Saturday 12th - Out with the old .....

 ......  and in with the new, but more on that later. 

Another bright day with 22 attending and a lot of variety.

It's back to the MICA van with Chris checking more of the roof. A bit more repair work needed here.

Later the fun and games of lifting and temporarily laying out the canvas. A struggle to start with but with help from the sides and far end the canvas was completely laid out. It will now remain loosely laid to let any creases drop out.

In Upholstery it was just Laura again. She was preparing a length of the lovely Horsechestnut Leaf moquette from which to make some piping.

Laura demonstrates where the piping and the length of moquette, to which it will be attached, will go on the front of the seat cushion.

The piping is now created from the original length of moquette ..........

....... and then attached to the associated length of moquette.

I returned at the end of the day to see the finished job. The seat cushion now really looks good, an excellent result, and will be a great improvement in BCK 21092.

In Tuesday's posting I wondered how the sales of cushions, bags and glasses cases have been doing. Jeff (C&W's Finance Officer) had read the blog and  emailed me with the relevant information. Since May 2023 when we started this sideline we have sold, both in our shops and online: -

171 cushions, 64 bags, and 98 glasses cases.

A wonderful effort by our Upholstery team.

Well this is a first! A photo taken in our changing room and store, where Phil is washing the glass covers from the central ceiling lights in SO 4798.

The next job is cleaning the metal rims. 

The rebuilt covers now on the Paintshop trestles where the rims await a coat of silver Hammerite.

The next job is using a die to clean the threads of the securing bolts for the lights.

That Southern whistle blows and we are quickly out to catch P&O passing with Rake 2 ........

....... and that means the mini group of crimson & cream coaches. BCK 21272 is in front of faded RMB 1808, which can be seen far left. Roll on when RMB 1876, currently in the Barn, can have its repaint and we will then have a rake of 5 crimson & cream coaches. I will see if I can capture the current group when the train returns.

Mentioning 1876, it could be a while before it comes into the Paintshop judging by the findings at both ends. The base of the Cotswold side doorframe also looks somewhat woebegone.

The north end certainly needs some remedial work with the base of the connection support pillar rusted away.

Returning to the south end with Vic working on the Malvern side and Alan on the Cotswold side ........

....... where Alan has already cleaned up the base plate and welded in a new section of the very heavy top hat bar that forms one of the four connection support pillars.

Vic is similarly cleaning up the metalwork in preparation for welding.

With the electrical connection pattress removed Alan grinds the rust away from underneath.

The cut support pillar and cleaned up area of baseplate now ready for repair.

More metalworking by James at the south end of SO 4798 where the central section (under the heavy corridor connection) has been removed and the remaining metalwork cleaned up ready for welding on the replacement sheet, which is leaning against the tower frame.

Returning later to see the new sheet in place and James grinding the tack welds.

More fabrication work for John, sketching out a new cover plate for one of the sheeps head steam valves.

Kevin works hard to keep all our stores, which are now very extensive, in good order.

A cheeky smile from Pam as she adds a second coat of GW Cream to the frame of the new stand for the track chair boot scrapers. The sides and base of the tray were painted in GW Brown. The top of the tray will be painted on Tuesday. Collection will be on Wednesday, and it is destined for display at 

Winchcombe Station.

Tom and Simon are doing the final touches to the new woodwork bench which has been made from cedar plank offcuts and the metal frame rescued from the old Building Services hut.

A repaired vice joins another of the originals.

Simon carefully rounds off the edges. The final action was to coat the top with Danish oil.

Overall this is a very neat job ..........

....... and definitely a case of "out with the old and in with the new".

Alex's hastily scribbled instructions for the Open C wagon prior to him disappearing to Toddington for the day.

With some more GW Grey paint now available Maurice soon got cracking on a major top coating effort.

Meanwhile Paul went round the wagon making sure all the nuts and bolts were completely tightened.

Then he joined Maurice with the top coating but worked on the frame.

A lod of top coated planks .......

[Photo : Paul E]   ....... later protected with a (very) large notice.

Outside the sound of the 03 shunting is always a magnet. With Ian driving and Andy as shunter, SKs 24804 and 4867 are propelled in the back siding.

Later 24804 was back in the Barn. Ian uses the pinch bar to get the coach in exactly the right position for the jacks.

Shunting bogies is always interesting. They have to be strapped together and there is a special towing bar for the rake to be linked to the 03.

3850 creeps up to the signal with Rake 1.

With the three bogies now linked and fixed to the 03, the entourage moves away under Andy's guidance.

3850 gets the right away and steadily comes past.

Now on the jack road, Andy guides Ian back towards the Barn.

Meanwhile P&O has whistled and pulls away with its train. Right, let's see if I can capture the 5 coach section of Rake 2 that will one day be 5 crimson and cream coaches. Almost there and .... argh! The 03 drifts into view with its bogies. All you can do is laugh ☺

Locking up at the end of the day, a shot of 24804 up on the jacks with the refurbished bogies now back underneath.

Varnishing is definitely the name of the game now with RBr 1675. Phil takes on windows on the Malvern side, ........

....... while Bob completes two areas on the Cotswold side that couldn't be done on Thursday because of some paint snagging.

Jeff arrives and also takes on windows on the Cotswold side.

Later Bob moves round and begins main varnishing on the Malvern side.

Finally Jeff gets going on a job he (in fact we all) love doing. The first of the two instruction plates from the MICA van is white lettered.