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).