Tuesday 11th - Just about there and some very sad news

We had quite a good number in for a Tuesday, which included Richards I and II, two of our electricians who were in to do a special job.

It's all go now to get the last few bits done on BSK 34929 which leaves the Paintshop this coming Saturday. The hand rails to the left of the guards door are put back on and touched up with black gloss.

Richard noticed some of the Cotswold windows still had some paint that needed removing when we were looking round the new disabled compartment.

Maurice completes the final bit of lining out on Door 6 and surrounding area.

Lining out completed and tape removed, the next job is to refit the righthand side hand rails. However this side of the guards door had some new metal panelling and consequently new inset bolts, and as such the handrails no longer fit. So a little widening of one of the holes is all that's needed on the lower short piece.

Not so with the larger handrail, so a forage around in our Workshop storage area located two more, albeit somewhat rusty, but both fit. A good sand down of one of them, a coat of red oxide and then black gloss, and that will be that job completed.

Earlier last week Richard noticed some flaking paint on the side of the roof and had treated the patches with some fresh etch primer. It just remained to coat these in Flint Grey.

Other jobs to prepare the coach involved a good wipe down at each end, the steps and anywhere else where dust has collected. Just a final few minor bits to do Thursday and we are done. 34929 will then go into the Barn on Saturday and up on to the jacks. The north end bogie will be wheeled out to enable the north end compartment to have its heating units connected up. Then in turn the seating and table will be reinstated. An FTR exam should see the 34929's refurbishment completed and the coach will join the Maroon rake and replace BSK 35308.

On the jack road now is RBr 1672 which needs some underfloor welding repairs. To enable Nick to have access one of the battery boxes needs removing.

While Richard II is working on the near one, in the background Richard I is clearing out the second.

A view of the one box, completely stripped down and leaving just the basic metal frame and various electric cables.

Another important job today is the collection of the bogies that had been underneath BCK 21092.

These will be taken to St Philips Marsh, Bristol to have the tyres reprofiled.

One of the (very) many tidy up and repair jobs identified in our Condition Survey at the end of November is to repaint the guards corridor and disabled compartment in BSO 9000. Bob took me over to show the result and whether we needed to do anymore as he had painted just the lower areas. I think he has done a great job and there is very little more required. The guards compartment itself will be the next area for repainting.

Among the repair jobs on the list are the various areas of water damage to the veneer panelling on the backs of some of the doors and in the vestibules, one of the latter where condensation has collected behind a permanently open sliding end door.

The above example will require replacement of the panel as the veneer is breaking away, but in reality this is really the only way of sorting out damaged veneer. Sanding down never removes all the old varnish, and can even go through the veneer itself, and as such subsequent re-staining is only partially successful. Even several fresh coats of varnish still results in a messy appearance.

Steve had done his own subsequent walk through the coaches in our Third Rake siding and already has the job in hand with some freshly made door panels ready for fitting.

With BCK 21092 in the Barn for a short period we have the chance to do some minor bodywork repairs. Bob removes some patches of flaking roof paint ready for fresh grey etch primer, and, if there is time, Flint Grey top coat.

Maurice lightly sands a small rust patch ready for a coat of red oxide. This will be filled and repainted on Thursday.

Ainsley cleans up the drainage bar from the base of one of the doors for CK 16221.

New plastic pipe needs to be inserted into the base of this door for 16221, but first some grinding down of the aluminium shell will be rquired before this will fit.

The necessary window repairs are well in hand as Tony fits a new quarterlight on the Malvern side of 16221. First of all the rubber strip.

Then the pane itself after the mastic has been added.

The long job of careful sanding of the veneer panelling inside 16221 continues, this time with Alan taking a turn.

The very heavy south end corridor slider from 16221 has been extracted from the Workshop storage area and is being sanded by Roger. Just handsanding as this is the veneer side.

Later in the day, the door has been turned and Roger now pad sands the metal back to remove the old paint. The north end slider is in the Paintshop against the Malvern side wall, but a quick check revealed that it's clean up has yet to be started. In the background Tony is sanding down a door from one of the toilet compartments.

In the Paintshop Keith has a busy varnishing day with more panel strips from 16221 having second coatings. Further items, including one of the toilet compartment doors, have already been done.

Cue John Cleese sitting at a desk, "And now for something completely different". During the morning Russ was happily doing a private job which involves the initial clean up of a model loco from his son's garden. It is non-working with flangeless wheels, but nevertheless will look good when repainted.

*************************************

Malcolm Dickson

Last Saturday evening (8th) we received an email with the very sad news that Malcolm had passed away. He had retired from volunteering during June 2021.

With a background in mechanical engineering, Malcolm had been a volunteer since 1995, receiving his 25 year certificate during 2020. When asked why he joined C&W, his response was that he had finished building his kit car. In his time on the Railway he has also been a signalman, a steward on the Race Trains and cream tea/fish and chip specials, a Santa helper, special events crossing monitor and car park attendant, and was a member of the Meet & Greet Team, a role he particularly enjoyed. We often saw him waving from the train, smartly dressed in jacket, collar and tie, while looking after another visiting party. 

In his time with us he did both metalworking and painting, and in the latter role was synonymous with carriage roof painting. In our regular blog postings there was inevitably a photo captioned "Malcolm on the roof".  He was also happy doing the less glamourous coach painting - the buffer area, sole bar and below that.

Always with a cheery disposition, he was a very kind-hearted and interesting person. He is very much missed.