Weds 8th / Thurs 9th - And the pace gathers

Quite an eventful two days with a lot of very good progress all round. As such a lot of photos were taken, so this is a fairly hefty posting.

Gerry kindly took all the photos again for Wednesday, plus several on Thursday. Nick also sent in four photos for Thursday. Many thanks to you both.

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Wednesday

Starting off with Upholstery and Jenny sewing up another cover for one the Mk 2 seats, part of the second contract from the Dean Forest Railway.

Stu, our Works Manager, gathers the Door Team to check the working of this particular door on the Malvern side of RBr 1675.

An adjustment is needed with the door guides.

Trevor does the required fix.

Later preparing more doorway capping strip - looks like Gerry caught Trevor by surprise!

Ainsley fitting the final piece of strip to the kitchen south doorway on the Cotswold side.

Venturing inside the kitchen, the Cotswold side wall now with insulation gradually being added. The ceiling panels are also going in.

Further in Simon wrestles with another ceiling panel.

Making notes!

Geoff and David taking measurements above one of the Malvern side windows .............

............... presumably for preparing more oak framing.

The reinstating of the RBr's windows has been steadily going on for a while, but will soon be coming to an end. Rex adds the sealant around the next one to be put back.

I wonder what Bryan was saying to Gerry?

A view of Ainsley checking the Cotswold side south door on FK 13326, no doubt taken from the scaffold at the north end of the RBr. The corridor connection from 13326 stands in the foreground.

One of the corroded connection support pillar bases is being removed. The previous photo, obviously taken later, shows the pillar with the bad section removed.

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Thursday

 

Definitely a very wet start to the day with the yard awash once again. 

The pile of refurbished MK 2 seats is steadily growing.

More prepared seat covers. What with this and all the cushion making, Upholstery are doing a brilliant job.

And mentioning the cushions, Eve had a pile of prepared covers to stuff. A lot of interesting moquettes are appearing, presumably having been stored away. Was this one ever used in one of our coaches in the past?

Sections of prepared capping strip, each marked out as to where it is to be fitted on the RBr.

A very welcome surprise was to see Stu doing an extra day as he was so keen to continue the initial top coating on SK 25488. He works with amazing speed, always doing a great job.

On the Cotswold side also doing a great job is Phil, beginning the undercoating of the inside edges of the window frames, now much better having been tidied up with white paintable sealant.

Another photo of Stu taken about an hour later, with the bottom panelling on the Malvern side almost finished.

More good progress, this time with Tool Van 92. Chris and Steven (now back from a holiday abroad) gradually mount the new skylight frames.

Steven making some minor repairs prior to fitting the skylight at this end.

The old skylight window glass now taken out of 92. These are being replaced by large single panes of toughened glass.

Back to windows on RBr 1675, with Rex and Bryan securing the latest prepared frame prior to attaching it to the bodyside.

Job done, now on to the next frame. The penultimate one? I meant to check. There is one awaiting on the storage frame behind.

Gerry removes the narrow edged tool from the press ...................

............... and replaces it with a curved one. No doubt there are proper names for these.

The change was needed to produce a slightly curved square section of sheet metal to cover one of the large holes in the roof of 1675 following the removal of now redundant kitchen equipment.

[Photo : Gerry]  The square was tidied up and then welded to the roof.

[Photo : Gerry]

 With the lighting units in place and wired in, Phil begins mounting the new led tube lights. 

 A quick test before mounting any more. 

 Success!

Richard II consulting the record book for RBr 1675's electrics.

Briefly returning to SK 25488 with Phil now joined by Bob with the window frame undercoating on the Cotswold side.

The skylights are gradually being fitted on the roof of 92, while inside Maurice has a major sweep up and vacuuming session.  

The general view of the Paintshop from the Workshop.

Down the yard in the 3rd Rake, the general maintenance continues with Alan and Roger working on the connection doors of RMB 1808 and the next coach. The slider for the former is now running very well, however ...............

 

 ............ the large slider sticks badly about half way across. It's quite likely the floor has swollen, so the door will need to come off and the track lifted to inspect the underlying floor.

Meanwhile Paul and Dennis are going through the rake, emptying the water tanks in preparation of the winter (the 3rd and 4th rakes will not be needed until next year) and continuing the general interior cleaning following the recent gala.

SK 24804, the other NYMR coach, still has bright paintwork, though there are some rust patches that will hopefully be dealt with over the winter, weather permitting of course!

Paul heads back towards the Works, while the heavy cloud once more moves in over Langley Hill, threatening another heavy bout of rain.

Also dodging the rain is Derek, who is making good progress repairing the planking on Monster Van 600.

 Phil and Bob really doing well with 25488.

As is Maurice, repainting in black gloss the large end grab rails on the south end of 92.

 Eve is doing well with the cushions.

 

Even though we will be shutting the shops during our closed season,. the on-line sales will continue.

I took this photo of the north end of FK 13326 quite early in the day. By the end of the day, it was a very different picture.

 [Photo : Nick]  Rex and Gerry check the alignment of the half end panel after clamping it in place.

[Photo : Gerry]  With everything as it should be Nick begins the spot welds to attach the panel to the corridor support pillars on this side.

[Photo : Nick]  Bryan carefull drills a hole through the panel (not sure what this was for).

Nice to see the north end now really taking shape again.

And it's raining again !

Stu checking the working of the latest overhauled vacuum cyclinder.

Phil lights the way, while Gerry is checking the next place for a roof patch.

Nick discusses with Stu the plans for the next batch of work.

So, how did it all go with 25488? Both sides are now looking really good. The roof is done, and on the Malvern side the gutter has been painted with the same matt black. We are keeping the coach exactly the same as before, the only difference being that the lining out, numbers and lettering will be painted.

In the last post there was a comment about the need to use kneeling pads. We do have quite a selection throughout the Works. In the examples above, a commercial one, a padded in-house creation, a redundant seat cushion, and even some old bath mats which when folded over are very comfortable. There is no hard and fast ruling about the use of these and in the end all we can do is advise.

[Photo : Nick]  During the day Nick captured PWay's Road Rail Vehicle returning to the yard on the rails. It was formally named "Stevie" at a ceremony on November 4th in memory of Steve Warren who for many years drove the JCB.

[Photo : Nick]