Winter 2016/17
There was a long delay while the presence of asbestos was investigated in the saloons of
these vehicles. A protracted period ensued while tenders were obtained for the removal of said asbestos which
had been laid on the floor (under the steam and electric heaters), the sides (behind the steam pipes), in the
toilets (behind and around the water heaters) and in various other places.
Eventually the contractors started work to remove the offending material and by the end of 2016 all of the asbestos
inside the coaches had been removed. However, it remained on the steam heating pipe underneath the carriages.
Once access to the saloons had been re-established, the first job was to re-lay the insulation under and behind where the steam heating pipes were fitted. 27389 was tackled first as it was glossed and lined externally whereas 27407 was still in undercoat. After putting down the Masterboard insulation, further "islands" of Masterboard were fixed to the floor beneath where the ETH heaters (Electrical Train Heating) would be situated. As these vehicles were among the first to be fitted with ETH it was thought appropriate to refit the ETH heaters even though they had been badly disrupted by the contractors during asbestos removal.
The ETH heaters were mounted on their original brackets, then Stuart Sellar snr. and helpers fitted the steam heating pipes back in place but only after they had been scraped and re-painted in grey undercoat. The exhaust pipes from the heating pipes had been sawn off by the asbestos contractors so many "happy" hours were spent removing the pipe stubs and making and fitting new ones.
While access to the saloons was prohibited, Don, Chris and Jim P manufactured replacement toilet cabinet parts as seen above. The original (on the right) was made from solid mahogany but we were a bit short of material, so we made them out of blockboard then glued veneer on to the faces. Once the veneer has been stained and varnished, it should be quite difficult to tell which is which.