Isle of Wight Steam Railway Carriage and Wagon updates

Quote from Steam Railway about the C&W workshop:

"It makes for a hugely pleasant visitor attraction. You can see restoration and conversation work taking place [...]"

Gary - is conversation work integral to the output of vintage carriages?

Tom

 

I can think of a few people that would b true for in our works!

 

Of course it is! like all good organisations we have those who think that by simply talking about work that it will magically get done.

 

Sounds a bit like Steam Beano.

Paul H

 

A volunteer within the Carriage and Wagon at Havenstreet has started a Facebook page called C&W Happenings. It will be updated two or three times a week so that it will be easy to follow progress within C&W at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway

https://www.facebook.com/pages/IWSR-CW-happenings/611820685590574

 

Gary - just renewed my annual membership and put in a modest donation for the Chatham carriages appeal. However, I don't think there was a Gift Aid declaration - is it possible to GA the donation? Not a lot, but I like to think Mr Osborne is doing his bit ...

Really need to get over and see your new shed and the E1 next year...

Tom

 

Tom thanks for the donation, most welcome.

I know that we do GA on various things, I shall ask when I get the chance.

 

New shed...????? Under selling it a bit...

 

So I gather from the rave reviews and the photos I have seen! I need to work harder next summer on the logistics of crossing the Solent en famille ...

Tom

 

Tom,
First train away from Smallbrook is a shade after 11.00 and the electric trains do not stop there any earlier. Access by bus is best via service 9 from Ryde Esplanade to Wootton station. At present there is a community bus which runs at 9.42 to Havenstreet from Binstead but involves getting off the 9 at Binstead roundabout and literally going round the corner where there is no shelter. Not recommended for those with small children or, indeed , those who don't know the area. (You will gather I am now an IOWSR volunteer [in museums and archives]!)

Paul H

 

Thanks Paul - I've done the journey before, but it involves a certain co-ordination with a 2 year old and a 4 year old to get Salisbury - Portsmouth train + Ferry + electric train from Ryde Pier Head to connect with the IoWSR service! Not especially early - I seem to recall I need to leave home about 8am to catch an 8.30am-ish train from Salisbury to get a Ferry about 10:15, but it is a big day with small legs

Tom

 

Thats alright Tom, I'll have a trip on your new siding one of these days.....I hear good things about that too!

 

Tom, If you go on to the Historic Carriages Appeal page and scroll down there is a link to download the Gift Aid form and then the email link to send the completed form to. Hope this helps.

Gary

 

The January IWSR C&W update is now available on the IWSR Website.

The headline news this time is the completion of the (unplanned!) major underframe overhaul of LBSCR 9 Compartment Third 2416. This vehicle had to be withdrawn from service early last season with serious corrosion problems. The C&W team have completed a thorough and impressive repair and overhaul, which culminated in the body being returned to the underframe on 3rd December.

With underframe work on 2416 complete the team will move on to completing the overhaul of a pair of SECR bogies which will then be used to return SECR Saloon Composite 6375 to traffic.

If all goes to plan there will be 5 bogie coaches available for traffic during 2015, we were down to three during the high season last year!

Meanwhile, work continues on our current restoration projects; LCDR 5 Compartment Brake Third 4115 (a short bogie vehicle), LBSCR 3 Compartment Brake Third (a 4-wheeler) and SECR Dropside 62888.

 

LBSCR 9-compartment 3rd 2416 has been out this week on a first test run after completion of a major underframe repair job. 2416 was subject to unplanned withdrawal from service last July as a result of underframe corrosion, to be expected in a coach that is almost 100 years old but not exactly helped by years of exposure to salt water on Ryde Pier!

This brings the operational bogie coach fleet up to four (all LBSCR!) for the start of the 2015 season. There is the prospect of seeing SECR Saloon 6375 later in the year once the overhaul of 2 bogies is completed, with 2416 completed and out of the way the workshop team can get back on with this project. The two SECR Brake Thirds (4145/9) are stopped and awaiting major underframe surgery.

 

The March C&W News is now published on the IWSR web site. Highlights this time:

• Winter maintenance completed on all of the operational coach stock, our bogie coach set this year consists of 4 LBSCR vehicles. LBSCR Third 2416 is back in service after a major underframe repair, LBSCR Composite 6349 also needed work on the underframe to make it ready for traffic.
• Good progress is being made on our latest restoration projects – LBSCR 4-wheel Brake Third 4115, LCDR bogie Brake Third 4115 (too many coaches with the same number!).
• The latest wagon rebuild, SECR Dropside 62888, is making rapid progress - it now looks like a wagon once again!

 

The SECR Dropside wagon looks more like a new wagon with second hand metal work. Thank goodness it isn't the mid days of preservation when the metal work would have gone off as scrap.

 

I think that there is some truth in that observation, but don't forget that mainline railway works regularly completely re timbered wagons in their heyday.

I remember tendering for this vehicle when it came up for sale. We were very keen on acquiring it as it was the last of its type and we paid over the odds. It wasn't too bad when it arrived, but suffered over many years as we had no resources to maintain our wagons. Thankfully those days are over and everyone is very pleased to be able to restore these veteran vehicles to virtually new condition.

 

That is our standard way of restoring our wooden framed wagons using new Oak with original metalwork although sometimes very heavily repaired. Some of the jobs that are coming up will require even more though as they will require all new springs, 4 for the axleboxes and 2 larger leaf springs for the combined draw and buffing gear. They will also require 4 new knee brackets which will be forged, they will not be cheap.

 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but would like to pick up on an earlier topic.

Over many years the railway has done a very good job of painstakingly acquiring authentic grounded coach bodies, augmenting the carriage fleet and progressively filling important gaps in the representation of island railway history. If we consider the gaps that remain, future objectives would surely include the C&NR, Met. 8-wheeler and LSWR bogie carriages.

To my mind, this would leave one key area largely unfilled: that of the former IWCR / FYNR stock. Of course, the MSLR composite is a very welcome start, but the stock originating from other companies (principally the LSWR; also others such as the GER) remain unrepresented. So:

• Is it not possible to rectify this by obtaining original stock, because in fact there were no survivors?
  
  
• If so, what do we know about potential identical survivors elsewhere in the country? (The reason I ask this is because there is a precedent for 'importing' such examples to the railway, established by LBSCR 2403.)

Thanks for any light you can shed on this subject...