16 Ton Mineral Wagon Update

The Joint Heritage Coach Fund (JHCF)'s latest project is rapidly taking shape inside Weybourne shed.

The project to completely rebuild the Society's latest aquisition, a British Railways 16 Ton Mineral Wagon, has been thanks to the many who donated to the project to enable the purchase and restoration of the wagon. This has been backed up by many hours of volunteer time to completely strip the wagon down to it's bare components and make necessary repairs.

Our 16T Mineral wagon originally languished on the King's Lynn Harbour branch for many years, slowly rotting to nothing, before it was purchased by a private owner and stored in sidings at Hardingham station, on the Mid-Norfolk Railway. It was from here, that following an appeal for donations, the JHCF secured it and transported it back to Weybourne where the overhaul began immediately.

The project is now in its final stages. Following the refitting of the brake rigging, construction of a new steel deck, axleboxes and wheelsets, the wagon body is now being refitted and will be repainted into original BR Bauxite livery. It is hoped the wagon will be in use for the September 2013 Steam Gala when the demonstration freight will be running.

Alongside restoring the Society's collection of historic carriages, the Joint Heritage Coach Fund's next freight wagon project will be to restore our recently aquired 'AF' Container, that has now been secured to our already restored 'Conflat' wagon. The container needs repairs made to it's roof and body to ensure long term preservation. Once restored it will be a valuable addition to our ever growing demonstration freight train, whilst also offering a useful space to store strategic spares for our locomotives, carriages and wagons.

If you would like to donate towards the cost of restoring our AF container, or to any other JHCF project, you can send a cheque, made payable to "M&GNJRS" to: M&GNJRS, Sheringham Station (NNR), Sheringham, Norfolk, NR26 8RA. Alternatively, if you would like to make a bank transfer or credit/debit card donation, or to find out more information about how to volunteer and get involved restoring our carriages and wagons you can email enquiries to member@mandgn.co.uk.