2024 roundup

Another year over in Carriage & Wagon, so time to look over what we've done this year. There's always more than you think, and inevitably some stuff has to be missed out here otherwise it would get a bit unwieldy! But here are the highlights...

We'll start off with the RBr 1675, which continues to be something of a saga! However, much as it might not feel like it at times, it has made great strides this year.

Outside with most of the welding complete we stripped the body mostly back to bare metal before a lot of filling, sanding, painting, and repeating.

Inside we had the new kitchen surfaces fitted, all looking very smart now.

The servery is looking pretty complete...

And the passenger saloon is looking smart too with its new floor and oak panelling, all the radiators are in too.

Winding the clock right back to the beginning of the year, the woodwork team did a superb job with the new bar fitted in the new Cotswold Halt. With a tight deadline to be done before Cheltenham Gold Cup, the team delivered on time!

The first wagon of the year went out in February, as we finished off our our little collection of static wagons for Toddington in the form of the GWR creosote tank 43930.

After that in quick succession we had GW/SR van 144678 and GWR ply mink 65643 in for repairs and repaints. These were completed and back in the goods train in time for the May Steam gala.

The new coach project for 2024 has been SO 4798, which is having substantial window frame and end metalwork repairs, and an upgrade inside to make it a bit more interchangeable with a First Open.

The team have been working their way along the coach cutting out steelwork and replacing, with the carpenters following behind.

The main wagon project of the year has been the GWR Mica B 79636. Works have been a fair bit more extensive than anticipated, it was supposed to be a straightforward external re-plank but ended up being a bit more complicated.

Bending new handrails for it was an interesting challenge though!

GWR Open C 99879 was also fully stripped back to a bare frame for grit-blasting and full restoration.

The frame is now all painted, with a brand new curbrail welded together.

We managed a quick repaint on SO 4790 over the Summer, which was looking quite tired, and even managed to do a quick panel repair too.

It emerged in crimson & cream livery, as part of our plan to phase out maroon and replace with crimson & cream.

Along with that, BCK 21272 arrived new to the railway, recently repainted and overhauled.

All it needed was a bit of a spruce up inside, which we soon dealt with. Both should be in front line service next year, having been on the subs bench for the latter half of the year.

The upholstery team continue in their entrepreneurial endeavours, with glasses cases, bags and cushions flying off the shelves.

Contract work for other railways also continue, the Dean Forest being a valued partner again.

Up at Toddington the Wednesday evening wagon team started on the restoration of GWR Open A 31554.

Finishing with the other longer term project in C&W, FK 13326. After a major rebuild at both ends, its protected refurbishment is finally nearing completion, with painting well on the way to completion. It should be in service for the beginning of the new season.

A quick look at the blog stats for the year, 228,000 views this year, and over 300 comments, which is quite incredible. Thanks to everyone for your interest, it makes writing all the blog posts thoroughly worthwhile.

Always a hostage to fortune looking too far ahead in C&W, but 2025 should see the RBr finally finished (!), 4798 will probably be there or there abouts by the end, and of course the FK will be out for the beginning of the season. On the wagon side, we should see the completion of the Open C and Mica, and hopefully the water tank at Toddington we'll finish off too. The plan is at least one of the air ministry tanks brought up from Cheltenham will get done. As for anything beyond that, watch this space!

In the meantime, happy new year, we're all looking forward to another year of C&W. 

Saturday 28th - Good to get out

I guess it was no surprise to see a good attendance with the need to get out and about after the Christmas indulgences. Here's hoping everyone had an enjoyable Christmas.

Starting with a real highlight! FK 13326 can hold its head high as it will emerge from the Works as the first of our coaches with BR roundels.

Alex makes use of the heavy perfectly-sized bin lid to soak the first transfer in readiness for mounting. According to the instructions this should soak for about 20-25 minutes to loosen the transfer from its paper base.

Carefully sliding the wet transfer off the paper backing, Alex mounts it on to the coach body side. The correct position has already been marked with chalk. The transfer is steadily manoeuvred into place and the creases and bubbles carefully wiped away.

Finally more careful smoothing and removal of water droplets.

The end result looking a treat. The second transfer will go on when the panelling on the other side is fully painted. Replacing the existing GWSR roundels will probably be a very gradual job and done when coaches are refurbished or in for quick repaints. This will be apply to chocolate & cream coaches only as crimson & cream coaches were left plain.

Meanwhile Jeff had taken over from me in removing the line tapes from the Cotswold side north half. He then moved onto window scraping on the same side.

For a while Pam joined in. There was too much activity in the end vestibules for her to return to the door painting that she was doing on Christmas eve.

Tony taped the bottom line on the large Malvern side panel and then painted the yellow band. Unfortunately I missed taking a photo of him.

Much later in the day Pam was able to access the door and corner at the south end on the Malvern side and almost completed the livery undercoating.

Alex, having spent some time with the Open C wagon, returned to 13326 to apply the stars on the solebar that are used to indicate the positions of the vacuum cylinder drawstrings.

With the star secured in place, he carefully pencils over the shape to leave the French chalk outline on the painted surface. The star is then painted within the chalk outline.

Now on to the next indicator on the Malvern side. The paint surface on the Cotswold side was a little too rough to do this, so the relevant area was sanded and a fresh coat of gloss black applied. The indicator will be painted there on Tuesday.

Some good progress was made by Chris and Robert with the problematical doors on the Cotswold side of the MICA van .........

....... and at last the planks could go on and that part of the rebuild completed. Chris is drilling another screw hole to secure the bottom hinge.

It's all looking good!

Robert adds more mount points at the north end.

Maurice applies top coat to the axleboxes and wheels.

Our fabricator John has an interesting task to recreate this corroded frame from the MICA van.

Laura doing some more servicing, this time on the overlocking machine.

Later she was making more spectacle cases ready for the new season and looking happy while she worked. 

Kevin sorting out more storage. As stated before, all his efforts to organise our storage, both inside the Works and in our external facilities, have been very worthwhile and a great help to our day to day running.

Ken is sorting out some spare brackets for coach steam heating pipes. These later ended up on our Paintshop hooks ready for priming and painting.

With another window on the Cotswold side of SO 4798 repaired, Alan coats the inner surface with a protective coat of MIO.

Then on to the next one. The cut out section is now used as a template.

The various bits of sheet metal ready for welding in place.

The first window had been primed on the outside.

James returned to his repairs on the south end of 4798, carefully rebuilding the corner to retain the correct shape of the curve.

All new sections spot welded in place. When fully welded up James will straighten the bottom of the corner section.

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A trip on the trains for a change

As so often happens, the feeling that there is work to be done can be very strong. The result is that many of us spend all our time at the Railway in the Works and hardly ever get to ride in the coaches we restore. And as proof of this the little group intending to have a trip today ended up with just Pam and myself.

We caught the first train heading to Cheltenham. Dinmore Manor made a fine sight emerging from the currently ever present mist.

A very happy Pam, and no wonder as it was for her well over a year ago that she last had a trip on the trains. I had at least managed a couple of Fish & Chip Specials and a brief trip to Toddington with Robert to take some much needed cushions to the shop.

While the station area had seemed less foggy, once out in the countryside it was very different.

At Cheltenham we were greeted by a very large number of passengers who I imagine would have considerably filled the train. No surprise that many got off at Broadway to walk into the village.

On the return journey the lengthy stop at Toddington where again it was less foggy, so some nice clear shots of Dinmore.

The shop at Toddington is excellent with a great range of things for sale. It was nice to see the good stock of cushions, bags and spectacle cases with a notice stating where they were made - a proud moment for both Pam and myself.

Pam bought two cute little creatures for a friend's young children, while being a total puzzleholic I couldn't resist two of the four excellent puzzles of scenes from the Railway. 

And finally: -

My railway bag is stored at home on top of my wardrobe. Ginger, my adorable scruffy cat, seems to like my bag as a new place for a sleep!