Tuesday 20th - A fond farewell

It's always sad when you have to say goodbye to someone who has been a great friend and supporter of Carriage & Wagon for the past twelve years. Maurice Miles, alias Mo or Mog, joined in 2014 and became a member of the Painting Team. Then when Richard Stone established the Wagon Team he joined that and has been with them ever since. Maurice has now retired but will be receiving his Retired Volunteers Pass (RVP) which gives him free travel on the Railway and allows him to visit the Works and keep in touch with us.

The following photos are just a few of the many taken of him and with his closest friends at the Works.

 My first photo of Maurice (12th March 2015). Those overalls and high viz look soooo clean!

Helping on the C & W stand at the first of the two special weekends welcoming potential new volunteers (21st March 2015)

With Richard and Scouse and the Toad brakevan refurb in 2022.

The Mogo rebuild with Richard, Stu, and Scouse in 2023..

The Mogo rebuild with Alex, Scouse, Andy and Phil.

Nip up the Station for a quick ice cream.

Been up the station again then? With Scouse and Keith.

The MICA rebuild 2024/25

A quiet lunch with Rose (24th July 2026)

The morning tea break with Rose and Scouse (1st August 2026)

[Photo : Paul E - taken today]  Rose, Phil, Paul (Scouse) and Keith in the RBr. The intention was to meet up with Maurice at Cheltenham RC for a complete round trip and a bacon bap. Sadly the very wet day no doubt prevented Maurice from cycling to the station. However there's still time to get another run in before the end of October, and of course there is the final spell of running after Christmas, when it can be a bacon bap followed by a mince pie or two! Now, just what was making Rose and Phil laugh so much?!

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Now on to the day's activities, which I'm afraid is nearly all SK 25451 again as nearly everyone in was a member of the Painting team.

Well, we can't moan about the rain. It is said that we need a lot of days like this just to get water levels back to normal. Looking at the forecast over the next week or so, there are plenty of wet days predicted.

Robert was mainly up at the station looking after another of the visiting school classes enjoying a WWII Evacuation Experience day despite the rain. These are run in conjuction with Cheltenham Museum and are a complete sell out every year.

So it just Chris in the woodshop producing another set of inner window frames (shown below) for TSO 4867. All the shavings ended up in the Paintshop's sawdust bin.

Derek was doing what repairs he could inside the Shark van. Sorry, no photos, but below what we hope it will eventually look like again (22 October 2015). 

Now it's the 25451 show again.

All the flatting down of the undercoat on the sides of SK 25451 is being done by hand, mainly because the painting has been done so well. Phil and Stu begin at the south end of the Cotswold side.

The lower section on the north half of the coach had already been done, but Roger and I did some further flatting to improve it even more.

The underside of the roof at coach ends can easily be missed and then when painted, large flakes of old loose paint can come away. Ian gives the area a good scraping followed by a good brushing with wire brush, and finally a sanding with 80 paper.

This was then followed by a coat of Red Oxide.

Phil moved to the Malvern side to complete the undercoating on the centre door and the remaining window.

Having completed his area for flatting, Roger moved on to cleaning up the north bogie. As was done for SO 4798, the outer faces of the bogies will end up coated with Black MIO.

David painted both connection doors and then moved round to flatting the bottom section on the Malvern side.

With any areas of unsanded filler sanded down, Ian completed all the remaining undercoating at the south end.

A thoroughly wet day does produce some fantastic steam effects, so please excuse my total indulgence with two of the Black 5 restarts from Winchcombe on the northbound runs.

 The above was an early afternoon run, below was the last train of the day.

Many of us will be sorry to see this engine go. An email advertising an extra Fire & Drive day aboard 45110 was issued on Wednesday and I was terribly tempted having done two a long time ago with "Foremarke Hall".

Monday 19th - Plan B Needed

 I realised recently that while I show our volunteers and other bits of interest, I don't have many photos of them actually at work. So here is Long Tall Steve giving the luggage racks in rake 2 a good clean. Yes, shoes off and standing on the seat to enable a proper job.

Jane, who is also tall, had previously done the edges of other racks.

Next up (if you are ok with this!) John M on a before and after in a toilet.

And cleaning a basin.

While talking to John he mentioned that some carriages have this type of bowl and some have a plastic moulded unit. Another example of times moving on as the sixties came in. He showed me an example and I hadn't consciously noted before.

And then on to mopping in rake 2. Val was once again chief mopper, but this time with help from Kath. They started at the north end and worked all the way through, Val mopping and Kath dragging the bucket forward. Halved the work and the time.

And so to the Plan B needed. Following last weeks test with home window cleaner on the outside windows this week I tried 3 windows on the south end coach. The end coach windows are always the worst. The result was disappointing, unfortunately. So, keep trying. They are 65 years old so have had plenty of time to get ingrained dirt. I also tried silicone spray on a sliding window as something else to improve what we do. That was inconclusive as well. 

14 of us in total so not already mentioned are Chris, David, Greg, Lynn, Nick, Nigel, Peter and Roger C.

Saturday 17th - Another busy Saturday

It certainly was a very busy day with a number of our staff sorting out our long term storage. While all that was progressing we were as busy as usual inside.

It was a lovely bright Autumn day with a distinct chill in the air. 2807 drifts into Winchcombe with the first train of the day to Cheltenham.

John doing a bit of on the spot priming with Red Oxide.

Ken rethreads one of the two heating pipes to be reinstated in the Inspection Saloon.

At the north end of TSO 4867 James continues the gradual rebuild with another new piece of sheet metal being welded in.

[Photo : Gerry]  I forgot to include this photo taken on Thursday. With some time to spare at the end of the day, I sanded and filled some of the areas on the side of 4867 that George had previously dug out.

Alan is also doing some great work with the repairs to the south end of TSO 4406. I will get some further photos of the metalwork repairs to both 4867 and 4406 on Tuesday.

And talking of repairs, three of the painting variety to do in BCK 21092. Firstly the panel repair in the north toilet compartment.

Then two ceiling repairs following water ingress, the above in one of the first class compartments, the other in the south end of the corridor.

Walking back from Rake 3 with Paul in time to watch the very popular 45110 pass with, for C & W staff, the very popular Crimson & Cream Rake 2.

Laura demonstrates how we make one of our small items to a new member joining Upholstery? I didn't want to interrupt to ask. We have been advertising for another member to join the Saturday team.

A lovely display of cushions for sale in our Toddington and Broadway shops. At the bottom of the pile on the right are cushion cases ready for filling.

Alex repaints the two sandwich boards destined respectively for Toddington and Broadway.

With almost all the undercoating complete on the sides of SK 25451, it was time to do some light sanding to key the paint surface. The quality of the paintwork is really good and doesn't need a major flatting as we have done previously. Bob gradually works his way along the main section on the Cotswold side.

Ainsley undercoated one of the two remaining windows still in grey.

With the tower set up at the north end Ian completes the preparation about the connection and even the reachable centre section of the roof.

Later with the tower moved back to the Malvern side, Ainsley uses the long brush to continue the roof painting. This very useful item comprises a brush taped to a pole to enable the awkward parts such as cowl backs to be painted when we aren't using the safety wire system or when the coach is outside having some paint repairs.

Ian has now moved on to cleaning up the south bogie ready for painting on Black MIO.

Ah, this is where they all are! That mournful Stanier hoot had everyone, that could, rush outside to watch 45110 pass with Rake 2. As I mentioned previously, both the engine and rake are very popular. It shouldn't be too long before 25451 replaces CK 16221 at the south end of the rake to give us a full set of Crimson and Cream coaches. Actually the first coaches in our new era with this livery were PWay's Mess coach (now needing a repaint) and the Santa coach in Platform 1 Bay.

Now moving outside where Maurice and Scouse are making the most of the good weather to continue what they could with repainting the Shark on the Malvern side.

Two photos taken by Scouse of the repainting on the Cotswold side with the new and refurbished planking in place.

Another batch of fully varnished inner window framing awaits collection, while another four just freshly coated in preservative by myself await varnishing. The sapele with this batch is dark enough not to require any wood dye.

The weather looks to be closing in at the end of another busy day as D6948 rapidly pulls away with the last train of the day.