Monday 14th - A Routine Day

 Down to "just" 22°C today, although the team were still in recovery mode from the recent heatwave!

As is the routine, David, Tim and Peter were washing the Cotswold side of rake 1, positioned in platform 2. Paul was around but escaped the camera.

I went through both rakes with the spot mop. What is it about the buffet car in rake 2 that means it always needs a mop? Nice and clean after treatment.

The rest of the team today was Greg, Jane, John S, Kath, Lynn, Nigel, Rich, Roger C and Val.

Saturday 12th - You couldn't make it up!

Choosing a title for a blog post isn't always easy. While some are decided literally after taking a photo, others have you mulling for long minutes over what to put, desperately trying to avoid something bland.

For today's post the possibilities were almost endless, but it didn't take long to home in on the best one.

Many thanks to Tony and Alex for the extra photos.

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Although we still have the unpleasantly hot weather we had over 20 attending, with the Works busy throughout the day. Despite my best efforts I still wasn't able to capture everyone and completely missed Paul and Jenny cleaning more Rake 4 coaches ready for the Diesel Gala in 2 weeks time.

 

Alan completed the extensive metalwork repairs on the south end of RMB 1876. 

 

After the initial investigation, a proper start could now be made with the north end repairs where the toilet compartments would have to be dismantled to enable the job to be safely tackled. A lot of work had already been taking place and to my amazement I couldn't believe how much had been achieved in the background.

On entering the Barn I came across Simon and Tom wheeling out the old wall panelling from the two compartments. These of course could be used as templates for the new panelling for when the compartments are rebuilt.

The sinks for both compartments awaiting transport to a safe place of keeping. Phil, who does a lot of our plumbling work, has been busy with the dismantling.

 

Time to hop on board for a closer inspection, only to find that the through flooring has also been lifted. This is definitely a good move as a number of times the Indoor Gang have been tasked with resticking lifting areas of lino.

Tables piled high with more extracted items.

Not much more to remove and then Alan and Vic can get cracking on the repairs.

 

Phil and Stu discuss the progress.

A recap of the corrosion and proximity of the toilet compartments.

Ken begins the removal of the corridor connection.

Initially of course 1876 was brought in for a repaint into crimson and cream livery. The old transfers have been removed, but no time like the present to begin a general sand down of the body sides and Dave sets to with 80 grade paper.

[Photo : Alex]   Outside the Barn we had the monthly meet up of the Youth Group, the session being run by Alex and David.  There were a good number attending, working on both the weed spraying and Starfish wagons. The three photos show some of the group in action.

[Photo : Alex]  It's good to see them signwriting the Starfish.

[Photo : Alex]

As announced on Thursday, the weekend's running would be diesel haulage only because of the risk of lineside fires. The two Class 47s were in action.

In the Workshop Andy was back on his rebuild of the south end of SO 4798, cutting the next piece of sheet metal.

 

Then a quick check to ensure it fits before spot welding it into place.

Over to the vacuum cylinder servicing area where Tony is using the tungsten-carbide scraper to clean the worst of the grime off this cylinder. Not a cheap tool, but well worth the money as it does an excellent job.

Andy cleans the inside of the piston, a good job for acquiring black arms!

With the clean up completed, a coat of black MIO finishes Tony's job.

Tony meanwhile is having a good sweep up of the area.

Time for another weekly fire alarm test. Dennis and I usually take it in turns to do the testing, gradually moving through the eleven call points around the Works. Today it is the turn of the call point located outside Upholstery.

Now into Upholstery to see the progress of the various projects. Jane is working on a seat from one of the display coaches at Toddington, which is being re-covered with the Snapdragon moquette.

Laura and Peter are working on more of the latest Forest of Dean Railway commission, cutting out sections for re-covering the headrests.

I returned to Upholstery in the afternoon. Laura was now on her own and working on more cushions for selling in our Toddington and Broadway shops, and of course online. With our available moquette for the cushions, bags and spectacle cases gradually reducing, Laura has thought of ways to eke out our dwindling supply. With the stuffing removed, this particular cushion is now being taken apart.

To make the supplies last longer the backs of the latest batches of cushions are being made from mainly plain blue moquette, although in the examples above the red cushion is being backed by the pink moquette used for the first class seating in CK 16221.

Another excellent idea is to make a blue fabric cushion with a central section of patterned moquette. The Bournemouth Blue centre makes this cushion look quite stunning.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays some of the team adjourn to the Coffee Pot Cafe on Platform 1 for tea and cake or even a toasted teacake.

Maurice: "I was worried when Paul (Scouse) had the day off, but thankfully Dave was here taking the photo and paid for my tea!" ☺

[for those not in the know, this is a standing joke when they go off to the station cafe - actually Maurice had remembered his wallet, and he did pay for his tea, even offering to buy me one!]

Well, you just know that somewhere in the blog TSO 5023 was bound to appear. With the Malvern side now almost fully greyed up, areas needing secondary filler soon stood out. Martin worked on the upper section of the north end adding more filler.

Maurice meanwhile concentrated of the centre door, both sides and frame, neither of which had been undercoated. He spent some time with further cleaning up of both before applying masking tape.

Martin meanwhile was now undercoating the north end door frame with the Light Grey. He then completed the centre door on the Cotswold side where the sides remained unpainted.

It was good to see Pam back in. She tackled the lower half of the north end panel where, judging by the results below, showed that quite a bit of secondary work was needed.

With the coach sides progressing nicely, a start on the roof had to be made. Bob kicked off the job on the Cotswold half, initially vacuuming to remove the dust.

I later took over the job and, following the initial dust removal for each section, began scraping off any flaking paint and wire brushing rusty areas.

[Photo : Tony]   I returned to the north end where I could see a lot more rust that needed removing. Most of the roof can be reached from the high tower, but to clean up the central section adequately it will need the use of the overhead safety wire and harness.

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And finally :

From 2009 to 2017 a group of us used to have an occasional Saturday off and thoroughly enjoy a Vintage Trains trip, and from 2010 onwards always in Premier Dining. Over this lengthy period we had a fair number of days out, and starting from either Tyesley or Solihull, we travelled almost the length and breadth of England and Wales.

The highlight was the re-enactment of the Cheltenham Flyer, with 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' hauling us from Gloucester to Paddington and return on 11th May 2013. High speed was allowed above the standard 75 mph and we hit 82 on the up trip. Ray Churchill drove us to London and Ray Poole on the return. 

Unbeknown to us at the time was that Stu, now our Works Manager, was in 5043's tender helping to shove coal forward as the supply began to be used up.

Also unbeknown to us was that the winner of the raffle for the engine's headboard was none other than Maurice, about a year before he joined our railway and became a volunter with us.

You really couldn't make it up!

Maurice had carefully looked after his prize since then and then decided it would be better set up in our Mess Room for everyone to enjoy. So a quick diversion to his house so that it could be loaded into the car and brought in.

And of course if we have another Castle in one of our steam galas ............

The back of the headboard with Bob Meanley's signature.

And some memories of the day itself:

After an epic run, the arrival at Paddington.

We certainly attracted a lot of attention.

Phil and Paul enjoying the evening meal.

[Photo : Louise Clark]   Passing through Stroud Station on the return journey.

Back at Gloucester with the engine facing the right way round thanks to the Gloucester triangle.

The Class 47 backs on to lead for the return to Tyseley.

A very pleasant surprise was to see Tony in his role as a Great Western Train Manager. Phil, Paul, Tony and Phil J. make for a happy scene and the last stage of what has been a fantastic day. I wonder what attracted Phil's attention?