The volunteers have been working in pairs to install the fans that were restored previously (refer TAM Fans post). The tricky part here is that the bolts extend through into the next compartment and hold that fan in place also.
The sills in the corridor end of the car were inspected and it was decided to carefully remove them to perform some small timber repairs while preserving the majority of the original Australian red cedar. Chris gave the sills a quick rub back with the sander located the nails holding it down.
The crook edges of the sills were cut off and new timber spliced in place
NSWGR TAM sleeping cars were built by 3 different manufacturers – Eveleigh Carriage Works, Meadowbank and Ritchie Brothers – resulting in slight variants between the different cars. However, one thing that was standard to TAM cars was the use of a “one-third” size battery box mounted on one side of the car underframe, and a “two-third” size battery box mounted on the other side. The reason this was done seems to be lost to history, but L516 will be fitted with a single standard size battery box to standardise our carriage fleet.
The volunteers have completely rebuilt the battery box for this car and the weekday metal work guys have been busy fitting it to the car.
The original 24V DC carriage electrical system fitted under the frame comprises a battery box, a DC generator and a generator regulator board, all of which was stripped from the car and replaced by 240V AC when L516 was a works car in her last years of service with the railways. So its been a massive job to reinstate the original 24V electrical system. A new generator regulator board has been manufactured and fitted by our weekday work team.
The electricians soon follow, slipping the timber board off to install the regulator components. From left to right are the regulator box, diode, and on the right is the current sensor circuit.
Under the car frame, any remnants of the old 24V DC cloth coated cable were documented before we removed it in readiness for the new cable runs.
At great expense to 3801 Limited, we are leading the heritage movement towards modernising carriage toilets by progressively installing retention toilet tanks on all the cars in our care. With the arrival of the plastic container for L516, the weekday metal work volunteers will start manufacturing a steel frame prior to installing the tank to the car.
At the end of this Saturday/Sunday double working bee, and in the glorious afternoon sun, we welcome Lachlan Valley Railway’s 5917 back into the security our shed as many engines have done over the years. Goodwin Alco’s 4501 looks on.
The 59 had hauled a private charter train to the Hunter wineries.
