October - November 2011
We decided to construct a new canopy for the side of the coach to keep the worst of the weather at bay this winter.
The new canopy is bigger and sturdier than the previous version and has already proven its use over the last couple of weeks.
The decision was made after a particularly strong rain storm in October, where a lot of water collected in the exposed window hopper bays and on the corridor floor.
Work will recommence, alongside the Railbus, next year when the warmer weather returns. This once again shows the necessity of undercover accommodation for our rolling stock.
April - September 2011
Once again, work on the exterior of the coach has been slow these last months. This was due to a lot of time and effort being concentrated towards making the front of the Nord Express display presentable and even more time on the Café extension that IRPS Enterprise was contracted to build for the NVR.
Despite the large workload however progress has not altogether ceased. A few months ago the coach was given a very thorough cleaning inside, turning up all kinds of debris & dead things! But the main point of concentration has by far and large been the window frames and hoppers.
Each hopper takes an alarming amount of time to restore, or in the majority of cases, build from scratch. So any time work commenced on 3916 it was usually these that dominated our days.
Pictures from the window hopper construction procedure can be seen below:
First the new aluminium sheets have to be cut to size.
Next, holes have to be marked on the new aluminium to exactly match the holes on the original hopper. Then the holes are drilled through.
Photo showing a restored part of an original hopper. You can see the holes that the new aluminium has to match up with.
There are also 3 brass strips that have to be drilled out to match the holes in the aluminium. These act as a clamp, holding the aluminium in place once they are pop-rivited in place.
The hopper frame, the new aluminium and the brass strips are separated by a thin layer of sealant and then pop-rivited together.
The original hopper alongside the latest to be restored.
Another job that was completed recently was the removal of every radiator from the coach ready for restoration:
Photo taken in June of the coach at night.
January - March 2011
Work on 3916 has been slow over the winter due to the weather. The majority of work has gone on restoring parts for the interior of the coach.
Parts from the attendant's cabin have also been restored and are ready to be fitted.
We managed to get some exterior work completed during an extraordinarily warm March week. A strip towards the base of the coach was needle gunned, rust treated and primed ready for top coat later in the year.
When the warmer weather returns permanently we will continue with bodywork restoration.
July - December 2010
With winter quickly approaching it is the time to ensure the coach is prepared for a winter of wet and cold.
All the work to the lower paneling, as discussed, has been completed to a very high standard.
It is impossible to see where the corroded plate was cut out and new plate welded in place. All seams were filled with weld and ground to a fine finish with only the smallest amount of filler used to fair the plate prior to painting.
All plate was first treated with rust inhibitor, then painted in green primer.
If the coach was housed inside a building then it could have remained in primer, however the primer is porous so we had to press ahead and paint below the waist band in undercoat simply to protect our work over winter.
By the time we applied the undercoat both the air temperature and the steel plate were cold so the paint finish is not particularly great and will need a good sanding down and re undercoating before a top coat is applied, probably around July time next year.
All the corridor windows have been removed during the course of the year. The sills on which the fixed windows sit (every 2nd window) are, in every instance, completely corroded and have been cut out. We have had new sills pressed to the original design along with their restraining strips.
Many 'happy' hours were spent welding in the sills, which is a difficult task, as too much heat can cause the steel sills to distort, too little heat and the resulting weld is poor and has to be ground out and done again.
The restraining strips were held to the sills with brass M6 dome head machine screws. With the former steel sills and restraining strips having been badly corroded, the hydraulic action caused by the rust snapped the relatively soft brass machine screws leaving the whole assembly held together by rust.
Now the problem! Where in 2010 can you buy brass dome head M6 machine screws? The nearest I can find is Pan heads which do the job perfectly well, but are not the original design.
You may think this does not matter. The problem is that slots cut in the steel fascia strips align with the screws, which can be retracted with the fascia in place. If ever the window brakes this removes the need to dismantle the paneling. However, the heads of the pan head screws are too large to pass through the fascia slots.
The windows themselves have been completely cleaned, the glass being cleaned with fine wire wool and tee cut bringing it back to almost perfect condition and a very nice shine.
Cleaned and polished window being fitted back into place
In most cases the anodised frame is in excellent order with only small areas where corrosion has eaten away the anodising and the soft aluminium under it has powdered. The windows have lasted well for the past 60 years and will give many years of service yet.
Half the windows on the vestibule side can be lowered, these drop down into a brass and aluminium hopper with a drain at the bottom of the hopper that extends through an oval slot in the chassis frame. On extraction of the first hopper we have found the aluminium has completely powdered through.
One of the better removed Window Hoppers. Notice the holes where the aluminium has powdered
This is probably caused by the close proximity of different metals and the presence of water. Aluminium is the less noble of this combination of metals and electrolysis has eaten away the aluminium.
Once the integrity of the hopper failed then water was discharged into the chassis itself leading to corrosion of the plate and the angle framework supporting it.
Fortunately the failure of the hoppers is relatively recent and the ingress of water has not caused serious damage. Left unchecked it would eventually lead to the corrosion of the structural members and ultimately the failure of the coach.
I believe this could be a ticking bomb in other un-restored coaches.
Once the hopper has been extracted from the coach, the rivets holding the aluminium to the brass frame are drilled out releasing the aluminium plate which will be replaced with new.
Every opening window has a spring compensating system to assist in the opening and closing of the windows.
With considerable corrosion of the steel plate and the window hoppers I was expecting this relatively delicate mechanism with its many springs and moving parts to at least be seized up. Thankfully this was not the case and each one looks and functions as if it was new.
Corner section of a restored window frame.
The Pan head screws mentioned earlier, holding the restored window in place.
Work to the vestibule ends has been minimal. The corners of the chassis are very badly corroded.
Once the buffers had been removed and the rest of the small parts from the end of the chassis had also been taken off, further damaged plate was cut away to establish the extent of the work needed to return it to the original condition and strength.
The buffers have since been restored to their original condition along with a number of other parts.
Many hours have been invested by the various team members, We have been joined by another young member, Lewis, who is proving to be a very good addition to the team.
John continues his work with the compartment windows, having dismantled the interior paneling of the corridor prior to welding work and the removal of the asbestos panels behind the heating pipes, that contractors will remove during November. The funds for this were raised in the summer raffle.
The release of the heating pipes from the pipe clamps was particularly challenging due to corrosion of the bolts and the awkward location.
Work will continue on the vestibule ends as the weather allows during the winter months.
The South side of the coach will be tackled during 2012. With more people working on the coach it means that fund raising has to increase to keep pace with the expenditure.
Photo showing progress to date.
January - June 2010
With the corridor side now under restoration, a method was required to keep that side of the coach dry during the wet Winter and Spring seasons.
We fashioned a canopy out of scrap metal and wood found around the railway and clamped it in place to divert the rain neatly behind us when working and keeping the coach dry.
Now the canopy was in place, the needle gunning of the coach could continue in all weathers which allowed us to finish quite fast.
The speed of completion was also down to the addition help of a new working member who started in March.
After the needle gunning was complete, the corridor side was wire wheeled down, coated in rust treatment and finally Green primer.
The odd section has since been painted in blue undercoat.
The steelwork on the corridor side is fortunately in good condition, except around the window recesses and the last 50mm on the side plating.
This last 50mm has now been cut away and the metal left exposed by this has been rust treated and painted ready for the new strip to be welded in place.
The level of rust underneath the removed 50mm plate.
Some of the plate before being cut off. Because it had broken away from the side of the coach, extensive rust was forming underneath.
The new plate, ready be screwed onto the side of 3916.
Two new volunteers, screwing the new plate into place ready for welding.
The new plate in place ready to be welded.
The new plate finally being welded on.
While the new 50mm plate is welded in place, work continues on the vestibule end with more and more corroded metal being removed each week.
The latest piece to be removed was part of the pillar which is due to be replaced by the one we fabricated last year. See Here
As you can see, the pillar on the right has been removed.
Unfortunately however, the removal of this piece reveled extensive corrosion to the areas surrounding the buffers. The only way to tackle this problem is to remove the buffers, gas axe the corroded material away and weld a new plate in place.
The buffer plate is corroded beyond repair. The actual buffers can be seen through the hole in the plate.
Interior work also continues with another new member methodically removing and repairing each window before he begins to strip the rest of the coach.
The two broken windows have been re-glazed and one compartment now has a fully operational window.
The working window in the first compartment.
Parts of the window mechanism.
The handle to wind the window up and down.
Some of the interior paneling has also been removed and re varnished. Fortunately there is little or no damage to the majority of the panels.
Pictures show the newly restored panel on the left against an un-restored panel.
Moving back onto the exterior of the coach, one side of the coach has been stripped of paint and the majority painted in green primer. Some sections around the windows are even in blue undercoat.
Photo showing the early stages of removing old paint and putting the new coats on.
November 2009
As the days are getting shorter, we are losing valuable hours of working time. To help reduce this problem to some extent we have installed a row of lights cable-tied into place along the interior corridor. This should keep the work hours the same as the summer time, weather permitting of course!
October 2009
Work continues on the vestibule end fabrication, but with a new
working member having joined the team, work is now commencing on the corridor
side.
Many windows are completely seized and many of the window
recesses are heavily corroded externally in the corners, but more extensively
on the inside. The opening windows drain internally, with the water exiting the
coach via small holes where the chassis joins the coach sides. Rust in this
area has caused the plate to corrode and pop the rivets, leading to flaring of
the side plate. This also, being structural, requires extensive attention.
Firstly, the internal wooden paneling has been removed, allowing
the window mechanism and fittings to be extracted. Each wooden part is labeled,
but many have a Wagon-Lits stamp from when they were built, with car number and
window number included.
With the fixed window the internal sills are heavily corroded,
these are in two parts, the cover unscrews, while the main support is welded
and has to be cut out.
The window corners are then carefully cut out, when beyond
repair. Following this we then needle gun around the window aperture, prime and
undercoat to protect the plate after rust treatment.
July 2009
Prince William School, Oundle, visited for one week and provided
excellent service in removing the battery boxes from the coach, continuing the
fabrication of the vestibule ends and making a number of small parts.
The images above show the battery boxes prior to removal, existing conduit heavily corroded and disintegrating.
Cutting off the seized bolts.
Once the battery boxes are removed, they will be grit blasted by a contractor.
April - June 2009
Extensive corrosion of both end vestibules:
In order to proceed with removing corroded metal the steps had to
be removed.
Vestibule Pillars:
A decision has been taken, following consultation with the Nene
Valley's full time carriage staff, that the steel work on the vestibule
ends is beyond repair and total replacement is better.
Each pillar has been accurately measured and drawings made.
The drawings have been used to produce the steel that form the
vestibules. Each being identical to the original.
A lot of work has gone into the main pillars, originally
Wagon-Lits would have used a press for these parts as the majority of the
pillar is a quarter round profile, but becomes square towards the top.
In order to create an exact copy of the original, two sections
had to be formed separately and then welded together.
The new pillars being cut to shape by a volunteer with a plasma
cutter.
After the pieces had been cut to fit together perfectly they had
to be welded together.
The two halves to the new vestibule pillar after being welded
together.
July - October 2008
The restoration of the roof is now complete, the coach having taken pride
of place in the newly commissioned heavy overhaul workshop. All tank fillers
and inspection panels have been removed for restoration. While in the workshop
rotten metalwork has been cut away from the end vestibules, taking care to
measure and draw all metalwork profiles in order so that new profiles can be
pressed.
The external doors have been removed for renovation.
The main water tanks and hot water boiler have been lifted out
and the boiler pipe work dismantled.
End Vestibule Stripped down to the frame:
Corrosion on the main frame.
Fortunately plenty of sound metal still remains as shown
above.
Vestibule with doors removed for renovation.
Hot water systems prior to restoration.
Wagon-Lits coaches had to be self contained as the many
Wagon-Lits express sleeping car trains exchanged coaches to different locations
along the way. This could involve a coach waiting some time before being
collected by the next express.
The coach, of course, contained an attendant (conductor) who kept
the coach warm by keeping the boiler stoked with coal from the hoppers on the
vestibule ends. The hot water was heated in the same way, in a small boiler on
top of the main boiler. In the summer, this small boiler was stoked
independently, but in the winter, heat from the main boiler also heated the
small one.
Corroded roof sheet removed:
Below are some more pictures from the time the coach spent inside the new heavy overhaul shed:
3916 being shunted into the new shed
The small electricity box next to the battery boxes and the step into the coach with manufacturing details.
Two shots of the far end Vestibule where work has not yet commenced.
The end product of a winters work; the roof almost completely restored. First photo still in the shed and the second after removal the following spring.
February - July 2008
The coach continued to stand in the open and attention
concentrated on fund raising and removal/restoration of body work fittings. The
fittings mentioned above were carefully removed and then grit blasted, prior to
rust treating, primer, undercoat and gloss.
Parts prior to restoration:
Parts after restoration:
November 2007 - January 2008
Work progressed to the interior of the coach. The plan is to
complete the corridor and then make a start on the compartments. There are also
two windows that will need replacing. So far work has centered around removing
paneling around the windows, refurbishing all the metalwork in the window
mechanisms then screwing it back in.We have also removed the fake ceiling put
in when the coach was modernised to reveal the original Art Deco one which has
made the coach seem a lot more spacious.
August - November 2007
As can be seen above and below, when one of our members first attempted to get to
grasps with this coach it was in a pretty bad state. While not structurally the
most dilapidated part of the coach, the visual state of the roof left a lot to
be desired. It was not water-tight and more importantly was relatively cheap to
sort out.
This was first sanded and wire brushed back to bare metal, before
a treatment of rust prevention was put on. On top of this we added primer and
the white paint now present on the coach roof.
Unfortunately, the weather beat us to finishing the job, so the
remaining third was left to the Spring when conditions are a bit more pleasant
to be sitting on top of the coach!
Below are some more photos of the work that has taken place on the roof:
The newly 'paint free' roof.
One of the cleaned roof vents.
The roof how it looked originally and the part of the roof under paint.
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