Right on track?...

I took a break from green oak timber framing in May to help a friend work on his railway carriage. This old girl is about 130 years old apparently and made the long journey down from Suffolk earlier this spring...I think it used to operate on the Great Eastern Line. The story is that after the war, returning soldiers were often housed in decommissioned railway carriages, and over time these were extended to and became the core of a rambling, sprawling self improved home. There are about 9 layers of wallpaper inside this to suggest this was indeed the case.



















Like so many things of the Victorian age, it was extremely well built; an oak carcass on a massive steel subframe, and then externally clad in teak sheets and trim. The bogeys and wheel sets are long gone, and the past 100+ years have taken their toll. However, the new owner is keen to preserve what's left and replace what's too far gone, so we spent some time cutting out and replacing rotten window sills, door frames, re-glazing throughout, and insulating and re-roofing. With a new set of doors, a woodburner, and many more months of tlc, there'll be life in the old girl yet.