Saturday 2nd - Some new potential?

Another new month arrives and a somewhat special one with our Santa Season now well underway. The very cold frosty day was no doubt producing some wonderful steam effects which I'm afraid I missed being somewhat busy when the trains arrived and loco runarounds too place.

Despite missing the trains I did manage to get out to visit Dave H. working in SO 4798 and in so doing captured this late afternoon view of the yard with the Cotswold escarpment just visible in the winter mist.

SO 4798 is currently OOU in the yard as it needs a major refurb. One of our SO's in the running rakes has now quite worn seating, so during the Winter shutdown period we will replace that with the relatively recent reupholstered seating in 4798. Dave has been working his way through 4798 getting everything ready for what will be a fairly substantial job. 

My first visit of the day was to Upholstery as Jenny wanted me to see the two diesel seats now fully refurbished. The frames had previously been repainted in the Paintshop earlier in the week.

While there Simon brought in a new roll of Bournemouth Blue moquette. The scaffolding pole was duly fed through ......................

............... and then the roll was mounted underneath the table. A very useful method of storage providing easy access when required.

Bournemouth Blue is the moquette being used for the Mk 2 coach seats, the second contract from the Dean Forest Railway. Laura busily fabricates another seat cover.

Jenny is preparing to make some new vacuum cylinder piston sleeves (which I called gators in Thursday's posting).

A close-up of the template.

John steadily going through the folder of template drawings.

The coach of interest is understandably SO 4798, reference the photo and caption earlier on.

Regular readers will know that our cushions have been selling extremely well, both at our Toddington and Broadway shops, and online. Laura has now made both the bag and glasses pouch above. Reference the title of this post, could making these be potential items with which to expand our future sales? Both have been very well made - well done Laura!

FK 13329 was brought into the Barn and put up on the jacks mainly to fix a steam heating leak. 

Andy Th and Andy Tu are wrapping some new lagging around the replacement steam pipe to one of the coach's radiators. A fiddly job to say the least with little room to move.

Obviously other jobs will be done to take advantage of the coach being available. Kevin takes a break from being our Stores Manager to help Ian reattach the brake rigging to the south end bogie.

John was busy with another fettling job on the milling machine, this time making some more door receivers.

An existing receiver with a new one in the making (the bubbly surface is the suds lubricant).

On board RBr 1675 Simon attaches another section of inner windowframe on the Cotswold side of the coach.

 

Robert carefully cuts through the end of the wood floor support to enable the threshold to be fitted to the Cotswold side emergency doorway.

Don't think I had better access Tool Van 92 via this entrance!

 Viewing Maurice painting the ceiling in 92 from the south entrance. 

 In the Paintshop Pam and I worked on the lining out on the Cotswold side of SK 25488. Pam uses the little gauge to mark where the yellow and black bands meet on the bottom line. I did the same at the other end of this particular section.

The masking tapes are then positioned along the many pencil marks and at the top of the bottom panel, in effect marking where the yellow band will be painted. While Pam is applying the first coat of yellow, I continue the taping up.

Look this way - smile! Pam thoroughly enjoying the job. The end section and south end door have had their first coat of yellow. Pam now begins the long section to the middle door.

The whole of the bottom line yellow band was completed on this side of the coach. Later in the day it was given a second coat, after which the tape was removed. Other jobs included completing all the black glossing at the north end of the coach, and doing the same on the Malvern side of the south end. 25488 will feature more on Tuesday when we tend to have more painters available.