Category: News

Good morning, Followers of Gordon! A very brief line to let you know a few things: Firstly, Minion Darren reports that we have the first of the new batch of inner window trims ready for fitting. As soon as we can arrange a work day, we will make a test fitting of the first batch. Pictures will be provided! Secondly, we have been notified that our friends at Siemens and SWR that they will require the spare road at Strawberry Hill for maintenance work on part of their fleet. While this is going on, in accordance with our arrangement with both parties, we will be unable to access the shed. However, work such as production of window frames and so on can take place off-site. We hope to regain access…

Good day, folks! A few quick updates for you rolled into one, because I have been rather lax in updating the news. I apologise - please blame the deliciousness of biscuits, the Big Railway, finding free bricks (it's a long story - don't ask) and many other varieties of mundane stuff which get in the way of Playing Trains and telling you lot about it. For those of you who follow the exploits of 3417 on Twitter these little nuggets may come as old news, but I know there are many who don't. So enough excuses; we have things to share.  Firstly, the long-standing AWS fault in both cabs has finally been remedied. Thanks are due in huge part to our friends at the Southern Preservation Group at Tunbridge Wells West…

Welcome to today’s edition of “Playing With 1:1 Scale Toy Trains for Fun and Frustration." Prelude: "It's all good fun playing trains, until someone asks you to fit a four-wide seatback to a bulkhead that has decided that it doesn't want to have a seatback fitted to it, thank you very much. At this point the fitters get cross, drivers find themselves grateful that they never became a fitter and everyone wonders exactly how, in years past, pairs of drunken teenagers managed to throw the bloody seat backs out of trains in the first place. Fitting seats isn't for the faint of heart, folks. For the record, we managed to refit the seat after using two shoe paddles, two screw drivers and a lot of railway-grade language. (And a brief…

Today was another busy day at Strawberry Hill, and a very productive one too. After a hiatus of a few weeks thanks to shift work and the usual non-railway Real Life intrusions, we were able to put a small team together to move work forward on coach No. 76262. But before we could begin work, depot procedures had to be followed... After the obligatory tea (and optional chocolate biscuits) and lead by one of our senior fitters Darren Franklin we continued restoring the standard class seating area. This has involved removing all the water-damaged fittings within the coach and replacing them with 'good' fittings  - either freshly made or recovered from elsewhere along the unit. The previous workdays have made good progress towards this goal, and today has moved us…

Once again it's been a busy few week for 3417 and it's Minions. Firstly came a very long trip to the National Railway Museum at York last week. This was arranged to collect a quantity of brand-new trim material which will be used to recover quarter pads in the standard class accommodation - quarter pads are the fabric covered, foam padded boards beneath the windows at each pair of seats in standard and first class saloons and compartments. We are hugely grateful for the NRM and Project Commuter for their assistance in sourcing this material, which is vital to the refurbishment of our passenger accommodation. The funds to pay for this material, made as part of a special order by Camira Fabrics, came from our successful Crowdfunding appeal which closed last…

  STOP PRESS: Senior Minions have just spoken to their counterparts with @ProjectCommuter; our small portion of fresh moquette for 3417 has just been delivered to @railwaymuseum in York. Another step in the restoration of both our units begins! — 423417_GordonPettitt (@Gordon_3417) June 13, 2018   Brilliant news - this is another portion of your crowdfunding money that we have been patiently waiting to spend and means we can finally begin to address the restoration of the unit's interior. Stay tuned for more developments as we get them! Many thanks to our friends at Project Commuter and the National Railway Museum for helping to make this possible.

STOP PRESS: This morning the SETG will be moving 4 EE507 traction motors, previously donated by Porterbrook Leasing, from Wimbledon Park to Strawberry Hill as part of our on-going plan to concentrate our spares pool in one location. We would like to thank South Western Railway for their assistance at Wimbledon and to thank Castle Scaffolding for donating their equipment and time to help us in the move.   Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds to see the latest news and pictures!

Senior Minion Potter Reporting: I think we (we being 3417's Loyal Minions) have mentioned before that this railway preservation lark isn't all about Glamour, Girls & Riches Beyond The Dreams of Avarice. Some of it is dirty and boring and bloody hard graft. Last Sunday's work day was a fine example of this point; lot of dirt and heavy lifting punctuated by mild swearing and tea. The work crew consisted of yours truly and Darren and the task was very simple: tidy up the shed. Of course, before we started work there are certain things that have to be seen to and Depot Operating Procedure Section 4, sub-section 6 was duly dealt with on arrival. For those who don't know how seriously the SETG take proper operating procedures, please find…

  Thanks to our chums at the Swanage Railway, who were staging their lauded Diesel Gala this weekend, we got to see a glimpse of it. Enjoy the sound of a Class 33 Crompton and a 4TC at the gallop on the South Western Mainline. How long until we see 3417 doing the same? Watch this space! Video credits to 'VehicularBrit' and '04clemea' - both channels worth a browse on Youtube. [embed]https://youtu.be/CNDE401uvaM[/embed] [embed]https://youtu.be/Ebqqnjkcnfc[/embed]

We have been extremely busy during the past few months, and it's time to bring you up-to-date on some of the developments regarding the restoration of No. 3417. After discussions involving the Senior Minions and Mr Pettitt himself over the last month we have decided that the restoration project deserves a name: we have christened it 'Project Phoenix'. In order to make the project manageable, and in order to allow us to bring the unit back to a "paying basis", the project will be conducted in phases. This phasing of work will allow us to make the best use of our current finances and to aim our small technical team at specific goals. We will be setting up an additional page on the website in due course to give you…