NER Autocar - restoration progress

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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by richard »

I should add that the t-shirts are made of good material. I have quite a few collard t-shirts ("polo shirts" as they call them over here), and I think the autocar one is made of the best material...
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Rlangham »

Nice! What colours for the t shirts, and price etc? Will have to get one soon as I can afford it (typically, despite my book coming out, my car has broken down!)
Author of 'The North Eastern Railway in the First World War' - now available in paperback!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/North-Eastern-R ... 781554552/

Happy to help with anything relating to the railways in the First World War, just ask
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

The T shirts / polo shirts are charcoal grey (£14.50 plus any postage) and the fleeces are a similar shade. I think they are also made from a good material, they are thicker than my other fleeces. I can confirm they are £22.50 plus postage. (Unfortunately, as they are such good material, they are relatively heavy, at 900g - 1kg and I think postage could cost £7 first class/£5.75 second. I will have a look on the web and see if a courier will do the job for less than £5).

We are still talking about the details but we are going to work something out so people can collect from Embsay if they wish, but if you plan to do this, please contact us first to ensure we have one the right size in stock and can put it aside for you and also to work out payment.

The fleeces and polo shirts will be available through our web-site in due course, the web-site manager was going to work on it this week but I'm not sure how far he's got or when it will 'go live'.
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Ferrybridge Flyer »

Just a note to say i picked up my Autocar fleece on Monday(thanks Simon).It really is as good as Simon says,lovely quality,smart design and yes,it really is heavy!I can imagine getting many years of wear from it,helping support a great cause.Anyone who buys one will not be disappointed. :D
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

Thanks for those kind words Dave - a £25 coffee voucher is in the post as agreed... :wink:

By using a courier, I should be able to keep the P&P in this country to £5, though this is using a two or three day service. Collection from Embsay is an option (though not terribly practical for some members such as Richard) - if you are coming, please let us know beforehand.

The autocoach:
ACH o-all LNER.jpg
Photo courtesy Alan Chandler.
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

garryluck wrote:Re coloured image, possibly I could help with this? I have some expertise in digitally-colouring monochrome images as per example below and would be willing to produce something for you free of charge.

I would also wish to publish the completed image with an appropriate acknowledge on my Flickr site (it would not be used for any other purpose).

Garry Luck
To update this, we spoke and Garry produced a colourised picture as below. This will be very useful for us and will be a good picture to go on a mug. Thankyou, Garry.
Colourised  (Garry Luck) LNER.jpg
Garry also did maroon and brown livery versions - if you would like a look, then these and other pictures are on his Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/northernbl ... 9261403514
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Rlangham »

Beautiful!
Author of 'The North Eastern Railway in the First World War' - now available in paperback!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/North-Eastern-R ... 781554552/

Happy to help with anything relating to the railways in the First World War, just ask
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

Just a quick update this time, the last time I tried, the site or my computer threw a wobbly and I lost my post and I didn't have time to type it out again. :roll:

We're making good progress on the engineering and should be due a press release (and photos) on that shortly. At Embsay, the autocoach is coming on nicely, with many of the doors now on and behaving themselves. There has been much rubbing down and painting. Internal partitions are also going in and other bits and pieces are being worked on. Next month I'll have a lot of photos to post.

The newsletter is overdue. Sorry, but with the engineering developments and other news imminent, we thought it would be better to wait a few weeks and let you know, rather than have a newsletter come out and two weeks later, be announcing major developments. It's likely this issue will be a bumper one, our distributor will need to borrow a cider press to make sure it fits within RM's basic rate thickness limits...
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

What a couple of months! Courtesy of all sorts of things, including a cyber attack from the east, I've had very little time recently. I have just put the newsletter 'to bed' and hope to be e-mailing it out tomorrow.

There's been quite a bit of progress both at Embsay and Loughborough recently. The autocoach is coming on nicely and is likely to be cosmetically finished before the autocar. We'll probably have some bits to finish off 'at leisure' but the gloss paint is on and it's looking good. Earlier today I did what must be one of the last pieces of paint scraping, off some of the door rebates. (I'm dreaming of paint scraping, my arms twitch in my sleep and I move my head upwind instinctively - at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it...).
Autocoach - June 2014.jpg
Internal partitions and electrics are now in, we have most of the fittings in store and are waiting for the right moment to install them. Most of the doors have been fettled and are working/operating properly, the droplights are being varnished and from 50 feet away, it looks in better condition than most of the railway's Mark Ones. The seating is due any day now, and this will make a big difference to the appearance as well.
plywood panels R.jpg
The [coarse] planks will be covered by the seat backs. Since this photo was taken, most plywood panels have been painted by a volunteer from the north east (thanks David).

Down at Loughborough, the 'Big Bang' has started and we've had the engine housing unit on (and off again) the chassis, the motor running and the chassis on display at Quorn during the GC's model railway bash. There was a display board next to it, explaining the project to passers-by.
AC chassis at Q&W for model railway do - E 2 (DM).jpg
Eng housing on deck (PVH).jpg
Above (courtesy Peter Van Houten) is a picture of when the powerunit was lifted on to the chassis. It looks likely that the chassis will be tested this summer on the GC, once we've got all the bits together and joined up all the parts that need to 'talk' to one another.
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

We've had various photos and information sent in. Someone has built a 7mm scale model of 3170 and 3453, he's sent in various photos and this is covered in the newsletter. David has written a detailed article about the construction for the Gauge O Guild's Gazette.
DW Hoskins -  NER Autocar & Autocoach 002sc - David Hoskins.jpg
Powerunit b 24-5-14 E.jpg
This is the powerunit as of late May - it now looks very crowded in the engine housing - just before it was fired up in our workshop.

We have also found another picture of the autocar, courtesy of Robin Lidster, whose book on the Forge Valley line has just been published by Amberley (see classifieds). This came from a picture postcard and shows it leaving Scarborough, over 100 years ago. As we commemorate the anniversary of the start of the First World War, it is sobering to look at a photo that was taken nearly 110 years ago and to think how much change has occurred since.
Robin Lidster's 12th R.jpg
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by 1H was 2E »

Hope this doesn't seem like I'm hijacking your thread, but on a recent visit to the GC, a freshly overhauled and repainted coach underframe was to be found at Quorn. A note on it said that it was for the "Autocar Project", and was from an ex LNER 50' Milk Van that had been converted to a crane runner in the 50's.
The frame was freshly painted and bore no signs of corrosion - indeed it was immaculate. Is this is for a trailer? Rather jammed in, but here it is :-
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

No problem, the chassis you saw is for the autocar itself. It's waiting to go into the GC's sheds to have mechanical bits fitted. The reasons it looks in such good condition are we've put a lot of work in and spent a lot of money on it...

The trailer/unpowered autocoach's chassis is at Embsay, underneath the body - we are not planning to make any [significant structural] changes to it.


The full text of the notice (pictured in your photo, leaning against the underframe) is:

This underframe is being strengthened and modified for use under the North Eastern Railway Petrol Electric Autocar. The Autocar was built in 1903 at York works, and is believed to have been the world’s first internal combustion passenger train. It ran until 1930 on various branch lines in the North East, and after withdrawal the body was used as a holiday home in a field in North Yorkshire, although the original underframe and bogies were scrapped.

After 73 years in this field, the body was bought in 2003 by the NER 1903 Autocar Trust and moved to Embsay. The wooden body was found to be in remarkably good condition, all that was missing was an underframe, bogies and power unit!

This particular underframe was selected for the project because it is the right length and similar in appearance to the original and also has the correct Fox bogies. It was built in 1921 by the Great Northern Railway at Doncaster as a Milk Brake van. In 1975 (we believe) the body was scrapped and the underframe converted for use as a runner with a P-Way crane. This eventually found its way to the North Norfolk Railway from whom it was purchased by the Autocar Trust in 2010.

Part of the conversion to a crane runner involved fitting wooden planking on top of the solebar, and this of course became saturated with water over the years resulting in severe corrosion to the top flange of the solebar, as well as the cross members above the bogies. Major repair and strengthening work has therefore been necessary, not only to restore the original strength, but to permit an engine/alternator set, which weighs about 5 tons, to be fitted above one of the bogies. This strengthening work has been designed by the Trust’s engineers, and manufactured and fitted by Adey Steel of Loughborough.

The motor bogie now fitted at one end was recovered from an SR EPB de-icing unit, and is fitted with 2 x English Electric EE507 motors, a design dating from 1950 but still in service on some London commuter trains. They will be powered by a Cummins QSL9 diesel engine of 340HP, driving main and auxiliary alternators. The power unit is contained in a housing which also contains the control gear, cooling fan etc. The whole assembly has also been designed by the Trust’s engineers and is currently on test in our workshop.

Most of the brake gear was recovered from Northern Ireland Railways’ Diesel Railcars which have recently been scrapped, and other electrical and brake components have been recovered from HST’s, and various ex BR diesel and electric locomotives.

The Autocar body, together with a trailer coach, is currently being restored at Embsay. When the underframe has been completed and tested on the GCR it will be taken back to Embsay where the body will be fitted and restoration completed.

The project has been funded so far by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, MLA (Museums Libraries and Archives) and the Ken Hoole Trust. However, further funds will be needed to complete the project, and donations may be sent to the Autocar Trust, Rose Lea House, 23 Brunswick Drive, Harrogate HG1 2QW.

Further details of this exciting project can be found on http://www.electricautocar.co.uk
S.J.H. 18-4-14
2512silverfox

Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by 2512silverfox »

Going back over the thread, I had some misgivings about the headlamps on the coloured version which was shown and on which the lamps were shown as white. I did not post at the time but personally thought that they should have been red. Now Robin Lidster's contemporary photo seems to confirm this?

Nick
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

Well, we live and learn...

In fairness to Gary, I should say he originally had the lamps as red. I wasn't sure and asked around (opinion at the time was divided) and was told by one of our founding members they were likely to be white or black, as loco lamps rather than goods ones. Faced with that choice, I suggested white, purely on the grounds they would show up better than black and most non-experts associate lamps more with white than black. As my areas of expertise do not include NER lamps, I deferred to someone with more knowledge than myself. However, looking at the old photos again, it would appear the lamps used do appear to be some shade of red (though could be brown!).

:twisted: :idea: I suspect we'll make the official explanation that it's a picture of the autocar in preservation than 100% historical recreation from the early 1900s.

Purely on aesthetic grounds, do members think it's better with white or red lamps? If you were to buy a mug with the image on, which would you prefer?


Fund-raising and E-Bay

I have registered us as a charity on E-Bay as the "NER 1903 Electric Autocar Trust". This means that if you sell items on E-Bay, you could choose to donate a percentage of the final sale price to us - this will help our fund-raising. Thanks to our engineering being subjected to several changes of plan (through no fault of our engineering team) we are going over the original budget, probably by c 10%, and need to look at raising some more money. We don't plan to set up an E-Bay online shop, but I will be selling off some bits and pieces of mine in the near future and donating the proceeds to the Trust. Should you choose to do the same, all contributions will be gratefully received.
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Re: NER Autocar - restoration progress

Post by Autocar Publicity »

More fund-raising news:

We are registered on a crowdfunding web-site, sponsume - our 'homepage' is at https://www.sponsume.com/project/1903-e ... ocar-trust.

The reason for re-opening our fund-raising campaign is basically because of the engineering taking longer and proving more expensive than originally projected. We are making progress, as previous posts show. But we need to get the engineering right first time and we have had to revise our plans to cope with variables not originally known when we made our original budget. We estimate that we are not going over budget by more than 10% / £50,000, but by going over, inevitably, we have a shortfall. If you can help, either financially or by spreading the word, then we would be grateful. As with our previous fund-raising, there are various incentives/rewards on offer.
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