Tuesday 29th - Winter arrives

With the arrival of winter we wondered who would be coming in and no surprise that there were missing faces. Driving conditions were fine here, but not for everyone.

The snow returned during the day and added more to the scene.

It was also good to have the power back after the day long outage on Saturday. The break was found to be under the station yard. Stu, our Works Manager, and his wife Helen stayed on until the power was restored so that the Works could be checked. They eventually left after 10 pm. 

We noticed that the barriers are still in place around the hole so the remedial action has still to be completed.

Stu made a cracking start in 1675, giving the remaining corridor ceiling a second top coat.

He next taped up the corridor skirting and coated that Gloss Black ..........

........ before moving into the south vestibule.

Meanwhile Martin and Richard took on the varnishing in the saloon, giving it all a second coat and leaving just the pelmets as there were still some adjustments needed with these.

A lot of progress was made on the MICA van, beginning with Ainsley sanding down the filler on the south end planking.

Almost all the remaining work for the day was focussed on the removal of the north end planking. Maurice needed anglegrinding assistance to remove the bolts holding this step.

The bracket holding the vacuum pipe was no better.

Paul meanwhile was investigating the internal metal sheeting on the north end wall.

Lunchtime and it was snowing again.

The next job was the removal of the remaining planking. Maurice uses a jigsaw to cut through his end of each plank.

Paul and Maurice could then begin levering off each of the planks.

With TSO 4772 still in the Paintshop, the chance to do a few minor jobs. Some of the lower lining out needed repairing on one of the doors and its frame and the back of the door was given a further coat of the Exec Light Grey.

A final look outside before the late afternoon closes in. Another 30 minutes and it would be dark.

As for the next few days, the forecast was for frost and bright sunny days, and then true to form, gusty winds and heavy rain on Saturday. Wednesday where I live started off cloudy and more light snow fell.

Monday 18th - And This Year's Star Prize Goes To

 John Mac. I arrived to find John up in our shed looking very puzzled and concerned. He was looking for the bucket containing the toilet cleaning kit but it was nowhere to be found. It didn't seem likely that it would have "walked" and the other potential cleaners were not on site today. A very worried John set off down the train to see if by any chance someone had already got it. On the way through he met Nigel and mentioned the problem. Nigel told him it was in the boot of his (John's) car! John then recalled he had taken it to Winchcombe to do the train there a fortnight ago and so there it was. Not that any of us have memory lapses........

So on to today. Just rake 1 at Toddington, to be cleaned after 2 Race Train Charters and the charity Santa. It was not bad at all. Rake 2 is now at Winchcombe but has not been used since it was last cleaned. With 11 of us for 1 train it was done by tea break, apart from some mopping. 

David, Peter and Tim washing (and me when I put the camera down).

Inside Roger C, Nick, John S and Val.

Jane and Nigel.

A clean carriage (apart from the later mopping)

Going back to the polishing of 4772, below is M4614 that we used the cutting paste on and then waxed polished at the end of September 2023. It is starting to "bloom" but still looks passable. Having an unwaxed polished 4772 to compare with 4614 will enable us to know what is required.

Saturday 16th - In the dark

Arriving at my usual time I was in for a surprise. Chris is always the first in, but why was he parked outside the gate and not in the yard? Gate not working? Power failure?

When eventually gaining access it turned out to be more than just the gate. The whole site was without power. We were in for an interesting day.

What about our early Mess Room gathering and cuppa before we got the day underway?

[Photo : Alex]   James provided the initial solution.

Well, an expensive way to make a pot of tea, but it worked! That very heavy trestle, created to produce the MICA handrails, is proving ideal for this.

Thankfully it was less chilly than it had been recently. However that early cuppa was still very much appreciated.

It was nice and bright in the Paintshop and Pam was able to do a quick job on TSO 4772 that had been missed - painting the tops of the door droplights.

No power anywhere meant that the signalbox was out of action, which in turn meant that the shunt to extract 4772 was now out of the question and 3850 would not be brought down from Toddington today.

Laura, Helen and Sally were coping very well without lights, all the effort now going into re-upholstering the Dean Forest Railway seating (contract 3).

Today was the second of the two-day race meeting at Cheltenham when we were running race trains. Unlike the main March meeting, where all three of our rakes are in use, the November meeting uses just the one train. On the Saturday we squeeze a Fish-and-Chip Special into the middle of the day using the same rake. 

Foremarke Hall does the honours for the race goers as it passes on its way to the racecourse. 

It's the 1100 teabreak and the heat is on again. Paul checks the progress.

John looks happy as he makes his way up to the Mess Room.

This was almost back to normal. At the far end of the Mess Room Paul gives a cheery wave.

The problem of supplying hot water was later sorted out by the generosity of a lady who lives just outside the station yard. She provided endless jugs of hot water, which were brought up to the Mess Room by Rosie and Ian, two of the Friends of Winchcombe Station. To all three, a very hearty Thank You for your kindness - it was very much appreciated.

All the Bubblecar seat frames were transferred to one of the GUVs located on the other side of the running line. Painting these seat frames was often done in poor light and as such bits were missed with the red oxide primer showing through.

Pam tackled all the frames near the entrance to the van, hopefully covering all the red bits. The frames located further in the van will be moved into the light and checked out next week.

Thankfully the power cut didn't stop progress with the MICA van. While Robert and Chris were working on the internal panelling, John and Phil were re-boring the necessary holes for fitting another of the vertical handrails. Thank goodness for battery operated drills!

The second handrail partially trial-fitted. The top will need to be bent horizontally.

The first handrail with the shaping now complete and fitted in place.

The efforts over the past weeks with 4772 have got through masses of rag. So a quick visit to the nice clean Upholstery shop to cut another bin load. With all the tables in use, the wide windowsill made a good substitute. In return for the use of the shop I emptied both of their bins.

Thursday 14th - Looking the biz!

Closely following the efforts on Tuesday and Wednesday, the "blitz" on TSO 4772 continued unabated. We had just today to complete as much as possible before the coach is shunted out on Saturday. As I was very much involved with the job my photos were limited, so both Paul and Gerry very kindly stood in and produced an excellent range to help cover the day's activities - many thanks to both.

Paul with bucket, mop, and other cleaning bits just off to the Rake 3 coaches in the yard.

[Photo : Paul] Inside TSO (number?) - what's that on the floor?!

[Photo : Paul]  That's better!

[Photo : Paul]  The corridor in BCK 21092 with a nicely washed floor. Paul stated that the floor in both coaches needed a nasty substance removing - best not to ask!

[Photo : Gerry]  There are still things to sort out in RBr 1675's pantry. It all looks very complicated if you aren't in the know.

[Photo : Gerry]  Richard II rebolts the inverter to the floor. Apparently the captive nut had become dislodged.

[Photo : Gerry]

[Photo : Gerry]  Meanwhile underneath the kitchen/pantry part of the coach, with presumably today's work completed, a cheerful Richard I re-covers the lithium battery boxes.

[Photo : Gerry]  I remember photographing this sometime ago. It is the cable gland plate which will be attached to the top of the lithium battery enclosure. It is in the process of being modified to accept another cable. The plate has been drilled, but awaits a counterbore due to the length of the gland thread.

[Photo : Gerry]  Some of the pelmets in 1675's saloon had gone on slightly crooked and stuck out. They had been awkward things to attach, not helped by oak being particularly hard to work.

[Photo : Gerry]  Alan and Geoff look as if they have sorted out this one, and the line of pelmets certainly look straight and nicely bedded down in the photo below.

[Photo : Gerry]

During the afternoon I had a break and took a stroll out to the Barn and yard. Passing SO 4798 I could see that the new section of sheet metal, recently welded on by Alan H., now had the necessary screw holes drilled ready for attaching the internal window framing.

[Photo : Gerry]  Rex preparing a section of the internal framing.

[Photo : Gerry]  In 4798's south vestibule Phil is sorting out the electrics.

[Photo : Gerry]

[Photo : Gerry]

[Photo : Gerry]  Bits are forever appearing, either on the Paintshop trestles or hung on the hooks, for priming and painting. We are only too happy to oblige as long as there is an attached note to say what is required if it isn't immediately obvious. No problems for Maurice with what to do with this section of metal bar used for securing a corridor connection rain cover.

Hello, some shunting. What this turned out to be was the removal of FK 13337 to allow the large flat wagon to be extracted. At the same time it allowed Neil to conduct the annual reassessment of Ian as a driver of the 03. I am very pleased to say that he passed with flying colours.

Various shunts over the past few weeks have located SK 25488 with BCK 21272. The two crimson & cream coaches look great together, and with SO 4790 recently outshopped in this livery and due to join them soon, the beginnings of a Crimson & Cream rake move a step closer.

[Photo : Gerry]  Jeff and I discuss how we are going to tackle this door and its frame. The door's back panel has already been top coated by David the day before. The blue sheet through the window is protecting the paintwork as the hinge straps on this door have been released to allow the door to be pushed wide open and made fully accessible.

Jeff, working on the Malvern side, is doing what I had done the day before on the Cotswold side with the sides of window frames and doorframe capping strips being overpainted in cream top coat.

[Photo : Gerry] Phil is repainting door handles and stops, and grab handles, and where needed some of the lining out.

Photo taken by me on Wednesday of David repainting one of the five door back panels that needed this. The panel on the centre door Cotswold side had been renewed at a later date and looked very fresh.

That is very much better. Not just the panel in Exec Light Grey, but new GW Brown paint on the sides and door base, and lower halves of the door frames.

[Photo : Gerry]  The little brushes are in action again, this time tidying up the Exec Light Grey on the upper parts of the south door Cotswold side.

Working carefully around the grab handle.

The end of the day with 4772 looking as though its had a full repaint. Well, don't look too closely. There are other things that could have been done had we had more time, the roof in particular, but at least another coach in our rakes will look good as it goes by.

We hope to do this with other coaches that come in for various mechanical repairs and maintenance. It all depends of course on what else is going on.