Lottery grant for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway

A very good point Tom, the plan is that the 6 IOWR 4 wheelers will be put onto storage underframes and will go into the new shed, as you rightly point out if the grounded bodies are not looked after we will be left with nothing to restore! We will have to do one completly new build as none of the 6 are brakes, possibly more so that the rake has a decent capacity.

 

Some valid points, and I certainly hope no more Mk1 's already in pres. will be scrapped, some types are rare already especially the non-corridors, and that more will get original interiors back (not all of them, of course!)

But I've travelled in some pretty dilapidated examples on certain lines, no names no pack drill, and indeed the main problem seems to be that stored outdoors the damp gets into them and never gets out again, given the short journeys etc. It isn't confined to Mk 1's, of course - I can think of a least two coaches from pre-nationalisation which are unrestored and out in the open and which have deteriorated to the point where actual restoration will be 'heroic', to say the least.

My point was that it was the harder choice at the time for the IOW people to actively go for the older carriages and to follow that up by getting a pool for later restoration and now getting them all under cover, the last being perhaps the most important. I think all their work deserves great credit.

 

Personally I wouldn't mind there being a few less of the later formica-panelled and fluorescently lit Mk 1s around, they're horrible! For the most part, though, Mk 1s aren't regarded as particularly historic so they have a tendency to receive modifications that take them away from originality. It is to be hoped that as time goes by more efforts will go into keeping them as original as possible. Does the NRM have one that is fairly original If it doesn't it should do as it is perhaps the most numerous and widespread British cariage design.

Personally, I'd rather put my efforts into pre-nationalisation stock as I feel it had more character, and our heritage railways could become very dull if they were to use Mk 1 "people carrier" SOs and BSOs as some would prefer. It should never be forgotten that the passenger/visitor - whatever you choose call them - experience the carriage they travel in above all else.

 

Hmmmm, you are so right there 61624, could not agree more though it is mainly down to finance I guess?

Regards
Chris:

 

Something that I have never been able to understand are the railways that strip out their Mk 1 coaches eg Luggage racks in opens, tables in opens and compartments, the lights above the seats, seat numbers, anti macasser clips or reservation clips, these are all the fittings that introduce character into Mk 1s. The widespread use of non railway moquettes to trim the seats, also reduce the character.

Another way that your coaches can let your entire railway down is worn out seating, cracked and lifting lino, filthy windows, none working toilets. In my travels on our heritage railways I have encountered all of the above, as 61624 points out your railways visiters only see the carriage that they are travelling in.

Having worked on many Mk1s I do not think that they are any more difficult to repair than any other coach, it is simply a different set of skills. IMHO all coaches given sufficent care and protection will give many years of reliable service and will leave the passengers with a really good impression.

 

Indeed. It might be the steam engines that make people visit a railway in the first place, but it is the carriages that are likely or not to make them return in the future.

After all, an average non-railway enthusiast might spend five minutes looking at the engine, but then spends the next hour or so sitting in a carriage, and it is that experience (along with a few other things, like the friendliness or otherwise of people they talk to; cleanliness of toilets; food available etc) that will influence how they remember their day, and whether it was a positive experience or not. Indeed, even for fairly hardcore railway fans, I suspect that, once inside a carriage, relatively few could confidently say what engine was pulling them if they hadn't seen it first; but you'll always remember the visceral experience of the carriage, even if visually you struggle to tell a Bulleid from a Mk 1, or a Chatham four wheeler from a Brighton one.

Tom

 

Finance and time I would say. The majority of intact, as withdrawn, coaches have been restored and are in use I would say and what are being restored now are ex-departmentals which are expensive to restore because one usually has to make a lot of the interior fittings. In some cases it is possible to cut corners by using modified Mk 1 components (the LNERCA are using Mk 1 seats in Thompson SK 1623, but the designs were similar and we have modified them to increase the similarity) but in many other cases Mk 1 seats and other fittings do not look right and the only other alterative is to make new ones and that's when it becomes expensive! The LNERCA experience is that a departmental restoration is costing us around £100,000 in specialist labour and materials, with volunteer time on top of that. It's no wonder such restorations can take up to seven years or more. But when the coach is finished it's worth every penny!

 

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Not too much obvious progress since last Sunday, all of the bases are now poured and the roadways to enable the crane to work have been laid. Dispite the vast quantities of rain the site is actually drier than it was last week, much to my supprise!

The deliveries of steelwork are due to begin W/C 8th October, from then on I would think that the erection of the framework will be quite rapid

 

Thanks for the updates gwalkeriow, I'm sure there are many of us who will appreciate any reports (image or text) such as yours on the construction process.

 

It is my intension to post a weekly update, with images and text. I cannot promise that their will always be something exciting to report. The basic building is due to be completed by the new year. One of the first jobs in the new year will be to bring the floor level up by approx 3 to 4 feet to create a level base for the trackwork.

 

Just had a look around, sorry no progress to report. We are expecting that during the coming week the steelwork deliveries will start. Hopefully next weeks photos will show some of the steelwork in position.

No photos this week, the only differences would be in the background where a shunt is in progress to extricate 46447 from the sidings so that its boiler can be craned in.

 

The steelwork started to arrive today, by lunchtime a rather large stack had appeared by the building site

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Photo 2 shows what appear to be the door stanchions, they are postioned near to the doorways. Photo 1 is the main stack, there is a strong possibility that there will be more deliveries in the next few days. The rest of the building site has not changed during the last couple of weeks.

 

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The progress in a couple of hours! the first 5 stanchions in position. Do not worry I will not post each time a stanchion is erected:whistle:

 

Quite spectacular progress since last Tuesday afternoon, the contractors are working today Sunday. It is now possible to start getting a feel for the size of the building. For our relatively small Railway the shed will be a tremendous boost, lots of cover and access to enable the public to get up close to the majority of our stock.

It is looking as if with the present progress that next weeks update will show the completed framework

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The main framework is now complete, the work was done by a team of just 5 people in 9 working days. The main task now is attaching the dozens of purlins that the cladding is attached onto.

If only they could finish it and put the track in over the next few weeks, dream on. In the real world some track should be in early 2013 so that some stock can be put under cover. This has to happen to clear the sidings where the rest of the point work is to be laid.


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The photos this week are from a different viewpoint as the field is rather sodden after another night of heavy rain. The end view shows where the public entrance will be. All the purlins have been fitted, and the central rainwater gulley fitted. I suspect it will not be long before the first cladding sheets are fitted.

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Good to see the progress Gary, thanks.

It is also nice to see that the wagons branded "On loan to Civil Engineer Southern Region" are clearly still in use by him but more importantly are well maintained despite their lowly role.

Nick

 

The "On loan to Civil Engineer Southern Region" dropside wagons are in use later this week for a photo charter. They will be with an SR 8 plank wagon, a LBSCR 5 plank, the other dropside in PO livery and the LSWR Road Van. That is not a totally authentic IOW train but we are working on it. If we had £10/15,000 we could add another 3 LBSCR 5 plank wagons and a SECR dropside, that would create a totally authentic IOW goods with the LBSCR,SR and LSWR vehicles.

 

Sounds like a proper train for the E1 to pull...would the bequest stretch that far...?
I am only joking btw

 

I had a trip over to the IOW on Thursday and the new building looks very impressive and will be a great asset to the railway once completed and in use for stock storage and the museum.