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Jonathan came into the workshop again on Saturday to carry on with refurbishment work on the carriage plug/covers components.

On Sunday we had John back from his holidays, Len, Jonathan and myself, what a glorious day, without a doubt shorts weather.

Len and Jonathan went off to perform the usual tests on the fire alarm call points in BBS and The Trackside, everything was sound and the tests recorded.

Simon the railways full time electrician paid us a visit, with a surprise project for us all.

Well the surprise was down at the Carriage & Wagon sidings in the shape of W5017 a MK1 TSO which is used on the Santa formation this being two by two seating with a central isle and dual heating, electric/steam.
When Simon had been testing the carriage for insulation checks on the lighting and electrical heating systems he had found that the insulation resistance was quite low. It has been decided that the carriage will be rewired.
So we all made our way down to C & W to start to investigate how best the job would be tackled. Some of the wiring is in a poor state the PIR insulation crumbling in your hand whilst handling it.
Len, Jonathan and John started by taking down the central light covers and inverters to see how the wiring is routed, we then investigated the end corridor lights removing the light fittings and ceilings in the end corridors.

I got the mucky end of the job underneath the carriage itself, freeing the electrical trunking cover screws from years of muck by spraying the screws with copious amounts of duck oil to get them to release.

A break was called for so off we went back to the workshop for some lunch, then it was back to W5017.

The refurbished carriage plug leads/covers and patress's belonging to the LMS Stove/Brake were left in the brake van, some insulation tests need to be performed on this vehicle before we refit the newly refurbished parts.

Back to the carriage, i started to tackle the conduit running underneath the carriage knocking off years of grunge and spraying the junction cover screws with more duck oil. By this time i looked like i had just come off an eight hour shift down a local coal mine.

Simon will now order the correct spec. cable to rewire the carriage, this will involve the full time C & W staff, as we have asked that the internal ceilings be taken down so that we can access the wiring.
Simon along with the mid week volunteers and the Sunday volunteers will attempt to complete the re-wiring before the Christmas Santa's start.
This will be our first attempt at re-wiring a carriage on the ELR!

Off we went for a good cleanup before departing for the day.

asbibby wrote: Well the surprise was down at the Carriage & Wagon sidings in the shape of W5017 a MK1 TSO which is used on the Santa formation this being two by two seating with a central isle and dual heating, electric/steam.

I think you mean W5031. It often sees year round use.

I wondered why it was stabled down on 1 road.

It also has (had?) a monumental steam leak at the South end.

Probably one of my favourite Mk1s on the railway, as it's saloon interior is near-enough in original 1960s ex-Wolverton trim, and it hasn't been heavily modified - retaining the "tasteful" (lol!) lime-green formica bulkhead panelling, and the original lighting diffusers.

Mike

I will check the vehicle number tomorrow but the carriage we are working on and referred to here is an ex-Regional Railways BSO. It is very close to the gate to Baron Street behind C & W and has been buried down there for a number of years.

getting it out will mean moving some wheel sets and an almost derelict carriage which has "Not to be raided" or some such words on it.

The intention is to convert it into a support vehicle for Santas for present picking. It needs to be ready by early November at the latest.

The mid-week Civil Engineers will do much of the work but specialists will be required at times - especially for the electrics.

I must have got the number of the carriage wrong, the said carriage is to be lifted off it's bogies in the near future and rested on two steel supports for work to be done on the carriage & maybe the bogies, because of the steam leak you mention.

It is going to be quite some task to entirely re-wire the lighting circuits and ETH heating wiring.

It will definitely keep us busy for a few months, it is located at the side of the C & W at the moment.

XTMike wrote:I will check the vehicle number tomorrow but the carriage we are working on and referred to here is an ex-Regional Railways BSO. It is very close to the gate to Baron Street behind C & W and has been buried down there for a number of years.

Ah, that one is Mk2a BSO 9418.

Sounds like two projects going on here - rewiring of TSO 5031 which the electricians are doing, and the mid-week gang rebuilding BSO 9418 as a picking coach.

Mike