Latest News on Railcar 22

I am afraid that the Railcar is not good to go at the moment, as far as I know. There was a problem with Air, and lack of it over the Bank Holiday Weekend. We had an air leak that appered whenever the Oxford End driving cab was put in forward gear, we think we know what the problem is, but we first have to be able to take the final drive apart, to see what size seals are required

 

Sorry to hear that - presume that means she won't be available for traffic this weekend, so does this mean another loco will be used? Looking on the website, the two small saddle tanks are also rostered but presumably for the main demonstration line

 

As far as i know one of the Panniers is supposed to be rostered as a rplacement for the Railcar. It is a shame as looking at the loco roster the Railcar would have been running on the main demonstration line, which would have meant that we could have given the old girl a really good run, and blown some of the cobwebs out

 

Good News

The problem with the Railcar has been sorted, and it was as first thought knackered seals on the forward and reverse select pistons, most have now been changed, and the others will be changed as soon as we can get spares.

 

Thanks for the update, hoping to ride on 22 next year sometime

 

Breaking News

Some of you who have had a ride on the Railcar over the past year, may have noticed that the seating material is very threadbare in places, the material is the BR Birdsfoot Pattern and this is what the inside looks like at the moment.

We hope to be able to fully recondition the inside over the course of the Winter, which will involve brand new upholstery to the original Green Pattern, which we have had made, and most interior wood work will be varnished, Green Rexine will replace the Red, and the ceiling and sides will recieve a repaint.

 

The seats are in the process of being removed from the 2 passenger saloons, and will be taken away by the upholsterer shortly, the driving cab seats will also be taken away at the same time, and will be upholstered in Green Leather ( now where’s the electric windows switches )

 

It is funny how the smallest jobs can cost the most money we are looking at £10,000 to re-upholster and refurbish the interior of the Railcar. The upholstery has cost £2,000 alone to have made, on top of that , there are the cost of re-upholstery there is now an additional £2.500 to lay new Lino,

 

It is the best time to do the line, when the seats are not there so I hope the job goes well and it should look really good when done.

Am I right in thinking it is 70 next year, along with the 38, so a good reason to cellebrate.

 

Are you having to special order the upholstery and lino? If so could you make a combined order with our guys working on W20 to try and reduce the cost a little?

 

The Railcar is 70 years old next year. as she entered traffic in June 1940

 

The Lino that has been chosen is readily availabe. We have had to get 500 yards of upholstrery made, at a cost of £20 a yard, now apparently we did appraoch Andy about buying enough for No 20, and we were told that they weren't ready for it yet. However what the 400 yards we still have left is for I don't know. As I think we are going to keep it for some of our more long term restorations

 

I have just heard that the re-upholstered seats have been delivered. It is now all hands to the pump, to get the interior finished in time for the Easter weekend.

 

A happy weekend was spent at Didcot slowly changing the inside of the Railcar from Red, Varnised Wood and Cream, to Green, Varnished Wood and Cream. The seats are back as perviously stated, and very good they look too, but I forgot the camera, so was unable to take a picture. I spent the weekend painting steam heat covers in Green Gloss

There is a lot of work still to do.

 

I have just spent a happy weekend at Didcot, staining bits of wood, ready for application of varnish. The new floor has been laid, and we are now waiting for the Lino to be delivered and laid. Spent Sunday using the Railcar to shunt part of the Carriage Shed, as we had to get a few coaches out. There were 4 of us working on the Railcar over the weekend

 

A happy Easter spent rubbing down and varnishing strips of wood for the Interior of the Railcar, and rubbing down some of the seat ends. The new Lino will be laid on the 15 & 16th April, so I will be down on the evening of the 16th along with one or 2 others , to do yet more interior work.

 

This is possibly my favourite vehicle in preservation and I really appreciate your updates. I look forward to riding in 22 again soon!

 

Thank you for the comment cymroglan; I look forward to driving her again soon

The new lino has been laid, and looks very good, the large panels that go under the windows between the seats, have all been replaced with new plywood, and the panels in the small saloon, have all had green rexine fixed to them, they are looking good as well.

Saturday was spent shunting the Carriage Shed, getting part of it ready for the May Event. There was quite a gathering of visitors watching this for quite some time.

Sunday I varnished most of the seat ends, and fitted the floor panels with their metal surrounds. There were others working as well, and they fitted a couple of the panels that go between the seats under the windows, after fixing rexine to them.

I will be down at Didcot for the May event, and will be working on the inside of the Railcar, it may be parked out the front of the Carriage Shed, and I hope it is, as it will make working on the inside a lot easier. I hope to be able to take some pictures.

If the Railcar is parked outside the Carriage Shed and you are down, juts pop your head round the door and say Hi

The Bar Car will be open during the course of the week serving a great selection of Ales

 

Shameless photo plug, I know, but I thought you might also like to see how Railcar no.20 is getting on! Slow progress, but a lot of structural work has been done. I managed to get some pics during a day at the KESR, and have put them up at: http://jonedwards.photobook.org.uk/c1840945.html

 

Thank you for sharing your pics of Railcar 20. There is still a long way to go before we see her running, but I hope it won't be too long.

We would like to get both Railcars together, and if this does happen, we may be able to run them in multiple, as these cars are capable of doing, if we can get the jumper leads and sockets wiring sorted out