1470 is our Great Northern Railway 6 wheel brake vehicle, built at Doncaster Works in 1889.

The Five Year Plan - to have this carriage fully restored and returned to service in 1996 - subject to availability of labour and finance.

Labour should not be a problem, thanks to the regular gang - Ivan Start, Ken Manton, David Tovey, yours truly, and the "new boy" Mike Bannister plus occasional help from others. Also not forgetting John Carter and Dave Warwick for engineering work beyond our capabilities. Finance - well lets say we have been very lucky so far!

During the five year period, several "milestones" have been planned, i.e.

1. Separate the body from the chassis.
2. Complete our work on the chassis, so that it can be handed over to John and David for fitting of vacuum brakes.
3. Completion of body restoration - except for re-panelling.
4. Re-unite body with chassis.
5. Re-panel body, varnish and line out.
6. Return to service.

Never before have we attempted a complete 'body off' restoration, so there was no precedent from which we could glean any knowledge. I am attempting to document this project so fully (man hours used/source of supply for bolts etc.) that any subsequent similar job (GNR No:459?) will be much easier.

Preparatory Work - started in January 1991 - involved measuring all the body panels and beading to enable new solid teak to be obtained. This we now have. To give maximum working space at each end of the coach we first renewed the draw gear and buffers. The buffers extend back into the chassis by about 8 feet and terminate against a large transverse leaf spring. This length meant that we had to take out some of the concrete end panels from the shed and service the buffers via the oil store.

The next problem was establishing exactly how the body and chassis were held together - there were no obvious securing bolts. After examination it was found that bolts went through the bottom of the body, through the chassis, and in some cases through the scroll irons (spring attachments). The heads were countersunk into metal plates recessed into the body, and were then covered by the top layer of flooring. There were 14 in total (16" long x ¾" diameter) - 5 on each side and 2 at the ends. So, all we had to do was unscrew 14 bolts, and then raise the body off the chassis!! Unfortunately it was not that easy - is it ever? Some of the nuts were impossible to unscrew without recourse to a hacksaw. Even with the nuts taken off we couldn't get the bolts out - they had welded themselves to the oak chassis. Brute force was the first option - using a sledge hammer. All this did was to rivet over the protruding end of the bolt. Apart from the mechanical inefficiency of springing a heavy hammer upwards, some bolts were obstructed by fitting which could only be taken off after the body had been separately from the chassis! Stalemate!!

A bit of lateral thinking suggested that if the bolts could not be driven out upwards, perhaps they would come out downwards. Obviously, before this could be done the heads would have to be removed - a time consuming process which was then used in conjunction with the sledge hammer really hard work, but it did succeed.

Photo:
The 1st Anniversary Celebration! L to R: Ivan Start, David Tovey, Trevor Paice and Ken Manton.

Owing to the proximity of other fittings just below the chassis, some bolts could not be driven out completely clear of the body. These had to be sawn through horizontally when the body was first raised from the chassis.

As a matter of interest, removal of the first holding down bolt took 45 minutes. Practice, although not making us perfect, enabled the time for the last one to be reduced to 15 minutes.

The next item on the agenda was raising the body and supporting it safely, with enough clearance for the chassis to be run out from underneath.

At first we intended to use a jack between the sleepers and the base of the body, raising and packing a bit at a time. However, as there were insufficient assessable strong points on the body to do this without risk of serious damage, a different approach was needed.

The solution was to drive a cold chisel into the join between chassis and body, thus creating a localized gap, into which was slid a piece of ½" thick wood. This process was repeated all round the vehicle - total length of about 80'. At this stage, any previously immovable bolts were sawn in half horizontally using a hand held hacksaw. Having created an initial gap of ½", it was possible to dispense with the sledge hammer and cold chisel and use a crow bar to increase the clearance. So, round and round we went 'till a space of 9" existed between the body and the chassis.

Crossing timbers (sleepers) 13' long were then placed crossways over, and just clear of the chassis, and supported on stacks of half sleepers.

The raising process was then reversed - lowering the body by ½" at a time until it was sitting securely on the timber supports - and not even a crack in any of the windows!

Milestone Number 1 was achieved on 24/7/91 when the chassis was pulled out from under the body - must have been the first time for many years. Total manhours expended so far were 158 ...

The chassis - what a daunting sight!! Severe rot in many places along the oak longitudinal members. Both buffer beams split and rotten. Most bolts very rusty and distorted. Flitch plates (the metal plates on the outside of the wooden chassis) rusted away in places and misshapen. After close examination it was decided that both the buffer beams were beyond repair. Luckily the main longitudinals (33' long x 11" x 4½" in 1 piece) could be saved (thank goodness) by splicing in new pieces of oak to replace the rot.

New wood arrived for the buffer beams (8' x 11" x 4½"), and the repair pieces (the largest being 10' x 6" x 4½"). In due course all the defective wood was cut out, and replaced by new, which was screwed, bolted and glued into position. Thanks to the skill of David Tovey, the repairs are virtually invisible.

The new buffer beams were a nightmare to prepare and fit. Each one had to have 6 mortices cut to accept tenons existing on the longitudinal and diagonal chassis members - each of which seemed to move independently of the others when it came to joining them together.

The flitch plates were also beyond redemption, so 2 new ones were ordered, separately, to spread the cost. We thought that a piece of iron 33' long x 11½" x ⅜" would be somewhat too heavy to handle - thus 1 side was delivered in 5 sections, and the other in 3.

Then came the laborious task of drilling all the necessary bolt holes. Each section had to be clamped to the wooden chassis in exactly the correct spot. Using different size punches from inside the chassis, marks were made on the inner face of the flitch plate. Each side needs about 75 holes varying from ⅝" to ⅞" in diameter. Another problem arose, whereby some holes through the chassis were obscured by the new wood. In these cases the original component had to be used as a template for drilling.

The platform side flitch plate (5 sections) was finished on 3/3/93, and now awaits welding into one long piece, and final bolting to the wooden chassis member.

Each main spring is attached to the underneath of the chassis by round steel pins (one at each end) which go through scroll irons, which are then bolted vertically to the longitudinal frame. Over the years the round holes in the scroll irons had worn to an oval shape, and were much too loose for further use. These holes have now been bored out and fitted with correct size bushes, on the platform side of the vehicle. The depot side ones are just as badly worn, and are awaiting attention. The springs themselves require either re-setting to their original curvature, or replacing entirely. Each option represents a major expense, so will be left 'till later.

Tyres on the Mansell (wooden centred) wheels are too worn for further use. We hope to be able to exchange some surplus equipment of ours for a set of good condition axles and wheels from another railway society. The tyres on these will need to be turned on a lathe to restore them to their original profile. This work is beyond Quainton's resources, so will have to be contracted out.

When all the woodwork on the chassis had been completed (10/2/93) it seemed sensible to have the two expert carpenters make a start on the body, leaving the rest of us to continue with the metalwork - Depot side flitch plate and screw irons / buffers / drawgear / handbrake / spring / axles and wheels / axle guards and numerous reinforcing plates- the list seems endless!!

After all this work has been carried out virtually every nut and bolt and piece of metal will have been removed, cleaned and painted, or replaced, making the chassis as near perfect as possible.

All that will remain then is the fitting of vacuum brakes - over to you JC!

So a start has been made on the body. As there was no obvious area of damage and rot affecting the bolt on side (the longitudinal frame on the outer edge of the body which rests directly on the chassis) below the guards doors on the Depot Side, we decided to make sure that all of the body base was secure before commencing work on the roof and working downwards. To enable a thorough check of the bottom sides to be made, all the lower body panels will be renewed. At the compartment end some of the panels are in one piece from top to bottom.

A substantial amount of bad wood had to be cut out from below the guards doors - about ⅔ of its (horizontal) depth. This is being replaced by two sections of wood bolted and glued on top of each other against the remaining good timber. Using two smaller pieces of wood avoided the need to purchase further large sections.

On the outside of these pieces will be fixed a piece of teak, machined to match the existing profile.

The hinge side of the guards door frame has also suffered badly at the bottom, and has been cut away. A replacement will be spliced in at the top, and secured by a mortice and tenon joint at its base where it joins the new horizontal repair.

That then, is an account of the first part of the five year plan from January 1991 to May 1993. During this period 820 manhours have been used.

To be continued.

NB: "Buffer Depot" or "Depot" side refers to the side of the coach facing the Government Food Buffer Depot next to our site. "Platform side" is the side facing Platform 3 (when it is in the station).

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1993 and so does not reflect events in the 20+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
1470 and the Five Year Plan - Trevor Paice (Project Leader) - Quainton News No. 73 - September 1993