 The toilet area showing the new bottom side in place (temporarily). Note that one of the pillars from the toilet area is in place (in front of the saw). |
 Another view of the new bottom side, showing all the joints where the crossbars and pillars will be inserted. Note the replacement metalwork on the chassis.It is hoped that by the Rail Mail 2002 event in June that this area will be permanently installed, i.e. the chassis will be complete and painted, the bottom side will be bolted in position and (maybe) some of the pillars will be in place. |
 Tuesday 10th September 2002The buffers had been reinstated the previous week, which actually gave us access problems! The first section of bottom side is shown back on the coach, with the knee brackets already in place (you can't add these at a later date without jacking the whole body up). |
 By the end of the day the complete toilet area was in place, as well as the bottom side across the headstock. |
 Thursday 12th September 2002More of the coach base has now been put back on the coach (although the cross members will be coming off on Friday), these being fitted to ensure a correct fit. |
 Repairs were also made to the existing bottom side along with two more of the supporting angle irons that hold the side of the coach body to the cross members. These brackets will be restored and put back on the coach shortly. |
 It only seems like yesterday that the last of the wood was being removed from this end of the coach and it being discovered that the chassis in this area was severely wasted. With the chassis having been painstakingly rebuilt and the new timbers put back into place there are several large smiles at Wansford, visible progress is being made.Yet, at the end of the day when the coach is running again, no one will see the workmanship that has gone into the chassis or wooden frame. The body will hide the chassis and the wooden framework will be hidden by sheet metal. |
 Saturday 14th September 2002The final day of the work week saw some of the longitudinal timbers reinstated along with the toilet. This was done just to work out where it fitted, as it was not easily apparent just by fitting the floor piece. All the longitudinal timbers and cross members were removed along with the toilet after this photograph was taken. They are back in storage until the next work week when it is planned to get the "bottomside" on the apparatus side completed. |
 With the toilet in place we started to question how the chassis in this area was so badly corroded, since the toilet is not directly over the area that was affected. We could only assume that as the coach normally travelled in one direction only any leaks that may have occurred with the pipework would have allowed the flushing from the toilet to spray up onto the chassis behind the toilet and over a period of time will have corroded this to the state in which we found it. |
 A close up picture of the new bottomside bolted to the chassis. Note the new rubber pad between the chassis and bottomside and the new knee bracket above the bottomside that bolts to the upright. |
 6th October 2002These angled brackets are used to bolt the fittings side of the coach to the cross members of the coach floor. The shorter side (three holes) bolts to the floor and the longer length bolts to an upright on the side of the coach, the small section that is bent at a slight angle is there to take into account the bulge in the side of the coach where the fittings are located. |
 9th November 2002Where the bottomside is generally in good condition with only a poor exterior area the rough section is being cut back to good wood and new wood is being attached to give a good surface area on the outside for screwing the exterior sheet metal to, this method is known as "facing". The picture on the left shows the new "facing" wood being prepared. |
 24th November 2002The first section of wood for facing the bottomside has been cut to size and is shown clamped to the bottomside. The facing section of wood has yet to be profiled, which is why the outside face is not flush with that of the bottomside. |
 Another view of the facing wood clamped to the bottomside. |
