Swanage Wagons 2020

I appreciate that with the current closure of the Railway and general restrictions around COVID19 there isn’t a lot to report at present, however recently launched on Facebook is a page detailing the work a small group of us at Swanage are doing on some of our wagons.

The current project is a full restoration of SR-designed, BR-built CCT No.1449, but other projects are also in the pipeline once we are able to start volunteering again! You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to view the page; if you’d like to check it out, the page can be found at:-

https://m.facebook.com/swanagewagonworks/

For those who don’t do Facebook, once we are back ‘up and running’ I will also endeavour to keep this thread updated with developments.

 

I would apologise for the delay in updating this, but I think we all know why access to our railways has been limited lately! Anyhow, it is pleasing to be able to say that we are now back working, and updates on the Facebook page have now recommenced.

To summarise current work, dismantling work has continued on the current project S1449, to the extent that we now essentially have the skeleton of a CCT. Work has also taken place grinding out the weld on the end opening doors that were sealed up by BR many years ago (the intention is to restore the van to properly function as a CCT), and a number of other components have been removed for restoration. The big news however is that S1449 has been prepared and moved from Norden, where access was good but facilities were limited, down to Swanage where facilities are far better. The move took place largely without incident; we did end up with one axlebox gaining a bit of temperature, but as we plan to do a full mechanical overhaul anyway this shouldn't pose an insurmountable problem.

Plans for the near future are to get the framework blasted, saving our volunteers quite a bit of time, and making a proper start on the mechanical overhaul. Regular working parties will take place, so hopefully there will be more to update shortly. I hope this is of interest!

 

Another update has been posted on the Group's Facebook page, but to summarise it's been another busy week in the restoration of S1449, with working parties on both Sunday and Friday enabling really good progress to be made.

The main job was removing all 4 of the vehicle's main leaf springs for overhaul. As befits a vehicle last overhauled 42 years ago, most of the fastenings put up a worthy fight, however with the assistance of a bit of heat all 4 springs are now removed and ready to send away to a contractor.

With the springs off we also assessed the condition of all spring hangers and spring pins, all of which show signs of wastage. In line with our policy that if you're going to do the job you might as well do it properly, we've already asked the Swanage Railway Company to quote for replacements. This not only helps the vehicle, but also helps the railway in a year when its income has been decimated.

Other jobs have included measuring the tyres and tyre profile (no major issues found), stripping more timber, including the roof planks (which it was concluded were barely attached, let alone provided no structural integrity!), and we have been discussing a few deals to obtain missing, or more appropriate, components that will be required further down the line.

All in all, a good week! Thank you very much to everyone who has helped, and thanks also to all of our readers for their interest; next update soon!