Thursday 2nd - Another one on the way

 It was a particularly busy day with the next coach to depart being made ready.

With Neil on the 03 and Richard (our Chairman and former Head of C&W) discussing the forthcoming shunt, the first move was to couple up to the Queen Mary brake van and then pick up RMB 1808 from the bottom of the yard.

The Queen Mary will be coming into the Barn when the Dogfish ballast wagons are moved out and into the siding by the Barn.

 With SK 25646 "Tina" up on the jacks the bogies were wheeled out.

Now coupled to the 03 the bogies are removed to another siding.

The replacement bogies are moved in and carefully positioned. Ken shines a light on to the centre pin and the north end bogie, and keeps a watch as the coach is slowly lowered.

With the replacement bogies in place the SK is taken back out and placed on the Barn siding. It is now ready to be taken to Toddington for collection and then on to its new home as a static "Gin Bar" in Lyme Regis.

 With the original bogies from "Tina" now in the Barn, John makes his initial inspection.

(Photo: Gerry)

While all the above was going on, Nick was back on the Dogfish ballast wagon repairs on what will be his last day with this job. Most of the repairs today were on the hopper doors, this one on the Malvern side.

Now on the Cotswold side and nearing the end of long stretch of repair on this particular door.

 (Photo: Nick)

The completed repair.

 Gerry cleans up another area ready for the patch repair on the hopper of 993061.

Gerry adds one of the four new steps where needed.

Another job awaiting Nick's attention will be welding on French key brackets in the corridor connection at both ends of BSK 34929. New ones may have to be made. This example was photographed on FK 13337 "Gillian" in the 3rd Rake.

With the Autumn Diesel Gala just 3 weeks away (25th/26th September), preparations within the 3rd Rake continue. The Windolene shading is steadily being removed from where it had been applied to help prevent fading on the upholstery where seating is on the Cotswold side of the coaches. Paul is working in FK 13337 "Gillian".

With the water supply now back on in the yard, Dennis is filling the toilet tanks.

Time to enjoy southbound P&O with the Maroon rake slowing for the station stop. The Class 37 was on the Chocolate & Cream rake for the whole day, Dinmore Manor having failed that morning. I don't believe it was anything serious.

It was just Jeff and myself working on BSK 34929 today. Jeff continues my work on the Cotswold side north end door (Door 10) and doorway frame, applying more filler where needed. When sanded down and with everything cleaned up, he applied a coating of primer on the bare wood. The top part of the doorway frame and door budget lock still need to be fitted (hopefully on Saturday). The door and surrounding area, that is still in base coat grey, can have the lining out tape applied and then undercoated in Madder. While Jeff was busy here, I worked on the centre passenger door on the Malvern side.

More progress with the Mink A van as Alex undercoats all the new planking that had been primed the day before.

Bob's work in TK 24006 had been planned out by co-owner Dave. The ceiling in the south and centre vestibules, and almost all the corridor could be undercoated (one panel in the corridor is split and will have to be replaced). Following the previous priming, Bob initially lightly sands the panelling.

By the end of the day both vestibules and half the corridor had been done.

 Alex continues his excellent work refurbishing the various station notice boards.

Last little bits on this board. The two were then taken to Toddington.

This large information board, complete with leaflet container, appeared on his return. It was completely sanded down and then a fresh coat of black paint applied. It will take a while but eventually all the stations with have these enhanced boards.