Lynton & Barnstaple railway

[hayfield]

A couple of years ago I both joined the L&B plus became a volunteer with the East Anglian group who rebuild the coaches and vans

 

When I joined the group we were working on van No 23, progress was a bit slow for various reasons, the main issue is that Woody Bay is building the steel chassis. Last year we got to the point that virtually all the parts we could prefabricate was built, painted and now stored. We have had lots of commitments but to date none have been kept.

 

In the summer of last year we were offered the opportunity to but all the pews from a church in Ipswich, providing we dismantled and took away all the wood (several tons) we could have it at a knockdown price. A good part of last year was de-nailing the wood then make a start on building coach 9  

 

First we started on the roof timbers, which were cut then painted,

 

 On the drying racks in the paint room

 

Next we cut all the inner planking for the coach walls

 

  These will go into storage as we build further parts

 

Again painting them up to 1st coat of gloss

 

 

At the same time we started fabricating the seat parts. Then start the assembly.

 

The grey roof ribs are for van 23

Bottom left are the planks for the hat rails

 

 

Some of the seating slats have been cut, background left is a storage area for prefabricated parts for both coach 9 & van 23

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by hayfield

[AY Mod]

Lynton and Barnstaple.

[hayfield]

These photos were taken last week

 

 

These are roof/ceiling ribs for both van 23 and coach 9

 

 

These were first formed in a press jig as they are each made from 6 strips of I think ash. then in the machine shop they are machined to size, then a router is used on both sides to make the mouldings

 

A couple of us were working on the benches. The varnished parts were first fabricated then vanished then the legs were fabricated and fitted to the front seat rails and the top back rails were formed and fitted

 

 

The benches were made from reclaimed wood (100 year old  pitch pine church pews) which had to have any old defects repaired. Bigger holes had plugs fitted

 

 

Nail holes on visible parts were firstly partially plugged then matching wax filler worked in

 

 

Plugs were glued in over screw holes and the wax is being applied both un-finished)

 

As we are volunteers time in some ways is not an issue, and where possible we are copying the build methods originally used 

 

Using several tons of wood is in one way a lot more time consuming, but saves thousands of £'s plus is more ecological 

 

The varnished parts will be mostly unseen once the slats are fitted. The front legs and rails along with the slats will be stained then varnished, and a lot more care is being taken, the rails are still waiting for a final sand to shape as if you look closer the marks left by plaining to shape are visible.

 

As I said the workshop is just outside Colchester and there is someone there most working days.   

 

 

[DLT]

I am constantly in admiration of the work that goes into the L&B coach restoration/construction, A stunning example of classic coachwork.

[Matt37268]

Am I allowed to say this is modelling in 1:1 scale? 😀
This is bloody impressive I have to say. 

[hayfield]

10 hours ago, Matt37268 said:

Am I allowed to say this is modelling in 1:1 scale? 😀
This is bloody impressive I have to say. 

 

Our workshop manager is a very gifted joiner who has a great love of the railway especially building rolling stock

 

We try to reuse coach parts that come into our possession and quite often spend more time refurbishing parts than it would take to fabricate new parts.

 

On Tuesday he and a volunteer were machining up parts for the communication cord system which back on to the Cantrail, not quite early L&B as in the early years the coaches did not have them

 

We had an end of a coach (unknown number) which we have stripped down, it had been altered in SR days as it had the first windows (which were attached) altered in size, way over my pay grade I just like working with wood 

[hayfield]

15 hours ago, DLT said:

I am constantly in admiration of the work that goes into the L&B coach restoration/construction, A stunning example of classic coachwork.

 

DLT

 

Thanks, there is quite a lot that goes on and over the years methods have changed. I am new to the group which has been going for years. One of our group members lives in Canvey and started off the coach restoration project, rebuilding coaches initially in the Southend area. Now we have a full time carpenter who works full time at the carriage works, though some times he is down at Woody Bay working on either rolling stock or infrastructure 

 

Looking at van 23, it had a wooden chassis and was rebuilt with a wooden chassis. Now all new stock is on metal chassis and we are waiting for Woody Bay to build it, which now is becoming quite frustrating

[hayfield]

Bringing everything up to date. For us there was a large crowd of us as we had a team of 6 working

 

 

On Tuesday I was asked to carry on with the benches, one seat needed a bit of wax filling then it was sanding the front and top beams to a nice uniform curve after cutting the pegs flush, ready for staining

 

Having a very sharp chisel helps with the plugs, you can also see the curve in the raw

 

 

A quick photo of the legs showing the detail, the white filler at the bottom of the leg was removed and wax filled

[PaulRhB]

Lovely to see the process, I used to chat to the guys doing this at ExpoNG when they had the L&B stand there. 

[woodenhead]

These popped up today on YouTube for me:

 

 

[hayfield]

I keep meaning to update what we at the Lynton and Barnstable East Anglian Support Group coach works are up to

 

Work has almost come to a stop for the time being on van 23, as we are waiting for the steel chassis for Van 23 which is being built at Woody Bay, an engine overhaul has priority. So we have made a start on coach 9.

 

 

The workshop is divided into several areas, in the paint shop after painting some roof ribs I started on the covers for the commutation cord

 

 

These are the drying shelves where newly painted items are left to dry. Roof ribs on the left hand side

 

 

 

These original L&B coach doors, were given to us as they were found sandwiched in the walls of an outside toilet during refurbishment of the property. They were donated on the basis we would restore them, which as you can see has been done

 

 Prefabricated parts for both van 23 and coach 9 stored for future use

 

We prime and under coat the items (unless they will be varnished) and store them with one coat of gloss

 

  Under the yellow plastic drapes are parts to van 23 and coach 9 floors. Behind against the wall are original parts from coaches and van 23 ends are stored. The grey end you can see is from an unknown coach, awaiting restoration and will be used on coach 9

 

 

Coach 9 benches awaiting preparation to house the sliding compartment partitions

 

 

The woodwork machine shop. Middly(ish) of the picture an end end gutter for the coach currently being serviced at Woody Bay, the brown box also has other prefabricated parts for the coach as our fulltime carpenter will spend a week or so at Woody Bay replacing them

 

Anyone near to Colchester is most welcome to come down and see us, but by appointment only, especially if you fancy  a bit of volunteering  

Edited February 6 by hayfield

[hayfield]

Given I an both a member of the L&B plus a volunteer in the coach building group I had a really great surprise when I received a job lot I brought on eBay.

 

 

The listing was not very good, I could see an etched coach and a wagon and perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to the instructions in the photo, by a few of the other items were of (at that time) og greater interest

 

   A brake 3rd

 

What are the chances of finding parts for a 7mm scale L&B coach in a mixed lot ?

 

   Composite coach

 

Not only one but two. I did say parts and between the two they are about 75% complete, plus a bogie open wagon

 

As far as I am concerned these are freebies, brand new they are nearly £100 each,  if I have to spend a few £'s  so what. Or if I have to scratch build some parts, all it will  cost is a few bits of brass.

 

I took then to the workshop to show the guys who now expect me to build them

 

 

Edited February 7 by hayfield