Saturday 24th - A good all round day

A good day with a fair number of us attending.

Despite the thundery rain forecast, the weather stayed dry and enabled Paul and Dennis to continue their work with the 3rd Rake coaches without getting soaked getting across the yard.

As was done with our previously redundant main rake coaches where the corridors are on the Malvern sides, Dennis added a coat of Windolene to the windows to keep the sun off our upholstery and help prevent fading.

One of the compartments inside FK 13337 "Gillian", the main window now opaque.

Checking the toilet tanks

The inevitable floor cleaning with Paul doing the job.

The smart looking compartment door labels put on for the seat allocations during the running of the Covid rakes will be retained, but all the window labelling is being removed.

It is inevitable that with our reformed main rakes we will have some initial problems to sort out. Earlier in the week our on-train catering staff had reported a number of minor issues which either have been, or will be, sorted out. For the Chocolate & Cream rake, the engine crews were reporting a vacuum leak as they were continually having to make adjustments. John and Andy are enjoying a late lunch having spent the morning with the train. One of the vacuum cylinders on FO 3132 "Mary" was blanked off as it appeared suspect. On the return journey there appeared to be some improvement but the problem hasn't completely disappeared. Later in the day Ian and John went down to Cheltenham and back on the last train, but at the moment the issue remains, although reduced.

Beginning the tour of the Works with Upholstery, Jenny has laid out all the prepared parts of replacement moquette for two of the seats in TSO 5042 - the main covering, with side panels, head and arm rests. I meant to visit the coach to check progress, but I believe they are about halfway through the refurbishment now.

Moving to the Paintshop and progress with BSK (or maybe we should say BSOK with its additional open compartment) 34929. The new disabled vestibule progresses well with Steve adding the minor bits of panelling and more beading above the Malvern side double doors. All that new wood already looks lovely and the final coats of varnish when added will really make it glow. Our Woodwork team have made a really superb job of both this and the new disabled compartment.

Chris was back on the Cotswold side north doorway putting on the heavy metal reinforcing plate for the door lock behind the new pillar.

The lock back in place and another good job done.

Later on I was able to catch Chris returning to his work preparing one of the pillars for the Cotswold side guards door.

While in the Doors/Woodwork shop, a photo of the progress on Door 10 by the team who have now reverted to their Wednesday working. It all looks to be coming on very well.

A warm welcome to Dave E. who has joined C&W as a member of the Woodwork team. Dave is fitting the remaining items in the refurbished toilet compartment. He is already a member of the Railway's important PAT testing team.

Ian was showing two further new volunteers around the Works, who will also be joining us soon.

Robert was back on capping strips. Some brand new lengths have been found in our supply and have replaced some of the old worn sections of strip that had originally been put on.

Pam was back in her element varnishing yet more compartment door pillars and bits of panelling from SK 24006. A large pile of beading from the coach awaits in the Workshop ready for sanding clean, and by the end of the day, several strips from this had already been prepared and brought through for her. Everything has at least two coats of varnish, and when done is taken back to the coach and stored. A third or fourth coat will be applied when the various items are eventually put back in place.

In 24006 itself the owners were busy preparing and varnishing more of the panelling, Robert in the south vestibule ...................

............... and Dave in one of the south end compartments.

Quite a number of our G clamps have suffered with constant use and as such John S. was busy on the lathe making new ends for the screws.

One of the repaired clamps.

Ian was busy cleaning up the working parts of a vacuum cylinder.

Just across the Workshop, the filling and sanding was continuing on the Malvern side of CK 16221, with Phil ...............

........... and George both very busy. This side of the coach has faired much better with respect to bodywork repairs and is not taking as long to complete.

There has been excellent progress with the rebuild of the Mink A van. The new pre-treated planking is being gradually primed and is now beginning to go on. This particular piece is being modified by Richard to cater for the difference in the original base angle iron on the side with the repaired end sections.