Tuesday 25th - The pace hots up

Today it was almost all concentration on TSO 5042 and the Mink A van. With the former, time is of the essence with about 5 weeks left before we restart services on 5th March, so we have to keep the pace up.

As always on a Tuesday Stu and Maurice were in early and, after that early cuppa, were soon busy. We needed to get the rest of the Cotswold side gutter and panel sanded, so Stu got going on that and soon had the job done 

The next job was to wipe the whole side over with thinners. With that done he taped up the lower line.

Some of the side of the roof still needed some scraping. It's very difficult trying to remove all the old bitumen put on by BR. If we had the time we would power brush the whole roof back to bare metal and get rid of it once and for all. It would be a long job and one to do with a full refurb.

With the extra scraping completed, time to brush out the gutter. With that job done I was back with the Henry to vac the floor. Having given the Paintshop a massive clean up last week, I intend to get back to keeping this up on a regular basis as was done pre-Pandemic.

Stu then taped up the top line and joy-oh-joy began undercoating the gutter and top panel. At last the repainting has begun. 

On the Malvern side Richard was doing a number of filling jobs in the doorways, the first at the north end.

With the centre doorway, the outer part of the wood liner had broken off just under the striker plate. The plate itself was fine and secure, but neither of us were happy about the bit below it. So Richard built this back up, initially using the very hard fibre paste (or as we call it, "bridging filler"). The polythene pieces (formerly the covers from food packaging) help to create a smooth and flat surface to the fibre paste, and are easily removed when the paste is dry (this was another excellent invention by Rod when he was in the Painting Team). Richard then topped up with ordinary filler and overall made a very good job of it. The rubber door seal, which was loose at this point, can now be resecured.

Roger worked on the south end, basically giving the whole area a good sanding and adding filler where needed. The connection rain cover will need a bit of patching, but we can use some off-cuts of canvas and bitumastic paint to resolve that. 

There was a projecting screw which needed removing with the angle grinder. Still more work on this end yet with the sliding door and connection to clean up and repaint.

 Bob continued his roof cleaning up along the Malvern side.

Maurice was back up on the roof, patch painting the upper section with the grey etch primer where needed. I think we are just about done now with the roof preparation and can begin undercoating it.

I fill our rag box on the paint table, but it's not long before it all disappears. So a hurried session with the scissors and some old sheets and towel to get the box refilled. Although primarily for painting, the rag appears all over the Works.

Ainsley, Head of the Door Team, was also in as there is a lot of maintenance to do. A new top back panel on this door is being checked for fit. All was well, so the panel was taken back to the Paintshop for varnishing. That lower panel could do with replacing - as stated in a former posting, trying to bring back water stained veneer with sanding down, wood dye and fresh varnish is never very successful.

While at the south end of the rake, a quick look at the embankment repair work being undertaken in the tunnel cutting. Note the rusty rails with no regular service to keep them shiny.

On to other work and Keith is busy priming the new cleaning materials cupboard which will be fitted within the alcove inside the disabled compartment in BSO 9000.

It was then back to varnishing, the priority being the new door back panels which will replace damaged ones in 5042, and the panel Ainsley had been trial fitting earlier on.

 Next the chair from RBr 1675 and the final coat of varnish. It has come up very well.

Just before going home I carefully (the varnish was still tacky) took the chair to Upholstery and placed it next to the one they are currently stripping down.

Good progress was being made with the Mink A van. Paul primes the second set of doors.