BSOT 9000 – showing the end where so much work is being done. It is very difficult to photograph; not least because of the dusty atmosphere, and the confined space. (Richard Johnson)  


Toad Brakevan 68995 outside the workshop. (Richard Johnson)  

Whilst there has been a considerable amount of progress since the last report, it may not seem as immediately obvious as on some previous occasions.

When we started work on the BSOT (Brake Open Second - Trolley) 9000, we knew that it was going to be a long job. It has turned out to be an even bigger job than was anticipated. The main cause for concern has been the very poor condition of the toilet end vestibule of the coach. Once the panelling was stripped off, the whole steel structure was found to be in a very poor condition. The end crash pillars had rotted through, and new sections have had to be cut and welded in. That alone necessitated the hire of a heavy duty welder (machine, not man) for a week.

Other parts of the bodyside structural steelwork have had to be cut out for replacement. Once the floor was taken up, it was apparent that much of the supporting steelwork was also rotten and required replacement. All this takes time, and once a new section is welded in and platework added, it is hard to see what all the fuss was about. Certainly it is difficult then to comprehend how long the work has taken.

It was very interesting that last week we had a visit from a representative of a company which owns and operates a number of Mk 1 coaches on the national network. He commended the high standard of the work being done on 9000, and said that if he were paying commercial rates for it to be done on one of his coaches, he would expect to pay £70 - 80,000.

The interior has come on substantially, and the panelling awaits staining and varnishing now that the ceilings have been repainted. The disabled area newly built into the luggage area is nearly complete, and the guard's compartment has had a lot of remedial work undertaken. Last but not least, our door engineers have been thoroughly overhauling and repairing what were a series of broken and rotted doors.

Although it will not be finished, we plan to move this coach outside in a few weeks, onto the jacks. Work can carry on, and at the same time we can lift it off its bogies and attend to everything underneath.

The plan is to replace it in the shed with SO (Open Second) 4790 which is now in the spare service rake, having been withdrawn from service last year because of the poor condition of a couple of its doors. It will have a full refurbishment, including replacement of all moquette, and will re-emerge in Carmine & Cream

Work is also well advanced on the BG (Gangwayed Brake) 92384, which we acquired only a few months ago. It is to be used as our new upholstery workshop, in place of the RBr. Internally it has been redecorated and fitted out with shelving, lighting and work tables. Externally, all rough areas of bodywork have been repaired, and it is in the middle of a repaint. Its last operational use was for carrying mail around the country, and it is staying in Royal Mail red with yellow lower body stripes. It will look very smart when completed.

The GWR Toolvan 92 was completed a few weeks ago. The main job was the refurbishment and replacement of the roof skylights. These were fitted when it was built in the 1920's, so that it was sufficiently light inside to work. This was in the days before electric light was available in coaching stock. Gas lamps would have been fitted, but the light from them without the skylights would have been very poor.

This vehicle is going to be the support van for the tamper. It will look a bit incongruous being towed around by a tamping machine which was introduced when the Toolvan was about 70 years old, but it will be fulfilling a role it was built for all those years ago.

There is a plan by the Commercial Department to celebrate the GWR 175th anniversary next year and we have been asked to supply an all GWR goods train. Of necessity each vehicle has to be either through piped or fully braked, so that the train has a continuous brake. Also, it requires a grey GWR Toad Brakevan at each end. We already have the Toad which we refurbished for the 'Thomas' troublesome trucks, and to make that operational we need to install a guards brake setter.

To go with it, we have decided to refurbish another one which has stood in a line of derelict wagons for longer than most of us can remember. Toad 68995 was built in 1935 at Swindon. It is in a fairly run down condition, which is made to appear much worse by being painted all over in a sickly yellow. Work has already started by stripping it of all non-authentic modifications made when it was converted to a mess van some years ago. It should come back to life over the next few months without too much trouble, as it is essentially complete. The attached photo says it all.

One thing we discovered which interests everyone who sees it is that when the rotten wooden floor was removed, we found the underframe filled with all sorts of scrap metal to give the van its necessary weight. Brake vans needed to be heavy to give sufficient brake force, and this van was built in the days before brake vans were constructed with concrete bases. The scrap is no doubt the offcuts of parts of the various steam engines which were either being built or cut up at Swindon in 1935. As someone said "there's probably a nameplate buried in there somewhere".

A considerable amount of work has been undertaken on the GWR box van 144678 currently in our shed. This was the van which was built by the Southern Railway at Ashford for the GWR in 1942, and is thus to a typical Southern design. It transpired that it was eventually necessary to replace all the bodyside planking, as so much was either rotten, or had been replaced previously with the wrong design of boards. The planking was originally a mixture of wide and narrow boards, fitted on an alternate two wide / two narrow pattern. We had a quantity specially machined, and now fitted they look splendid.

It should be finished in a matter of weeks, and will be able to take its place amongst our rake of refurbished wagons. It will certainly be running in the Gala rake next year.

We have also started work on the GWR Fruit Van which has been used as a store for Santa's presents for the last few years. We had complaints that it leaked last winter, and Santa got his feet wet. Having made a full investigation, it is clear that rain was getting in between the (very old and warped) wooden side planks. We have established a way of overcoming that, so all should be well for this year.

We are also planning to renovate the outside of Santa's Grotto. It was only painted a couple of years ago but being stationary, it tends to get covered with verdigris. It is a job we could do without as we have plenty of other priorities. We initially thought of asking the elves to help as they use it, but perhaps they would not be able to reach the roof.

Despite the fact that our department continues to grow, there is an on-going concern about the amount of effort required to try and keep all our service coaches operational. We seem to run ever more services, and there is a plan to increase the current train length to seven coaches to accommodate more passengers. We have had to withdraw a number of service coaches as their condition has deteriorated, and each time we refurbish one, more needs doing than was envisaged. In turn, that takes longer than was planned. It is a vicious cycle that shows no signs of ending in the near future.

Lastly, an apology. A correspondent has emailed me to point out a typo in the last report. The original number of the ex Irish Steam Heat Van from its days as a humble BSK, was not 34071, but 34701. I wonder how many others noticed. The good news about this vehicle is that plans are now under way to resume work on it. There is a planned inspection by a boiler inspector, so we shall at least know shortly whether the boiler is fit enough to remain in use, or not.