Thursday 8th - Better late than not at all

Hopefully what will now be a regular Thursday report, but off to a late start because somebody left their camera at the Works at the end of the day, hence having to write this up nearly two days late!

With such regular reporting, now 6 days a week, sometimes the order will go a bit awry - if you are new to the blog, simply scroll down if you think you have missed a day, and certainly do this if you haven't yet looked at the excellent Thursday/Friday report from Graham Gould and the Maintenance Team

Firstly many thanks to Bob Mac who very kindly popped up to Toddington and did what he could to make the quick repair to one of the roof leaks mentioned by our Maintenance team. The thick fibreglass coating is grey Flexacryl, an excellent sealant that can even be painted on in wet conditions, not that we would wish to do that except in emergency.

 

Now back to the Works.

In the Workshop Dave Hancox is sanding down more of the metal heating covers from the corridor in CK 16221. We were fairly sure that these will be painted with Silver Hammerite, but to be certain, two days later he and I (masked and gelled up) quickly checked the covers in CK 16195 when the train pulled into Winchcombe Station, and yes, they are silver.

 

 

At the end of the Barn, Ian is cleaning up a brake hanger from 16221's bogie which is undergoing refurbishment in the Workshop. We are now doing quite a considerable amount of work on our bogies undergoing refurbishment.

 

 

 

Phil is busy cleaning up a heating control valve. This is held in place on the small plank in the vice.

Cleaned control valves re-seated at the ends of the heaters from 16221.

 

 

 

 

Moving across the Workshop and into BSK 34929 to find Alan wrestling with a length of piping which has been inserted into one of the window frame drainage holes. This will ensure that any internal window condensation correctly exits the body side. If not done, serious  damage to both the bodyside and internal panelling would occur.

 

 

Meanwhile outside and below the window, Tony is attempting to guide the piping through the body side.

 

 

Back to the Paintshop and RMB 1808. 

Bob Keyte is applying the second top coat to the upper brown section on the Malvern side. He later moved on to the cream panelling, again painting the second top coat.

 

 

Having cleaned off the rust at the north end connection back plate, Jeff applies red oxide.

 

Almost the whole of the north end was then painted with Gloss Black. 

 

 

 

 

The Door Team are now mainly working on Thursdays. Trevor is carefully measuring to ensure that the lock is fitted in the correct position. I meant to ask if this was one of the two missing doors for the Malvern side of 1808, presumably the centre one.

 

 

Craig, Head of our Door Team, was trying to locate all the hinge brackets for the two doors and bodyside. Just to make sure that nothing had been accidentally thrown away when the corroded metal had been cut away from the doorways, I offered to delve into the scrap metal bin. I later checked the badly corroded door skin that had been thrown into the metal skip. Thankfully nothing was found. 

(photo taken by Ian Stroud)

 

 

 

 

Back to the Paintshop with Bob well into cream panel top coating.

In case you are wondering about those sheets of foolscap stuck on the windows, these are the progress sheets developed by Rod Wells quite a few years ago. We should make more use of them because they explain very clearly what has been completed and what remains to be done, essential for those who are following on a few days later.

 

 

 

Finally, as mentioned in the previous report from our Maintenance Team,  Richard Budd is checking the gel battery on the Cotswold side of RMB 1876, which is currently on the jack road in the Barn to resolve a steam leak and other minor repairs.