Isle of Wight Steam Railway Carriage and Wagon updates

Will all 7 four wheelers be in traffic on the two-train service this week and going forward, or is that only likely to happen on event days?

 

It should be the full 7 coach set from now on.

 

A correction to my above reply 4115 is currently in the workshop for jobs to be finished off, it shouldn't be too long before it is back out in service.

 

Thanks for the update Gary, I feared that might be the case.

 

I see Oldbury 21 has moved into the workshop today for restoration to commence.

 

Yes, it arrived in the workshop this morning. It is a three compartment first, so different to No 10..
It’s condition is somewhat worse than No 10, so I am expecting it to be just a basic frame in a few weeks.

 

The "story" of the restoration of 4115 can be read here:-

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lxdielhohjko1lv/4115 restoration-v7.pdf?dl=0

Working on an updated version of the No.10 which should be online shortly.

 

Great work Derek, it's easy to forget just how long it takes to complete such a thorough restoration. Having another coach on the 4-wheel set makes a difference in service, the train seems so long now and during the Steam Show W11 had to be worked just a bit harder on the steep bits!
The Victorian train with a Terrier on the front looks absolutely marvellous, a tribute to all that have contributed to the Victorian train project over more than 30 years.

Another magnificent restoration by the C&W team, all involved can be extremely proud of the finished product.

 

Thank you, hopefully lots on here found it an interesting read.

 

A very interesting read and congratulations to the team on a superb result. Perhaps other railways could learn from this and create similar restoration histories...

Keith

 

Well said Keith

 

A really big thanks to the Isle of Wight railway and in particular Peter Jardine for teaching myself and another Swindon and Cricklade member how to do Carriage Upholstery.

We stayed for 5 days in their volunteer accomodation at Havenstreet and in that time reupholstered 2 seat backs and 1 seat base for SECR 4149 and also made two all new cushions for the Guards seats. Peter gave us these as they are the same as the passenger cushions but smaller and ,therefore, somewhat quicker to do. It also allowed him to get on with other woodworking jobs (making a new end bar for the second Oldbury) whilst we were busy.

The seat backs/base had original woodwork and springs but all the upholstery part was new and we did it them with the traditional horsehair although it comes now in sheets which can be cut easily not in loose form. They are keen to get this coach back into service as it is a brake coach and they only have one bogie brake coach in current use. 4149 has had pioneering work done to it in that it has been fitted with all new solebars (not a job for the faint hearted) to replace the rusted originals.

See a few photos below taken last week showing the back I did at various points. (took 2.5 days to do) which you could do in two with more practice. The guy I went with did another. We also had a go at doing buttoning too using a spare scrap piece of fabric but this was removed as it isn't needed for this coach.

I thought it might be interesting to see these photos as we all sit on carriage seats at preserved lines but you rarely see (or appreciate) how much work it is to do them.

The idea is to use the experience gained to do some more similar ones for our own coach GWR Toplight 7545 and it helped push along the SECR one too.

New jute webbing attached and then stitched


Double hessian layer done


Horsehair done


Felt layer (note the gap for the fold in the material)


Polyester layer going on (helps with fire proofing)


Back showing stitching to pull in the fold in seat front


Finished seat back for SECR 4149


Guards Cushion final sewing partly done

 

Seems there may be plans afoot for the Duver and it's collection of Metropolitan 8 wheelers.

IWCP: Historic railway carriage beach huts at centre of redevelopment discussions

 

Hopefully a couple of these might end up at Havenstreet if they do get removed.

 

Are these Metropolitan coach bodies the rigid 8 wheelers, or bogie coaches, of course, no underframes exist now for any 8 wheeler s how bad were they for the track and weren't they either sold off, or converted into departmental stock on the mainland using bogie underframes

 

Yes they are all 8-wheelers, if you don’t have an underframe then you just build one.

 

I still find it amazing that we can say things like that now without everyone else thinking it's completely potty. Those pictures make it look like the coaches have some sort of cladding on the outside, so presumably the bodies sheltered underneath oughtn't be in too bad nick?

 

Not really, it shows how far the movement has matured that making new underframes is now a viable option and not the thing of dreams as to the condition of the bodies, it depends on what material they were made of and if they have been protected , some coaches are almost indestructible if made from a good hardwood. so how many bodies are there?

 

I think that their are six or seven of them, if they are like the later Mets at the Bluebell they will be teak.

 

will you, if offered be able to take all 6, or 7 or will one possibly find its way into the London underground museum for eventual rebuild ?