Tuesday 18th - Back to the good old days

Today was very much back to the pre-34929 days with the mass pad sanders buzzing and the can of filler in frequent use. We were back to the quick repaint schedule with just 6 weeks to go before the new season starts, so we have to get a move on.

The coach is of course TSO 5042 on which work began on Saturday after the big shunt.

As is usual on a Tuesday, Stu and Maurice were not long arriving after I had opened up the Works, got the Workshop heater going, and most important, the kettle boiling for that early cuppa.

With that early cup of tea downed, Stu got going on a general sand down at the north end of the Cotswold side.

 While Maurice was soon harnessed up and removing loose paint at the south end of the roof.

 Richard H. arrived and soon got going on the Malvern side.

The two end vestibules have sliding doors to seal off the compartments, but the centre vestibule is open. An early job for me was to cover the compartment entrances with sheets to prevent sanding dust coating the reupholstered seating. The sliding doors have "Please keep closed" notices mounted on the glass panels.

The busy scene on the Cotswold side a little later on with Alex, Russ, Roger, and Stu working hard.

Roger later moved round to the Malvern side to join Richard and, in the background, Phil. By the end of the day the whole of this side down to and including the centre door had been completed.

 

Keith worked on the north end of 5042, initially removing the broken wooden keep for the buffer extender. The bolts were completely rusted in and new ones will be required - a quick request to the Metalwork gang.

Having had a good clean up of the buffer area, a coating of red oxide will provide a good base for the subsequent coatings. Alan had also now appeared and was sanding the edges of the door and inner edges of the door frame, a very important job as we need to keep the paint layer at a sensible level to ensure proper door opening and closure when the new paint is on.

Keith then moved round to prime the rivet line and other areas where bare metal was showing.

With the red oxide now dry Stu moved in with the filler.

Towards the end of the day at the south end of the Cotswold side, all the rivet line filler had been sanded smooth so Alex carefully patch painted it with brown undercoat. It will all of course be fully undercoated when the repair work has been completed, but it's good to see a clean looking panel again.

It was certainly quite a contrast on both sides and the north end after a good day's efforts. We have a long way to go yet, but it was a great start.

In the Workshop it was the turn of CK 16221 to have more effort on its restoration. Dave sands down the wood side of the north end corridor sliding door.

 Next it was back to the corridor for more sanding of the compartment outer walls.

 The contrast between the sanded and unsanded wall is quite stark.

Cleaned up components for securing battery box doors with a coating of oxide. 

Two of the newly built doors for the Mink A van have been primed.
 

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Before ending this posting a couple of things.

Firstly we were very heartened by the many kind compliments received when photos of BSK 34929 were posted on social media. Thank you from us all at C&W.

Referring back to "2021 Statistics For Carriage & Wagon" and the highest read postings since we started this blog in September 2020. At 1800 on 19th January, when this current post was published, "2021 Round Up" had achieved 889 visits, while "Shunting On Ice" had zoomed past that with 917 visits and was now the second most read posting. Would it still continue to climb? There's something to be said about choosing a good title!