Spring 2022
February saw the painting of the roof. First it was cleaned of dust and "doo poo". A plastic curtain was hung all the hung all the way round the carriage to keep paint splashes off the varnished sides. As gales were forecast, both gangway doors were hung and closed to prevent through draughts which might have ripped the very thin plastic. Then a bonding agent was applied (on the Monday) with the two coats of white rubberised paint following on the Tuesday and Thursday. On the Friday, the curtain of polythene sheeting was removed to reveal the carriage in all its glory.
Jim summers, after sign writing "1002" and "THIRD" on the compartment doors' garnish rails then added "J Set 4" branding to the solebar. This branding was added by the LNER when the carriage was part of one of the "Flying Scotsman" sets of carriages (see the TK numbering page).
The east toilet door was rebuilt. It had had all of the teak mouldings and matchboard which had been affixed to the inside (toilet) side removed presumably during departmental use. New mouldings and matchboard were manufactured then glued & pinned in place. The final ensemble was then gold sized and varnished. We had a bit of trouble finding all the correct hinges for the door. We found 2 2-part hinges which would open the door the correct way after the door was dropped into the static half, but could we find a third? Even half of a third? We found several but they all opened the wrong way (anti-clockwise when viwed from above).
Jim Summers applied the '3' transfers to the lower panel of the exterior doors. To make the job easier, the exterior doors were taken off, laid flat, then the transfer applied. The transfer stock we bought were known to be fairly old, so anything we could do to avoid the trnsfers breaking up was a positive move. Of the first 5 transfers applied, only one disintegrated without hope of reconstruction. After all the "3"s re applied to the doors, "LNER" and "1002" transfers were applied near the carriage ends. The transfers were quickly protected by application of special (expensive) varnish to prevent damage. It was very apparent that the transfers had lost the gold sheen as this had waned toward green, so the decision was made to paint the gold parts with gold paint. This was subsequently done and the difference was well worth it.
More coats of varnish were then applied to the exterior of the carriage now that the warm weather was with us. As a result of information from the LNERCA, it appeared that the correct colour for the window and door blinds should be a teak brown and not the currently fitted green (stamped BR). We decided to try to source suitable material to make sufficient blinds for both the TK and the BTK, the next "teak" on the restoration list.
Please don't forget the Gresley TK appeal - every penny counts!
