Latest News
January 2012 - An Update on Trailer Number 92
January-2012
January 2012
January 2012
January-2012
Since the update in November last year considerable progress has been made on the bodywork of No. 92.
The gangway end of the coach has seen the exterior panelling fitted and the window openings ready to receive the mouldings and glass sub frames. No. 92 had its gangway end windows blanked off in February 1935, considerably altering the appearance of the vehicle at that end, and these are now being reinstated.
The exterior panels have been fitted to the complete length of the second side together with the bolection mouldings round the windows, which on No 92 are different from the Railmotor, being fitted round the complete window assembly, including the opening toplights. The driving end re-construction is progressing , the final main corner post timber having now been delivered, allowing work to progress. The condition of the driving end was similar to the gangway end – mostly soggy wood and a few rusting fasteners, so it has had to be completely rebuilt with new timbers. including both main corner posts and both intermediate posts.
Inside the coach all the cladding work below the windows has been completed, and wiring for the lights and communication bell installed, thus allowing ceiling cladding to be formed and fitted. Interior partitions have been progressed up to the point where the doors need to be fitted, and we are currently having new brass bottom door runners made to enable this to proceed.
December 2011 - We Crown a Successful Year with a Prestigious Award
The Great Western Society is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the Heritage Railway Association Large Group Award for 2011. This recognises 50 years of excellence within the railway preservation movement, culminating in the restoration to working order of Steam Railmotor No. 93.
Society Chairman Richard Croucher said: “I am delighted that the GWS has won the main HRA award for 2011 which fittingly marks a momentous year as well as the 50th anniversary of the society and completion of the Railmotor. This really is the icing on the cake.”
As well as celebrating the HRA award, 2012 will also see No. 93 celebrating the Olympics. Although we have not been selected to carry the flame, we will still be recording the fact that No. 93 conveyed the public to the games in 1908 when they were held at ‘The Great Stadium’, now known as White City. During the period of the 1908 games No. 93 was allocated to Southall, and worked on the suburban lines from Paddington including the joint GW & Met. line to Kensington, covering a recorded 54,806 miles between March 1908 and August 1909.
The photo shows an original handbill from the Society’s collection advertising the ‘Quadrennial Olympic Games’ – a rare surviving document.
November 2011 - A Small Problem with the Steam Railmotor
November-2011
Over the last couple of months or so we have become increasingly concerned with the condition of some of the exterior mouldings applied to No.93.
Initial symptoms were cracking between some of the joints adjacent to the window frames, and this was followed by distortion through warping of other areas both above and below the windows. The decision was made at an early date that the degraded appearance did not meet the high standards that the Society demanded, so as soon as possible after the end of the operating season action was taken to establish what was wrong and to find a solution.
In conjunction with the vehicle restorers at Llangollen, specialist advice was sought on both the materials and method of application of the mouldings. This advice has now been received and the necessary actions are being taken to rectify the problem.
The bottom line is that the material selected and approved by the Society has proved to be unstable in this application, and as a result the decision has been made to remove all the existing mouldings and replace them with a more stable material that has been recommended by various timber associations as well as by others expert in railway coach restoration. There are no issues with the standard of workmanship, the problem is simply one of material specification.
The decision has been taken in conjunction with Llangollen that the work will be undertaken in the C&W restoration bay at Didcot, rather than return the vehicle to Llangollen, so you may well see C&W staff from both locations working together on the coach. Once the repairs have been completed 93 will be repainted and relined before re-entering traffic in the Spring.
Problems with mouldings are not confined to the Society’s rebuild of No. 93. The picture of Railmotor No. 70 taken at Swindon while under repair in March 1907 shows that the GWR had problems as well, with a horizontal length of moulding missing from a side panel and also bits missing from under the water filler lid. This photo is also unusual in showing the vehicle on an accommodation bogie with the boiler and power bogie removed. Note that the centre of this bogie is not on the same alignment as the power bogie, being set forward on support pads attached to the underframe just in front of the scroll iron position rather than centrally between the irons. Also of interest is the boiler closing plate just visible balanced on the roof above the luggage compartment doors.
