Saturday 28th - Another day another coach

 It's that time of the year when it becomes very difficult to keep track of coaches coming and going in the barn.

First off, TSO 4614 went for a trundle round the yard to settle back onto its bogies with nice newly turned tyres:

Then the next one was brought in, TSO 4763:

Another steam leak for John and Andy to look at was the purpose for the visit:

It was also a shorter walk for Dave to carry on smartening up the side panels below the tables inside:

On the adjacent road was BSO 9000 for some attention to its doors:

Ben (above) and Chris (below) took a door each

Our major project RBr 1675 made good progress too today, with the woodwork team fitting more timber floor components:

And the South end corridor connection being refitted by Ken and Andy:

Dave captured the crucial moment, a bit later it was on:

It's down to finishing touches on CK 16221 and David is making up the wooden picture frames that embellish the first class compartments:

Meanwhile Robert is making great progress on timberwork for the Mogo with one of the large end doors completed today:

On the wagon itself, Maurice and Paul have made great strides in priming the frame, the vast majority is now in green and some was even going undercoat grey:

Paul took a couple of pics to show progress at the end of the day:

The upholstery team were continuing with their luggage rack netting project today, fitting the newly 'knitted' nets to the frame:

Jenny shows the old netting being replaced - very grubby and with a few too many holes (or should that be too few - any topologists reading!?):

One rack all completed looking much better:

Something a bit different, not C&W work, Michael was working on a new system to track our trains integrating with the signalling systems and track circuits:

 I'm afraid it's a bit too technical for me, but I think it should help DOOs to have a better grasp of the situation during galas for instance when there's a huge amount of operational complexity.

And lastly my excuse for the slightly late publication, this weekend was the GCR's winter steam gala, always worth a visit. Didn't bother with many photos, but naturally the mixed goods train (one of two goods sets they had running, the other being the windcutters) had to be closely inspected:

The guys at Quorn are putting together quite a collection of tanker wagons, which were looking rather smart:

We do have a few tanker wagons ourselves and some of them would probably be fairly quick wins, something to think about...

Weds 25th / Thurs 26th - Two more busy days

Another busy two days with the rebuilds and Winter maintenance continuing apace. Many thanks again to Gerry for providing Wednesday's photos.

Wednesday

[Photo : Gerry]  Beginning with RBr 1675 and Rex in the process of rebuilding another doorway on the Malvern side.

[Photo : Gerry]  Ken A. is also working on that side on the emergency door frame.

[Photo : Gerry]  Working on the opposite emergency door frame is Bob, cleaning up the existing left side z bar.

[Photo : Gerry]  At the south end Chris is painting red oxide on the welds.

[Photo : Gerry]  Ken is sorting bolts for the steam heating pipework.

[Photo : Gerry]  Moving into the Barn where Ben is working on the catch for the Cotswold side guards door, which is currently in the Door team area for repairs.

[Photo : Gerry]  David continues the job to cover with a thin skim of filler the thousands of mini holes (a combination of genuine pin holes and probably woodworm) on Toddington Station's notice board.

Thursday

On now to the next day and the first job for me was to cut up another donation of various materials for the Paintshop rag box, though in reality this ends up all over the Works.

Back to 1675 with Rex continuing where he left off yesterday and preparing for another bout of welding on the side of this doorway.

Later Gerry discusses with Rex the next stage in the rebuild, which is to add on the new skirting. This is currently stored in the Paintshop.

Gerry now prepares the north end of the Cotswold side, removing unwanted sections of panelling.

 

In the Barn Ian and Andy prepare the two bogies that have recently had their tyes turned for putting back under TSO 4614.

 

Preparation complete, time to connect up, haul them out and reposition them on the adjacent through road.

 

The next job is to return 4614 to the jack road.

The coach is lifted and the temporary bogies removed and returned to the Works siding by the signalbox.

The refurbished bogies now ready to go back under the coach.

More maintenance in the Maroon rake, with Bob K. cleaning the ceiling in RMB 1808 prior to some repainting.

The first coach in the rake is actually chocolate and cream TSO 4763. As mentioned in the previous posting the decor under the tables was flaking and dirty. Stu had no problem crawling under the tables to paint the tops of the wall heating panels and seat legs. Not me I'm afraid so it was out with the table. This one was easy, but some of the later ones will need new screws when they are put back.        

Following a light sand, the main panel was painted in Flint Grey and the heater cover and the visible section under the seat in Silver Hammerite. The grey looks much better with the red Chainlink moquette and other paintwork.

The tables were removed in the next three areas and the same painting done. The next job will be to reinstate the tables and then move across the corridor to tackle the four areas on the Malvern side.

Other maintenance today included installing the new ceiling in FO 3132's south vestibule. This was done by Alan and Phil - I went along to view it later and it was a good fit. Dennis and Paul were also busy with more cleaning and the removal of the inevitable Christmas tinsel, which seems to get into the smallest of spaces. The Winter maintenance list is very long.

It was just Maurice working on the Mogo today, cleaning up another part of the frame on the Malvern side and then coating it in green primer.

In the Paintshop Bob lightly sands this compartment door from TK 24006 prior to giving it yet another coat of varnish. In the background Dave grabs a ladder before going out to one of our storage vehicles to look for a replacement panel for this door (note the worn through veneer through over sanding in the past - trying to darken with wood dye doesn't have much affect).

Bob now transfers to the door recently sanded by Dave to add the first coach of varnish. The effect of this on the cleaned up wood is quite dramatic.

Dave returns with another panel from storage. Hopefully it will sand down well.

It's beginning to look good as the old varnish is gradully stripped away.

The new panel is now in place and the door varnished. The substitution has been very successful.

Tuesday 24th - Ah, you've done it at last!

Well, it's another lovely day so may as well begin with yet another blue sky photo, this time with the view towards the station and Langley Hill.

 

Initially focussing on Winter maintenance and the sorry plight of the decor underneath the tables in TSO 4763, we definitely need to get this sorted out.

Stu tackles the first job i.e. giving it all a wash over to remove scuff marks and other grime. 

With that done painting can get underway, firstly starting with fresh black gloss on the wood tops to the heater covers. Normally we would start at the top and work down but there are several options for dealing with the cream panel section which we will discuss on Thursday.

Stu then painted all the seat legs and its already looking better. The next job will be a fresh coat of silver Hammerite on the metal heater covers.

Another very big job will be cleaning all the windows inside the two rakes and understandably Paul and Dennis have asked us to help them. Ian mainly tackled internal windows because, unless the sun was on the glass, the cleaning spray froze as it was still very cold when he started. It improved later but he stayed with the internal windows, here in CK 16195.

While in 16195, a photo of one of the locations where the Upholstery team have removed seat side panels for repairs (as mentioned in last Saturday's post).

 And here are those side panels now fully repaired and ready to go back.

At the bottom of the headshunt is FK 13326 which is now the next coach scheduled to come into the Paintshop for repairs and repaint. The recent exceptional cold weather succeeded in removing some large areas of paint from the Cotswold side. We've never seen anything quite like this before. Even allowing for moisture getting behind the paint and freezing at -14C, it still seems somewhat extreme.

 The two corners on the Cotswold side will need work done on them, this the south one.

Stu top coats the new panel and beading strips for the south vestibule in FO 3132 "Mary". This will now be ready for the Indoor Gang to fit.

With the Malvern side guards door from BSO 9000 now repaired and reinstated, Ainsley attaches the door catch to a new wood block.

Now for the Cotswold side guards door which was also rubbing the floor, being wheeled into the Door Team's workspace by Ainsley and Robert. 

There isn't much need for CK 16122 to be in the Paintshop now as the Painting and Prep team have almost exhausted all available work. Stu finished some minor repairs to the lining out following the recent work on the sticking Malvern side doors, while Phil begins the floor cleaning with a general vac through the coach.

Then using a combination of cleaning products he removed all manner of things that find their way onto the marmoleum despite putting down covers and generally taking care. Phil, later joined by Keith, did a very thorough job and it looks really good now. 

David is making a number of frames for pictures that will be hanging up in 16221's first class compartments. 

 On to the Mogo now with Paul priming another cleaned up section of frame at the north end.

Later on he and Maurice were working on the Cotswold side.

 Robert meanwhile is working on the first of the new doors.

 Some careful cross-checking before proceeding further.

The first door begins to take shape.

 Derek was back preparing more base sections for the new flooring in RBr 1675.

 

More coats of varnish being applied by Keith on the compartment doors from TK 24006.

More sanding down on compartment door 5. While happily pad sanding the main bulk of the door, Dave chooses to hand sand the lower panel on the compartment side of the door. Almost all these internal panels are lighter coloured and are probably the same weathered sycamore that is used for the interior walls of the compartments. 

 

We were very pleased to have a visit from Roger who had to suspend volunteering due to a serious health issue. He is well on the mend and hopes to be back with us soon.

All those tiny holes in the Toddington Station notice board (old woodworm probably the large part of it) are being covered with a light skim of fine grade filler. Alan carefully covers another area. 

And now the explanation behind the blog post title. For quite some time we have lived with dark smudges from dirty overalls on the Mess Room wall and the Painting team have often been asked to do something about it.

Richard did a great job, initially using sugar soap to remove the worst of it, and then a good fresh coat of white emulsion. Sorry it's taken so long Guys, but this should look good for a while now. Richard also sugar soaped the area around our changing room wash basin - we will soon have that looking much better too.