Tuesday 12th - A good attendance

On an even hotter day (up to 34C at Winchcombe) we had 12 attending, a good number for a Tuesday and considering how hot it was going to become.

The sack truck fully refurbished and ready to go out.

It was placed by the Usk Goods Office - hopefully the FOWS will like it there.

The second of the two replacement doors for the Queen Mary brake van being prepared by Maurice. The screw holes are being sanded after being filled. This was followed by a coat of primer and then dark grey undercoat.

Paul cleaning up bolts from the Open C's axleboxes ............

......... and then applying copper grease.

Next the axleboxes themselves, receiving a thorough clean up.

A powered brush soon makes a good job of it.

Meanwhile Robert and Chris were asked to make some new wooden bearings. 

Alex appeared with the replacement buffer and spring for the Open C wagon which he had collected from Dunster, courtesy of the GWR 813 Loco Group.

While on my way to the office I spotted this rather lovely bag that Laura had made in a moquette I had not seen before.

We are gradually running out of the rolls of moquette that Stu had acquired from the NYMR. As such Laura has been ekeing out our supply by backing cushions with moquettes for which we have a greater supply, as on the right. On the left Bournemouth Blue is one of our regular moquettes, but to make better use of this, she has introduced a very fetching design by making it a feature and using a basic blue moquette as the main covering.

And of course it's always worth making two. Many of our cushion sales are in matching pairs, which includes a discount!

We actually had a decent amount of rain overnight, but with temperatures once again in the high range it's another period of diesel-only running. D6948, looking lovely in her green livery, passes with Rake 2 in tow on the Cheltenham train.

Robert repairs another base section of internal window frame for SO 4798 ..........

.......... which Pam later varnishes. She added a little wood dye to help the repairs blend in better.

Meanwhile her very thorough efforts at the cleaning up of the old track gauge have really paid off and it now looks very good.

The recently made circular light fixture for 4798 is being put through some resistence testing by Phil.

Bob, our flooring contractor for very many years, came to take measurements for both the internal carpeting and coir matting in the vestibules in 4798.

Good to see James in today, carrying on with the metalwork repairs at the south end of 4798.

In the Barn Ken continues the strip down and rebuild of the south corridor connection from RMB 1876.

We need to keep up the bodyside efforts on 1876 as this will follow TSO 5023 into the Paintshop. Keith concentrates on removing the triple banded lower line. We need to remove all traces of this as its replacement will be the basic black/yellow configuration.

Ainsley concentrates on the top line and gutter panel.

Tony did more general bodyside sanding. Here he is removing the grab handle, quietly praying that there isn't the sound of the captive nut breaking loose and dropping down. 

Finally into the Paintshop and progress with 5023. The newly opened tin of Light Grey MIO needs a lot of stirring. Both Richard and I took turns, spending a good 10 minutes ensuring it was properly mixed and the mica evenly distributed.

Then up on the scaffold to add a second coat to the area above the drainage channel on the Malvern side of the roof.

David painted the windows and intervening panels on the north half of the Cotswold side.

Next the north end door.

Richard moved on to a catch up job, painting the door and doorframe edges around the coach.