Invasion of the ‘bogie men’
AFTER the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway ran its last trains of the season, the‘bogie men’took charge.
Their job is to maintain and – where necessary – restore the 22 wagon and carriage bogies that the 2ft gauge line at Skegness Water Leisure Park has for its five carriages and three bogie wagons.
The line needs 16 bogies for eight carriages and wagons.
Two more bogies are additionally required for the line’s rail bolster, used to move rails around the system for track repair.
So, 18 bogies out of the total of 22 are needed, which means that four bogies are spare.
The spare bogies are now being used to select the best parts to keep the rest of the fleet running.
The bogies are of a standard design for World War One War Department light railway stock, which all had hand brakes. Prior to the introduction of air braking, stopping the train depended on locomotive brakes alone, unless there was a man (or men) on the train winding on the brakes by hand.
However, the basic requirements necessary to run public passenger trains in the modern era requires some of the bogies to be air-braked.
The air brake system was first developed on the Ravenglass &
Eskdale Railway, and then used on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway by Cedric Lodge, before the system was introduced on the LCLR.
Volunteer bogie man Peter Balderston said: “It is important to state that the bogies are as crucial as the locos to maintain the service.
“We are getting much better at rebuilding them by improving the design.”
The LCLR bogies are more than 100 years old and need major attention to keep them serviceable and to allow individual bogies to be serviced. The railway is buying six sets of top-andbottom centre bearings to replace ones worn out over the years.
In 2022, the LCLR plans to operate three-coach trains. In order to do this, the Nocton Estate Light Railway ‘Queen Mary’ coach is being refurbished for its first passenger use on the line – and it also needs a good pair of bogies. This coach was built to transport guns for a day’s shooting on the ‘potato railways’ estate where much of the stock of the LCLR came from. It was built onto a steel-framed Class D bogie wagon.
Now being restored – without glass in the windows to provide another open-air coach for the service – it will require one air-braked and one unbraked bogie.