Restoration
Page Three -
The volunteers take over
The DLPG has a reasonably large membership from all over the country. However this has it's disadvantages, as few are able to get to Butterley with any regularity. This has meant that the volunteer work has been very prolonged.
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The floor was one of the first places where work was required. The bare aluminium floor is formed of 'i' beams and so dangerous to walk on as feet can easily get caught. A layer of glassfibre insulation was laid down then sheets of 3/4 exterior ply. They get fitted around the partitions, so some of these were fitted ex-108. Unknown at the time the floor and partitions were removed later and replaced with alternates. Lee Sharpe is seen screwing down some of the floor sheets on the 16th July 1999. |
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The 1st October 2000 and panels have been fitted to the partition frames, the partition poles are awaiting fitting. A lot of ex-108 timber framing has been fitted to the ceiling. |
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The 26th May 2002 and the un-varnished paint has lost its shine. The whiskers appeared at the request of a group member. The empty underframe, devoid of engines and many other items is seen on the right. |
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On the 15th July 2002 Group Chairman Tony Wilkins fits some of the ceiling timbers, another job that was done more than once! The first ply that was used wasn't flexible enough so we had square corners. Seen here is it's replacement. It was clamped in place, then drilled and screwed in with self-tappers. These strips cover a top hat section, where the ceiling panels join and screw into. Later on it was discovered that behind these strips should be a packing in the hollow section, so they had to be removed again. We'll know better when we do the trailer car! |
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23rd August 2002. The 'original' desk that came with the vehicle was cleaned up and painted. It had already been altered to take the later 'Sharpe's' controllers. These differed considerably from the original style, which we didn't have. Not much could be done about the gear controller, but the original throttle controller was hidden under the desk. We modified a Sharpe version, rotating its workings to get the handle as far into the corner as possible, and altering the cams to work in the yellow diamond fashion. The handle would be altered later when the desk top was fitted. The new wiring seen is for the marker lights. The sloped instrument facia was added ex-108. Right: The wires into the cab had been sliced where they passed into the cab. New wiring was spliced to these, belled out and fitted to a junction box behind the driver's seat. |
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79018 in the sunrise of January 23rd 2003. |
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By the 4th April 2003, 79018 was being used as a store! Space in the shed was at a premium, so advantage was taken of the dry environment for working and items such as recovered seat cushions destined for the Wickham. Right: ex-108 window surrounds had been fitted, as well as the alloy window frames being cleaned up. |
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Not much had happened in the van, although the ex-108 timber partition had been taken down when we realised that the door should be offset, and that we had the originals stored in the trailer. Right: another view of the robbed underframe. |
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Work was stepped down after this date as an application had been submitted to the HLF, which meant work had to stop.
