10th January 2010

Junior Club have recently been successful in a grant application securing funding for the purchase of a redundant railway carriage which will be the new home of the Junior Club and their model railway display and as a result the Junior Club are now the proud owner of Ex ScotRail Mk2 coach no 5226. This page will document the progress of the project from start to finish.

The funding was awarded by Durham County Council Youth Capital Fund scheme following a successful application which was submitted by WRjc members.

5226 is currently at Wolsingham depot and work commenced on Saturday 16th January transforming it into our new home.

Once complete the coach will comprise of three distinct areas, the west end of the coach, will be the meeting / training room, this will also be a function room for use by the railway for special events, the east end will be the permanent home of the model railway which will be changed from it’s current portable format into a permanent display, lastly, the east end vestibule / toilet area will be made into the WRjc office and storage room.

External work will include repairing the body work, removing and cleaning the windows, repainting into the Weardale Railway livery, internally we will be removing the current seats and tables, replacing the lower wall panels, painting throughout, replacing the carpets, new furniture and blinds and renewing the electricity supply.

The coach will eventually be based at Stanhope station in the old bay platform (platform 3) at the east of the station and we envisage this will happen before the main Summer period as we would like to have the model railway open for guests during our busy summer running period.

Sunday 17th January 2010

On 13th January, 5226 was moved into the shed at Wolsingham depot ready for work to commence.

On Saturday 16th January a small group of juniors commenced work on 5226 removing the seats, tables and  the toilets, this work continued through Sunday 17th and by the end of the weekend all seats and tables, one luggage rack, an internal door and the majority of the toilets, had been removed.

Below: 5226 before work commenced

Below: 5226 following removal of seats and tables

Sunday 24th January 2010

Work continues on 5226 and by the end of Sunday 24th January the toilets had been totally removed along with the remaining luggage racks, internal wall panels and floor surface. The floor and wall panels will be replaced.

Work was also completed removing the windows so that they could be cleaned and the window seals renewed.

Below: Jack busy removing a window

Below: Some of the body work that needs reparing

Below: The first weekend team & 5226

Saturday 6th February 2010

Work continues on 5226 with attention moving from inside to the body work, the WRjc team are now busy sanding down the body and cutting out defective areas for replacement.

Sunday 7th February 2010

Today the team's attention was focused on body work and underneath the coach.  Sanding down the body work and removing redundant equipment and fixtures was the order of the day.

Sunday 7th March 2010

The team are now busy removing flaking paint from the roof areas that can be reached, the area that cannot be reached will be more of a challenge!!

Tuesday 16th March 2010

With the funding deadline fast approaching orders have now been placed for new furniture, blinds and carpets.

In addition to this East Coast Main Line Company Ltd have donated 2 redundant train picture boards which were displayed in their training centre during the GNER and National Express East Coast eras, the boards will be transported to Weardale soon.