At the end of two exhausting days, the work of completing the brake rigging and then testing the vacuum system – away from home base and thanks to Steve Cramp and the museum team – has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, reports Pat Sumner CEO of the GCR Rolling Stock Trust. This brings to an end the actual rebuild of the MLSR 6-wheeler which has been on display for three years at Nunckley Hill Rail Museum – after a 20-year painstaking recovery from wreck condition by Trust Members at Ruddington.
The lock down at the Trust’s GCRN base for the last three years, compounded by the Covid Pandemic, prevented this final planned mechanical engineering work from being undertaken – and but for a few further minor adjustments, this gem of a Victorian railway carriage has been passed fit to carry 50 passengers in safety and comfort.
As one of the key restorers and the purchaser of this carriage from British Rail for just £50 in 1971, our Deputy Chairman Tony Keeble explains: “This has been a long and painstaking restoration with an expectation that it might have been a star exhibit at the proposed but now abandoned GCR Museum project at Leicester North. It has certainly been highly finished for that purpose. Is it now to be offered to run in passenger service, or stay on display? This is quite a dilemma – not least that we have so much other restoration work needing catchup, especially on our Barnum, and we would have to split our slender resources.”
The planning of the brake fitting out, reports Pat Sumner CME, involving also Roger Penson, Mike Lang, Gordon Maslin, Ian Parker and Mel Cresswell, was quite a logistical challenge. This was not only to specify and source the mass of required fittings and attachments, but then to align the brake rigging assemblies and then go forward to affirm that, when completed the vacuum pipe and brake pan have efficient operations.
Thanks to the superb support of Director Steve Cramp and his team in the Nunckley Hill rail enterprise, the RST team brought together all the relevant parts and knowledge into the confines of the main display hall which was noted not to have a most desirable servicing pit.
For those that like the detail, the prime work was first to obtain access as special steps are part of the public viewing and access, then to fit in the passenger communications valve, insert a new piston valve in the brake pan, check and align all the brake blocks and then test all the braking operations, according to the standard BS procedures.
At the end of the process, the Honda-powered special vacuum generating kit brought in by carriage and wagon specialist, Gordon Maslin checked out the pipe connections and proved that the system worked to the required level of efficiency.
One of the critical checks – Integrity of flexible pipe linkage to Vacuum Reservoir -Tony Keeble (standing) and Gordon Maslin
Assessing the status of the Vacuum cylinder – focus on the activator arm seal – Mike Lang (Left) and Ian Parker
Vacuum test – 5 minutes lapse to assess vacuum retention – Pat Sumner (standing) and Gordon Maslin await results
Brake Rigging – investigating the rigging and tolerances prior to adjusting brake blocks against the wheels
As Tony Keeble concludes: “This was a great effort, and we were well rewarded by the pass ticket we were given by a very suitably qualified C&W engineer. We are very grateful to our team and especially to our long-established friend and Trust supporter, Gordon Maslin. This is a very significant achievement of a project kick-started some half a century ago.”
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