G.W.R. Autotrailer 169 News and Restoration Blog

Yesterday saw the big push to get the forward partition permanently into place. A 3 dimensional jigsaw including top heavy pieces 9ft square and weighing 2-3cwt (3 mtrs and 125kilos for the metric minded) having to be manoeuvred into position then dropped vertically into place with no mechanical assistance proved quite a challenge. However, as you see below, we did succeed along with some more attention to the roof spacer timbers and the trial fit of all the doorway timbers that just need some further small fettling .

We're getting towards the end of our  undercover period and whilst we may not have achieved absolutely everything we had hoped for we have made good progress having also encountered a few unforeseens, what railway project doesn't? Not least discovering the top of the Luggage end entrance vestibule partition had a broken joint which required some serious dismantling that we hadn't planned for. See pictures  below. However today we came within a 'stones throw' of refitting the Drivers side  entrance vestibule partition along with many of the roof supports that fit between the hoops fitted. We are hoping to sheet the carriage down making allowance to complete the unfinished work without too many problems. The latest pictures are shown below. Hope fully there will be some updated ones in the next few days so please look back again soon. Roof support fitting underway Partition trial fitted. Some small fettling required Half of the repaired roof beam.

29/10/2021 Further progress on the assembly of section 3 requires a further 3 Roof Hoops to be manufactured, and due to the imminent increase in electricity prices and the fact the there is a high demand for the said power for several hours we took the opportunity to save a few pounds before the 1st November. For those who are new followers of this Blog and all things Auto 169 this will be a new process to you although we have now produced 8 of these and will probably need a further 5 or 6 before we reach the Luggage end. Briefly they are made of 4 laminations of 3"x1/2' ash. The individual laminations are steamed for about 2 1/2 hours before being removed and clamped to the former. The first lamination is allowed to cool for about 20-30 mins until 'set' when its unclamped and lamination 2 is added. This process is repeated a total of 4 times when they are removed clamped together and then left for a couple of weeks to fully dry out prior to gluing. The pictures below ...

05/09/2021  Door construction update. Last Saturday saw the completion of the first of 4 doors for the Luggage compartment of Auto 169. Built virtually from scratch (you'll spot the original piece) this door has been constructed by copying the best of the remaining original and although it will require fettling and detail added the major construction is complete. There is a photo of it next to the original for comparison but remember that is the best of the 4. Next, we will construct the second of this pair which will include a 'closing' stile. This will be the one that closes first and the first door closes against it. Next time I will include some pictures of the door handles that our resident engineer has expertly created from a range of spare parts. Hopefully, we will be able to show our recent progress to all those visiting the WSR gala on 1st-3rd October. Come and find us at Williton yard.   The original door used as a pattern With droplight frame inserted for info Ma...

  Luggage Door Construction update. 25/08/2021 Progress on the manufacture of the first door stiles continues. Below you can see the first pair of stiles looking amazingly similar and the original for comparison. The bottom cross-member has also been made and fitted. Work will now continue with the remaining components Work has also continued on the seatback cushions along with the preparation of the main carriage frames to receive section 3 woodwork. The joining scarf joints on the soleplates has been completed and section 4 (the last quarter) has been partially marked out for mortises to be cut. We have also reached an agreement with the WSR Plc to store 169 at Williton for a further 2 years. Hopefully, we will be able to show our progress at the upcoming WSR Gala Weekend at the beginning of October.