Weds 9th / Thurs 10th - Blue skies

A two-day posting with a little bonus bit in the middle. Many thanks to Gerry for a great set of photos for Wednesday, and the interesting extra bit on the Tarka Valley Railway.

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Wednesday

With blue skies and the dry weather there has already been quite an effort on the van shell which is destined to become the Railway's weed killing wagon.

Perhaps John knows how the vehicle will look when completed.

The old floor has been completely stripped away.

More cleaning up of the main frame.

In the Workshop the rebuilding of SO 4798's south end continues with the Malvern side toilet compartment window steadily coming back together.

The grill is now back on .........

....... while inside Rex is reinstating the internal wood framing.

In the Barn Ken is still grappling with the south end corridor connection on RMB 1876, which is proving to be a stubborn beast to remove 

John continues his efforts on the bogies from SK 24804. The brake mechanism is being reconnected and, to check the setting is correct, John has temporarily fitted new brake blocks. The original brake blocks will be reinstated as there is plenty of life left in them and 24804 will only be used occasionally in either Rake 3 or Rake 4 for galas and other special events.

In discussion with Ian, our HOD.

Simon constructing the new bench for the Woodwork shop and making excellent use of the offcuts of cedar resulting from the rebuild of the Open C wagon.

In Upholstery Richard and Laura have begun stripping down the seat cushion retrieved from BCK 21092.

On the other side of the running lines and in a very different venue for C&W staff, Ben, David and Dave have started work on the door repairs to the LNWR van.

Ben inside the nearby rebuilt Usk Goods Office. The office, garden and goods platform are open during galas. This is a lovely feature to have as part of Winchcombe Station.

[Photo taken Saturday 5th April]

With the old Building Services hut due for demolition a lot of stuff has been reclaimed, including this pillar drill that Phil is checking and reassembling.

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Tarka Valley Railway

The Tarka Valley Railway is based at Great Torrington, Devon. 

It is currently just 300 yards in length but is already very popular. Currently plans are in place to extend the line to the first bridge over the River Torridge and build a halt. The very popular Tarka Trail begins here.

The long term aim is to recreate the old LSWR line between Torrington and Bideford and to advance education about the history of industry and transportation in the Torridge Valley.

www.tarkavalleyrailway.org

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Thursday 

Did anyone notice something about the Tuesday post? Not a single mention of RBr 1675! No, it's not finished, our train ride plus other jobs meant nothing was done on the coach.

So to make amends ........

Bob continued with the first coat of varnish on the Cotswold side, initially starting with a light sand with 240 paper.

This included the lower panels where last Saturday Alex had been lining out his lettering. 

Bob got to the end of the Cotswold side and then moved round to the Malvern side. The windows on the Cotswold side still need varnishing as are two areas where I was doing some late paint snagging.

At the start of the day Maurice and I went into Upholstery to view the progress. The seat cushion already looks so much better with the Silver Chestnut Leaf moquette now going on.

Ah, reference my query about whether all the seating from SO 4798 has now been re-covered, the labelled precut sections here suggest that there is still more to do

A very garish set of cushions in the making, but somebody will be very pleased to buy them. I wonder how many cushions, bags and spectacle cases have now been sold? Laura has mentioned over 50 bags and that was some time ago.

The new workbench for the Woodwork shop is really coming together.

Catching up on Tuesday's work on 4798, some of the ground down screw heads under one of the windows.

With no work immediately available on the Open C wagon, Maurice began sanding down the fibre paste filler along 4798's rivet line.

A combination of pad and hand sanding was doing a fine job. Still a few feet left to do.

Fun, games and repartee, plus of course the usual "insults"!

Gerry and Rex continue preparing the internal wood framing for the Malvern side toilet compartment window.

Phil brings out a box full of sidelight covers from 4798.

More conversion being done by Roger and Ian to enable the use of a single LED bulb, a great saving in coach battery power and eliminating the use of dynamos.

More boxes of the sidelight components for cleaning and then either painting or varnishing.

The glass in the light covers is being cleaned by David, initially with a Stanley blade scraper .....

....... and then later with very fine grade steel wool and Wurth cleaner.

Taking a break to enjoy P&O passing on the Cheltenham train.

The second crossing of the day with the Bubblecar heading into the station while, out of sight, P&O waits for the exchanged token.

What was one is now two. The securing plate for the emergency ladder in BSK 35308 now needs a second part which awaits priming and painting. When put in place I will get a photo of the new arrangement.