Out with the old, in with the (somewhat) newer!

Big day for RVT today.  Yesterday our youngest railcar, no.37 (only 80 years old), did its final run before coming out of service for overhaul.  At the same time our oldest railcar, no.33 (100 years old), left the workshop for the last time and moved over to our running shed.  Still much to do, mainly testing, before she can re-enter service, but we have completed all we can do in the workshop.  Things are slightly complicated by the fact that there is no overhead power into the workshop siding and the entrance to the workshop is too low to fit the railcars with complete pantographs, so the first job was to bring No.33 out and fit the pantographs for the final time.  We then borrowed a diesel from the Roslagsbana (itself a veteren of 59 years and still in commercial service!) to move the railcars over the dead section and to move no.33 over to the running shed.  Oh, and the track into our workshop is particularly poor so we didn't want to venture too far down it with the diesel, so used no.37 as a spacer to draw no.33 out, then pushed no.37 home by hand!  Anyway, here are a few photos of todays activities ...

Fitting the pantographs for the final time

No.37 makes its way over under its own power for the last time for a while, before coupling up to the Z6p

Bit of maintainence on the rarely used points

No.33 is drawn out and moved out of the way before the diesel set back with 37

We therefore dismantled the collectors before gently rolling her back into the workshop.

We then collected No.33 and, after a brief stop in the station to check clearances, we set her back into out running shed.

So here she it, tucked up with No. 35, our 1934 built railcar, in our running shed.  It has probably been a very long time since two wooden railcars have shared a shed on the Roslagsbana!

As always, best regards from Stockholm Östra!

ROLLOUT!

After many many years (at least 15), our 100 year old railcar SRJ 16, later SJ 33 finally sees the light of day!

We have a handheld controller, made from an old electric crane control, that can give 125v across the traction motors, allowing us to drive her out under her own power!

And out she came!  Running very freely (as Daniel found out, see approx minute 2 of the above video) and silently.

Still plenty to do.  There is not enough headroom in our workshop to add the pantographs and some of the roof equipment.  This will have to wait until we take one of the active railcars out of service and remove its roof equipment, something we will not do until the end of the summer running season. Many other small tasks to complete, paint to touch up, details to add.

The workshop looks very big without her! Well, we put her back at the end of the evening.

Basking in the sun at last.

The occasion was the visit of the inspector to start the process of re-certifying her for running on the public network of the Roslagsbana.  All being well we should have her running again by the end of the year. All the best from Stockholm, George!

At last, another update!

At last, another update!

The straps that originally held the reserve battery box in place had long ago disintigrated.  To source replacements we went to a horse tack maker who produced two beautiful belts for us, not cheep but these should be good for the next 100 years or so!

Here is the battery box in its place with the seat fixed for the last time (we hope!)

The seats against the middle partition have heaters under them.  It was felt that, especially with the enclosed area behind the seat, this could lead to damage to the wall.

We therefore fitted heat deflectors to the wall and to fill the gap behind the seat.  These are of some sort of bakelite like material.

In final place.

Calle manufactured a replacement lid for the junction box on the converter, I then painted it up in blue hammerite.

 A striking colour to be sure, but that is what the original converter is painted under all that brake dust, honest!  It will soon fade down with its own covering of brake dust. 

 So that is all the seats fixed down for the final time!  A large number of small jobs to finish, mainly touching up and fitting details.  Elsewhere several of our group have painted out the graffiti on our goods/brake van as well as carried out a number of maintainance jobs on the running set ahead of this summers running.  We had originally planned to swap this railcar for No.37, the next candidate for attention, at the end of this month and complete the commissioning of No.33 in our running shed.  Unfortunatly the clearance in our workshop is insufficient to get a railcar in with the pantographs in place so No.37 would have to have those removed, effectivly removing it from traffic before No.33 was clear.  We have therefore decided to wait until until after the summer running before doing this swap.

And finally, we start our new drivers young in Sweden!  Actually, we took part in the annual Tågsläpp organised by the Swedish National Railway museum last week.  This is an annual open doors event where most of the preservation groups open their workshops and host behind-the-scenes events. Here is my wee boy checking out thedrivers position on No.33.  He can see over the desk, just, but fortunatly can not reach the dead-mans-peddle yet!

'twas a Dark and Stormy Night

Actually it wasn't too bad outside, snowing gently and a cool -12 C.  The windchill however made it a tad nippy!  While the standard gauge commuter rail seemed to be suffering, and the E4, Sweden's main N-S road was a mess, the Roslagsbana seemed to be surviving relatively unscathed.

Meanwhile, in the warmth of our workshop, we continue with the myriad of small jobs required to complete No.33.

Bengt has been re-hanging the internal doors, this is the one between A-end saloon and A-end vestibule.  Note the original beveled glass, very nice!

Henrik has been manufacturing new seat supports for A-end saloon.  This end had the hardboard walls replaced with original style tounge and groove at an early stage of the restoration.  The seat supports were lost at this stage (they probably date from the 1940s rebuild anyway).  The new supports are now in the paint-shop being brought up to gloss yellow to match the walls.

Lasse spent the evening below the seats in B-end saloon making sure they were all attached properly!

The batteries for the emergancy lighting live under one of the seats in A-end saloon.  Soren seen here installing and wiring them in.

More small details being added.  Here coat hooks in B-end, which still retains the 1940s hardboard walls.

Down below the electrical guys have been checking the equipment that hangs there.  Herethe brushes for the compressor are being looked at.

Unfortunatly one of the junction box covers on the omverter has gone missing, we will have to find or make a replacement.

I continue to fettle the paintwork in A-end cab to bring it up to the same standard as the rest of the railcar.

 A homework project.  This is an old route map for the suburban services of the Roslagsbana that used to be in a frame in B-end cab.  The frame had disintigrated and the maps are clearly water damaged.  I am currently rebuilding the frame at home but must decide if we will reuse the better of these, or deploy an unused original that we have in our collection.

 That's all for this installment, all the best from Stockholm, George!

A short update

Just a short update this time to report steady progress on all fronts.  While the electrical guys were over chasing down a problem with No.35, Bengt Henrik and I continued work on No.33

I have continued to upgrade the finish in A-end cab.  Originally this gap had been left in the partition between the drivers position and the rest of the cab.  It probably resulted in either shrinkage over the last 99 years or so, or possibly crash damage.  Either way, I decided to fill the fracture.

By the end of the evening, a small fillet of wood shaped and glued in place.  Several other holes have been filled and sanded back awaiting new paint next time.

In B-end saloon, all the seats are now fixed in place.

In A-end saloon, the radiators are now all fixed in place and you can see the new triangular trim on the left-hand side that Henrik has been making.  We bought in some trim but the size was wrong so Henrik has been making this from solid.  Elsewhere, Mike has been fitting new insulation panels between various high voltage components in the electricals cabinets, Bengt has been installing glass in internal doors and we continue to touch-up, clean and reattach numerous details.

all the best from Stockholm, George!

A dark and stormy night

Quite a wild night for my first venture down to Östra Station this year.  Not much snow yet but blowin g a wee bit.  While the standard gauge seemed to be sufferig a bit, the narrow gauge Roslagsbana appeared to be running without problems. Still, a good night to work inside.  Here you can see the station throat of Stockholms Östra (east) Station, with our two sheds either side.

And, as usual for a Tuesday, the warm welcoming glow from our workshop.  You can see No33 lurking inside.

The main focus right now is fitting and wiring in the radiators.  Almost all are now in place in both saloons.

We have one seat sitting loose in place to show us where we are going with this. You can also see the earth wire, now correctly run in from the wall side of the radiator ...

The last pieces of trim are also being manufactured from new wood.  You can see these, as yet unpainted, above.  These fill the angle between the wall and the covers for te cable runs below.

Elsewhere Mike was manufacturing something out of insulated material and Lasse was cleaning up a couple of additional wooden components.  A-end cab was the first to be renovated.  There are several aspects, especially regarding the paint, that contrast with our later work.  I have started to bring everything up to a uniform standard.

Wishing everyone an excellent new year from Stockhom, George!