Saturday 30th - What's that yellow thing in the sky?

 After what has felt like endless rain, finally some nice weather for the Easter weekend.

P&O and Foremarke were both out, carrying lots of happy passengers. Loadings looked excellent.

First order of business with the nice weather was to get back onto the model railway coach. In fact the sun was shining so brightly that it quickly became apparent that it was too hot to paint - it would dry too quickly! So Maurice and I finished off the prep then left it 'til late in the day to finish the undercoating.

It was also a good day for a small shunt to go and fetch the plywood van from the other side of the yard. This was fully refurbed about 8 years ago, but marine ply wasn't used. On this side it has severely delaminated, so we're replacing the lot with a better grade. The other side and ends are ok apart from the doors, so will have a quick repaint. The plan is for it to be done and back in the goods train in time for the gala.

Chris continues to get all sorts of different jobs, having finished up at the coffeepot his next challenge is this rather rotten door from one of the shunters up at Toddington currently having a bit of TLC.

Back to the more usual, Stuart and Ken were sorting more vacuum cylinders to continue our rolling program.

I only managed to make it upstairs to see what upholstery were up to as they were packing up, but it looked like purse production was in full swing, along with a seat fully stripped down from 4798.

Their other job today was a cover for the other welder, in this rather loud upholstery!

Simon was getting to grips with the wood-working jobs at the North end of the FK, hopefully won't be long now before the corridor connection can be put back on.

Inside the RBr, as it was a bit quieter than usual Martin managed to make a start sanding down some of the original internal walls.

While Jeff continued on ceiling painting.

And Dave put another coat of paint on the skids.

Not a very long blog today I'm afraid as I didn't get round to everyone, and a few regulars away too, so instead a few pictures from a canal jolly the day before with various railway people both on GWSR and friends from the SVR.

The challenge was Tardebigge locks, the longest flight of locks in the UK.

It was a very pleasant day for it, we were very lucky with the weather compared to what some people had.

Top lock was reached in about 3 1/2 hours, including a tea break, which we thought was quite good.

Then time for a rest and a gentle cruise through north Worcestershire and into Birmingham.

Some very impressive feats of Georgian engineering along the way with 3 tunnels, the longest at 2726 yards at Wast Hill.

Final destination was Gas Street Basin in the centre of Birmingham, a very enjoyable change from playing trains :-)

Thursday 28th - We are doing too many rain dances

Nick converys his apologies again as he wasn't able to do much for the blog on Wednesday, so we are straight into Thursday again.

 

It was another horrible wet day, with the belts of rain and sleet coming thick and fast, and getting steadily worse later on. Although we have loads of painting-related work to do with 1675 and 13326, having recently restarted the project to repaint the Model Railway coach in Platform 2 Bay, it would be nice to get this finished - if only the endless bad weather would stop!

Up in the Electrical Team's den on the Workshop mezzanine, Richard II is constructing the inner workings of the 230 volt control and distribution panel for 1675. It looks as though it is well on the way, but in Richard's own words it has hardly started yet.

 The above is the temporary indicator panel.

 This looks to be the circuitry diagram for the panel.

It's always a pleasure to introduce a new member of staff, especially when they are young and very keen. So a very big welcome to Nicole, who is Richard I's granddaughter, and as such she has joined our Electrical Team.

So with Grandad looking on, Nicole prepares a plug socket. I'm guessing this was for the one of the boxes under the Malvern side of 1675 where I later saw them working (I meant to ask).

With nobody working in the kitchen and pantry area in 1675, we had a chance to get back to ceiling painting. Jeff begins the top coating.

After a trial fitting under the Cotswold side of 1675, Rex lowers the roller shutter back down before wheeling the outer frame of the new lithium battery box back to the metalworking area of the Workshop.

Inside the seating compartment of 1675, Dave is drilling and cutting out holes to fit the bolts securing the edge sections of the floor.

 Maurice continues the repainting of the Cotswold side sole bar.

With the weather being anything but helpful, Derek has been driven back inside and helps with cleaning up the sole bar and footboard supports on the Malvern side of 1675.

 Maurice has now also started on the Malvern side, at the north end.

 In the Barn Bob has returned to cleaning up the edge of the roof of SO 4798.

 TSO 5023 is now on the jack road .......................

 ............. where Dennis and Paul are investigating what appears to be a leak at the north end.

 

[Photo : Chris]  Having been involved with the construction of the new bar counters in the Cotswold Halt restaurant at Toddington, Chris has now built a new unit in the 1950s Coffee Pot Cafe on Winchcombe Station. We must now get this varnished.

Tuesday 26th - Behind Closed Doors

Today the Railway ran the first of eight "behind the scenes" tours, this one being the Behind Closed Doors : Carriage Edition. Both this and another four in the series are already Sold Out. Full details are listed on the GWSR website in the Events section.

It was a pleasure taking the group around the Works and nearby yard and describing the many aspects of our work. Everyone was enjoying the day which included travelling on the trains, a general talk about the Railway in the Tim Mitchell Building with tea and cake, and lunch in our refurbished Cotswold Halt Restaurant. The next tour, again the Carriage Edition, will be held on Saturday 13th April and is also Sold Out.

On now to todays efforts, beginning with Maurice and Ian working on 1675. Maurice was cleaning up the south end headstock and area below, and then applying red oxide. Ian was working on the Cotswold side sole bar and then progressing round to the other side assist Maurice.

Stu begins sanding down some remaining unsanded filler around the final two window frames on the Malvern side.

This was followed up by the final bit of greying up. With Ian working down below this point, Stu thoughtfully left the sanding on the right hand side of the nearby frame. This can be completed on either Wednesday or Thursday. The greyed up area further along the this side had several places that needed some top-up filling; these bits were patch painted when completed.

Ainsley and Robert discuss the fitting out of this particular doorway (that exits the servery on the Cotswold side) which had given problems.

A thin groove had been left extra to the normal door liner. As such Robert cut some thin slices of wood to insert, but only the section below the door lock could be fitted satisfactorily; the remaining upper section will be filled.

Alan sanded the two covers for the gas bottle boxes under 1675. One has been left with the Metalwork team for some minor repairs. The other is now by the painting trestles for a coat of red oxide.

With regular service trains running again during the week, it's good to take a break and watch them.

Dinmore Manor passes with Rake 2. We looked out for the orange jacketed participants for the Behind Closed Doors tour, spotted them and gave them a welcoming wave.

There was a wealth of items on the painting trestles to keep Keith busy all day. Often it's a case of priority as to the order in which they are painted. In this case the four plyboard panels  are for the Estates Team for some warning notices where wildflower seeds are to be scattered along sections of embankment. These are needed as soon as possible, so without hesitation Keith got cracking with the wood primer, which had later dried sufficiently for him to undercoat one of the sides of each panel.

The table legs are for 1675.

 

 

Parts of the large skid for 1675's pantry was given a coat of Executive Light Grey, as was the small shelf standing vertically which was a request from Robert. The corridor connection woods for Ken for the north end of FK 13326 had a final coat of Black gloss and are now ready for refitting.

It is possible that FK 13326 in the Workshop will be ready before RBr 1675, so the Painting and Prep team now need to resume work on this on a regular basis. Both Roger and Phil continued the secondary filling and sanding on the Malvern side that George had started on Saturday. The Cotswold side central section was undercoated last year when the coach was in the Barn.

Dave's cosmetic tidying up of CCT 94486 is certainly an improvement with the bottom section of the Malvern side now completed.

During the afternoon I gave a second tour of the Works for Steve from the East Somerset Railway. Here he is discussing an aspect of his work with Robert.

It's getting late so time to call it a day. Maurice surveys today's efforts on the Cotswold side and south end of 1675.