Summer 2012
While awaiting the result of grant applications, no real work was possible, but investigative
"digging" was possible. To that end, and to really get to grips with the size of the problems
we were likely to face, temporary mains lighting was rigged throughout the coach by members of
our electrical team.
Various scraping operations were also carried out to find out exactly what
was under all that awful pink paint and whether we still had any teak boarding on the outside
of the vehicle, or whether it had all been replaced with cheap plywood.
The end framing was exposed and patterns for replacements were made. As this involved working in
the west toilet, it was decided to test the overhead water tank. After cobbling together various stopcocks
and piping to plug all the obvious orifices, the tank was filled. Glory be! It didn't leak!
The first three panels removed from the north side were all plywood, and, worse than that, had been pinned in place with steel panel pins and nails. Disaster to remove these! After stripping off the paint from the door of compartment "A", Don discovered that the 14" panel was reasonable teak and the 18" panel was once again nasty plywood. Both adjacent toilet windows were unserviceable so were removed for eventual replacement.
Alastair MacPhee discovered that the vertical boards at the east end of the
coach were original teak and really in quite good condition. Getting the black paint off was
another matter - it took two day-long sessions to get the boards stripped at the north-east
corner. The mouldings covering the board joints disintegrated on removal, so many many metres of
half round moulding will have to be manufactured.
Alastair also did a lot of detective work finding some of the parts which would be required - great
success with some (passcomm piping and "trumpets") but not so good with others (for example luggage racks).
As the coach came to us largley stripped internally, it is a wonder he found any "bits" at all.
Bob Mowat did a bunch of sterling work chipping the crumbly plaster off the ceiling of the vestibules and the entire length of the corridor to reveal original cream paint. Unfortunately, the original paint is not in good condition and will require filled, sanded and repainted.