Rebuilding Gresley Buffet 644 - Chapter 32
Dave Simpson covered the east saloon door with leatherette cloth and Don re-made the mouldings on the saloon side as the leatherette cloth had reduced the size of the window aperture. The door also had to be re-hung after some adjustments were made to allow for the extra thickness of the leatherette cloth.
(photo D Hall) The buffet was on view to the public for the first time outside the RCB during the SRPS Gala weekend to celebrate 50 years of the society. The coach was marshalled between the Thomson open 13803 and the Thomson BC 80417. All agreed what a fine sight they made. 644 was riding a bit high (about 3" to be exact) so could not be used in traffic at the time. The excess height is thought to be due to the lack of heavy kitchen equipment, no gas bottles and much lighter batteries than would originally be fitted. Opinion has it that brake block ballast will be required to correct the ride height.
Jim Summers has been painting the two-colour vertical linings above the waist rail. These consist
of a yellow ("primrose") line with a thin red line on either side. The time consuming complication is
the arrowhead at both ends. The north side was completed at the end of November 2011. Well done Jim!
Now for the south side!
Don and Alastair McPhee put in the water plumbing - the cold water as 22mm piping and the hot water,
which has more pressure thanks to the boiler, in 15mm. The system was tested (cold) a few times to
identify the leaks, then all of these were fixed. There were many leaks around the boiler, as, when it was
sent off for certification, it seems everything was taken off, then replaced, but only just hand tight! A
water steriliser (top photo) was plumbed in as the first item downstream from the tank. The ultraviolet tube this uses
is powered from a standard Mk1 style fluo inverter. The under-bar WHB is shown below.
