Monday 31st - Bits'n'Pieces Week

 Notice something? More on this below.

So this week was busier than usual. After Monday cleaning it was down on Tuesday to check the health of the bears for Teddy Bear Thursdays. Most of them have been locked up for 4 years so we were a bit worried about the reception we would get! In fact they were all in good health and the "stars" were all there. They are looking forward to seeing the children from Thursday August 3rd. The DMU will have a full contingent too - one lucky bear has been promoted to "Second Man". 

Full details at  www.gwsr.com/events/teddy-bear-thursday

So on to Friday. For a long time we have despaired of the look of some of our maroon coaches. They look great after washing, but when dry they are drab and look uncared for. All our effort wasted! But now we have a C&W Workshop Manager, Stuart, who is ex Tyseley and very familiar with how to keep carriages looking good. So we arranged a Friday Special with him, to bring some kit and show us how to use it. This was an industrial grade cutting paste and various tools.

This is Stuart right at the start explaining

Tim, Rich and John looking at the first results. Out of sight is Paul.

Oh, it was also a Fire And Drive and 35006 was on duty

Work in progress

And the finished results

Half a carriage done - but see the difference. Now we know what is required Stuart will get some more kit so we can organise a proper team effort to do what needs doing. On this side there are 3 1/2 sides to do. Hopefully we can get up to 1 side per session. It is quite hard work so it won't be every week, but in time for the Autumn Showcase...?

The car fans amongst us were sceptical about how long the improvement will last, but Stuart assures the cream (it looks like tooth paste!) is not the stuff you buy from car shops so will last. A silicone polish before the winter will help even more.

And so to Monday. All of the routine stuff today. In fact the trains were not very dirty at all, so we could get ahead a little bit and do something on our "nice to do" list. Good numbers of volunteers and the new kit is helping, so here is Rich on his self-appointed task after Ghostbusting. First time they have had a clean in a very long time!

As usual Tim, Peter and Paul were washing the outside.

Following on from Friday the polished coach got a wash with standard car polish. Below is the interesting result after a rinse - polished surface all water ran off, unpolished the water "sticks".

And finally on this topic, the treated coach next to the recently outshopped Abigail/Charlotte. Not quite as good, but a big improvement pre polishing.

It's a while since you saw us at our favourite activity, so here is Tea Break! With John, Rich, Paul, Peter and Kath. Nigel and Tim were still working!

Thursday is Teddy Bear duty - please send us a nice, dry,  sunny day!

Saturday 29th - Keeping the Plates Spinning

 Another day with lots going on and I failed to capture all the activity. Just keeping all the wagon plates spinning is proving enough at the moment!

First job was to shunt 43914 back into the barn so that Chris could do the timber on the ends. Note the sign!

Tool van No.4 is coming on well, with almost all paint removed now. The North end was the last main bit, which Maurice got stuck in to.

Robert and I went round to assess the various woodwork repairs required on this van. Nothing too major, a few replacement sections of planking and a couple of more awkward bits of framing. Almost all of the timber on this wagon is original we think, dating from 1908 when it was built. The first few patches have gone in.

I went round with the polyurethane glue gun to fill in any splits or cracks in the wood. This sets really hard and should help hold the wood together, as well as not shrinking and falling out like filler would.

By the end of the day the South end was ready for a first coat of a rather expensive epoxy resin primer. No.92 will be done using traditional boiled lineseed oil which is much cheaper - maybe in 5 years' time we will be able to assess whether the extra expense is worth it.

Onto Tool van No.92 then, where there is still a lot of paint removal to do. Pam got stuck in today with the sanding disc on the angle grinder. This cuts through the paint well but you have to be careful not to dig into the wood as well!

By the end of the day after I joined in for a bit too we were over half way on this side.

On Wednesday evening we abandoned any hope of working on the chaired sleeper wagon at Toddington as it was chucking it down, so we did some exploratory work on the roof of No.92. For some reason this acquired a metal clad roof at some stage in its life, which was now pinging off. We took the first couple of panels off to see what it was like underneath.

We didn't much like the look of the skylights, and took one out to see about making some new ones. Hmm, definitely a bit rotten! The new ones will be glazed with single large panes, with faux glazing bars to simulate the smaller panes. Less places to leak that way.

Last but not least on the tool vans - although the vacuum system has seized up which doesn't bother us, it would be useful to have the handbrakes working, So Andy took some of the rodding off to clean up before greasing and putting back together.

Onto the RBr now, but sticking in the paintshop briefly, Dave and Martin made good progress sanding down the aluminium lighting strips.

Early morning and there was a conglomeration of the great and the good of the door and woodwork teams to discuss the next steps.

That was soon agreed and Simon got stuck into drilling some holes I think for battens to fix the end panelling to.

Inside and things are shaping up.

Phil continued in the kitchen area with the wiring up.

While Ben drew the short straw and was playing with a door liner today - lots of planing to make it fit.

I missed taking a photo while he was doing it, but Kevin spent a good portion of the day servicing our trolleys - we really do use and abuse these so it's good to give them a bit of TLC every now and then.

I just about managed to catch Dave packing up having tidied up a bit more of the S&T workshop coach too.

It was good to see a little bit of progress with FK 13326 today with Rod adjusting the fit on the north end door.

Stuart and Andy busied themselves with a vacuum cylinder dismantling and service, always good to have one or two ready to go in case of failure.

Finally for today a quick visit to upholstery, very much the money making arm of C&W at the moment. Helen was taking apart the next seat for the DFR contract, while in the background Jenny and John can barely keep up with the demand for cushions using carriage moquette available to buy in our shops.

Wednesday/Thursday 26th/27th - A bit more heavy metal

 This is for day 1 of a 2 day blog, both days busy as usual. It can be a challenge getting to see all teams, especially when you have a lot to do ...... here goes.

I have said before 1675 the carriage which keeps giving, Steve is removing what will be redundant chassis mounted equipment ...... obviously very happy in his work.

You need help? Along come four willing volunteers.

At last a slight improvement in the weather, so Dave H took advantage and carried on with the tidying up of the overworked S&T workshop.

We have had some challenges with 1675, from a previous life it has had repairs done and because of this we have had panel problems. Gerry found a way to get things parallel, yes the piece of wood wedged against the wall`, a tack weld and we now have a straight edge to work with.

Meanwhile inside Phil carries on with the new cable installation.

Simon as always ..... busy.

Geoff is also busy ...... not sure what but it looks precision.

Rex is altering a door frame, we found the radius did not match the door ...... its not finished but we now know it matches.

Down in the barn an axle was resisting attempts to remove it ..... guess who won?

 Its great to have Bryan back, he is applying his magic to a window frame ..... the holding frame is a great success.

 Whenever possible we like to have lunch outside, its usually peaceful but P way had some urgent work.

As promised some heavy metal ...... The well known TV stars were with us this afternoon, transporting our LMS brake van to a local steam fair .......

Its quite tricky reversing all the way out of our yard, but these guys know their job.

On our way home we passed them just before Toddington, Gerry was driving.

That was Wednesday ........

And so to Thursday  'They said it could not be done'  Stuart took it as a challenge, to remove a carriage from the main rake, change the brake cylinder, test and return to the rake.

Here it comes ......

John H and Stuart up and at 'em .....

It is a squeeze in there ...... but the job was completed, tested and returned to service and ready for a busy w/end.

Taking advantage of it not raining ...... Chris and Steve making some adjustments.

Alan and Roger doing some running repairs to SK 24949 in the third rake ...... Toilets come in handy for all sorts of things.

Just checking the door radius before welding the new frame into place.

Tool van 4, Alex is varnishing one of the cleaned up window frames.

And cleaning grooves on the south end .......

Dave is cleaning off dust etc, before painting.

There are many other jobs to do within ...... a new tool tray for use on a scaffold tower, it saves much climbing up and down.

Lastly an opportunity to weld in another new panel, it seems endless but we are getting there.

The photos are a mix from myself, Gerry and Dave.