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!