Thursday 3rd - Blessed with a decent day (well almost)

Yes, a decent day, and good to be on an outside job. Well almost decent, the heavy looking cloud appearing later in the morning.

SK 24949 in the 3rd Rake is in a sorry state at the north end. Various attempts at trying to seal the leak have only been partially successful so far. Roger dismantles the communication cord connection on the Malvern side, underneath which is a long line of corrosion..

Then to secure the chain, a length of earthing wire is being attached. Geoff slowly unravels the wire from the reel.

 Alan checks all is well from inside the toilet compartment.

The Malvern side toilet will need a complete repaint (we will be doing the Cotswold side one as well), but before then new panelling will need to be put in to replace that ruined by water ingress. Alan carefully measures one of the replacement pieces.

 This panel can be saved and as such Geoff removes the mouldy backing.

The first compartment ceiling is also affected and evidence of past paint repair is very evident.

Cracking along the ceiling panel edges is also very visible ......................

................. and Bob applies paintable sealant where needed. 

On the way back to the Works, a quick photo of the other tank wagon that will be following the Creosote Tank wagon.
 

In the Barn Chris completes the first of the four inserts being fitted between the stanchions and the tank. These will then be taken back down so that they can be primed and painted.

On the Barn through road is FK 13326. The repair work at the north end is now well underway, although currently still at the dismantling stage. Gerry with anglegrinder is removing more corrosion.

Further into the Barn, John is working on the axlebox horn guides on this bogie and freeing up the liners.

On the Cotswold side the liners are in good condition and are welded in place by Nick, with three welds front and back on each side of the box. 

John isn't entirely happy about the liners on the Malvern side, so some further investigation is needed.

Working in the electrician's container, Richard is creating a box with a socket to replace the pigtail electrical connections at the ends of RBr 1675.

Nick is continuing the adjustments to the curvature of this particular door frame and associated panel on the Malvern side of 1675.

Checking with the long spirit level, it looks like his adjustments have been successful.

There are still some of 1675's ceiling strips to clean. To complete the cleaning up job without having to take all the ceiling panels down, he is replacing the remaining ones one at a time, with ones from the batch already cleaned.

The good work done by Dave is really paying off with S&T's Workshop (SO 4806) looking so much better. I recently had a quick chat with Bob M. about possibly repainting this side of the roof as it would really complete the job and look good for all our Gala and other visitors.

The weather is still holding out, so Phil and Jeff apply a second top coat to the panel on the Model Railway coach that was painted on Tuesday.

After capturing Phil and Jeff, a zoomed shot of the Indoor Gang - Alan, Geoff and Roger - enjoying their morning tea break on Platform 1.

New recuits for C&W? No, it's Teddy Bear Thursdays during August, specially put on for the many younger children visiting the railway during the school holidays. "Big Ted" on the right later became the DMU's second man and joined the driver in the cab.

It's the green timetable today with two steam and the DMU, the latter doing a shuttle between Toddington and Winchcombe.

 

A phone call from Glyn, requesting two blue cushions, ended up with me rushing along Platform 2 with two sacks holding ten, and just in time to catch the next train to Toddington. Another three almost completed cushions were on one of the side benches in Upholstery, so  with the shop sales still going very well, cushion making remains high on the agenda.

To end today's posting, another sequence on Tool Vans 4 and 92, where some really good progress is being made. Maurice worked on the headstock at the north end of No. 4, carrying on from where Ian had left off on Tuesday.

It was nice to see Pat back with the Railway for a few days, working with both us and our Catering Dept. He was gouging out old filler from between the planks.

 Maurice later applied more of the epoxy sealant to the Malvern side of No. 4.

 Alex takes a look at one of the axleboxes on No. 92.

Towards the end of the day Maurice was back on the north end, painting red oxide on the cleaned up steps.

Lots of banging from inside No 92, followed by a screeching sound, and the Cotswold side door and one of the windows were opened. 

On Wednesday the south end headstock and other metalwork were cleaned up and coated in red oxide by David A. Both this and the darkened surface of the epoxy coated planking give No. 4 quite a striking appearance.

 

The Cotswold side of No. 92 at the north end with at least one plank to replace and Pam's paint removal done last Saturday very evident.