2008 News updates
Update May 2008
4690 continues to have its internal alterations done in Kidderminster paintshop. The lavatory compartment has been completed with all plumbing made and tested, primrose yellow formica cladding with cream beading 1950s style on all walls. The floor is tiled with correct pattern tiles and scotia. The ceiling has been built to include a detachable panel (LMS style) for access to the new stainless steel tank. The carriage electrical installation has been altered to provide swan-necked lamp over the mirror, plus a vestibule and corridor lamp with the familiar white cones.
The seating and wheelchair areas have had all decorations and new veneer panels completed, including a safety-rib that prevents wheelchairs from rolling out of the doors by mistake. These will also prevent draughts from annoying wheelchair users sat nearby. At mid-May the double doors were having detail fitting out done using reclaimed Iroko planks. On completion they will bear a strong resemblance to LMS Third class dors with horizontal varnish finished planks, instead of the painted cream, brown or grey of BR luggage doors. Contract work on other vehicles has meant that 4690 has been in and out of the paintshop several times over the last six months. The next contract job beckons, and so 4690 will be making one final outing before its finishing paintwork is done in June.
7511 saw good progress during April and May, with the new table lamps, the first batch of four having been soldered and polished, just requiring switches and wires to complete them. The oak window frames have been completed and were being installed complete with wired-in lamp plugs at the rate of two per weekend. Book sales and scrap aluminium continues to fund progress on 7511 without drawing funds from the main Trust accounts.
32919, Stove R, has kept Alan Minton busy doing assessment, costings and inventory of parts, and we have asked for a quote for timber frame repairs from a local railway-orientated contractor. Funding is also being investigated with a view to seeking grant aid.
In the future: A strategy has now been put forward whereby our BR Mk1 Brake Second Open No 9220 should be heading for an overhaul after 2008/9 winter. Its temporary repaint a couple of years ago hides a good deal of essential repairwork required on doors and gangways.
Update April 2008
With the reopening of the railway on Good Friday, our various vehicles resumed working for their keep. The LMS vehicles that had been marooned at Bridgnorth all winter finally got to visit Kidderminster for well-deserved maintenance. Our 2300 1946-built Corridor Third, needed a new floor for one battery box and this was tackled by the 'train repairers' in the Carriage Shed. 12992 and 24617 fared better but needed a good clean inside and out.
The BR Maroon set which had sheltered in Kidderminster Carriage Shed for many months now includes Brake Second Corridor 35219 which had been refurbished in 2007. It previously ran with the Teak LNER vehicles, but is now permanently allocated to the Maroons - which set has come on leaps and bounds in the last three years.
In Kidderminster paintshop our Tourist Second Open No 4690 has been in and out at various times between SVR contract work on a variety of other vehicles. Development of the interior is now well advanced, and you can hardly tell which bits BR built in 1957 and which bits they didn't.
Update by Chris Thomas
January 2008
TSO 4690 is back on the railway and internal fittings are now being installed. This vehicle will now be able to carry passengers in wheelchairs - so a wheelchair-accessible toilet is being installed alongside the extra-wide doors. The vehicle is designed for up to three wheelchairs to join able-bodied passengers within a 'normal' passenger ambience. We do not feel that wheelchair-bound passengers should be discriminated against, so we will do all we can to help them.
LMS Open First 7511 really is now taking huge steps forward. We are on the finishing stages, although these take time. We are not about to skimp; this will be a vehicle to be really proud of. Come and see us at Bridgnorth - cash and expertise are both very welcome. Can anyone make us some curtains? We are very fussy - we only need fourteen pairs of curtains to a particular size, pattern and fabric, but having got this far, we must get it all right. Oh, and would anyone like to sponsor the gold leaf for the external lining?
The Rolling Stock Trust has also been busy looking after our existing carriages. We have purchased no less than seven new sets of carriage batteries, and slow-speed charging equipment to go with it. No point in buying new batteries if we do not look after them.
We are now working up plans for the full restoration of Hawksworth first class sleeping car 9084. This will be largely for the benefit of the SVR's volunteers, but one compartment and the attendant's pantry will be restored 'as new' for controlled viewing.
There were four of these vehicles built (the last GW-design main line coaches) and 9084 is by far the best of the group. We'll do our best, but the bodywork needs some £35k spending on it, as post-war oak frames did not exhibit the quality of pre-war oak, even if the internal decor was, and is, striking, of an art deco design.
7819 Hinton Manor currently resides at the MacArthur Glen shopping complex at Swindon (for those less than 30 years old, this is where the GW works used to be - they closed, formally, in 1985). She is safe there, but we would like to return her to steam and SVR service.
When she first came to the SVR, Ray Tranter was the leader of a very thorough restoration. Not only did 7819 run tens of thousands of miles on the SVR, she also ran on the national network, reaching Plymouth, Aberystwyth and Portmadoc, among other places.
Sadly, Ray Tranter died last June, and his funeral (attended by a very large congregation of SVR supporters) took place a matter of a few hours before the SVR was washed out by rainfall worthy of Noah.
We have deliberately kept a low profile on fundraising while the SVR recovers, but we hope to launch a 'Ray Tranter Memorial Appeal' for 7819 this summer, the proceeds of which will go to Hinton Manor. Please start saving your pennies, pounds, kruger rand, etc, as we estimate that around £300,000 will be needed. It would be nice to get 7819 in service before 7802 and 7812 run out of their boiler tickets (2017 for 7812) but success depends on you.
No apologies for the 'begging bowl', as preservation is a very expensive club. Nothing gets cheaper, but if others can make an old Vulcan bomber fly (all credit to them), surely we can do the same for a Manor?
Fully repainted into 1945 livery again, with repairs to all sliding windows requiring new anti-rattle springs and skates. The lavatory floor in No 1 end has been renewed with an extra layer of planks and new lino. Asbestos removal from the two corridor heaters means this vehicle is now totally clear of this substance. The paint shop's new apprentice James Broughton and his tutor Mick Flint have produced one of the best finishes on any vehicle outshopped here in the last twelve years. A new battery box was built by the train repairers Gary Parsons and Shane Pimley shortly after arrival from exile in Bridgnorth. One of the batteries was hanging through the floor by its leads! 2300 went straight into service on Santa Specials on 6 December.