A look inside

Here's a recent photo looking at the inside of 1072. Specifically this will be the dining area made from two of the original seats. These used to run the full width of the carriage but I shortened them so as to create an aisle down one side of the carriage.

The varnished wall is the bulkhead that will separate the dining area from the bathroom. It's constructed of panels of solid recycled maple given to me by one of my wife's mate Bob set in a frame constructed out of maranti from the local Bunnings. The empty rectangle in the middle of the wall accommodates an original NSWGR pair of photographs of Jenolan Caves; not QR I know but I remember these carriage pics from the trains I caught home from school and, having a geological background, how could I resist this little masterpiece! There's even a good chance that the photographs were originally taken by Frank Hurley.

The side wall shows the toplights that I've had to remake but, unlike the originals, the toplights in the main cabin area have clear glass instead of green or red coloured glass (although we have gone for this touch at either end where the bedrooms will be).

The internal colour scheme is based on colour matches to the original paintwork and inspection of 1074 which has been restored for display at the Ipswich Carriage Works. The best match for the interior yellow is a colour called King's Gold from the British Paints range while the red trim is Deep Indian Red from the Solargard range by Dulux. I didn't appreciate that this is a different colour to the Tuscan Red of the exterior, the closest match I've found being Headlands also from the Solargard range.

It wasn't until after I'd repainted a sizable area inside the carriage with the King's Gold and Deep Indian Red that I realised this was the original state colours for Queensland and the master bedroom was looking like the locker room for the Brisbane Broncos! But once I'd got over this minor shock the effect inside the carriage looks just right. I've also gone for a gloss finish on all interior paints as well as being exterior quality paint.

I'm currently working on a table cut from a single slab of silky oak. More on that in a later post. You can also make out a little bit of the original floor which I had professionally sanded and coated earlier this year.