Saturday 1st - We're back!

 

It was great to have trains back running again, and a bright fine day it was too, albeit with a frost to start off with. After the short but busy winter maintenance period, we could get back to doing what we do best - waving at trains.

"Seeing as the workshops are quite empty at the moment..." I asked, "Could we come inside?" Robert captured the shunting team kindly picking up the Open C to bring into the works.

We tried the workshop, where it was heated, but it didn't quite fit.

Oh well, the barn will do, dry and level ground to work off, luxury!

One bit of metalwork we hadn't got round to reinstating were the diagonal braces. That was John's mission for today. As they won't actually be seen, we're not too worried about replicating the original rivetted look, bolts and welding this time.

Robert and Chris started looking at the planks for the floor. It was all going to be so easy until I showed them the diagonals John was putting on. "That's going to make it a bit more complicated!" The necessary rebates were carefully marked out

And Robert captured Chris chiselling away.

Paul captured me with the angle grinder, doing a job I'd wanted to do for ages tidying up some of the very messy BR-era gas weld repairs.

These bits and various other patches were then primed and undercoated by Paul and Maurice.

The less good news was on the buffers. We knew they were seized and needed to be looked at, so we had the first one off today. Our hope was that once taken apart we could sort out whatever was wrong. We were soon disabused of that ambition when the spring came out in 4 parts and we found the buffer head split in the casting housing and still seized solid. That one is most definitely beyond repair, and we're now not feeling very optimistic about the other 3....

Oh well, lets go and watch another train. This time the guest bubblecar on loan from Chinnor until April. We don't have any other DMU timetables until September, by which time hopefully our own bubblecar will be finished.

In fact the weather was so nice we had lunch outside on the platform, soaking up the atmosphere as Foremarke came past again.

The other major task today was the beginning of work on TSO 4867. It came in on the jack road, initially to have the interior stripped for removal of 'heritage' materials.

James needed the loo twice...

It didn't take long before everything was stacked in the barn, ready for contractors in a week or two to remove the currently undisturbed material.

Back to 4798, James began the rebuild of the metal framing after his vandalism session last week.

While Ken was working on the South end, I imagine in connection with the comms cord apparatus.

James also kindly saved me a job adding the roundel on the side... :-)

Onto the RBr then, Dave finished off vacuuming the roof.

And Bob cracked on with the cream on the Cotswold side. I was quite glad to have avoided that large cream panel with no windows!

I finished the day doing the first coat of gloss brown on the Malvern side instead.

Before writing the whiteboard for the Open C for the week. Hopefully we should see this come together quite nicely soon.