Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th - The run up to New Year

The final working week of 2021 and the end of another varied year for the Railway, and while we had our downs, there were some very good ups. Let's hope 2022 is a good year with plenty of ups.

Tuesday 

There were just six of us attending, so a relatively quiet day, but still some great progress. 

Beginning with BSK 34929, we had hoped to get the first top coat on the final door (the infamous Door 6) and surrounding panelling, but the spectre rose once more and the door wouldn't close properly. Inspection from inside the vestibule revealed that the rubber draft strip wasn't flexing enough and this prevented complete closure. We need the line tapes to go on before top coating, but there's no point in putting this on if the door needs further work as the tape itself will be a problem with closure.

There is still an amount of work left to do with the coach, but it does still feel as though we are on the final run home, especially seeing Alex adding the final bit of signwriting. 34929 will be the first of our coaches for a very long time to go out completely free of transfers, other than the GWR roundel. Even the stars on the sole bar indicating the position of the vacuum cylinder drawstrings have been painted on.

While we couldn't progress Door 6, the skirting in the centre vestibule needed a repaint, so Richard set about taping this up before adding another coat of gloss black.

Phil took on a number of jobs, in particular cleaning up the door droplights. With almost all of them left open, it's very much a case of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. However with a window scraper and very fine wire wool, they were much improved. 

With the droplights cleaned the outside of the top bars are painted in gloss black. This looks very smart with the door handle and stops also in black. Another job done by Phil was cleaning out the window slider troughs - easy to get missed, it's the little jobs like this than really finish off the overall refurb.

Regular readers will know how I love to see numerous coats of varnish applied to the internal woodwork. Alex applied another coat throughout the whole of the disabled vestibule and adjacent corridor as far as the guards door.

The results speak for the themselves. An excellent job. There is more that can be done continuing down the corridor, and there are door backs that have yet to be varnished, while at least another two could benefit from one more coat. I spent some time snagging the north end Cotswold side door and its frame, tidying up the paintwork where needed.

Bob took on an important job on TSO 4763, currently on the Barn jack road. He had noticed that some of the bases of the windows had lost their sealant, allowing wet to penetrate. So fresh sealant was applied and should prevent any further dampness. He also continued with the repainting of the guards corridor and disabled area in BSO 9000 in the yard.

Bob's final job of the day was applying the first coat of varnish to more bits for TK 24006. Some of the parts in the foregound are actually spares that have been retrieved from one of our external stores, where the originals from 24006 are either missing or damaged.

 Job done, including another of the large veneer panels from 24006.

 

Earlier on owner Dave is busy sanding clean one of the window frame bases for a toilet compartment in 24006. This may have been one of the spares.

During the evening I emailed Ainsley, Robert and Steve about 34929 and the Door 6 problem

Wednesday

My email about Door 6 evoked a response from Robert early on Wednesday to say he was already in and would try and sort it out. It would be great if this could be done as we would only have lost a day with respect to this final bit of the main painting.

An early evening email from Ainsley conveyed the good news: -

Dave,

Robert and myself worked on the door today and despite a few problems we are satisfied that it closes okay, and that the restraining straps are properly in place. The hinge side door seal has been repositioned and we reattached the rubber seal at the bottom. Also did some sanding of areas that seemed to be rubbing. As far as I can see all is well. Unfortunately we did have to damage some of the paintwork, sorry.

Robert and I are intending to come in Saturday, New Years Day. You are free to join us if you like.

Regards

Ainsley

This was great news and means we can now get on with final painting. No problem about the damaged paintwork on the door and frame, especially as it's only undercoat. Well done both for getting it all sorted out.

There were six staff in during the day.

Thursday

 A busier day with more of us in. Very wet and gloomy outside with the distant escarpment fading in the drizzle. All the wet makes the coaches gleam nicely!

Beginning with 34929 and Door 6. I spent some time undercoating the parts that needed repainting, followed by some further sanding of the back panelling. The next job was to get the line tapes in place.

With undercoat drying, top coating would have to wait until next time, but at least the back of the door could have its first coat of varnish and now looks a lot better! Note the new leather straps, now detached to allow the door to be fully opened.

Further work on board 34929 involved some repainting in the guards compartment. Bob S. added another coat of red to the brake handle and ratchet base, further gloss black to the brake and seat columns, and more of the Executive Light Grey to the desk and other top surfaces.

 

The missing guards seat was found by Kevin, stored in one of our outside coaches. It had been nicely re-covered before being put away. All that remains to be done in the compartment is attached the metal brackets that will secure the "Not To Be Moved" flag.

On to TK 24006, Dave spent some time trying to find a less "modern" toilet compartment window to replace the one installed by BR. He thought he had also found some suitable glass but alas it is too small. We may have to get some made.

Later on Dave brought in the two access doors from the north vestibule of 24006 and gave them both a good sanding down. Sometimes it is difficult to know how far to go with sanding veneer - it is obviously nice to remove as many marks and patches of grime as possible, while being aware that over-sanding can destroy the veneer covering. I later gave both an initial coat of varnish and the results were satisfactory.

Phil was busy with some of 24006's toilet compartment bits, in this case cleaning up filler pipes for the cisterns.

He later called me over to take a photo of one of the cisterns. It is very much larger that its more modern standard Mk 1 replacement.

On the Paintshop trestles, with the exception of two intruders that have suddenly appeared, the various light fittings from 24006 that were cleaned up by Phil are now fully painted up and ready for refitting. In the background are the two access doors with their first coat of varnish.

While Dave was busy with his coach, Clive was busy in his. The inside refurbishment of CK 16221 is moving on steadily. Much of the existing veneer panelling needs careful sanding.

Two of the aluminium doors from 16221 now complete with their new wood inserts for attaching the various parts.

An earlier job done by Bob was making a new support base for storing vacuum cylinders.

An original one he used as a template which is attached to our storage cupboard for vacuum cylinder parts.

Ken was making various parts used to attach the toilet waste pipes to the underside of the coaches.

One of our two Workshop storage areas has become a bit of a dumping ground, which Kevin is now busy sorting out, if necessary transferring some lesser used parts to outside storage.

Steve was having a grand sort out of the Woodwork shop, everything from the many boxes of screws (including those from the kind donation that was recently reported) to wood offcuts. The quiet period between Christmas and New Year is ideal for getting this essential job done.

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So, the end of another year rapidly approaches. Thank you again for taking interest in our work and for all your kind comments. Here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year.