Chris and I visited The Stainmore Railway at Kirkby Stephen East again today. We went along to take some power tools that I have donated to their newly built workshop. While we were their Rob Murray the Carriage and Wagon manager gave us a tour of the newly build carriage shed and described the current work on the NER tool van and an NER 4 wheeled all 3rd that had been donated by the NYMR from it's long term resting place at Levisham Station. We were also delighted to see LNER Brake 3rd 3669 in residence too. Having been told the story of why it has moved to KSE we were also a little dismayed. 3669 has a special significance to Chris because based on a photo when it was newly restored 4 years ago Chris included it in one of her paintings which also features her late father returning from fighting overseas in WWII. The reason it has moved to undercover storage and use by The Stainmore Railway is that since it's restoration it has been in regular use on the NYMR but it has been stored outside and somewhat neglected. The varnish is already starting to peel and the lower teak panels in both guard's doors have cracks in them apparently caused by lazy guards kicking them shut. Rob asked if we would like to have a look inside which Chris and I jumped at. Sadly I hadn't taken my camera along so I had to make do with some phone photos. I plan to return and get some underframe and bogie shots because ground level access at both sides is possible in the shed. In the meantime these internal shots may help anyone building one (I have a JLRT kit for a D114 sat in the pile so they will be invaluable to me when I get that far).
