creme caramel or bread & butter pudding. All of which would be preceded and followed with beverages alcoholic. It's not difficult to imagine the staid personages of the Edwardian era being more than a little squiffy by the time they reached port. And so, notwithstanding the First World War, they continued thus for quarter of a century.
The
next ten or twelve years saw them as nondescripts. During the week they would
carry nondescript passengers to nondescript destinations such as Reading or
Salisbury. Things would be brighter at the weekends when they would carry
middle class passengers and their luggage for a week in the West Country, or
perhaps for the tradesman a day at Southsea or
But what did the quiet walls see during the next few years? Legions of British and American soldiers, all injured, many terribly so, having been returned from the D-day landings, shipped back across the channel, and stretchered onto evacuation trains. Many would be so desperately tired as the trains made their way through long nights - but at least they were going home. Perhaps, more poignantly were the French troops, who, conquered as a nation, were also evacuated on these trains, and were at least safe, and amongst friendly foreigners, but moving further from home, mile by mile, minute by minute. We are fairly certain that this was so since we have, under layers and layers of paint, found fragments of bilingual signs exhorting both English- and French-speakers to 'pull the chain in an emergency' and tactlessly ignoring their injuries, threatening to fine them a five pounds for 'doing it improperly'.
It is difficult to imagine what happened within the vehicles during their remaining years with the military. It seems probable that this was the period when much of the interior was removed, and clad with thick but serviceable ply and hardboard. Platoons of squaddies would doubtless be ordered to 'paint it' - and so they did, inside and out, building up a thick layers, which, whilst not beautiful, doubtless saved the vehicle from any serious deterioration. And then, ironically the vehicle was 'preserved' - and like so much important passenger rolling stock came a poor second in the lococentric preservation world. It does seem recently however that there has been an upsurge in interest in carriage restoration in heritage circles during the last year or two. Hopefully 70 and 76 can share in this upsurge.
Cleared rubbish from within coaches, and removed most internal wall claddings and ceiling panels. The above work has allowed for trapped moisture to escape.
Stripped
and partially denailed both roofs
Removed
the remains of the gangway from the northend of 76 (the more southerly of the
two), and re-opened the south end of 70. A 'bridge' has beeen contructed
between the two, and some cheap tarpaulins (which we had forlornly hoped might
survive a Blaenavon winter) used to provide a sort of covering. This allows for
rapid access between the coaches.
Determined
a method for cutting the curved corners of window glass
Examined
structure carefully to estimate the work involved, there is rot in the
bottomsides, some floorboards, and at the lower ends of pillars and some wet
rot in the roof boards. Some floorboards will need replacing. Bottomsides,
which were of American White Oak may need replacing in their entirety, and
certainly parts will
We
have taught ourselves something about wood and other materials, studied the
construction wood in some detail, but have yet to decide whether hardwood or
softwood (suitably preserved) will serve for the bottomsides.
We
have purchased electric hand tools (Planer, router, sander, benchsaw) from
B&Q, we must get a bandsaw quite soon
Much
of the framing has been dimensioned, sketched or draughted
We
have identifies sources and prices of:
Hardwood (Oscar Windebank, Swindon; Mon Timber, Newport)
Softwood (Mon Timber, Newport, Cilfeigan Saw Mills, Usk)
Plywood (WBP-Oriental (we have been warned not to use the cheaper Brazilian
material)
Roofing canvas (Emlyn Canvas, Newport; Mitco-Charles Mitchell, Hainault)
Canvas bedding compound (Williamsons of Ripon)
Paint (Williamsons of Ripon, Industrial Paint Services, Rogerstone)
Screws (Arrow Fasteners)
Brass casters
Glass Suppliers
Source of Gangways (ex-class 117,class 101 DMUs from MoDShoeburyness)
Diary
- July 2001
Well, we've made some sort of progress since early April- and uncovered some horrors. We would have liked to get further, but once again, demands from railway operations (including four days of 'Thomas' running and all the preparation that goes with it) coupled with an unexpectedly wet July have set progress back. In fact everything was drying out nicely and were looking forward to making considerable progress when down came the rain - and that was it!
Anyway
Charles's No.76 has got a temporary felt roof, nailed and battened, and appears
watertight, though that doesn't prevent the rain blasting in through the
windows and soaking the bottomsides yet again. However everything is smelling a
lot sweeter. Unfortunately some of the side pillars and side rails (especially
stuff put in by the Southern, and by the military) is rotten and will have to
be replaced. He plans to do much of his cladding in aluminium. In order to give
us both some uplift he has concentrated on one or two window frames, which he
has cleaned up and treated with Sadolin - what a transformation. It really is
SO encouraging.
On
my No.70 cleaning up has continued on the roof, and denailing completed.
However quite extensive wet rot has been found in some of the planking and the
offending planking removed. A piece of ply placed temporarily over the site of
the north water tank has been removed so that access can be made to the roof
from INSIDE the coach - rather safer we think. Qty 14 6inch x 3/4inch T&G
has been acquired in 5.7metre lengths (about 19ft) has been purchased at £1 per
metre in order to replace the rotten planking. This has been treated with Protim
WS and awaits priming. Ten litres of primer (Hempel) has been bought (IPS
Rogerstone). This is green - in order to provide sympathy with the ultimate top
coat! We were unable to get scaffold towers, but ten or so 16 ft scaffold poles
were bought at £3 each, along with 20 clips at 25p each from the local scrap
yard. The clips needed a weeks soaking in diesel to de-rust but were finally
made serviceable. In fact we have made no attempt to build a tower, but by dint
of threading scaffold poles THROUGH the coach from side to side resting
immediately above the window frames, we have been able to build a horizontal
frame by adding poles alongside outside the coach, to which walking boards will
be added. The advantage of this system is that it rides with the coach as it
bounces on its springs
I
have agonised about the roof for some time. I have decided to abandon the
canvas roof until we are well on the restoration road, and things are more
certain (both of us are old enough to appreciate that failure is a real possibility!).
For the present a polyester reinforced felt is to be employed, adhesive bound
to the steepest parts of the roof. This is on order, but is NOT the Marley
originally proposed, but a slightly cheaper material (£42 for 20m x 1m), which,
because it comes in 20m rolls rather than 8m rolls suffers less offcut loss.
Hopefully this will last the seven year restoration period. If it remains in
good nick, it will be covered, else it will be removed before we finally canvas
the roof. An exercise in jacking up part of one side which had sunk by about 4
inches has been completely sucessful. We aim to complete the jacking and
alignment of each side using a slightly modified form of the method used
experimentally, and alignment will be measured using a cheap (£8) laser pointer
mounted in a wooden frame and with adjusting screw. At present we plan not to
tenon the pillars into the bottomsides, but use effectively half lap joints and
an arrangement of steel plates in order to get a tight fit.
We have found a source of bottomside timber. This is a cheap softwood, Latvian
Pine, which is obtainable in 6m (~20ft) lengths of 9'' x 4'' at about £5.40
metre including pressure Tanelising. One piece is on order now. This length
neatly permits three pieces per side, including scarf joint with a total cost
of a little under £200 per coach (our estimate for Iroko was £700. It is quite
a simple (but tedious) task to saw out the bottomside in bits. Fortunately the
floor planks will remain supported by the opposite bottomside and the two
middle longitudinal battens. Coupled with the jacking technique, and movement
of the side OUTWARDS from the old bottomside position, we anticipate no major
difficulties in inserting the new bottomside from INSIDE the coach (are we
naive, or are we naive!!). We stress that we are experimenting with just one
piece at present. In my first class saloon, some floorplanks are rotten with
wetrot. Most of the rotten ones have been sawn out. This area has an underfloor
attached to a rabett in the underside of the bottomside and mounted diagonally.
The interspace was packed with sawdust as a noise insulator. This was wet and
infested with active wet rot and had been removed. The removal of these boards
has permitted some examination of the cross beams and longitudinal battens
which has usefully increased our understanding of the construction methods.
We
have a price for ex-class 101 DMU gangways from MoD Shoeburyness at £150 each.
We are seeking prices for transport. The 117 type are unsuitable, being
modelled on the GWR suspended type (117s were used exclusively on Paddington
-West London-Reading sevices). The 101 type appear to have a good approximation
to the original scissors type.
We
have identified a joiner who is already making a qty 10 of each of the inner
roofsticks and outer roofsticks from sotwood (as were the originals), at £3 and
£3.50 each respectively. It seems likely that his expertise will both save us
the work and the capital cost of securing a bandsaw, since it is unlikely that
he would be unable to saw other curved components. He had agreed to make our
window bolection pieces from Sapele at a remarkable £4.50 each (to give a total
estimated window bolection cost of £20-£25. Unfortunately he has since
announced that we must provide the router head, and this is likely to cost in
the region of £60. We are trying to source the router bit now, Even so the work
saved by farming the bolections out will save us a huge amount of time.
Which brings me to an interesting philosophical point.
I enjoy restoring my coach. I would enjoy it even more if I could see an end in
sight. To do this I must work more effectively in order to increase the rate of
restoration work. I do this by farming work out. To fund this I must return to
work (I have taken early retirement). I earn money effectively. I do not enjoy
my work (or at least I would rather be tinkering on my coach)
Progress continues. On No70 (John Down), the first 20ft of bottomside arrived mid-October and awaits installation. The tanelizing looks disappointing - there is little penetration. Machining has exposed new wood. This will be treated with Protim or 5star Cuprinol in the next few days. We are running late with the roof. We are developing techniques as we continue, and are restricting what we do in order to save both time and material. Of the eighteen sheets of felt needed to cover the roof, twelve have been installed. The thinner felt (Chesterfelt) handles easily and appears very durable. The space awaiting felting also requires some planking to be replaced and installation of new roof sticks, and other roof furniture. This work is expected to be complete before the end of the week - things are getting desperate now. We have been exceptionally lucky with the weather, but for how much longer? Two of the three large windows were broken and have been reglazed using 6mm toughened laminated glass, though the glass is only temporarily fitted, just to keep the weather out . These were about £60 each.
On
No76 (Charles James), a small part of the temporary roof covering failed, but
this was soon fixed. The inside is drying nicely. The recovery of bolections on
the west side continues, and these are being put back into service after
cleaning, glueing broken bits together, filling and Sadolin-ing. About two
thirds of the west side is now glazed and primed, though two of the three large
windows need replacing. An attempt to secure two sheets from a cheaper source
at about £40 each was frustrated when they arrived with corners cut to the
wrong radius. Hopefully, these can be exchanged - else they will have to be
re-cut to form four quarterlights. For quarterlights we have managed to radius
some plate glass with an angle grinder! This is even tricker than laminated,
but it IS possible
6
May 2002
Astonishing! Six months gone since we last reported. In what follows No 70 gets the biggest write-up. However many of the comments apply equally to No76, despite 76 getting a smaller paragraph. On a general point , it looks like we MAY have secured a brake coach for use with 70 and 76. Negotiations are dragging slightly, but we hope to have something quite soon - watch this space.
On
76 the roof covering is essentially complete, bar some rework to do at the
ends. Perhaps most remarkably is the change in smell which has changed from a
dank slimy green (smells green???) to a much more lively smell of sawdust.
Water still gets in through the droplights, and through a number of other
places, but in practical terms, we have an essentially dry coach. There are however
more than sufficient holes to ensure a good air-flow in order to resist mould
growth, and to aid drying out. The gangway to No76 has been fitted with a crude
door as has the missing south-west vestibule door. We now have a
semi-permanently installed 240v supply which powers, amongst other things, a
small bench circular, a router built under a home built table and, perhaps most
importantly, a fan heater. Both vehicles are fitted throughout with fluorescent
tubes which will serve for the next five years or so. A start has been made on
fitting high level panels (ie above the windows) including those that carry the
ventilator bonnets. These are of WPB ply which have been primed and
undercoated. The panels are fitted with STAINLESS STEEL panel pins and are bedded
either with acripol (or Grippfill (the 'active ingredient' in this latter
filler appears to be an Evostik-type petroleum-based material), in order that a
comparison can be made. We would like to make the mouldings (as opposed to the
panelling) from hardwood (probably Meranti), but early experiments using the
router on ply look promising. Stainless components have much greater strength
then brass, and, will be used where sensible. We have seen first hand the
widespread and often terminal damage that rusting mild steel pins and screws
can cause, and other than in a few unimportnt areas where BZP screws are used,
MS will not be used. Some roofsticks have been re-installed, but we are
deferring fitting them wholesale - it will depend on where the new roof panels
will fall. Most importantly, these will no longer fitted with a large steel
screw, but by BZP brackets and a number of smaller (No8 3/4 inch BZP screws) -
we dislike the notion of screwing through a large (ie roofstick) timber into a
thinner timber (the 3/4 inch roof plank).
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The
outside of the north end gangway door of LSWR 76 |
Partly
restored inside of north end gangway door of LSWR 76 - mahogany with walnut
panels |
Vestibule
side of door to First Class saloon, viewed from the site of the erstwhile
kitchen |
On
No76 Charles has continued to work on the north end gangway door and the
vestibule to first class saloon sliding door. Both doors are almost complete
and looks absolutely magnificent! The internal door has been difficult to
photograph, but two images of the north end gangway door are presented above.
Charles has also been bust scraping and varnishing other internal structures.
Productivity has been vastly improved by the acquisition of one of the fancy
new Skarsten scrapers which has a cast Ali handle and orange grip as opposed to
the old red handle which is what I, at least, remember. The new scraper does in
five minutes, what a piece of broken glass would take an hour to do - though
glass is still useful for odd corners. Outside the work on the outside of the
west side has continued, but even robbing Peter to pay Paul, there is
insufficient material moulding material to complete one side, so that further
progress is delayed until we can establish clear router techniques to allow us
to make the mouldings. At present the outside in in white primer - and looks
curiously attractive.
Just
to amplify the difficult conditions under which we labour, the photos below
show the two vehicles at Christmas, and a photo of the varnishing on the inside
of one of the large windows which now effectively keeps the weather out
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No
70 looking NE from the walls formed by some of the old coal bunkers. The roof
felt is on, just in time! Since this photo, the temporary batten along the
side has now gone and the felt trimmed. It's raining |
No
76 looking SE from of the old coal bunkers. A one season roof covering is on,
and a start made on the sides. To date the outside restoration has increased
from a third to two-thirds of the way down the west side. Oh - and it's still
raining! |
One
of the large windows in No 70 viewed from the north vestibule after moss and
lichen has been scraped off, nails removed (or ground down and punched below
the surface), holes filed and varnished. It's raining again. There is however
pleasure in being snug inside pottering away, warmed by a solitary fan heater
(see the suspended cable in the photos above) and watching the wind and rain
do their worst, 1250 feet above sea level |
Remarkably, especially for Blaenavon, we have had heavy rain on only one day in the last two months which has permitted work on the outside to proceed without hindrance. Charles has made good progress on both east and west sides of No70, replacing selected panels and mouldings and repairing others. He is within a quarterlight of completing the west side and over half way down the east side. Doors, and droplights have been deferred, and one or two bolections still need attention. On the east side, below the waist, aluminium panels are in place, but not attached. Inside, work has been deferred until the winter. On the roof, the 'temporary', roof covering is to serve, after a bit of patching, for another winter. Perhaps most significantly, in view of the tendency of south end of the coach to tip to the.east, is the installation of a terylene strap and ratchet (as used for securing loads to lorries) diagonally, from the east cantrail to below the west side solebar. This has been used to essentially restore the vehicle to what, visually, looks straight. Also, in a 'mad half hour' Charles and I, aided by an angle grinder and large spanner, finally rid No76 of the 'orrible roller shutter door at the south end. We are certain that the weight of this excrescence was contributing to the 'lean'. Charles has now temporarily panelled this are over with T&G, and it looks surprisingly good.
Work
on No76 has been a little slower - there have been a number of distractions.
For example, my acquisition of a three car Class 117 DMU (www.pontypool-and-blaenavon.co.uk/dmu117),
and, in the last fortnight, and of a rather rare GWR MOGO van body, which, now
the roof has been felted, will be used as a storage area. It is not intended
that this receives full restoration, in view of its intended role. Perhaps most
distracting has been Charles' purchase of GWR Brake First Open 231 see more in
“Give us a brake
On
No70, the roof has been completely satisfactory, though some work on the ends
is current at present, with new profiled pieces being prepared to fit under the
end roof overhang. The inside now looks like a carpenters shop with stacks of
ply in storage, some primed, some painted and some varnished - though the
varnished stuff is going to the DMU. We have learnt quite a bit with our
'spindle moulder', and nearly all of our new stocks of meranti have been
converted to mouldings, plates have been milled into Ts and double-Fs. The
rather complex double-Fs can be churned out in about 20 minutes flat -
including tidying up and priming, now we have made a pattern. We are really
very encouraged by our success in this area. We also have twenty meranti vent
bonnets made. They need a bit of finishing on the moulder, but the jigging to
complete this needs a bit of thought if it is to be done properly. Little has
happened on the outside, but with the completion of the roof, the scaffolding
has been dismantled, and some of the outside has had a modicum of protection by
being scraped and primed in green. We still need to make some bolection
mouldings but we cannot see how to make the large radius curves in the
cross-section that they need without using a very large cutter. We had thought
that we might be able to use some sort of multi-pass technique, but we can't
even see how to do that.
We
are more than a little embarrassed by wittering on about rescuing gallant US
and French soldiers from the French beaches in our Top Line magazine. Thanks to
great kindness by the World War II Studies Group, who have provided a wealth of
material, together with some snippets from Gordon Weddell's new book, we now
discover that both cars were 'unit cars', that is, self contained ambulance
cars, that were tacked onto the end of normal service trains, and were probably
intended for the evacuation of casualties arising from the London blitz.
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Some
of the 'double-Fs'. There is not much more than 30 or 40 minutes required to
complete these |
Looking
east-north-east, with the north end of No76 looking decidedly 'in the pink' |
All
of 70 appears in this view, externally, little different than in the spring,
but the roof covering has been trimmed, and a bit of green primer splashed
about to keep SOME of the weather out - but look above the roof, and notice
thaabsence of the GW clerestory that appeared in an earlier, similar, view -
and just peeping out beyond the end, the MOGO body with its newly felted
roof. |
What we plan to do in the near
future...
This
was written in mid-2000, 70 now has a good roof covering, 76 has a temporary
cover, and most of the west facing windows have been fixed
Although
we have now moved a lot of the water traps, the roof still provided no effective
protection against the rain, and the inside of the vehicle gets a regular
soaking. Ironically the strong winds at Blaenavon soon dry things out again.
Despite this we must have a waterproof roof, and this we see as our greatest
priority. Our order of priorities are:
(i) Fit roof covering
(ii) Glaze west facing windows to keep out rain
(iii) Replace bottomside timbers in order to provide a datum for refitting all
other parts, else dimensional integrity will be permanently compromised.
We see three alternative roofing materials
(i) High performance elastomeric roofing felt (Marley - £23.99 for 1m x 8m
roll)
(ii) 15oz canvas (Emlyn) or 17/18oz Canvas (Charles Mitchell)
(iii) Synthetic 'curtainside' material
(iv) Lintex - composite synthetic/natural canvas as used by the Bluebell
The
roof area is about 55m per coach, allowing for a bit of overlap, however before
extensive roof work can proceed we need to find a pair of scaffold towers, and
we are actively searching for suitable kit...
We
wrote the paragraph below best part of six years ago…
Neither of our vehicles is fitted with a handbrake, and the
Since then the situation has changed
significantly – and for the better.
Following enquiries with the MRT at Butterley, there was much shilly-shallying
and ‘will we – won’t we’ sell it. In the
end we elected to waste no further time on the matter, and this approach was
abandoned. We never did get round to
visiting 1353, which had once been used as a shop on the mid-Hants, because,
before we did, Charles managed to secure GW BFO 231. This is a Dean bogie
clerestory of 1896, and, superficially, might solve the brake vehicle problem.
It was originally built as a Family Saloon, but rebuilt in 1941 for use as an
inspection saloon at
But
more recently, in March 2006, we were advised out of the blue by Ramco that
they were disposing of LSWR Ironclad LSWR 1357 or SR 3193 – a BTK of similar
type (but mirror reversed) to the mid-Hants.
The vehicle was viewed in April, purchased later that month, and reached
Blaenavon on 4 May, being off-loaded the following day. A full story of the vehicle as it appears in
our house mag Top Line appears HERE. This is rapidly becoming a restoration job in
its own right, so it is important that we do not lose focus on the RCs.
However,
we now consider that the search for a brake is well and truly over.