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The support coach hasn’t had much of a mention in these reports so far, so it’s time to catch up with progress. For the last couple of years 5305LA have had to hire in a support coach for main line trips, which means money out of the bank. We have managed to buy a couple of Mark II brake coaches for conversion to support coaches (one for each engine and either to be used for Cromwell), and work on one is well under-way. We stripped out the cage to give more workshop / communal area and have changed the compartment seats to the more comfortable “first class” seats (you get a better night’s sleep in first class). New window glass has been sourced and fitting is in progress. We lifted the body off the bogies last year and have nearly completed a full bogie overhaul – the first bogie has been re-wheeled and the second is planned to be the subject of a blitz over the next couple of weeks ready for re-wheeling soon (watch this space). The under-side of the body has been needle-gunned & scraped and re-painted. All in all a huge amount of work has gone into making this one of the best support coaches you will ever hope to see. Plans are already afoot to make sure that the workshop area of the coach will be organised and easy to use for those all important running repairs which crop up from time to time out on the “big railway”. It is hoped that the second support coach won’t need so much work, so will be a quicker job. Many thanks to all those who have worked on the coach.
By Info | Monday, March 3, 2008 | Tags : 45305