Weds 14th/Thurs 15th - A load more to peruse

Another two-day posting with plenty of variety.

Many thanks again to Gerry for Wednesday's photos. Also to Roger and Paul for photos of the Thursday Indoor Gang.

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Wednesday

Gosh, where did this come from?! Steven comes down the Workshop with this giant section of sheet metal.

Its origin might be a mystery, but not it's destination which will be the new brake block container. John measures up prior to cutting out the next piece. As Nick has mentioned previously, something holding a mass of brake blocks is going to need to be very strong.

Ken is making a bracket - not sure what for, but the two pieces are dangling on the Paintshop hooks with a note that they are to be painted black.

On board SO 4798 Rex is sorting out another base section of internal window frame.

Bryan is securing the internal window drainage pipe.

Chris is preparing more pieces of internal window framing destined for 4798. Setting up an area in the Workshop dedicated to window preparation has been a real bonus. When not in use as intended, it is also a very handy area for other odd jobs.

FK 13326 is now also in the Barn where Ben is working on the Cotswold side north end door. The doorway capping strip still has to be reinstated on the new end section of the coach, so correct clearance will need to be made.

Something definitely needs sorting out as Ben is consulting fellow door team member Trevor.

Trevor is working on the south end door on the same side of 13326.

The move of 13326 means a change of venue for Simon too, cutting the small panel for fitting inside the same doorway.

David doing the essential sanding down on the side of one of the double doors on SO 4790. As stated previously this is an important job which often slips through the net until just about everything else is ready for painting.

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Thursday

With the DMU running the second service train today, Rake 2 has been brought down to Winchcombe to enable the swap of one of the coaches.

SK 25451 has a brake problem, hence its removal from the rake. It is also one of the sadly faded maroon coaches that is in dire need of a repaint, which will now be into Crimson and Cream - will it be returned to Rake 2 or be the next one in after 4790 for a repaint? Now that would be good!

And mentioning Crimson and Cream, the replacement for 25451 is NYMR SK 24804, so not only replacing like-for-like, but as it turns out, also the appropriate livery.

Then a surprise! With the removal of the tool vans and tank wagons from the Works siding, I had assumed they had now been moved to their intended location at Toddington. Not so! They were hidden behind the Rake 3/Rake 4 coaches on the Malvern side of the yard.

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This was the first time I had seen the 20 ton press in use. Alex carefully reshapes a bar from the Open C wagon.

Maurice primes some cleaned up hinges, also from the Open C.

Being a day of gusty wind, Derek selected the calmer sunny side of the Monster van to continue repairing the planking.

To answer a previous comment, the Monster van is used for storage and, being very long and spacious, an excellent vehicle for this purpose. As far as I am aware there are no current plans to make the van operational.

[Photo : Paul W] Over now to the activities of the Indoor Gang, starting with Dennis in one of the Second Class compartments in BCK 21272 where he is tightening one of the tiny side tables. He also replaced the No Smoking and First Class signs.

[Photo : Paul W]  Roger was in RMB 1808 replacing inner framing at the window bases where it had gone rotten.

[Photo : Roger] The Indoor gang were also back in TSO 4772 in the Rake 3 siding. Geoff refixes a loose table leg.

[Photo : Roger]  Alan fits the recently painted window frame section.

And on the subject of window frames, Gerry and Bryan were back in SO 4798 working on more of the inner parts of the internal framing.

A request from Ken was to complete the black gloss on the north end of RBr 1675, which in turn would enable him to mount the connection rain cover.

Jeff did the above, and then completed the glossing on both the outside and inside of the connection.

While one of the two benches is now complete, someone commented that the ironwork for the one from Hayles Abbey Halt looks still to be in undercoat. On closer inspection I discovered that it wasn't undercoat, but faded paint. How did we miss that?! Though with so many paint trestle jobs over the past few months, maybe not surprising.

Having done a good clean up job, Maurice paints on red oxide where required.

Now on to 1675 where Phil and Richard I are working on the smaller of the two skids in the pantry. Phil is connecting up the drain pipe.

The large skid awaits attention in the kitchen area.

Richard II sorting out more connections in the main control and distribution panel.

Phil, Mauruce and Alex taking a bit of time out. This is a very popular seat in the shade of the toilet block, especially on a hot day. It's also nice to sit here and do a bit of quiet hand sanding.

Just Bob K, Phil and Alex working on SO 4790 today. Alex begins with some general sanding on the Cotswold side double doors.

Phil went along the Cotswold side cleaning up the window frames and slider wings.

Great to see more line tape going on .......

........ which means more undercoating in Madder and Cream. I missed Bob K who was painting more Madder undercoat on the Malvern side. 

4790 is beginning to look good!