Van 23 and L&B Heritage Train

Nice to see Van 23 move:

http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/story/news/2675

I understand that she was going to have new bogies put on, as that been done? Is she technically ready to enter traffic? And have there been any developments on the coaches either....pretty buzzed about the prospect of a L&B heritage train!!!

 

Regarding the restoration of the two remaining coaches (No's 4 & 17), I understand that the application for Lottery Funding was refused, and therefore the L&B now faces the prospect of raising the necessary funding themselves.

Chris

 

Thats a shame about the lottery funding! :-(
Am i right in thinking that there are 5 L&B coaches still existing?

No.2 @ NRM (unrestored)
No.4
No.7 @ Woody Bay
No.15 @ Festiniog
No.17

Where are 4 and 17 at the mo, and whats their status?

Cheers!
Rob

 

I'll fix one up for them!

 

Is there any intention to ever restore the NRM garden coach example, or is it a 'Lode Star' case? Surely a less special and rare vehicle could tell the story of withdrawn stock in garden/field use and dereliction, such as a vanfit body or similar?

 

That has always been my thought! Its quite a waste of a very rare coach!

 

Coincidentally, I was watching the 1987 BBC documentary 'The Little Train to Lynton' documentary last night, and in it Andrew Dow made it pretty clear that the NRM's intention at the time was to restore No.2. When did the plan change, or was the present garden display merely intended as a stop gap?

 

The various salvaged parts from both are stored at an undercover facility in Essex.

When Andrew Dow and the NRM parted company. There are NO plans or intentions for the NRM's L&B coach No.2 to be restored, just "wishful thinking" amongst a handful of enthusiasts.

Chris

 

That's good. Restoration would ruin it, given its degree of internal originality. It is however a shame that it and the other NG exhibits at York are tucked away in a dingy corner.

 

For once I agree that this coach should be left exactly 'as is'. It is very much a time warp which restoration would ruin. What amazes me about the exhibit is the absolute lack of written information as to what the exhibit is. If it exists, it is tucked away somewhere where I have failed to find it. The listening point may tell you something but that is only of use if you have paid for one of them.

 

I would say its much better and much safer left where it is , its not hurting anyone its safe and its not deteriorating, to make it run would be complex beyond the scope of whats reasonable. Like dual brake fitting probably The structure would not benifit from being rattled and twisted and its original as it is as a museum piece .

A bit about van 23 its about 80% original wood planking on the sides replacement imperial planks were made from best colombian pine recovered from WD&HO Wills factory at Bedminster in Bristol on demolition. John Mac Smith painstakingly machined it all up to match the original planking as well as most of the floor planks,all this work was done when it was at Burtle( Bridgewater). One door and all its runners and iron work were missing so one side is all new .

It had some large grafts in the oak sole bars ( chasis timbers), originally the chasis frame was just slotted together but during restoration we added steel angles in each corner gusset about 100 of them each cross has 4 angles with 8 no 7/8 bolts thru , with bolts through each joint, the lonitudinal truss rods, anchors ,and queen posts and tensioning had all been removed,years ago along with any ironwork that hung down, so everything you see under Van 23 is new . I made it all from scratch from photo's, including the bottle screws and queens, after the truss rodding was fitted along with new oak buffering beams and tensioned up, it was load tested by John at Burtle using concrete blocks as test weights the chasis did not distort whilst sat on its bogie pivot points for an hour.

It was delivered to WB by HIAB lorry ( Alan Coward from Bristol ) using a specially made lifting frame, that I made to save the cost of hiring a mobile crane in two locations, it sat on blocks for about 3 years in the dock.

Les driver made the bogies at the workshops from scratch from drawings and photos, we used axles and wheels & axle boxes I think from Australian kane cars we made a pattern and had new Axlebox bronzes made and then a special jig to machine bore the bronzes which have radius's at either end to" check axle float" . The scrap kane cars had had bar frame bogies that were cut up, that Colin Pealing arranged to ship just the wheel sets to the UK from OZ.

The brake column is from one of the L&B coaches chopped up at Snapper in the 60's, that Nigel Thompson found in the hedge at Snapper, there very rusty with a new handwheel that exactly matched the original, which I just happened to have in stores. One duckett is new I think,as are the steps and the grab handles to get on the roof.

The brake rigging between the bogies and handbrake column and( air cylnders and pipe work) not fitted was never completed under the van, because there was no priority or money to pay Les. So that's how it is now.

 

The post below applies to detail about Van 23

 

This is a photo of L&BR Coach 17 taken earlier this year, during what can only be described as a "heavy rebuild". There is still a lot to be done, but the quality so far seems to be of a very high standard.

 

It would cost to much and you would end up throwing away far to much to restore it, it is much better to build a new replica version with air brakes ready to go, after all how many of the general public would give it any respect?