Epping Ongar Railway

Publicity has hit the ground running this year. As soon the weather has allowed and many outdoor events started at Easter, we have been out and about with the eye-catching “Supercar”. So far this year we have done Love Loughton, Cobham Bus Rally, Damon’s Hall Airfield, Harlow Bus Running Day, Stow Maries Fly In and 2 days at the Royal Gunpowder Mills. We have been lucky to have had Supercar to use as our publicity tool. This has been huge draw especially for children and adults alike.

“Winston Churchill” visit Supercare at Damyns Hall April 2013

The weekends of 25^th, 26^th & 27^th, thanks to our friends at London Transport Museum, we will be present at Amersham Station as part of the build up to the Tube150 event on EOR later in June. We’ve managed to assemble a team to together for each day. Thanks to those people for coming forward help with the events.

The EOR publicity team will be very busy over the coming weeks, and the stand will be present at the following events….

June

• 2^nd  - Chelmsford Town Centre to help organisers to promote Big Boys Toys at Hylands House on 16^th June and of course the railway
• 8^th  - Potters Bar Bus Garage Openday
• 9^th  – Hertford Bus Running Day
• 15^th – Hadstock Hall Fete
• 16^th  – Boys Toys, Highlands House
• 23^rd – Ongar Carnival
• 29^th – Armed Forces Day event Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich Arsenal

July

• 6^th – Gunpowder Mills Railway Weekend
• 7^th  – Matching Green Car Show
• 13^th – Supercar in  Harlow Town Centre to publicise the 396 bus
• 14^th –  J’s Hospice Motorshow Chelmsford
• 20^th – Ingatestone Horticultural Show

For the past 6 weeks or so, the MK2 TSO has been parked in a siding, and with the inclement weather, it proved difficult to work on the carriage. When it was parked on Platform 1 last week the C&W Group decided to carry on with re-sealing the window frames on the Epping end. The frames have to be water tight so that restoration work can continue inside the carriage without getting water damaged or damp.

This is the window where the body had rotted and a steel insertion piece had been welded in place in the area cut out below. This set of images shows the window frame being refitted. The insertion piece can still be seen beneath the filler. When dressed and painted, it will not be seen.

The bodywork, being prepared to ensure it is ready for the window…

The next window has been removed, and Geoff sanded the body where the window fits. This is to ensure that there is a good surface on which to apply the sealant. Geoff and David removed all the corrosion and old sealant from the window frame, ready to install.

The C&W team of David, Geoff and George lift the window back into the coach body complete with sealant .. easy does it…

The window is eased into place, and pushed against the sealant to prevent water ingress via the frame.

The window is gently eased into position…. and riveted to the bodywork

As good as new…

The carriage will next be parked in platform 2, so that the windows on the other side can be re-sealed by the team.

Richard Savill, EOR C&W Team Member

On Saturday the 13^th April, we did our first outdoor publicity event of the 2013 season. This was in conjunction with “Love Loughton” which is organised by St Mary’s Church to promote Loughton. The main event takes place inside and outside St Mary’s Church and also along the High Road.

We were along Loughton High Road along with table and Gazebo and also a parking space for Supercar. We had nice weather for most of the day and gave out quite a few leaflets. Supercar arrived about midday and caused quite a stir as shoppers couldn’t believe what they were seeing!!

Supercar turns heads in Loughton!

People were naturally curious about how it was made or where it came from. We explained it had been used to launch the One-Day Travelcard in London in the early ninetees, you can see the advert on EOR TV . It was built by LT apprentices at Chiswick using bus DMS1515 body, Chassis and engine then substituting and underground train for the middle and an EMU321 on the rear. It is now owned by the railway, used for publicity and promotions

The main purpose of supporting Love Loughton was to publicise the railway and heritage bus services. Loughton is on the Underground Central Line and it is easy to hop on the tube to Epping, where you can then pick up our inclusive heritage bus services.

The railway would like to thank St Mary’s Church and Loughton Mayor Steven Pewsey, who helped with the stand and parking arrangements for Supercar. Steven was earlier spotted in T shirt and jeans but dressed later in the Mayors outfit. It was a humbling experience to find out he was also Town Mayor.

Volunteers within all departments at EOR are working hard to ensure the railway is ready for the resumption of passenger services this Easter. Whether it is putting the finishing touches to the coaches, the signalling or getting the stations, shop and cafe ready… all their efforts are helping ensure we have a warm and friendly welcome for the first passengers of 2013….

Putting the finishing touches to painting the safety railings alongside the new picnic and viewing area at Ongar…

The new viewing area gives a new and commanding vantage point to watch the train operations, somewhere for families to picnic, as well as admire the award winning 1865 station.

The team setting up 22b points, 12b are done and 22a will be this weekend.
Despite the blizzard Alan Clews, Steve Clews and Jack Clark are working hard to get the system completed…. (Pic Chris Marsack)

Despite the un-seasonal snow, the volunteers teams are continuing the works to get the railway ready for the resumption of passenger services on Good Friday. The Signals team have been working hard despite the weather this Winter, on “Phase 1″ of the signalling of Ongar. This will enable the control of the points through the station entrance/throat when the section staff is locked into the signalbox. Further phases will include connecting up the signals to control the trains and moving from the single train staff to a “Electric Key Token” system between Ongar and North Weald.

A general shot inside Ongar signalbox. The team are  marking the positions for the Track Circuit indicators during the heavy snow showers. The indicators will be mounted on wooden blocks (Bob is making) with brass plates beneath, in keeping with the originals. (Pic Chris Marsack)

The Carriage and Wagon Group have been continuing work on the BR Mark 2 “Tourist Second Open”, numbered M5136. The work at present consists of preparing the Epping end of the carriage  in order to commence rebuilding internally. It is a dirty and unenviable task and here we have a photo of Ken, Dave and George who have just wire brushed the whole of the floor and treated it with rust prevention. It is only after this, that work can begin to rebuild the carriage.

The emergency vacuum release on the Epping end of the carriage required attention to ensure the emergency release cords operate and re-set correctly. This must be repaired before the carriage can re-enter service. Here we see Chris working to repair the mechanism.

On an adjacent carriage it was noted that the central entrance door had a seized window mechanism, Colin and Norman stripped the door window mechanism freed up the window and re-assembled the door. Eddie P is also working on replacing the floor.

When one of the windows was removed for re-sealing, the metal surrounding the window frame was found to be rusted away, and needed to be replaced with new material. Dick made up a steel insertion piece,

and cut out the rotten metal from the carriage, ready for the insertion piece to be welded in place.

Thanks to Richard Savill for the report and pictures, keep up the good work and we look forward to seeing further reports of progress on this project in the weeks to come!!

With passenger services recommencing from Good Friday, publicity and promotion is becoming more and more important, including our program of events throughout the year. We have some special events coming up including the LU150, so we must publicise ourselves, needing volunteers to come forward and participate in promoting the railway.

We started the year with Excursions 2013 at Alley Palley (see report below), we have now followed this with Visit Essex Tourism and Leisure Show which took place at Crowne Plaza Five Lakes Resort near Colchester and Maldon. We have joined with our friends at the Museum of Power and other local attractions to promote the railway and other Essex attractions as somewhere different for people to visit.

The event is important as it highlights places in Essex where people can visit. Essex has so many nice places to visit, some famous towns and also some hidden gems and sleepy villages. The show was open to Group Tour Operators and to the public. These trade shows are designed for tour operators to plan the year ahead. They’ll be people who travel in groups and visit local attractions in the local area, so it’s important to tap into this market.

We were part of a joint stand titled Hidden Essex Attractions and we were highlighting lesser known attractions in Essex, including The Secret Nuclear Bunker, Stow Maries (a WW1 Airfield still operational), The Museum of Power, Combined Military Services Museum and Maldon Tourist Information Centre.

Our stand (no 48) was busy all day with enquiries…

The show opened about 10 am and closed at 4 pm. It was busy with many people from various tour organisers interested in what we have to offer. It was surprising how quickly the time went. We distributed our EOR leaflets, also those for people wanting  to hire a bus from us. On the stand there was a combined effort of all the team members as we spoke to people about all our attractions.

In addition we took along the Green Line RT which proved to be a popular attraction at the event. We could focus on handing out our leaflets and speak more in depth to people by the RT about the coming year on the railway. Ron and John did a sterling job here.

Visitors flocked to see and be photographed beside the vintage “Green-Line” bus on display at the show

Everything went undercover in a large event hall which protected us from the bitter cold outside. The pictures show the RT and also or stand with our partners.

If you can spare some time for publicity, the contact me on edward.veckranges@btinternet.com or call 07405234180