Thursday 21st - Cooling down

A very varied day with staff busy inside and out. Thankfully the weather had calmed down and it was a lot cooler outside, though residual heat made the Works and coach interiors still somewhat oppresive.

The Bubblecar has been moved across the yard and has the Baguley-Drewry railcar for company. It is now in an excellent position for viewing from the passing trains at the forthcoming Diesel Gala.

The roof stripping on the "Cheltenham High Street" Toad van is just about complete and Richard is now cleaning up the metal frame.

Three of the wooden roof beams which I imagine will be replaced with new ones.

With the gala imminent our Friday Maintenance Team have identified a number of jobs for us to get done on the 3rd Rake and the coaches that will go towards the make-up of the 4th Rake. One for the Painting Team is to repair the paintwork on three compartment ceilings in SK 24949. The above shows the worst of the three with the loose paint scraped off.

Seats well covered. A quick brush round and then on with the undercoat.

Much later in the day, with the undercoat dry, Jeff and Richard were able to add the top coat. Bob had a quick check of the roof but could see no evidence of leakage, and certainly some cowl resealing was done last year, so we are puzzled why the paint peeled away from the ceilings. 24949 could really do with the full refurb but will have to wait its turn in the queue.

Another repair job ready for the Gala. .A new footboard for FK 13337 "Gillian", undercoated and awaiting a coat of gloss black. In the background the newly painted scotches have just been drilled and given a loop of string.

Not so much a 3rd Rake repair, but part of the recent upgrade in RMB 1808. Richard B. is installing an inverter in relation to the new chiller cabinet.

In between to the two bouts of paint repairs in 24949, Jeff and Richard were back on CK 16221's Cotswold side doorways. The day before David had had a good go on the north end doorway and Jeff continued the job. However the first thing was to tighten up the main back panel on the door.

Now on with main job, initially sanding down more of the fillet on the side of the capping strip.

Richard was busy with the centre doorway.

On to RBr 1675, with Bryan easing off more of the lower panelling to gain access to the ends of the underfloor crossbearers and uprights. The tape marked the cutting line.

On the Cotswold side Gerry is doing a similar job next to the kitchen/counter access doorway.

Plenty of corroded sections to replace here.

Time to get that north end corridor connection off. A very large socket and handle are enhanced by a good length of pipe, to give a hefty boost of torque. John ensures the socket is securely on the nut while Gerry and Bryan ready themselves for the big heave.

Ready chaps? Heave!

The nut surrendered gracefully and John was able to continue on his own.

That's the first one loose. Now for the one on the other side.

Bryan and John later began dismantling the flexing apparatus at the top of the south end connection. The top of the section of the nearby crash pillar has been marked in chalk for cutting out and replacement.

A side job for Phil, repairing the steering mechanism from one of our trolleys.

Andy in his new overalls, also using a length of pipe for extra torque, works on freeing the innards of the bogie prior to changing the wheelsets.

Ian moves the long rake of bogies from their "home" by the signalbox.

Bob continues the initial undercoating of the Malvern side of TSO 4867's roof.

Also outside of course is the cosmetic clean up of the bogie bolster. A new batch of Dark Grey undercoat and GW Grey top coat has just arrived, some of which will be used here. Newly painted up, the wagon will look really good stabled in the siding by the Usk Goods Office platform, and being low it won't hide the reconstructed building.