With a cautious re-start on the support coach, efforts have concentrated on electrical and plumbing installation, with some work finishing the external preparation of the body. Paul Depledge continued until early November to install electrical wiring including underframe lamps. Results of the flash tests on the ex LNERCA alternator are awaited. Mick Robinson has almost finished the battery boxes at his workshop at Methley and has made the framework which will support the Fischer Panda 4000i 3.5kW diesel generator along with its radiator and starting battery.
The air system pipework is almost complete with all the main components located and bolted on. The coach air reservoir obtained from the Mid Norfolk Railway has been condemned as although it passed a hydraulic test, internal examination has shown an unacceptable level of corrosion. However it has been used to position the pipework connected to it. Since then another reservoir was spotted at Ian Riley’s works at Bury and secured for a reasonable sum.
David Elliott has designed a hydraulic hand brake mechanism from readily available components which meets group standard requirements and will order parts shortly. All the heat exchanger components have been supplied and Tom Snowball has made substantial progress on installing the pipework for the radiators. He has also made the two long shallow tube radiators for the corridor heating. Tom has also making the tube radiators to go under the seats in the compartments. David Elliott had identified a a commercially available “Designer” tube radiator for this role, but it is a bit of a tight fit. Tom is now making them out of ¾” steel water pipe which is producing a much more robust item which is tailored to fit. They are also working out slightly cheaper than the bought-in radiators. David is working up a detailed design for the heat exchanger/boiler cabinet the frame for which has already been made by Mick Robinson
Ian Matthews has completed the filling and preparation of the south end of the coach and removed the remaining external water filler pipes from the ends and roof and plugged the remaining holes – the new water tanks will be filled using pipes running inside the body to avoid having potentially leaky holes in the roof. Our small volunteer labour force has continued refurbishing light fittings, and making some wood details for the compartment walls and spacers and bushes for the brake gear. We could still do with more!
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Progress with the work can be viewed here