It’s been quite some time but an opportunity has finally arisen to start posting some of the backlog of updates that have accumulated over the last few months. A lot of progress has been made since the last update, with completion now firmly in sight – below is a step-by-step report to date, in roughly chronological order.

Much of the focus since the last update has been on smaller ‘finishing off’ jobs, including making and installing the door fenders seen here. Note the coach bolts that require cutting to length, although this is a relatively ‘small’ job, it took several hours to complete.

It was a very long time coming, but here it is: the final bolt! Hundreds of these have gone into the bodysides to fix the new side planks. Again, many hours of work undertaken.

Another ‘small’ job; filling the various screwholes and flaws in the bodywork planks to give a good finish to the final topcoat.

The interior lining undergoing installation in preparation for the finished vehicle’s static storage role, with the unclad stud-partition wall to the foreground.

Weather strips and fenders have been reinstalled to the drop-down flap on the ends.

A few bolt holes were inaccessible due to the grab-handles that had been added to the frame for the “Octopussy” filming. As they were few in number and solid fixing was provided elsewhere, we cheated and glued short bolts in place for a satisfactory cosmetic appearance.

The remaining planks have been added to the dummy side doors, and once painted will be indistinguishable from the opening doors on the other side.

The interior lining is now complete, the partition wall seen here (the side door jamb, painted red, can be seen to the far right).

All the exterior ironmongery was recovered from the old doors, which were too far gone to be of further use and had to be disposed of. The recovered metal parts were then cleaned, primed, and painted in red topcoat ready to be installed back in their rightful place on the van.

We have topcoat! It’s amazing the difference a coat of paint can make, its really starting to look the part – what a transformation!

The unrestored western-end headstock…

…needle-gunned then primed.

The special hinge at each end, shaped to provide a personnel door for the “Octopussy” filming, was reinstalled…

…and the side door hinges have been fixed to the dummy side doors to complete them.

The roof hatch is now installed, as are the timber roof ribs, all added for the filming to ‘Foreignise’ these ex-LMS vehicles to portray a circus train in East Germany. During the railway sequence in the film, Roger Moore as James Bond slips out of a gorilla costume and escapes the villain’s henchman through one of these hatches – naturally a chase ensues, although it is never explained how he managed to get out of the ridiculous costume unnoticed…

The hatch and roof ribs have since been painted with grey topcoat although it was unfortunately too dark to get a photo.

The western headstock has now been topcoated with underframe black.

The end step, a filming modification below the personnel doors, has been installed at the eastern end, with that for the other end prepared although not yet fitted.

The end grab handles have also been refitted, and some of the end hinge strapping has been bolted down.

This final image from Philip provides a good summary of how the vehicle now looks, although the grab handles and end step seen above have since been added. Compare to how it looked when we started, pictured on the Railway Heritage Register about a year before we began work: http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=777

This bumper report brings us up to date, with only a few more sessions required to complete the vehicle… hopefully I won’t leave it so long before the next update! However, work on the project is always ongoing even if the website is somewhat quiet!