Internal Restoration
Staircase restoration
The staircase on RM1527 had at some point been fitted with various different stair edgings, whilst also retaining a few of the original 'dog teeth' type. This gave the staircase a bit of a mismatched look, so over the winter of 2019/2020 we set about rectifying this.
What started off as a relatively quick job to change the stair edgings quickly became a much bigger task with the whole staircase stripped for repainting, all the treadmaster flooring replaced (aside from one piece) and one of the wooden stairs replaced as it was beginning to show signs of rot. The pictures below detail the progress made to date.
What started off as a relatively quick job to change the stair edgings quickly became a much bigger task with the whole staircase stripped for repainting, all the treadmaster flooring replaced (aside from one piece) and one of the wooden stairs replaced as it was beginning to show signs of rot. The pictures below detail the progress made to date.
Floor cleaning
During early 2019, we undertook the task of cleaning up the floors on both decks, removing the many years of dirt and chewing gum that had accumulated. Both flloors were steam cleaned and scrubbed, and the channels in the gangways stripped and repainted black. Two coats of vernish were then applied to both decks before the seats were refitted.
Initial cleaning
Most of the initial work carried out internally was general cleaning of the seats, windows and ceilings to bring the interior up to a usable standard.
The seats were all removed and the frames cleaned and polished. Some of the seat cushions were fairly worn and we therefore replaced these with some spares that we have obtained, though there are still a few which are on the tatty side which we'll look to replace. All the seat cushions were hoovered and steam cleaned, then refitted.
While the seat cushions were out, we also took the opportunity to clean up the metal coving panel on the floor - we will give the floor a thorough clean at some point, but cleaning up the metal panels has already improved the appearance dramatically, as can be seen in the pictures.
The ceilings were very dirty, and also covered in glue residue from where adverts have been removed over the years. We're removing all the adverts, cleaning and polishing the ceilings and will then look to refit some older style adverts to give the interior an in service look. So far only the downstairs ceiling has been completed, but we'll move onto upstairs shortly.
The downstairs winding windows were all slipping when wound up, so these have all been removed, the winding gear cleaned and replaced where necessary, new rubber fitted on the winder barand then put back together again.
The seats were all removed and the frames cleaned and polished. Some of the seat cushions were fairly worn and we therefore replaced these with some spares that we have obtained, though there are still a few which are on the tatty side which we'll look to replace. All the seat cushions were hoovered and steam cleaned, then refitted.
While the seat cushions were out, we also took the opportunity to clean up the metal coving panel on the floor - we will give the floor a thorough clean at some point, but cleaning up the metal panels has already improved the appearance dramatically, as can be seen in the pictures.
The ceilings were very dirty, and also covered in glue residue from where adverts have been removed over the years. We're removing all the adverts, cleaning and polishing the ceilings and will then look to refit some older style adverts to give the interior an in service look. So far only the downstairs ceiling has been completed, but we'll move onto upstairs shortly.
The downstairs winding windows were all slipping when wound up, so these have all been removed, the winding gear cleaned and replaced where necessary, new rubber fitted on the winder barand then put back together again.