Locomotive Works

Bulleid 'Lighter' Pacific! Thanks to the impressive efforts of the Battle of Britain Locomotive Society, '92 Squadron' is undergoing a crash diet, shedding those extra pounds as she is stripped down for overhaul.

Below are a few shots of Swedish 'B' class 4-6-0 No.101, which is beginning to see some fresh paint applied by the 'Wagon Lits' volunteers. It is being cosmetically smartened up as part of a very welcome and imaginative revamp of this part of the yard. I will not spoil the surprise by saying any more on here for the moment, however it promises to be a big improvement!

White Van Man

I had a very productive day on stores van B759852 today, concentrating on the top half once again. All the loose flakes of paint were scrubbed off with a scraper and wire brush, and the planks roughly sanded. Any bare wood was then given a good coating of white wood primer.

While the paint was drying on the left hand side, I managed to move the scaffolding to the right hand side and begin work, using a new method that will hopefully be a lot quicker and easier than removing all the internal and external planks of a panel as I did previously. In an hour or two I was able to cut all the bolts required and knock them through, saving a lot of time and effort in the process. Next week will see the removal of a few screws and the two split planks should come out fairly quickly and easily... (famous last words).


View from across the tracks, the top left quarter is now ready for undercoat to match the doors, before painting BR Bauxite.


Closer view of top left quarter, cleaned and painted with white primer.

I finished up by tracing the existing lettering off the van, in order to make stencils over the next few weeks for reapplying the lettering after a full repaint.

CIWL Sleeping Car 3916

A major omission on this (mostly C&W) blog so far is any mention of the Wagons-Lits sleeping car no.3916. The coach had been languishing at Wansford for many years, but a very active restoration group has taken an interest in it and over the last few years have been thoroughly restoring the coach. Please use the link on the right hand side of the page to go to the International Railway Preservation Society (IRPS) website, which will give far more detail on this vehicle and its restoration than I ever could.

The sleeping car is in full public view, parked up on the same siding as the 'Kriegslok' locomotive. It is always pleasing to see vehicles given the TLC they deserve, the IRPS have made huge efforts and progress both with fundraising and physical work on the vehicle. I believe the intention is to display the completed vehicle in the 'Night Mail' museum building, which is being planned for construction at Ferry Meadows station. This will house the NVR TPOs, along with the two NVR Wagon-Lits carriages (the other is Restaurant Car no.2975, which stands at Wansford station and can be examined from the platform). Donations and offers of help, large or small, would almost certainly be greatly appreciated!


Corroded metal has been chopped out from the end vestibule. Unfortunately, as is often the case with restoration projects, this has led to the discovery of yet more corrosion requiring complete removal and replacement with new metal.


The north side has been needle-gunned, wire wheeled, rust treated, and primed. Some blue undercoat has gone on in places.

Recent Vanfit News

The new bolts were finally put in place along with the interior, and fully tightened up...


...followed by a quick dab of green primer on the new bolts and any bare metal affected by the cutting disc.

21013 - Another Update

The yellow lining (top and middle) has been added to the south side of SNCB 21013.

The new panelling on the north side now covers approximately two thirds of the coach length:

LMS Breakdown Crane MP3 Update

A couple of views of obvious progress on the breakdown crane:


The match truck has been rubbed down in preparation for painting.


The remaining weight-relieving bogie has been painted to match the rest of the crane.

Top Banana

I spent some time wandering around Peterborough NVR station at the end of today, and was very pleased to find that someone has taken the time to smarten up the BR banana van that was in desperate need of a repaint. I last saw this vehicle at the Somerset & Dorset event on 25th April 2010, when it was embarrassingly shabby, and had made a mental note to tidy it up when I got a chance. It was nice to see that someone else had thought likewise, and beaten me to it! Unfortunately I don't know who the secret wagon painter is, but if you are reading this, your efforts are very much appreciated!




More posts to follow over the next few days, I managed to get a few photo updates during my working session this week and will upload them as and when.

Demolition Van

Repair work continued on stores Vanfit B759852 this week. I arrived at Wansford a couple of hours later than usual, so didn't have a lot of time to get much done. However, I managed to get the old planks out, cut and shape the replacement boards, and temporarily fix them in place to keep the van weathertight. More work is required next time to finish off them off.


State of play at the start of the day, just a single internal plank keeping the top panel in place.


The last plank was removed and the panel pretty much collapsed as expected.


External view showing the temporary cattle truck conversion!


Old and replacement planks side by side, cut and ready to be installed.


The replacement planks in place, yet to be permanently fixed.

This exercise has been very instructive, as I have now had an idea for a work method that will hopefully allow me to remove defective planks individually and without stripping the interior. This would mean replacement of the odd plank here and there will be much quicker and easier. Fingers crossed it'll work, because there are plenty of random split/rotten planks in the other panels yet to do!

SNCB 21013 - Progress this week

Cleaned and painted body framework on the 'other' (north) side of the carriage. The heavy work on the south side is completed.


About half the framework on this side has been needle-gunned, repaired where necessary, and painted. About one third of the new side sheets have been fitted.


An overall view of the coach in the workshop showing progress (north side, see earlier postings in the archive for views of the south side).


Compare the photos above to this image, taken before work started. This extent of corrosion was evident along the entire sides of the coach, not forgetting the roof which had to have 11 curved patches, measuring approximately 1ft by 3ft each, welded in flush.

Vintage Weekend nearly here

This splendid Foden steam lorry has turned up in the yard, ready for the Vintage Weekend this week (10th/11th July).

Update soon...

I'm now back safely after a few days away. However, it seems that my next visit to the railway will be later this week than I originally intended, due to other commitments. I will try to post a C&W update after a working session at Wansford in the next few days though!

A lot is going on this coming weekend, 10th/11th July. On the evening of the 10th is the 'Wansford Fryer' fish and chip special. This event has now sold out but according to the NVR website seats are still available in the rest of the train, so you can come for the ride albeit missing out on the fish and chips.

The whole weekend sees the railway play host to a 'Vintage Weekend' which sees traction engines, vintage vehicles, and various other interesting things pay a visit. On Sunday 11th July, a classic bus rally will be held at nearby Sacrewell Farm. A vintage bus service will link Wansford NVR station to the bus rally at Sacrewell.

If all this wasn't enough, the same weekend sees the railway stage a 'Rail Mail' event, boasting TPO drops and collections from two lineside locations, a rare opportunity to examine the 1885 GNR TPO body in the yard (this is normally kept under a tarpaulin in the tunnel), and short trips on the TPO train to the exchange sites. I wasn't planning on going to Wansford this weekend but I am now sorely tempted - it promises to be an exciting weekend!