Weds 7th / Thurs 8th - It's fast approaching

Wednesday

Another fine selection of photos from Gerry covering the day's activities.

With the Mixed Traction Gala fast approaching Upholstery are doing a brilliant job in producing more of their beautifully made items for sale.

Eve is making another spectacle case, .......

Chris is working on a cushion cover, ........

Ceri with another one of the superb bags, .......

and Laura also on spectacle cases.

Ainsley is doing a grand job with the roof of SK 25451. There was just the last part of the Malvern side to clean up and vac, before adding the first coat of Light Grey MIO. The whole roof will have then had the first coat of paint.

In the Workshop Nick is setting up the welder for aluminium welding.

This is to enable him to fill in the multitude of existing screw holes in TSO 4867's window frames, so that Rex, Bryan and Geri can drill new ones exactly where they want them.

Cleaning up the welds.

That's better. 

Bob is giving this frame a general clean up.

Inside 4867 Bryan is tidying up the base of the window aperture.

With the window frame back in Rex and Bryan are preparing to fit the inner of the new sapele frame sections.

Bryan gives the cleaned up aperture a coat of Red Oxide.

The Woodshop team are doing a great job with the floor repairs. 

Simon assesses the next course of action.

Ben is producing some infill floor edge sections.

Setting up the "new" thicknesser in the Woodshop.

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Thursday 8th

Having made a start on the gala preparation, it was time to get a few photos.

TSO 4406 has now been brought into the Barn and so now making it easier for Alan to do the metalwork repairs.

The Inspection Saloon is still up on the jacks while Richards I and II are upgrading the battery charging.

Hello, where have all these cowls come from?

It turns out that it's all part of the scrapping of this old GUV. Tony has certainly been busy!

Paul, Alan and Roger head back to the Works having checked inside the coaches in Rake 3. Stu will later be hauling the rake into Platform 2 ready for the weekend's activities.

Phil servicing the connections for coach battery charging and power supply when static.

Having completed the cowl extraction job in the GUV, Tony reverts to cleaning up and then painting in Black MIO the base of the vacuum cylinder.

Rex is fitting the inner wood sections to the current window rebuild.

It's good to get a photo of Gerry, which I am now able to do as both he and Rex are coming in on Thursdays. As the photo taker on Wednesdays he rarely appears in the blog, which usually happens with me on my days. Gerry is removing old sealant from a Malvern side window aperture.

On now to SK 25451. Graham begins second top coating the Cotswold side lower half. Stu, you did a great job with the hand flatting on this section on Tuesday - Graham was very impressed.

Graham hand flats the cream section on the north half. He then gave this a second coat.

Second undercoating has brought this side up really well.

Finally, it was a treat to walk into Upholstery and see everything set up very nicely for our gala visitors. They always do a good display. Thank you Team ☺

Gerry captured me wielding one of the Rough Ground advisory notices. I spent literally the whole day setting up as much as possible for the weekend,

leaving just the bits to be done first thing on Saturday before we open up at 1000.

Mainly for the Paintshop displays, but some outside items as well.

The viewing area set up. In the background Rake 3 is being towed out to Platform 2 ready for picking up first thing on Saturday.

Just in time to catch 3850 with the final train of the day.  Hmmm, was spot on with this one!

Tues 6th - Mainly 25451 again / A further tribute to Alan Richards

A warm day despite the damp start and ideal for the outside activities. We had 10 in today.

As Paul of St Blazey commented, it is the "25451 show" again with much of today's effort being done on the coach. Perhaps as well though as we need to crack on and get this done. It will be a joy to see a complete rake of crimson & cream coaches.

Richard completed the lower line taping on the Malvern side south half of the coach and then removed the white tape that had been applied to some of the windows. Apologies to whoever applied this, but the white tape is for short duration application and if left on can be tricky to remove and leave a sticky residue. He is now having a brief sweep around before beginning to paint this window.

Stu did a great job hand flatting the main part of the Cotswold side north half of the coach. This will have a second coat to give a clean face for the subsequent top coat.

Richard begins the window undercoating, carefully picking his way along the edges with a small brush. He enjoys doing windows for which I am very grateful, as not everyone in the team does. I must admit that I prefer panel painting.

Ian did more filling and sanding at the south end, and then moved on to wire brushing the chequerplate.

Maurice removing the old cracked and chipped paint from the north end buffers.

Ian cleaned up the connection face and is in the finishing stages of coating with Red Oxide.

The collection of new internal window frame pieces for TSO 4867 is growing rapidly. The nearby group with the note are ready for installation. The next group all had a second coat of varnish and when dry will be ready for fitting - all will need to be drilled for the screw holes. For the four at the other end of the trestles (made by Chris during the morning), I had to apply wood dye. Although the wood is sapele, as used for all our internal framing, it was from a batch much lighter in colour and didn't darken with varnish.

With the weather being helpful, Dave gets on with his general sanding down on the Malvern side of TSO 4406. Also busy outside was Derek, getting more black paint and primer respectively on the reinstated and new planking on the Shark Ballast Plough van. Tomorrow the forecast is for heavy rain.

Chris and Maurice watch the Bubblecar as it passes by on its return to Toddington.

Maurice and I had a major sweep up and vac of the Barn and Workshop in preparation for the annual Mixed Traction Gala this coming weekend.

The next job was to extract all the viewing area stands and container of plastic chains from the van storage, and then from our changing room storage, all the internal display goods. I will be somewhat busy on Thursday!

The final job of the day. Maurice vacs the main route through the Paintshop.

Juno and Monty, two of the many things being sold by Dave in aid of the new build GW County 3840   "County of Montgomery". A number of us have bought the excellent calendar for sale, one of which is for the Paintshop.

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A further tribute to Alan Richards

The initial tribute published in the posting for Tuesday 1st September brought together a number of photos of Alan's time as a member of the Tuesday Painting and Preparation team. Alan was with us from October 2018 to September 2024.

Alan sanding one of the Winchcombe Station fire buckets in April 2024

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This second tribute has been included following the wealth of photographs that came to light after Ian Crowder had established the Whatsapp group, bringing together many of Alan's friends and relatives and making known his remarkable life. Further fond memories were revealed during the celebration of his life at St Michaels and All Saints Church, Bishops Cleeve on September 30th.

Alan with his mum Betty and sister Jenny at Walness Beach in the 1950s.

Alan, the young lad on the left, was very keen on amateur dramatics, here photographed at Sheffield

Alan in cricket whites. Cricket was a one of his favourite sports

As was rugby. Alan looking very serious is on the left.

 

Growing up, smartly dressed and looking very important ........

........ but a smile was never far away.

Alan with his cousin Mark Wade and his uncle the Reverend A. C. Wade. This was taken at Mark Wade's wedding in 1963.

Alan was a very keen horse rider and looks completely at home in the saddle. I wonder where this was? That building could be Cotswold stone.

Alan as a young man, again looking very smartly dressed. He was very scholarly and ended up being a teacher. I have been told he taught English, but being able to recite Virgil at will, was it actually English Literature? He was very knowledgeable in literature and had a particular passion for poetry. His favourite author was John Buchan and at home he had at least two bookshelves crammed with fiction and non-fiction of this prolific novelist, historian and politician. The celebratory Order of Service included an abridged extract from John Buchan's book "Memory Hold-the-Door".

Alan with Beechwood Park School's 2nd XV in 1980

Alan's entry in St Edward's School Roll listed all he did between leaving school and retiring: -

NatWest Bank 1966 - 77

Westminster Teacher Training College 1973 - 76

Culford School 1976 - 77

Beechwood Park School 1977 - 90

Woodcote House School 1992 - 95

Sunningdale School 1995 - 96

Buckley Park School 1996 - 97

He retired at the age of 50 and went to live in Wales with his mother and sister.

This photo is a real gem and directly relevant to the Railway. It shows Alan with his Mum Betty on the very much missed Elegant Excursions train in 2003.

Happily chatting with friends.

Alan was passionate about aircraft as well as railways and could tell you how many rivets there are in a Lancaster or name all the variations of deHaviland bi-planes. He was a life member of the Shuttleworth Collection, which he visited on his birthday this year (12th February 2026). He was very lucky to have flown in this Tiger Moth as a competition prize.

Alan (fourth from the right) was a strong supporter of 2807, even before he moved to Woodmancote. This was 01 Jan 2020 at Broadway station, just before the engine departed on its last run before withdrawal for its ten-year boiler overhaul. It is likely that his interest was cemented by the fact that the engine, built in 1905, spent much of its working life until 1963 based in South Wales.

Alan at Toddington with the engine he loved in May 2015

Alan regularly helped at the Cotswold Steam Preservation (2807) stand at Toddington on a gala day. Here he is picking out lucky draw numbers.

Alan at home and welcoming his eight-legged visitor!

Alan at home with his cousins Rachel and Hilary.

Alan in his garden in 2025 on the bridge that had been built for him and gave him so much pleasure.

The newspaper announcement.

St Michaels and All Angels Church, Bishops Cleeve

The cover of the Order of Service. During the service there were a number of interviews with some members of the congregation who related their memories of Alan. This included myself relating my first meeting with Alan and his time at Carriage & Wagon. The service was very heart warming, and it was a real pleasure to attend and learn just what an amazing person he was.

The very picturesque setting of St Michael's church at Llanfihangel-Nant-Bran.

Alan was laid to rest next to his parents grave.

Always remembered on our Memorial Wall.