NVR Wagon Group

The patient awaits… ex-LMS ‘CCT’ (which stands for Covered Carriage Truck, a vehicle designed for carrying motor vehicles and also used for parcels traffic) in the shed at the start of our most recent working session.

The interior looks very sorry for itself. Note the absence of gorilla costume…

Some hours of hard work saw the long panels either side of the door on the south side stripped of their timbers.

After a short break, another of the long side panels on the north side was stripped, the interior now looking like this at the western end.

At the end of the day the van looked like this. Three of the four long side panels have been removed, leaving one more to go, plus the end and side doors. Another solid work session should hopefully see most of the remaining wood stripped, ready for cleaning and preparation of the steel framework for the body. The timber for the roof is being left in situ for the time being, as it is hoped the wood is in good enough order under the existing felt to be reused. However we will not know for sure until we remove the felt in preparation for new roof canvas. The end doors will be retained to act as a pattern, allowing new ones to be made to match, as we are aiming to restore this van to “Octopussy” appearance for its static role at Wansford.

Our new project, LMS CCT 37071, is now in position in the shed ready for work to begin on its cosmetic restoration for a static role at Wansford station. The personnel door and step on the end are part of the modifications made to these vehicles for the filming of the James Bond movie “Octopussy” in 1982 and are now arguably an important part of the history of this vehicle…

The observant among you may notice that this CCT is not the same one pictured in the last update. The original plan was to restore the identical ex-LMS CCT shown in the earlier update, but for various reasons it was felt too difficult to safely move to Wansford for restoration without first undertaking fairly substantial work in situ.

Apologies for the long period between updates – we have simply been too busy to attend the railway lately, but we hope to resume normal service within a couple of weeks or so.

However we hope to start our next wagon restoration project on Saturday 17th November, depending on the necessary checks and shunt being undertaken in time. The wagon chosen is a particularly appropriate project, considering the James Bond movie series is currently celebrating its 50th year…

… one of the ex-LMS CCTs that formed part of the circus train in “Octopussy”, filmed on the railway in 1982. It’s in quite a state cosmetically, but nothing that can’t be fixed up.

A new ‘Image Gallery’ section has now been added to this website to showcase images of the wagons and goods trains at the preserved NVR, past and present. Please follow the link below to view:

https://nvrwagons.wordpress.com/image-gallery/

Van B759852 has finally received its ‘white square’ status, which means it is now passed to run on the railway proper. This is in no small part thanks to Dale from the Carriage and Wagon staff, who massively helped us out by undertaking a last minute repair discovered during its ‘fitness to run’ inspection – many thanks to him for this!

A couple of photos of ‘Medfit’ M470944 and B759852 making their way down to Peterborough (Nene Valley) and being marshalled into the freight train can be found on my unofficial NVR blog here.

B759852 makes its first appearance after restoration at the Steam Gala of 22nd/23rd September. Soon after this event it is hoped to add a ‘gallery’ section to this website, with a portrait of each wagon added as they are outshopped – watch this space!

Don’t forget the brake van rides at the Steam Gala – these are unfortunately limited to over-16’s only, and available only by pre-booking (here) at the present time, as this is something of a first at NVR. The near full-line trips from Wansford to Orton Mere (or the other way around on Sunday evening) perhaps offer the best value for money, and what better way to enjoy the Nene valley than from the open veranda of a brake van? On all the brake van trips, Wagon Group volunteer Tim Hobman is rostered to be Guard, so this is an ideal opportunity to directly find out about the group and our work on the freight stock at the railway.

Bank Holiday Monday turned out to be a busy day with three wagons again being worked on simultaneously. 1941-built “Esso” tank No.1914 received a quick coat of black topcoat to the top half of the tank end, which had previously been stripped and prepared up to undercoat. This means that the metal is now properly protected from the elements and the wagon can be left until we are ready to undertake further restoration at some point in future.

Attention then turned to ex-LMS ‘Medfit’ M470944, the new, previously prepared end planks being bolted into place on the restored steel stanchions.

Unfortunately the required long side timbers did not arrive in time for the day’s work session – our last before the NVR steam gala of 22nd/23rd September. Therefore we took the decision to paint over the tatty timber on the one remaining unrestored side, so it is presentable enough to run in the demonstration goods train at the gala (minus lettering). The wagon will be brought in again as soon as possible after the gala, to complete the job properly once the new timber has arrived. Here we see the primer hurriedly applied…

…followed by a shoddy topcoat, although it looks acceptable upon cursory inspection…

…don’t look too closely!

The following afternoon Tim and Philip spent some time trimming the fixing bolts and adding the dropside door catches, after their Guard’s turns on the service trains. Photo courtesy of Tim Hobman, in failing evening light.

The big news of the day however was the final completion of 1952-built BR van B759852, with all lettering applied to suit its original 1950’s appearance. Here is a taster, further pictures to follow soon…!

Don’t forget the NVR Autumn Steam Gala, on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd September. We are due to host two celebrity ‘8P’ ‘Pacifics’, BR 71000 “Duke of Gloucester” and 60163 “Tornado” – this event is a ‘must visit!’

Along with the two visitors, resident BR ‘5MT’ 73050 and ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.22 will be in action, along with popular Fowler ‘4F’ 44422. This will be making one of its last appearances at NVR before departing for the Spa Valley Railway, an extremely popular and reliable engine that will be much missed!

There will also be the opportunity to see behind the scenes for yourself, on the popular shed tours. Our recently completed handiwork can be seen on the move in the demonstration goods train running throughout the day, and in a first for the NVR, public brake van rides will be running. This is something of a trial event, unfortunately with an age restriction (over 16’s only), a supplementary fare, and pre-booking only – the page to do this on the Official NVR website can be found here. Tim’s immaculate brake van rebuild B953944 should be used for these rides, so please consider taking this rare opportunity to see our line from this unusual perspective. At the time of writing Tim is rostered to be Guard on these trips, so he can directly give you the lowdown on the activities of the Wagon Group. We very much hope to see you there!

In the last week or so, the metalwork on the ‘bad side’ has been cleaned back and primed, before we remove the existing side timbers and replace with new. (All photographs courtesy of Philip Halstead)

The previously prepared ‘good side’, as seen in the last update, was also treated to a coat of primer.

A few days later the BR brown topcoat was applied over the top, completing this side (apart from the lettering). The headstocks and axleboxes, handbrake levers etc. were also treated to a quick coat of underframe black, so it looks presentable for the NVR September gala. We are now more confident about meeting this deadline with this wagon, as it has seen good progress lately and the three timbers for the long side are now on order, hopefully for fitting next week.

Van B759852 now sports rainstrips on the roof above the doors (originally fitted to prevent rainwater cascading in front of the doors when opened for loading and unloading), and has also now received its penultimate coat of paint to the roof. The curved rainstrips are seen here painted in primer, before the whole roof was given (yet another) coat of dark grey paint.

The opportunity was taken to rub back and apply grey undercoat to the previously-primed area on the end of our fall-back project, “Esso” tank No.1914.

The new planks for the end of ex-LMS ‘Medfit’ M470944 are now topcoated, ready for drilling and fixing on to the wagon.

In between showers on a rather wet day, the old paint on one of the long sides of the ‘Medfit’ was sanded right back. The metalwork still needs to be needle-gunned and/or wirebrushed, before applying primer over the whole job. The long planks on the other side are completely rotten and will have to be replaced with new material, but this shouldn’t be a difficult job once the timber is in stock. We hope to progress the works to this wagon far enough to allow it to be used in the demonstration goods train at the NVR Steam Gala on 22nd/23rd September, alongside newly-restored van B759852, but cannot make any guarantees at this stage.

The new roof canvas of ‘Vanfit’ B759852 has received another coat of undercoat, but as one coat of grey paint looks much like another, no photo!

A little more work has also been undertaken on ex-LMS ‘Medfit’ M470944. The photographs below are all courtesy of Wagon Group volunteer Philip Halstead, taken on his phone:

The ‘good side’ has been scraped back and requires sanding before painting. As can be seen on the completed end woodwork in the foreground, this vehicle (like all wagons we are restoring) is being restored to a ‘working finish’ rather than exhibition standard – whilst any rotten timbers are removed and rust dealt with, we are not conducting ‘ground up’ restorations such as that undertaken on immaculate BR 20T standard brake van B953944.

The ‘good side’ viewed from the other end before repainting from LMS ‘bauxite’ livery, to BR. One of the prepared end stanchions, ready for their new boards, is also in view. The new end timbers are already cut and primed, and after topcoating will be ready to bolt straight on.

The ‘bad side’… rotten, soft wood. These three long planks will all be removed and replaced with new, provided by the owner of this vehicle.

The new roof canvas on ‘Vanfit’ B759852 has now received its first coats of primer and undercoat, after having the long sides of the canvas fixed down with metal strip.

The restored end roof hoops have also now been reinstalled, giving the van a completed appearance. Several more coats of paint are now required to the roof to fully seal and weatherproof it.

The plan was then to work on the ex-LMS ‘Medfit’ M470944 for the rest of the day. Unfortunately it is now temporarily being used to store waste materials in the yard which is less than ideal when we are trying to undertake restoration work on the vehicle. It was also located directly adjacent to the excavations and preparatory works for the new locomotive inspection/preparation pit which we are delighted to see is now underway! So we thought it best to stay out of the way for the day and drop on to our fall-back project, the repaint of “Esso” oil tank No.1914. As time was short, we restricted ourselves to removing the old paint from the top half of one end, in the process uncovering its old Air Ministry number, 804.

After a quick wire brush, anti-corrosive primer was applied ready for undercoat next time. Eventually the plan is to make this tank wagon a proper running vehicle in the demonstration goods rake, but before this can happen another tank (No.5181) will need to take its role as loco washout tanker, resident in Wansford yard. Unfortunately this also requires cosmetic restoration – although we won’t be anywhere near as thorough as we have been on this tank – our work never ends!

The new roof canvas. Any colour you like, as long as it’s green!

We specified pockets to be sewn into the long edges of the canvas, so a scaffolding pole could be inserted to give the canvas an evenly distributed weight whilst being applied. This worked very well, although it did make the canvas much heavier and more awkward to manouvre into place on top of the van…

Once we were happy with the position of the canvas, we could roll it up to just over the halfway point of the roof, the scaffolding pole making this task easier. The exposed roof boards could then have the adhesive applied, which despite appearances is not school dinner custard, although it does have a similar consistency (and probably flavour…)

Once one half of the roof had been so treated, the rolled-up canvas could then be rolled back into place over the adhesive. The process was then repeated on the other half, ensuring there were no ‘dry spots’ along the centre of the roof.

We then retreated from the roof to let the adhesive work its magic, which will be left to cure for a week or two. Finishing strips (including the restored curved roof hoops for the ends) will be installed once the adhesive is dry, then several coats of paint will be applied to seal the roof and make it properly watertight.

Simultaneously, the BR ‘Freight Brown’ paint was touched up above the headstocks, where the chassis black had gone further than it should.

As the new roof canvas for B759852 did not arrive in time for our planned working session, we had to re-jig our plans for the day and so began work on ex-LMS ‘Medfit’ M470944, which only needs a small number of rotten side planks replacing and new paint to be presentable (although the floor also needs replacing longer-term). This wagon will be a fill-in job for each working session on ‘Vanfit’ B759852; after application of a fresh coat of paint to the new roof canvas on the van (several coats required), the rest of the day will be spent on the ‘Medfit’. It is hoped and planned that the restoration of both these vehicles will be completed in time for the NVR Autumn Steam Gala, enabling their use in the demonstration goods rake at this event.

The three rotten end timbers were removed, the application of a blowtorch allowing the bolts to be removed relatively easily for re-use where possible.

The metal stanchions were then rotary wirebrushed back to bare metal and primed. The replacement timbers were also cut to size and put under cover to dry out, as they had been previously kept in the open.

Later we were able to apply ‘BR Freight Brown’ topcoat, giving the metalwork full weather protection…

…and the other end was sanded back and also treated to a coat of BR ‘fitted’ brown.

Whilst the painting materials were out, the opportunity was taken to apply underframe gloss black to the headstocks. Some tidying-up of the lower edge of the BR brown will be required once the black has dried, this will be done next time.