1889 GWR clerestorey roofed travelling
post office number 841 ( built as number 2086 ) originally had broad gauge bogies and a narrow body. It was converted
to standard gauge in June 1891.
It was withdrawn in 1934 and for many years formed part of a house in Wales.
The internal views below are of TPO 838 which appears to have been the same internally as 841. The photos were taken on 9th January 1900 just as more mail has come aboard the 'up' Bristol-Penzance TPO. The external view (mid right) is not TPO 841 but is included to show how it would have looked as built with 3 third class compartments at one end. Whilst we were replacing some panels the original door frames could clearly be seen. The bottom view is of TPO 2085 (renumbered 842) which was from the same batch as ours but had just 2 passenger compartments. The photo was taken at Didcot in 1892 or 3.
TPO Conversion Diary
February 2006
The TPO is now undercover in a large grain shed so that we can work on the outside. After repairs and
panel replacements, mouldings to the original pattern are made from marine ply and fitted. Internally things
are pretty much complete and the wiring is underway. Still no doors yet though!
January 2006
The wc/shower room is complete except for tiling the shower tray and a bit of plumbing and the
bunkroom is finished but needs a couple of doors. The double bedroom is finished except, again, for a door.
I feel a door making session coming on! Work is currently progressing well on the kitchen.
The schedule at the moment is to have the wiring done within the next couple of weeks, with the internal work
finished by the end of February. Then move the TPO undercover for a couple of weeks to sort out
the outside. Then move it onto site mid March.
November 2005
OK so I've never been much good at keeping a diary but here is the belated latest installment! The inside has been completely
stripped, repaired and primed. The 2 (non original) partitions have been removed and the floor relaid with diagonal boarding
stained to match the 2 original sections. One new window sash has been obtained from our local joiner.
February 2005
We have had a couple of dry weeks and so the emphasis has been on the outside. The clerestory windows have been sealed around and painted which seems to have stopped the few leaks that
we had. New glass has been obtained for the broken windows.
Standard railway practice was to replace the mahogany outer
skin panels with galvanised steel sheets and this has been done to most of the TPO. Some of these were coming away from the frame
work and so they were replaced. The new panels were taken up under the top ones to prevent water ingress instead of butting
together as before. In due course mouldings will be fitted. I have made these before for the luggage van from marine ply which
seems to work well.
A new section was scarfed into one of the ribs.
The floor in some areas has rotted and is being replaced. Originally
there were 2 layers of opposing diagonal boards. Plywood is being used for the under layer with new t&g for the top layer
laid diagonally as before. Getting the new areas to blend in with the original will be a challenge.
10th December 2004 The first priority has been to get the tpo weather tight as the original canvas roof covering had gone.
The roof structure is single skinned 1" timber and so insulation was used under the roofing felt to help reduce both
heat loss in the winter and gain in the summer.
26th November 2004 - Well we made it! The TPO is now parked outside my workshop but along the way we had a few trials and
tribulations. We went to Brecon on Monday to jack it up from the steel frame that it was resting on in preparation for getting
the strops around it. It was only possible to jack at one end but it is very rigid and didn't sag at all. Tuesday AM saw a
50t crane from Jay and Davies of Hereford and the low loader from Moveright/Heanor arrive. It took only minutes to lift the TPO onto the lorry
but then a slight problem loomed in that the trailer at 80' long was too long to turn and so it was necessary to reverse the 2 miles back to the
main road! The lorry arrived in Cornwall the next day and things would probably have gone smoothly had it been able to get around the corner before the proposed
site for unloading. After an impromtu change of venue and another half a mile of reversing the TPO was succesfully transfered
to its new chassis. It was then moved by tractor to the workshop. Quite a draining couple of days!
Info on Hayle and West Cornwall, St Ives, Penzance, Newquay,
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