Weds 7th / Thurs 8th - A sad day

It was on Thursday while loading these photos onto my laptop that I heard the very sad news on the radio that the Queen had died during the afternoon. She has had an amazing life, and as several said when interviewed during the TV coverage, many of us will have grown up throughout the whole of her remarkable 70 year reign (I was 4 when she was crowned).  She will forever remain in our thoughts.

Wednesday

Nick is currently away and wouldn't have been in on Wednesday to capture the work being done. So on Thursday, following an early arrival at the Works, I went round photographing a number of things that were either probably or definitely done the day before.

No doubt about this as the seat back had been leaning against the Upholstery Shop wall on Tuesday. The seat arms have been inserted and the overall effect is one of the luxury to come when this is installed in BCK 21092.

This was also definitely a Wednesday job. The vertical demarcation taping up on both sides has been done and almost the whole end undercoated in dark grey by David. Jeff was also in and, as the inside of the corridor connection had already been done, topcoated this in gloss black.

David and Jeff also varnished the reverse sides of the two compartment doors (the other is at the north end of the CK) and added another coat to the narrow corridor strips.

Another kitchen door was taken off RBr 1675 and part dismantled.

The south end of 1675, now completely stripped.and ready for repairs to the bases of the four crash pillars, and a new base plate too?

One of the corridor connection U sections from 1675 in the process of rebuilding.

On the Malvern side the centre doorframe has new z bars welded in and coated in red oxide.

The frame of the south end double doors is similarly in the process of rebuilding.

I missed Clive working on the Macaw bolster wagon on Tuesday. He was in again on Wednesday so I guess will have carried on with the cleaning up and priming work. It must be complete now and, as Alex wrote up on the Paintshop whiteboard, undercoating in dark grey can begin.

Thursday

This was actually done on Tuesday, but I never got around to photographing it. Following Robert's work to make this footboard for the Toad brakevan, Richard and Paul drilled the necessary bolt holes and then coated it with wood primer.

Dennis was back with the polisher on BCK 21092's guards door. This time he was trying out the sponge pad to see if it was better than the lambswool one. The result was more or less the same.

 

While on the Malvern side of the yard and photographing the Macaw, the distant whistle of P&O made it worth while hanging on for a couple of photos.

A drumming sound in the Barn had to be investigated. It turned out to be Richard II testing the generator from 1675. This has an output of 4 KW, so Richard had connected it up to an iron and a heater, each with 2 KW output to check the loading and automatic cut-off.

With nobody from the Door Team in today, it was time to do a little highjacking. The newly removed kitchen door from 1675 was transferred to the Workshop and I spent a lot of the day with mask and ear defenders on, and a buzzing pad sander, removing as much of the old paint as possible. By the end of the day it was only about 85% done, so my hopes of having it cleaned up and in undercoat Light Grey ready for the Door Team on Saturday were beaten by the time.

Captions on a postcard please!

Over the past few months we have had a number of donations of tools. Kevin, our indefatigable stores manager, is gradually sorting it all out. He has also updated his excellent stores location sheet in the lobby, which is frequently consulted.

Bob was back after a spell away. Being a professional painter, the obvious job was adding the second top coat to the Cotswold side south end of CK 16221. First a light sand with 240 paper to provide a key.

With the second top coat completed he reopens the centre door to restore access from that side. The south end door and corner have yet to be undercoated, but lining out can begin on this half, while the centre door and north end are almost complete with just the top line to do.

Bob then transferred to varnishing various parts of the south vestibule and the corridor that were still bare wood.

The south end with the varnish already soaking into the wood. Another 2-3 coats are needed to give that special gleam.

Usually the slanting covers topping the corridor heating pipes are painted black. However with all that lovely varnished wood throughout, it seems a pity to introduce black paint, so Bob coated each with varnish.

Meanwhile Dave had retrieved the tracks for the compartment and centre doors, and proceeded to clean them.

The track for the mid-corridor sliding door, separating the first and second class sections, now in place.

Paul doing a great job vacuuming the lobby and changing room.

The sound of a Great Western whistle had me moving quickly outside the Paintshop to capture Dinmore on the second train. We had some good numbers on the trains again.