Tuesday 31st - Another glorious day

We had 16 in today, a very good turnout for  Tuesday, although I didn't capture all the activities. All the photos are in the order taken.

As it's Tuesday we had a good number of the Painting and Prep team in and obviously nearly everyone was involved with SO 4798. Beginning with the Cotswold side, David concentrated on the south end, initially doing some further filling.

On the Malvern side Stu checked all the filler for any ridges that needed sanding down. 240 paper finished it all off to give that super smooth result.

Ainsley began his day up the tower, finishing off the area above and alongside the top of the connection. He highlighted that we had some work to do where the filler pipe modifications and roof repairs had recently been done (a length of gutter on the Malvern side needs putting back), but in fact under the layer of dust it looks as though the roof has only been undercoated, not already top coated as we originally thought. Hmmm, a bit of catching up to do! 

We're still not entirely sure we have come to the end of the coach roofs that Bob Mac painted. H⁶⁶⅚e did so much roof painting, often well in advance of a coach's refurbishment.

Keith prepares the two vertical connection supports destined for the south end of BSK 35308.

Maurice and Paul continue the fitting of the top level planks on the Mink D van. Each one has to be dealt with individually, requiring careful measurements and subsequent recessing work to ensure a good fit.

Roger worked on the north end on the Malvern side of the connection, initially giving the main non-treated area a good hand sanding.

Maurice carefully cuts the recesses in the latest plank.

Now happy with his sanding efforts, Roger begins greying up his work area. Normally we go straight to Dark Grey undercoat, but this coach has required a lot of filling and building up, hence the Light Grey base coat at the ends as well as the sides.

Richard continues his window undercoating on the Cotswold side. 

Ian is restricted to low level work now, but he is more than happy to do sole bars, headstocks, buffers and the various underframe parts. The Cotswold side battery box is pretty rough and needs a good clean out and repaint. The main lower cover could do with replacing, while the top cover seems to have disappeared.

Quite a turnout to watch 2807 come by with Rake 2, our almost all Crimson & Cream rake.

Back to David who is now adding Cream undercoat to the south end door on the Cotswold side.

With the prep work completed Ainsley greys up the area above and to the sides of the south connection top.

With Roger's end greyed up and the filler along the side re-greyed by Stu, the Malvern side is looking good.

What a joy to sit outside for lunch and bask in the very warm sun. I even got myself in the shot.

The hardest part is having to move and return to the Works.

3850 steams into Platform 1 with Rake 1,  .......

...... which gives me another opportunity to capture our newly refurbished RBr.  The platform edge is captured in the gleaming lower panelling.

While David is working on his door, Ainsley has progressed to greying up the Cotswold side of the south end. 

Being such a warm day the primer painted on the connection supports had dried to the extent that the Dark Grey undercoat could be applied. The scissors in the foreground remain to be put away after another rag cutting session, one of my many logistics jobs when looking after the team.

It's Paul's turn to cut the recesses in the next plank for the Mink D.

Stu is another of the team who needs to stay on the ground, though he will do short spells on steps. He certainly doesn't hang about though as the north half bottom panel is once again undercoated in Dark Grey. Earlier on I got the vertical demarcation tape on the end, which means we can undercoat to the end of this side.

I thought Richard was going to complete the undercoat Cream at the Cotswold side north end, but he's sticking to windows and moved round to the Malvern side. Richard loves doing these, which is good news because not everyone does.

The Cotswold side from the north end at the end of the day.

The last trains of the day with 2807 on Rake 2 and 37215 now on Rake 1. And now the clocks have moved forward, it's still lovely and warm. There will also be plenty of light for the drive home - bliss!

Saturday 28th - Bubble car

That's more like it. After the relatively quiet Thursday, we had a good number in today with 24 attending.

[Photo : Alex]  It was a busy day with various bits of shunting to be done, which included the weed spraying wagon and BR Vanfit 755964 which has been repainted in BR Bauxite at Toddington by the  Wednesday wagon group. The van has been brought down to have a new roof canvas fitted.

Ian and Alex in discussion. Getting that 03 number sorted out will eventually be done - it's in the very lengthy list of things to do.

It was also Jenny's birthday. I tried to capture one of her lovely smiles, but she hid behind the new mop that Paul W. had bought her. She did however bring in some lovely treats for us to enjoy during the day.  Happy Birthday Jenny !

Simon asked me to help him lift the very large piece of heavy duty plyboard on to the trestles in the Woodwork shop. This is going to be a new worktop for the Upholstery workshop.

Maurice has also been doing some woodworking lately. The rebates ......... 

........... and sawn planks are necessary to complete the walls of the Mink D van, the remaining top spaces requiring the modifications.

The Bubblecar slowly approaches and stops in the station. It looked well filled.

We had the first of this year's Behind the Scenes tours. This was the Carriage & Wagon version. Dave H. and I share the tour guiding, with me taking on this one. We always start with Upholstery and hand over to Laura who gives an excellent description of their work. Upholstery is always of high interest and often quite a surprise to our tour members. Tours are usually about an hour to fit in with the trains. It's never enough time, but the tour members always seem to enjoy their day and we get some very nice feedback. The next one in April is the all-railway version which includes the loco and diesel sheds, a signalbox, and of course us. The cost includes all travel on the line, a talk about the Railway, lunch and tea.

While Laura was looking after the tour members, a chance to capture Peter, Jane and Carol busy making the curtains for SO 4798. These will blend in very well with the Snapdragon moquette, red carpet and lovely wood interior.

Returning later in the day Simon was finishing off the new worktop. He had attached a wood surround and was carefully planing it to create a nice curved edge.

Peter and Jane had finished for the day, leaving Carol and Laura busy with more curtain preparation.

Phil and Paul watch the Bubblecar returning north. The tour members were onboard presumably returning to Toddington for lunch.

On now to progress with SO 4798. Jeff took on the window undercoating on the Cotswold side.

Graham continued the overfilling on the Malvern side, bringing the surface back up where dips in the bodyside showed.

Further along on this side, George sanded more secondary filler. It's all hand sanding now.

Bob flattened the filler I had put on the north end earlier on. I had also cleaned up under the roof edge and alongside the top of the connection, and then coated the area with Red Oxide. This had now dried and Bob was able to fill the large gap between the metal panelling and the hardwood supports.

The next job, a coat of undercoat Light Grey. We would normally put on the Dark Grey, but with the amount of tidying up so far required, it was thought better to rely on the standard base coat which would better show up where further filling was needed.

Saying all that, Graham found areas on the undercoated Cotswold side where he thought more filler should be applied.

It was a different world inside for Ian who was carefully inserting the eyescrews ready for hanging the curtains.

In the Workshop James was cleaning up the bottom section of another door from BSK 35308.

With the old filler removed he was able to see exactly where to cut off the corroded metal.

Next job - cut out the required section of new sheet metal with the plasma cutter.

Returning later, James has tacked on the new piece. 

Jenny stops by for a chat with James, who by now is in the process of folding the metal over the door base.

The next job is to complete the weld.

The new bottom section has been clamped in place.

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With shunting over Alex has a chance to signwrite the new direction board for Toddington.

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Both Robert and I had expressed a desire to have a ride in the Bubblecar and hoped to have the opportunity while this current timetable was running.

I joined Jenny and Robert on Platform 2 not long before it arrived. This was the last run of the day to Broadway, terminating at Toddington.

It was driven by Steve and Jenny's husband Andy was second man. Jenny was catching the train so as to end up at Toddington where their car was parked.

It was a treat to ride on it again. I couldn't remember when I last did this, just that it was a long time ago.

It didn't sway as much as it used to.

All the re-covered seats in Bournemouth Blue done by our Upholstery team.

The pigeon basket at Toddington. Not real ones of course!

Having got off at Toddington, we watched it go by with waves from Andy and Steve. By now it had gone really chilly so we were glad to wait in the Diesel Dept mess hut until Andy was able to join us. Andy and Jenny then kindly drove Robert and I back to the Works, where we joined the others having the final cup of tea.

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[Photo : Alex]  We were all trying to remember when we repainted the Bubble car and reupholstered the seating in Bournemouth Blue. Was it 3 years ago or even longer? A quick browse through the Blog archives soon provided the answer.  The photo of the almost completed car was published in the posting for 28th June 2022. So it's 4 years!