Channel 4 Programme

I wonder if they will pre-prepare certain parts/fittings/upholstery/underframe and do some preparatory removal of wasted structural framing, so that the '6 months' is actually the fitting of replacement parts, rather than the whole project...
Film some shots at subcontractors and then at the railways concrened, carefully edit it together, and it can be made to seem that the whole job was done in 6 months.

Keith

 

We will have to wait and see!

Sawdust.

 

There is a photograph on this page:-

https://www.brownbob.com/channel-4-commissions-peters-great-rail-restoration/

It is dated 13th November, but it doesn't give any more detail in the text.

 

Looks like a Gresley perhaps in the background?

Steven

 

Should be an interesting watch. I've just finished reading the companion book to the 'Titanic: The Mission' series they did a few years back, sounds like a similar sort of thing. Except there they weren't restoring anything in existence but re-creating bits of the ship from scratch using period tools & techniques as far as possible.

 

Full details, withth photos of the completed carriages, are in the latest Steam Railway that appeared on the doormat today.......

 

Yeah check out the latest Steam railway mag for details. This is one of the carriages that will be in it, Very nice ! The others are an LNER teak coach, Mark 1 Pullman, and a 4 wheeler from the Isle of Wight . Should be some good programmes !

 

Confirms what the grapevine said. Must look at what Hamilton Ellis has to say about this vehicle.

Hopefully, there will not be too much "green eye" about and people are just grateful to the T.V. company for sponsoring this.

PH

 

Now done! Hamilton Ellis describes this as one of two vehicles built in 1885 with American pattern bogies which it does not have now. Around 1887 it acquired the clerestory roof which its compatriot did not. They were the last Royal vehicles built by the L.S.W.R. but its regal duties were taken over by its aforesaid compatriot some time before grouping.

PH

 

So if one of the coaches is an IoW 4 wheeler, that will make for an interesting final episode where the carriages are brought together. It will be interesting to see where that is, but also, I presume as part of the restoration of the IoW coach they will have to fit vacuum brakes in order to enable it to be braked with the rest of the stock?

 

The actual "bringing together" has been done. Without giving too much away (I don't know very much to give away in any event) the vehicle concerned has never been vacuum fitted. I presume carriage of the general public is not involved at this stage. Not long for you all to wait.

PH

 

Any idea when this is going to be broadcast then?

Also, don't know whether anybody else sympathises with this, but I kind of feel a bit frustrated that the railways that attract these projects will all be on 'established' railways (One can assume IoW, probably Llangollen, then for the Teak I'd guess NYMR or SVR? No idea where the Pullman is based). In any case, these are railways that will probably already have sufficient operational rolling stock for their needs, and these projects will (from a purely practical sense)simply either enable trains of an extra coach length to be run or provide backups in the event of one carriage having to be taken out of service. Don't get me wrong, I recognise that is important for those railways, and I'm happy for the railways involved that they've been able to have a coach restored, perhaps without themselves having to put the time and money in themselves (not sure how this project has been financed), and it's fantastic that some more unusual (or non-Mk1) carriages have been returned to action, but as part of a 'smaller' railway where for the last few years a coach has had to be brought in for the Santas in order to ensure the trains can take the demand, and has a number of historic carriages awaiting the time and money to be invested in them, a part of me feels it would be nice for programmes like this to help out the smaller railways, not just by doing work for them but also giving them much needed exposure to help attract customers. Even though that probably wouldn't make as good television...

 

I don't suppose you would expect me to agree with you and you would be right!

Firstly it will be in January but I don't know exactly when.

Secondly each vehicle comes from a different decade.

Thirdly the organisations concerned has got to be able to do the job. The T.V. company , who are paying, would want results.

As the video showing the 1885 Royal saloon has been shown, lots of people will know it belongs to Stephen Middleton of
Stately Trains. It's just the thing for a T.V. programme. I am sure the others will be as well.

PH

 

Check out the current steam railway mag for a picture of all 4 finished coaches running together at the Llangollen and an article about it. The 4 coaches are these ones. Obviously the Isle of Wight one will have been put on a presumably more modern donor chassis. Not sure if those working on them will have been paid full time. Like for example has Stephen Middleton been paid to work on his full time for 6 months. You could get a hell of a lot done in 6 months if you could work on one as a full time job with channel 4 paying you.

http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=277
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=305
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=853
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=2274

 

Deleted

 

Deleted.

 

The last of those (the Mk 1 Pullman) was running (on loan) at the Bluebell until 2008 and I believe ran subsequently at the Mid Hants, so I wonder how much work was done? The oldest two (the IoW one and the LSWR carriage) appear to have had major work, judging by the photos above.

Tom

 

The Steam Railway article seems to be based on the details published by Channel 4, the pictures taken at Llangollen and then whatever information is already publicly available about the coaches themselves. There are no direct quotes from any individual or organisation involved in the project. I understand that there is a contractual embargo on publishing any information about the project by all involved until the programme is aired. So just a few months to wait before full details of the restorations are known!

 

Just come across a Facebook photo of IWR No 10, hope it's ok to post a link?

As someone who didn't have a clue until yesterday this has been a wonderful surprise - the restoration looks fantastic, and an authentic-looking underframe too!

 

Wow, when I heard people talking about an IoW 4 wheeler, I presumed it was just a mainland cast-off, I didn't realise it was an original IWR Vehicle! Is this the only surviving vehicle from that company?