Wednesday 28th / Thursday 29th - Metal and doors

A very busy Thursday with the metal working team very much present, including Nick our usual Wednesday blogger who swapped days this week. As such I took a selection of photos of likely progress the day before.

Wednesday

The seating in our new disabled compartment in BSK 34929 looks to be finished, and what a great job overall.

 In the first compartment of 34929 one of the seat backs now secured in place.

In the second compartment another seat back awaits fitting. Always very cumbersome and difficult to move about, I have often thought that these would have been put in via the windows when the coaches were originally constructed.

An interesting construct to cover the locking mechanism on the backs of the right hand of the two sets of double doors to the vestibule leading into the disabled compartment.

 On Wednesday the Mink A van shell was gritblasted and primed by our regular contractor.

The roof end sections, door bolts and other parts that had previously been removed, cleaned up and coated in oxide.

Thursday

Keeping on the progress with the Mink A van, the end plates which support the end planking had seriously corroded and needed replacing. Nick set about removing these at both ends.

 (photo: Nick)

The removal job completed at the south end.

In the meantime Bob was fabricating the replacement sections in the Workshop and here is trying two of them (the base and riser) for fit.

(photo: Nick)

The completed south end with all the new sections now welded in place by Nick..

Bob completes the job with a coating of red oxide.

(photo: Nick)

Another job for Nick and the gang was straightening a tie bar from one of the two bogies brought into the Barn last week.

Yet another job for the gang was fabricating a new solid step for our main container. Gerry coats the metal in red oxide.

(photo: Nick)

The next job was attaching the pre-cut section of chequer plate.

Job done. That's better!

Another "that's better!" was certainly deserved for the Door Team, with the recent influx of new members bringing the team very much back up to strength. There's a lot of learning to do, but the new members are very keen and seem to be settling in well.

Under Trevor's guidance Des, having cleaned up the lazy tongs for this door from BSK 34929, now proceeds to fix them in place. 

Returning a little later to find Ainsley was also working on the door, attaching the inner parts of the window framing.
 

Introducing Steve B. the newest member of the team, who has a lot of experience of door locks so will be a very useful addition. He won't be able to attend very regularly but will be very welcome when he can come in.

Des is now on the other door under refurbishment and assisted by Rod. In the background is Craig, former Head of the team, who is very kindly coming in to help with the handover and general training.

 Another visit later in the afternoon with more progress on the second door.

Trevor and Ainsley have made great progress with the first door (Door 9 off 34929). I can see this door being fitted to the coach soon.

In both the toilet compartments in CK 16221 Derek was fitting lower edge pieces and a right fiddle these were with lots of measuring and careful cutting to obtain a good tight fit.

The sections of wood for the guards compartment in BG 41049, having been top coated, have been screwed in place by Alan. The new coathooks are now being added. 

I wish we had time to sort out that ceiling, but the BG has to go out next week to be replaced by one of the units from the DMU which requires some metalwork repairs.

Alan also sorted out the loose internal grab rail just inside the guards door.

(photo: Nick)

Finally my own efforts. Following a major vacuuming session of the Malvern side of the roof, where the accumulated dust was the worst, a relaxing hour or so overpainting the areas of window sealant previously applied to the Cotswold side. There is more to do on the  Malvern side, which will be done on Saturday.

Tuesday 27th - Concentration

The day started off fairly quietly, but as the gang gradually appeared the job allocations around BG 81049 soon had the project steadily heading towards the finale. The plan is to shunt the coach out on Thursday 6th May, so at the time of publishing this report we have just 3 days left to complete everything planned.

Stu and Maurice kicked off the work with the taping up of the lower and upper lines respectively on the Malvern side. The yellow had been completed on Saturday, so just the black to add to finish the lining out.

Maurice now applies black gloss to the upper line. Stu had already done his at this end - just the tape to remove to reveal a crisp black and yellow line.

 On the Cotswold side Richard began cleaning up the windows.

 

Phil tidied up the strip of wooden floor behind the chequer plate at the south end with some filler, after which this was painted.

Having had a good hard look at the BG on Saturday we decided that all the underframe fittings on this side would greatly improve the overall appearance of the coach if cleaned up and repainted. Roger has made a good start with the Underframe Gloss Black.

A quick errand to our Admin HQ to pick up a package and then on return into Upholstery to find Dave in the process of adding a stiff base to this chair and placing cup washers on the various drilled holes.

Back to the Barn and Stu, having completed his lining out and all tape removed, began black glossing the various handles, door stops, grab rails, etc.

Roger was doing a very professional job on the Cotswold side with all the underframe fittings. The cover to the gas bottle cabinet was on top of the nearby trestle (I had earlier cleaned this up ready for painting).

The only regular opener on the BG is the Cotswold side guards door so Richard is completing the bits of lining out on the edges of the door and door frame. The back of that door could do with a repaint as could much of the inside, but unfortunately we haven't enough time for what would be a considerable project in its own right.

The first return trip of the day comes past the Works with cheery waves from the crew and passengers.

With his lining out now completed, Maurice has joined Stu with the black glossing of the various furnishings.

It's often only when the overall job is nearing completion and the pressure eases that certain things become more obvious. Some of the windows need some extra sealant, so Richard is going round applying this where necessary. These bits will be painted up on Thursday.

In the background Roger is now painting the cover for the gas bottle cabinet. 

Kevin was back in and completed a number of very useful jobs, one of which was repairing the step into our main container.

Phil transferred to the new battery box in the Paintshop, adding the relevant undercoats - white to the inside and dark grey to the exterior. The wood base sections for the new coathooks in 81049's guards compartment were also painted in Cream gloss.

Apologies to Dave, Robert and Phil, the SK 24006 gang, as the promised photo wasn't taken. They are making considerable progress with the steady removal of the seating into storage.

A final look at BG 81049 before closing up for the day.

Monday 26th - Mob Handed!

 A stunning turn out of 12 for Carriage Cleaning, including new member Peter. Only snag was due to track maintenance work there were only 6 carriages to do! But it did give us chance to wash the Cotswold side of rake 1. Next week is Bank Holiday so trains are running (got your tickets yet?) but no Carriage Cleaning.

Saturday 24th - A Badelynge of Bloggers

A very bright and sunny day, perfect weather for watching the trains go by. Despite the fact we had 3 whole bloggers in today (giving me a poor excuse to use the above collective noun!), We were all focused on our own activities, so apologies to those missed out. Nick and I along with Phil, and Mark from the steam department spent the morning doing some initial visual inspections on a number of wagons in the yard. So the first picture wasn't until morning tea break time, while we were still walking round the sidings, we got the feeling we were being watched...

A few words may have been hollered back and forth! :-)

But this is what we were waiting for, we must watch the trains go by:

Foremarke Hall was out today, along with 4270.

Our little inspection team for today relaxing in the sun after we'd done our rounds - we wouldn't want to work too hard. Still early days on this front but watch this space.

After lunch and some more talking, we thought we might do some work.

Phil joined John and Jenny in BSK 34929 to help fit the latest luggage rack:

Chris was making more wood shavings:

Still not quite there yet, lots of patience required!

New starter Rob J (welcome!) fitted the draught excluder to the North Malvern side door. 

In the workshop George took a filling and sanding shift on CK 16221, if we all take it in turns it's not so bad!

As is often the case the the lower sides get more of the attention first as its easier to reach, but passengers on the platform will see the upper sides more.

Meanwhile Ainsley was busy grinding away on more door bits to give a better fit:

Out in the barn, the end is in sight on the P'way BG, Pam had a crack at some lining out on the Malvern side:

Later on I joined her and between us we completed all the yellow lining by the end of play.

On the Cotswold side Dave was finishing off blacking handles, a couple of last bits of lining and other general snagging jobs:

Here's the Cotswold side pretty much finished now, apart from numbering and lettering:

Looks rather smart doesn't it? Keeping us company were Ian and Andy (after joining us from a morning guard shift) doing a spot of shunting.

Andy picked up a temporary coupling from the rack:

A coach went out, and some accommodation bogies were collected from out in the yard:

And brought into the jack road:

The now rather skeletal Mink A was dragged a bit further away from the barn ready for shot-blasting on Wednesday:

And finally, Ian decided to treat the 03 to a jetwash, as it had got rather muddy:

I'd forgotten I painted those wheels white!!