Thursday 29th - The rakes are back home

 

More rain, but today was the day for the return of Rakes 1 and 2 to Toddington. Rake 1 had already gone and now Stu brings Rake 2 into the station ready for its return behind blue 47105.

 

[Photo : Paul]  Our outside team was back on Platfrom 1 and in Rake 3. Geoff and Roger were tackling a problem with the south connection slider on FK 13337 "Gillian".

Another repair to be done in SO 4790. Geoff holds the loose top panel from the Malvern side vestibule opener.

 Paul taking a break from washing the Cotswold side of the rake.

 Yep, that's what it's all about! Alan points out the key word from the recruitment advertisment.

[Photo : Paul]  It's nice to see the two NYMR SKs in action again, with SK 24804 in this rake and newly repainted SK 25488 now in Rake 2.

 [Photo : Paul]  Steve from the Cleaning Team joined us today.

Geoff fills in another job completion form so that Eve can update the master spreadsheet for Winter Shutdown work.

The newly made trolley for the TIG welder is wheeled into the Paintshop by Gerry for painting. A wood tray will be fitted to the top for the associated equipment.

 Odd one out! The reupholstered chairs for the bar room in Cotswold Halt restaurant.

To think that I was said "Yuk" when I first saw this moquette lying on one of the upholstery tables. Now it has been made into cushions I quite like it. Our Upholstery Team coming up trumps again.

Following on from Nick's Wednesday posting, Rex cleans up the second half of the new cradle for the lithium batteries.

The two units now welded together and positioned under 1675.

Ken has rebuilt the communication cord mechanism at the north end of 1675.

Gerry has repositioned part of the French key door lock. It should now be easier to use.

And the filling continues as we gradually ease out any bits of uneven welding on the Cotswold side of the coach. We are almost there with the skirt line.

Having applied filler on the Cotswold side, Stu moves round the south end and begins with any low-level areas needing to be eased out.

The removal of the gutter on the Malvern side revealed several places that needed new metal. These have now been dealt with by Alan H., but the remaining under-gutter area was rusty and generally messy, and as such needed a thorough clean up. Phil did a good job using a combination of angle grinder, wire brush and sand paper.

He finished it off with a coat of green primer.

Jeff continued the long job of filling along the edges of the doorway capping strips and over the window frame rivets.

It was good to see Bob back after his spell of the lurgy, which had recently incapacitated several of our staff. He continued the priming of the ceilings in the kitchen area and on into the counter section. One area was left as it looked as if the plyboard was delaminating and as such it will probably need replacing.

Phil has certainly been busy within the right hand of the two standard battery boxes, fitting the charger (far right) and other equipment. The left hand battery box will hold the batteries currently in use on RBr 1672.

Last, but certainly not least, the GW/SR van where Maurice is undercoating the recently primed damp sections. More Flexacryl was added to the replacement section of roof canvas.