4 Cor Preservation Report 16 - Winter 2004/2005

Richard Lakin

I am afraid it has been a long time since the last preservation report, so long I have almost forgotten what was in it. The reason for this delay of course is that we have all been very busy bringing our display coach 11201 up to the best possible standard to go to Horsted Keynes, I think you will agree this was the more urgent task.

The reports of the move and opening ceremony have of course been well covered separately so I will concentrate purely on the work that has gone into refurbishing ‘201 prior to the display.

In the last report we were in the middle of applying the buff undercoat to the outside of the coach. The coach in this colour made a rather strange sight. We were not sorry to see the olive green top coat go on to hide it. Now it is not obvious to me that buff would be the best choice for an undercoat for olive green but in fact it covered almost perfectly in one coat, (we did not have time for more.) Mother nature was also very kind to us with the weather which stayed quite dry right through the autumn and even up to Christmas, so all in all the painting did not take as long as we feared. I must admit that olive green had not originally appealed to us as a choice of colour but as it was applied it certainly grew on us, and is of course very much in keeping with a coach of its age. I am not now sure whether I prefer this or the light green which we have used on ‘187.

A plain green coach does not of course look particularly interesting on its own, so a good deal of thought went into the lining, numbering and lettering. A significant proportion of the available money has been spent on these accessories, which have been made specially. All characters are stick on plastic film, in gold with black shading. On the top of the body sides near the doors are large number 3’s (motor coaches being all third class), just below the cant rail in the centre is the name "Southern Railway", and "guard" and "luggage" are fitted on the guards doors. Unit and coach numbers are also fitted in the same colours. All of this represents the "as built" condition of the coach. Another major feature of the original was the orange and black lining, steam hauled coaches were lined in yellow and black , but electric stock was orange and black. We believe that on the 1937 batch each body panel had lining running right round the outside, but the 1938 batch just had parallel lines about 6" apart running the length of the coach just below the widows, we opted for the latter as being simpler to apply. The original must have had the lining done by hand, I do not know much about how this was achieved, but I do know that those who did similar work on road coaches and cart wheels etc. invariably had to consume large quantities of alcohol to steady their hands. None of us were prepared to make such a sacrifice, so we resorted to tape to give the same effect. The lining consists of black tape about ½" wide and orange tape ¼" wide which we stuck on the top of the black. The combined strip, about 3’ long, was then stuck on to the sides. It is surprising how long the side of a coach seems when doing a job like this, but amazingly the bulk of it was completed by two people in just one day. The best results were achieved when the tape was stretched quite tight, but it is of course impossible to get it dead straight especially when the body sides are not completely level, but the end result is still very pleasing.

Once all of the lining, numbering and lettering were finished, the whole outside was varnished, again like the original, this will also help to waterproof the body.

The outside complete, we then moved on to the inside. As I mentioned before the framework holding the seat and armrest supports and also the inner panelling had rotted almost completely away down one side. This was slowly replaced in the one bay in the small saloon which we have fully restored, and also in the coupe. There was no need to replace the framework in the large saloon because this has been cleared to take the display area and thus has no seats. Fig 1 shows the rough layout of the coach as completed.

The internal panelling in the large saloon has been made as far as possible like the original; varnished plywood at the top in between the windows, and thin ply or hardboard on the lower half covered in rexine. Rexine is plastic coated cloth, often called American cloth which is not easy to get hold of now, so instead of using up our precious supply we have substituted painted anaglypta wallpaper, which gives a remarkably similar effect.

The guard’s compartment has been repainted in light grey, and the floor painted in red floor paint. The drivers cab has had very little attention save for painting the floor the same as the guard’s compartment. The drivers cab is fairly complete and visitors will be able to sit in the driver’s seat, and lean out of the window.

S11201 is of course an electric train and in keeping with this we will be connected up to the mains at Horsted Keynes. The 70 V lighting circuit has been fitted with 110 V bulbs, and two transformers to give 110 V have been fitted in the battery box in the guards compartment (the single one fitted first proved not to be adequate for the load). The wiring inside the guard’s compartment has had to be replaced along with the light fittings, two switched lights being fitted. Also the headcode box has been rewired and can be illuminated, hopefully with a stencil fitted. Finally on the subject of the electrical system, a 240 V circuit has been fitted to take three low power radiators to keep the damp under control, and to keep the volunteers on duty happy, a fan heater and kettle are provided.

To gain access to the coach it has been decided to keep all of the doors locked by fitting bars across the inside. Access to the coach will be through a new "staff" door fitted on the rear gangway, this will be kept secure by a combination padlock, and to get to this door a small wooden platform (at roughly the same height as the station platform at Horsted Keynes) is stood on the track behind the coach. The coach doors can be opened from the inside once the SEG member has entered through this rear door.

The displays inside cover subjects of general Southern Electric interest as well as the Cor specifically, but I won’t spoil the surprise by giving too much away. In practice the display will probably be updated at intervals.

We in the preservation team are all very proud of this achievement, at last we have got something on display to the general public. No one would pretend that this is as good as getting some or all of the unit running, but it is an important step none the less. Getting all of this work complete within a year is very good going, and it has been achieved within budget. We hope very much that as many SEG members as possible will be able to visit the Bluebell line to see it.

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This page updated 3rd February 2005 by Colin Duff.
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