RPSI - Works Photo News

RPSI Home - Steam Train Dates - Online Shop - Website Contents - About Us
Restoring GNR(I) VAN No. 81 in 2008 - the final phase!
Photos by members of the restoration team.

Restoration of our GNR(I) Brake Van (known to its friends as Ivan) has moved very firmly into the woodwork phase. After the delivery of wood from Scrabo Timber Merchants in September, the youth squad has been enthusiastically painting and cutting and fitting. Each plank needs five coats of paint - so that's six working days from cutting to fitting - assuming that the paint will dry in the cold carriage shed! Here's what happened from January until the beginning of April 2008.
If you don't know who IVAN is click here. If you'd like to help us then click here.

Part funded by the Northern Ireland Museums Council.

Now that IVAN is being rebuilt, reference photos are becoming more and more useful. This photo was taken by Neil Sprinks in 1956. He was photographing a train heading out on the now closed GNR(I) Derry road, but in the background he also caught IVAN by accident. We can see here that IVAN had all the bodyside writing seen in the works photo of van No.4. It seems that the inner bulkhead between the cabin and the verandah was painted cream, at least below handrail level. More photos or memories of this are required before we can paint these parts!

This isn't a GNR vehicle at all, but a narrow gauge brake coach of the Cavan & Leitrim Railway. However a member has loaned us a genuine GNR[I] brake van stove which appears to be identical to the one in the photo. The picture gives us vital clues regarding the way it fits together with the base and ashpan - clues we are going to need, since we intend to cast a replica stove at Whitehead. Unfortunately the way the stove is connected to the chimney isn't clear...

...a problem solved when we found this drawing! This is a detail from the General Arrangement drawing for a GNR[I] 15 ton drovers' van from 1915. (A drovers' van is a special brake van for cattle trains which includes passenger accomodation for the cattle drovers.) This drawing has allowed us to calculate dimensions for the cylindrical support directly under the stove, which we will have to fabricate ourselves.

In 1983 RPSI Carriage and Wagon officer Alan Edgar ran a special carrigae appeal to buy recently withdrawn carriages from NIR. He bought three carriages and brake van 81. It is seen here in mid 1983.

Some torn canvas from the roof is hanging down near the chimney from the stove. On the bodyside can be seen the clip for a wagon dispatch label, and another lamp bracket. There is some confusion regarding whether these were fitted to one side only, or both - note that in the picture at the top of the page, neither of them is there - so either they were on the other side, or not fitted until later, or some combination of the two!

Unfortunately the side not visible in this picture was the side totally destroyed by arson in 1996, so there is no physical evidence available.

There is a colour version of this picture which shows NIR had painted a red 'X' on the van - probably to indicate it was to be scrapped - but it had thankfully been painted out in yellow and the letters 'RPSI' added to avoid any confusion!

Photo: CP Friel

Motivated in equal parts by astonishing foresight and a desire to practice with his new fisheye lens, the photographer moved on to record IVAN's interior. This is the only record we have of the long bench, as it was also totall consumed in 1996. Because of the marks on the wall we think the guard had two desks, one in each of the far corner. If you know better, tell us! The stove was long gone even 25 years ago. For some reason they seem to be a very desirable thing.

On the 23rd of May 1984, IVAN had been moved through the (since demolished) carriage workshop towards the back of the site - where it stands is now inside the Henry Dunleath locomotive workshop. The number plate is, needless to say, not a genuine GNR marking!

The RPSI's all-metal CIE brake van was used in train rides operations at this time, but in the early 1990s it was vandalised and IVAN went into service instead. After being damaged in the 1996 fire (which left three coaches utterly destroyed) and an accidental derailment shortly afterward, IVAN had to be abandoned for a while.

Enough doom and gloom - to more recent, and more optimistic times!

Sunday 13th January 2008

Here Mark is just finishing putting the final plank in place on one of the verandah side walls. Seen in his hand is a rubber hammer - surely the most useful IVAN tool, second only to IVAN's grinder.

The newly fitted verandah side wall can be seen to the right hand side in this picture. In the background part of a new side wall is being test-fitted. It will be removed, given the obligitary five coats of paint, and later slotted neatly together again like a giant jigsaw!

Attention turned to the side roof bearers. One is seen here having the cutout that accepts the bulkhead chiselled out.

A trial fitting reveals it didn't need that much cut out - we'll, it's all learning!

Thursday 17th January 2008

James phones a man about wood. Scrabo Timber Merchants have been extremely helpful in closely matching the shapes and dimensions of the new planks with the old ones they replace. The only compromise so far is using ply instead of redwood for the "sunvisor" shades which fit under the roof at each end of the van.

David lines up screws on the floor for final fitting. Edward's carefully crafted floor planks fitted snugly in position and provide a very solid (2¾" thick!) floor for the guard to stand on.

Mark demonstrates to the youths the value of a well-sharpened chisel by cutting out part of a floorboard to allow it to fit around the steel uprights that form the doorposts into the cabin.

A fully fitted floor - all it needs now is its non slip paint! To the youths the floor is a luxury second only to the steps on the outside, after 18 months of walking on steel girders trying to avoid falling down the gaps!

Friday 18th January 2008

Progress continuing steadily - the Belfast end verandah wall in the specially coloured undercoat that must go on before the cream topcoat.

Saturday and Sunday, 19th and 20th January 2008

Adam painted the vertical timbers for the inside of the cabin, on the landside. This is the undercoat, coat three of five - the youths are determined that IVAN should not need to be so thoroughly renovated again within their lifetimes!

James used the jigsaw to prepare the top plank - it needs cut so it can fit round the knees for the roof joints.

Philip painted the roof girders in the specially coloured cream undercoat. This gives the cream a partially translucent finish.

High speed sawing as Adam cuts an enormously long plank into two, which will eventually become floor planks. There's an electric saw for this, but he hasn't been trained to use it - yet!

Mark completed the floorboard, here he is seen chiselling the side to allow it to sit flush on the floor bearers.

Michael and Mark cut the wood for the inner skin on the seaside wall. Michael is jigsawing out the complex shape at the top, so that the wood can fit snugly round . . . .

. . . the roof joists. This, too will be assembled, taken down, painted, and re-fitted.

Monday 21st January 2008

In the 45 minutes they had working on IVAN, James and David drilled 4 holes. Here are three of them.

Thursday 24th January 2008

The handbrake standard was cleaned up for painting. This enormous lump of cast iron has hardly corroded at all down the years, and the machining marks can still be seen on the top of the standard. The studs were well greased so have survived very well.

A production line of floorboards was then assembled, using the powerful and versatile DeWalt saw. By hand it takes a long, long time to cut such thick timbers!

James chiselled the ends of the floorboards, after they had been through the saw, to give the correct rebate for them to sit on the floor bearers.

IVAN workers Edward, Mark and David seem pleased with their night's progress.

Saturday 26th January 2008

Photonewses get boring when they have plank after plank to view - well here are a few just to keep you updated with the plank situation.

Mark cleaned and primed the steelwork on the inside of the Belfast end bulkhead.

A new youth! Nathan on his first working day at Whitehead.

Thursday 31st January 2008

A mortising machine drills square holes in wood - Mark K tries it out for himself.

James and Mark K trial fit a skittery plank.

Mark K was mortising the gaps into the lowest plank in this verandah side.

Sunday 3rd February 2008

Attention turned to lining up the brake column. Here James, Ben and Michael lift in the shaft.

Underneath, David guided the shaft into the brake nut. There was more room when were over a pit!

Thursday 7th February 2008

James and Mark cut roof planks for the cabin on the DeWalt. It takes a little time to set up, but then flies through the work.

Saturday 9th February 2008

Nathan and Mark use a template to mark out holes on the Larne end verandah wall.

Then they screwed the two layers of tongue and groove together.

Adam uses the chisel to make cutouts in the floor planks to clear protruding rivets.

Sunday 10th February 2008

Ben marks out the bolt holes for the brake standard onto the floor.

And now the handle can be turned -

- and the brakes go on and off!

Thursday 14th February 2008

Vacuum bag dummies are required for IVAN. Drumboe's wagon no longer requires them, because when it was shortened the section of frame containing the vacuum cylinders was removed! The most efficient way to use a cutting torch has now been mastered by the youths - more than a year ago they used the same equipment to remove the springs from C461.

The dummy on a trial fitting to IVAN.

Pipes to link the through pipe to the emergency brake application valves were also required. James and Ben renew their aqquaintance with the pipe threading machine.

A complete application handle and gauge. Pity about the very modern and european dial on that gauge, isn't it?

Saturday 16th February 2008

James, erked by the readings in bar on the BOSS gauge, made a new dial for one of them, and modified the needle to make it a little more like one you'd expect to find on a GNR(I) vehicle.

Meanwhile, at Whitehead, work continued on the vacuum application pipes. Nathan chamfers the end of the pipe with an angle grinder, held by Bob. In the background Nathan's dad takes a picture of his son's first drive at an angle grinder.

A trial fitting of the application equipment. All looked well, but there was a day's work to make it airtight!

Sunday 17th February 2008

The first stage was to fit a dummy with a new rubber sealing ring, and fit the bag to the dummy.

At the other end, the vacuum testing pump was attached and switched on.

Mark primes bolt heads while the air is sucked out of the through pipe.

All the joints seen here leaked, and had to be dismantled and remade.

At the Belfast end, the modified gauge read slightly high. Click on this picture for a video clip.

Thursday 21st February 2008

The second wood order arrived in the afternoon. Stacked against the wall is a serious amount of plywood - two pieces, one for each end visor, and the leftover from the sheet sitting behind. They stand seven feet high.

More large sections of wood - parts to make doors, doorposts, handrails and bulkhead components. The bulkheads will be the most complex parts we have made so far - including mortised joints.

The floor bearer on the seaside of the cabin was cut and drilled immediately. Here it is being trial fitted. Mark was pleased to get this piece, which he described as a "mental block" to progress on the van, started at last.

A common theme with this latest wood order is the complexity of the sections. These doorposts have two rounded edges and a tapered edge to make a good fit to the tapered doors.

Saturday 23rd February 2008

Charles joined the youths with some painting of roof timber.

Thursday 28th February

Mark K makes square holes to recess the bolts in the bottom of a floorboard which the brake pedestal is bolted to...

...whilst James tacks together the visor

Saturday 1st March

Edward builds Ivan a router that could eat him for breakfast.

Mark writes something akin to 'Keep off the Router'

Sunday 9th March

A rather unusual purchase was this dog ash casket. It will provide a sturdy container when it becomes incarcerated in a ballast tank as a Time Capsule.

Dave and James test the new router on a piece of wood for a verandah door.

Adam has helped Dave trial fit the Belfast end Visor.

Thursday 13th March

Ivan waits patiently beside his new cut and tenoned cornerposts - it may not look like it, some big changes are about to happen!

Friday 14th March

Ernie Clarke is making a template for a roof end capping strip out of plywood.

The template has been checked and the shape drawn onto this thick plank of wood. It is now being bandsawed to create ...

...the Belfast - end capping strip.

Sunday 16th March

Michael and Mark have made the Larne - end handrail. It has had to be made in 2 sections to follow the curve of the metal girder, which seems to have been bent in a shunting accident. Similar deviousness has had to be employed in getting the floor at this end to fit properly.

Friday 21st March

Ernie has made the Larne end capping strips to join their Belfast end counterparts. Mark then drilled the bolt holes and recesses. The wooden roof will eventually be screwed into these at the extreme ends of the van.

Saturday 22nd March

The machining of large slabs of timber seems to be a thing of the past with the result that the replacement Bulkhead Headers will have to be made in 3 sections each. It's back to basics here as Nathan holds the bottom section of the replacement Belfast end bulkhead steady so that Michael can chisel out an opening for the top of the cabin door.

Michael and Nathan have placed the bulkhead piece over the doorway now. Nathan's mother, Janice, takes a break from painting Ivan's sides black and watches the progress.

It is around a year since the grey undercoat was applied to Ivan's sides. Now Janice has degreased it and paints on the final black gloss coat. As she does so, she covers up many unsightly splodges where Youths had been cleaning their brushes!!!

Michael fancied a break from lugging planks and went to spend a few minutes nipping up the brakes. The idea here is to make the brake blocks grip the wheels tightly when the brake wheel is wound 'on'. He does his job well, and reported the adjusters all moved very easily.

Thursday 27th March

Easter holidays meant a brief glut of Youths and a very encouraging amount of progress. James and Adam install the Belfast end capping strips and then the visor.

Michael and Edward meanwhile went through the same routine at the Larne end. Here Michael uses the air wrench to tighten nuts and hold the capping strip in place.

With Ivan's visors installed he got his square viewing ports back and started to look a bit more like himself. But there was more to do, and here Ernie once again finds himself employed to make the round top section to the Belfast end bulkhead header. While the visors were being installed Mark had whittled the lugs on the second plank to make it slot into place.

Michael and Edward meanwhile work to make boltholes in this veranda side handrail.

Some Youths went home around 5pm, but Nathan has joined Mark and Edward to work through the evening producing the 34 veranda roof planks.

Closer look at the roof section. The double-rout on each plank allows them to easily take the shallow curve of the roof supports. It takes 17 of these planks from one side to the other, and 3 sections from front to back, joining over the bulkheads.

Friday 28th March

The whole header fits together very well.

Saturday 29th March

Mark hastens the demise of the Larne end header by gringing out recalcitrant bolts. Despite the solid appearance of this old header, it crumbled to bits when removed...

...leaving this cabin door as the only re-useable piece of Ivan wood. Cream cabin roof planks wait their turn for installation in the background.

Having sanded the door, Edward gives it a coat of primer. With some filler and, of course, five coats of paint, it should be quite presentable when it is returned to its original use.

Showing the advantages of painting ahead, one cabin - side wall is installed! The following day would see the it bolted firmly in place. Ivan is double-skinned. Inside the 13 horizontal grey timber planks seen here are 21 cream vertical ones, forming the inner wall of the cabin. The veranda walls are likewise double-skinned. These side timbers have been waiting patiently since before Christmas.
From this angle Ivan almost... almost ... looks ready to roll. However a drawback was soon noticed - with the wall next to the centre shed aisle installed we cannot pass large materials into the van!!!

Friday 4th April

A milestone was reached as the timecapsule was placed in IVAN's ballast tank and the floor screwed down for the last time. Edward, Nathan, Robbie and Mark look justifiably pleased with their efforts to date. Photo by P Lockett.

Saturday 5th April

Out came Ivan, with Youth Trainee Driver. Sometimes Ivan can seem quite small, at other times it can seem rather large, as here where it dwarfs both No.1 and No.3. The grey and black livery looks the part.

But back to reality. With Ivan moved across the shed, the other side is now exposed to closer scrutiny. This corner has always lagged behind its opposite numbers, mainly due to the requirement to keep the Larne end bulkhead in situ while the Belfast end was replicated from it. It requires rivetting, floorboards and completion of upper frame painting amongst other things. And so the youths will persevere - why don't you come and join us?

View our Helping Us Page to see how you can volunteer in Dublin or Whitehead and get involved.

Or, join us as a passenger.

Click on the RPSI logo (above) to go to the RPSI Homepage