Isle Of Wight Steam Railway
Heritage Carpenter Apprentice
October 2021 - October 2024
About
Hello I am Aidan
This is my Heritage Carpentry Apprenticeship Portfolio
Since October 2021 I have been a Heritage Apprentice at the
Isle of Wight Steam Railway, restoring and preserving unique historical carriages & wagons.
All timber productions and photography on this page have been manufactured and photographed by myself.
Here is our Carriage Workshop facebook page with photos and weekly updates on the restoration projects we are currently working on
Evidence
Worksheet 1
LCDR 4115 Guard Door Southside
This was my first task at the railway a carriage door restoration, I made various repairs & replacements to the doors Styles, Rails and carriage body door frame, along with making new components e.g. ventilator grill and various infill parts. I added a painted finish.
I had very basic woodworking skills at the start, however the tutoring I received enable me to complete the task.
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Evidence Worksheet 2
LCDR 4115 Guard Door Northside
My second door restoration. The most difficult part of the restoration was when I had to replace the bottom section of the styles by making two scarf joints.
Evidence Worksheet 3
1st Class Experience Table Trays
I manufactured 3 table trays for the 1st Class Experience service that the railway
offer, I had to source the timber from our stores, take reference from the existing trays, machine and produce with a varnished finish.
Evidence Worksheet 5, LCDR 4115 Internal Door & Frame
Carriage restoration project LCDR 4115 INTERNAL DOOR & Frame Build and design from scratch. We had adapted Carriage 4115 to take disabled passengers, a adjoining door was needed to be made to access the disabled compartment from the compartment opposite. I used CAD as part of the designing phase.
Evidence Worksheet 4
IWRS Havenstreet Station
Main Crossing Gates
Havenstreet Station Railway Crossing Gates x2 This was my first large Joinery project! I assisted in the manufacture of the 2 14ft crossing gates.
Evidence Worksheet 6
Windows for Wootton Station Signal box
The task was to make two fixed windows with glazing bars & 8 panes of glass in each window in order to replace the original windows which have decaying and starting to come loose
Evidence Worksheet 8
Storm-Proof Windows
A Speculative Storm-proof window design in CAD along with timber order sizes, in preparation for a future project.
Evidence Worksheet 7
4168 Carriage Repaint and Varnish.
I was involved in the varnishing of 4168 in preparation for is return to service. I was taught how to mark up and apply number transfers to a carriage. First mark the position of the transfer, varnish the back of the transfer to act as an adhesive, place transfer on carriage, apply water and remove transfer paper leaving number or letter behind.
Evidence Worksheet 9
4168 Door Rail Replica
As a part of the running repairs on carriages, I was tasked to make a replica internal waist rail
for a compartment door, as the original approximately 100yrs old rail component had been damaged beyond
repair.
Evidence Worksheet 11
Miniature Five Step Staircase
As part of my apprenticeship, I am required to manufacture a Staircase, due to no staircase to be built at the railway I was tasked to manufacture a Miniature staircase.
Evidence Worksheet 10
locomotive Footplate fitting & installation
I was tasked to Install a timber floor in the cab of No.192 as this engine is in the final stages of its maintenance overhaul.
Evidence Worksheet 12
4115 Slide door Restoration
I was required to widen an existing sliding door. I had to manufacture to new rails and 22 tongue and groove boards. This task was an in between job task, as it wasn’t high priority.
Evidence Worksheet 13
Carriage & Wagon Workshop’s
Air Compressor Shelter
I had been tasked to replace the old Air Compressor shelter as decaying components made the shelter unfit for use. removed all the old timber from the brick work and grill; the roof was in a usable condition
Evidence Worksheet 14
2416 Exterior moldings replacement
As part of carrying out running repairs on carriages it had been noticed that carriage 2416 exterior moulding had
started to become more visibly worn & decayed e.g. coming loose, splitting & paint peeling off.
There for, 2416 had been removed form the running set in order to carry out repairs, my supervisor Paul Fisher and
I was tasked to remove and replace all damaged & decayed mouldings on the south side of the carriage
Evidence Worksheet 15 Axle Box Covers
I made some axle box covers for a rail crane restoration, these are needed to prevent water mixing with the grease in the axle boxes.
I was working alongside a volunteer team who need these items urgently.
Evidence Worksheet 17,Carriage 2403 Re-varnish & Compartment Repaint
I was tasked to prepare, repaint and clean the ceilings of the passenger compartments & help repaint the carriage roof.
First, we washed the carriage’s sides and roof by hand using scotch bright cloths. Once the carriage had fully dried, myself and other volunteers used orbital sanders to remove the old varnish and make ready for the re-varnish.
Evidence Worksheet 19 Carriage Truck (CCT) S2373 Panel Replacement
CCT S2373 had several missing and rotten panels that needed replacement. The first panels I replaced was the front (London end) of the Truck which is designed to have a drop-down ramp ‘to replace’ and two doors, as the Truck is now being used as stores this feature would be useful.
Evidence Worksheet 16
Replacing Broken Quarter Light Window
During the general train timetable it is common for parts of the carriage to become damaged.
I was informed that a carriage quarter light had been damaged by a passenger and the glass was required to be replaced on a non-running day. My supervisor told me how to carry out the repair and that he had sourced the replacement glass and spare moldings.
Evidence Worksheet 18
Wagon Access Steps
I made some access steps for a Goods wagon as the originals had rotted away.
Evidence Worksheet 20 Platform Stairs
Evidence file to be uploaded.
Completed Projects