Saturday 24th - A hot airless day

 Another busy Saturday with some new work appearing.

First item on the agenda after opening up was a brisk walk through the Works to view the Creosote Tank wagon. Our grit blaster had come in on Friday to complete the job and now here it is with a coating of red oxide.

First job for Alex and Maurice was to check the four axleboxes for any ingress of sand and if ok top up each one with the appropriate oil.

 Alex has made out a whiteboard exclusively for the wagon.

Maurice begins the undercoating in Dark Grey .............

................. later joined by Alex. Alex later left for the day as he was guard on the evening Fish and Chip Special.

I later went back to see how it was going to find Maurice now busy with the Underframe Black.

 

It was a hot airless day with not even a gentle breeze, and quite frankly there were times when flopping into a seat seemed the best thing and who could blame Phil, Andy, Paul and Dennis doing just that. I missed Paul and Dennis working in the 3rd Rake - it must have been like a sauna.

Looking immaculate, P&O strides by after a lengthy wait.

Early in the day Simon very kindly carried both of the new rolls of moquette up the stairs to the Upholstery shop and saved the use of the hoist. These had been brought to us by a member of the FODR.

John carefully trims the existing moulded foam on one of the stripped seat backs.

 

Having laid the new foam on a stripped down seat cushion, Laura lays out the canvas which will be glued on to the foam.

Jenny holds the foam steady while Laura trims the excess away. The canvas is then stapled to the seat base.

In the left cormer, Laura and Jenny. In the right corner the seat cushion. And we're off with a fine tussle getting that moquette good and smooth before fixing it down over the foam.. 

 The very neatly stacked seat parts and cut sections of moquette.

Two chairs in for repair from RBr 1672 in the Main Rake, the left one now ready to go back, while the one on the right awaits repair. 

Pam has arrived and gets ready for a good day's painting. "Am I back on the Santa Coach Dave?"

"Very much so Pam". The first job is to apply top coat Cream to the door and doorway edges on the Malvern side of the Santa Coach. I was inside giving the new north vestibule ceiling a second coat of Black emulsion.

Then on to the first coat of Crimson on the Malvern side south end large panel.

George's first job was top coating the new footboards which are to replace the rotten ones found on the 4th Rake coaches.

Then on to the north end of the Santa Coach to add more gloss paint to the existing black work.

 A very different job for Alan and Simon, preparing the way for some boot lockers for our changing room.

Strange hieroglyphics in the Woodwork/Doors shop.

Our new member Chris prepares more battens on which to fix the new internal panelling in RBr 1675.

When I first met Chris a week or so ago he looked familiar. When I learnt his full name, the penny dropped. Could he be the same Chris that I knew 60 or so years ago at Cheltenham Grammer School? As they say, it's a very small world, and we were soon swapping memories of the old school, masters long past, train spotting, and loco shed trips.

I seem to have missed Robert again, but I think he was involved with door liners on RBr 1675. We've had quite a battle with the doors, frames and the liners, so the notice on this old liner is very relevant.

Ben and Ainsley have another good look at the fitting of the Cotswold side emergency door .............

........... and I wasn't surprised to see Ben back with the anglegrinder.

Andy was back under the south end of FK 13326 making preparations for the removal of the drawhook and tailpin to see if the latter requires replacing.

If you wash your own cup, don't be surpised to find a sudden deluge of dirty cups coming your way. "Ah, you washing up Ben?" "Well done, here's mine - cheers!".

Recent work by the Metalwork Team has been the creation of some new supports for overhead lights for the work benches. Nick welds more box section steel in the creation of yet another lighting support.

Not forgetting Kevin who continues to do a great job looking after all our storage, whether small or large items, especially after all the donations over the past two months.

Now on to Alex's new sandwich board. The inside has been udercoated, but a little more work in the shape of a beading surround has been added before the outside faces are painted.

"Hey, this isn't your usual car!". Following his work in the morning Nick had left for the day, but had very kindly returned during the afternoon to do some welding to help out S&T. Many thanks Nick.