We’ve spent several days fitting all the windows to the car, making a striking difference to its appearance.
Steve’s doors are also re-fitted and the final timber trim is machined and attached in situ to ensure a good seal ahead of final painting.
At the ends of the car, the new safety glass is fitted.
Work has recommenced to fit-out the former toilet at the Redfern end of the car. A full retention tank toilet system is being installed in the former attendants’ compartment near the centre of the car (well clear of the bogies to simplify the plumbing arrangements). Hence this end “toilet” will likely remain only as a stand-by toilet and a handy store room. The tricky task of machining a one- piece plywood polygon roof is complete.
A neat and functional trap door is installed for access to the roof cavity.
One of our diligent workers has started panelling the Redfern end of the corridor. We’ve all scratched our heads about what we can put here, but he’s never let us down before so we’ll wait and see what eventuates in this space!
Buffing the French polish is underway in compartment 17/18 while the bunks and seats are enjoying a holiday with our volunteer upholsterers. When the repairs are complete, the beds and seats will be re-fitted to these refurbished compartments.
The fan switch blocks and other jewellery also look great refitted.
Then Evan gets busy stripping the next compartment ahead of refurbishment. Somewhere in its departmental life, plastic laminates appeared on certain shelves in these compartments, which Evan is removing to restore the polished cedar timber.
Some panels were removed from the car for refurbishing, with some spectacular results.
Other panels require a lot more work than just a rub back and polish.
Chris and Co have stripped and scrubbed clean all the half-size shutters. With nearly 100 shutters in these timber cars, this is no small task but their endurance is paying off.
The Rowling workshop at Engadine has been busy plugging the old holes as well as any other timber repairs as required, including numerous broken louvers.
Some of the original cedar bunk timber panels were sourced from storage, and the bland departmental green paint stripped back to reveal the beautiful Australian timber grains synonymous with these cars. Timber repairs will be performed and these panels will be French polished and installed on the lower face of the refurbished bunks. It doesn’t look much at this point but.
…the results of a few days toil are nothing short of spectacular.
Cameron has been busy constructing the structural timber work at the lounge end of the car.
Thomas is working his way around filling all the window sill screw holes with putty ahead of final touch-ups.
Brett’s pressed metal ceiling painting works continue with the section near the centre doors.
And we finish yet another Saturday/Sunday double working bee with the familiar smell of smoke and hot oil, as the Lachlan Valley Railway’s 3237 returns from running a “Sydney Steam” train trip with 3801 Limited. Eveleigh is a multi user facility, and the LVR are just one of the many groups that currently call Eveleigh home.
