The Lighter Side of Carriage & Wagon

As a regular contributor to the original C&W blog that Peter Bennett set up back in 2011, and now the new one set up by Alex, I have accumulated nearly 14500 photos. Over the past 9 years it is inevitable that light hearted moments have crept in. 

The following are a selection, which also includes a few from other members of C&W. Some have been published before and, while most are amusing, some always make me laugh out loud.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have - something to cheer us up in these worrying times.

 

We have to start with Christmas of course and three of our members participating in past Santa Seasons. Bob's crazy Santa's trousers hat was brilliant. Pam was in the Paintshop and trying on her snowman costume for the first time with us helping out. Ron changed his orange overalls to become Santa.

We have been flooded several times, particularly because we are the lowest place in the yard. Luckily there was no lasting damage. The sight of Bob casually strolling through the Workshop flood did however bring a smile. (Nov 2012)

 

Yes, the 03 really was painted pink. It was done by the owner Chris B. in honour of Silvie, who used to be one of the drivers. On our old mess room wall was a cartoon of a pink 03 with Silvie looking out of the cab. She was invited back and was almost in tears when she saw it. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of her in the cab. As you can imagine, our travelling public were somewhat bemused as they passed by. Not long after it was nicely repainted in its original livery. (April 2010)

We love Cheryl's cartoons. The "tan" refers to the colour used for the corridor connection doors. The birthday boy was me.

"Are Upholstery using those 12 inch needles again?!"

"No, sleeping bags aren't provided!"

"You missed Henley chaps - the regatta was last week"

 "I thought we restored coaches, not garden sheds. Still we could do with some spare doors for our MK 1s".

"Reckon they overdid the booze in those mince pies!"

Congratulating Alex on passing all his A-levels. Alex was TTI on the train and happily grinning back. So were all the passengers!

"What?!   Chocolate and Cream top coat?!   And fully lined out?!"

 "It's OK Rex - you can come out now!"

"Why do I always get the heavy end?!"

"That's it chaps - vertical painting"

"Aren't those tables meant for Broadway?!"

"He never did?"  "Yes, honest"  "No, he couldn't have"  "Yeah, he did"  "Really?"  "Yes"  "Naaaah"
 

"What?! You want them all painted?!"

 "Yes, Bertie will help when the 03 is being serviced" 

The last outing of Clive's famous overalls. Rumour has it that he bought them from Noah!

 "Yes, I know you can do lots of things with dominos - don't even think about it !!!"

"D'you reckon Broadway would notice if we kept this?"

"It's safe to come out now Rog"

Phil doing a "Wot no"

"You think you've vacuumed up what?!"

"Er, Grenville - I think shoe polish is more traditional"

"I did tell him Ron about eating too many mince pies"

"Now do I get my new dress or not?"

"All together now - the hills are alive with the sound of ......."

"Well, this made our passengers look twice".

"I declare our temporary mess room open!"

And we did! Complete with copper capped chimney and brass horns as it was built in Swindon and based at Gloucester Horton Road (85B). (July 2018)

"One slice or two?" "Butter?" "Jam too?"

We very much miss Ria, Eddie's lovely black Labrador. She knew how to get more than her daily ration of doggie biscuits as she knew we all loved her.

"Phil up to his usual tricks again?!" 

"Hey, where's the ball gone?!"

Happy memories of the old Workshop and Phil ringing the tea bell with one of his "90 mph" spins. It used to frighten the life out of us at times!

I've kept the best one til last.

Chris T.'s experience of carriage doors makes him a much valued member of that team, especially as his apprenticeship was done at Swindon. A few years ago Chris attended an apprentices reunion that was held in the famous STEAM Museum.  

In his own words, the beer flowed and ........................

 

Of course with apologies to I.K.B.

I hope you enjoyed this selection of the lighter moments enjoyed by our staff in Carriage and Wagon. There were some photos that I couldn't find such as where Grenville had spray painted his boots and left his footmarks in a patch of black paint on the Barn floor. With so many photos to look through I will have no doubt missed many other humerous moments. Maybe when I get enough I will publish a second run.

Here's hoping everyone has been able to have a good Christmas. 

Happy New Year!   Let's all hope 2021 proves to be a better one.