Weds 10th/Thurs 11th - A new location

Once again, grateful thanks to Gerry for Wednesday's photos.

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Wednesday

Most of the photos are based around the development of the weed spraying wagon where Gerry is working.

Bob and Bryan setting up the first of the corrugated roofing sheets.

 Nick is grinding the top cross bar at the south end.

Looks like the gas axe is needed, though not for cutting.

Tony is working on the drawbar, extracting the various parts for servicing.

Something won't free up so Nick tries some gentle warming up.

Tony with one of the drawhooks that has been extracted - was it this that needed freeing up?

The south end with a roofing sheet clamped in place.

Nick welds one of the strengthening bars to the frame at the south end ........

...... and then cleans up the weld with a grinder.

In RMB 1876's south vestibule Phil is setting up one of the tripod lamps. It is quite noticeable how lighting that is adequate for the passengers can be pretty useless when trying to do jobs, something Pam and I found when painting the north end vestibule and toilet compartments in TSO 5023. A headtorch can be very useful in this situation.

Now investigating the tank above the north end vestibule.

In SO 4798's south vestibule Simon is working on the ceiling.

A photo taken by me the next day of some newly made cushions. Last week Glyn, in charge of our shops, had cleared out the supply on these shelves. It looks like Upholstery have been busy producing more. The sales of their efforts continue to do well.

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Thursday

It's back to the weed spraying wagon and Maurice continuing his cleaning up and priming of the sole bar and underframe. Firstly some vacuuming to remove all the residue from the cleaning .......

....... and then back to the powered wire brush.

Gerry is in the process of installing the coach grab handles on both sides of the van.

These are being placed either side of the steps. The two remaining handles allocated are hanging from the hooks at the end of the Paintshop. Both were black glossed by me during the late afternoon.

The sanding down of the old paintwork on RMB 1876 is going to go on for sometime yet if we want to achieve the excellent finish achieved with TSO 5023. Ainsley uses the powered wire brush to removed cracked sections of the rivet line.

Jeff is sanding the window frames. This has to be done by hand to enable all the nooks and crannies to be properly treated.

Getting door frames and door edges well sanded down is a pet theme of mine. This is an essential aspect as we do not want doors sticking with too much paint.

Alan grinds his welds on the final bit of the rebuild at the north end.

Everything primed. Ken should now be able to reinstate the corridor connection when that is ready.

On the counter inside 1876, next to the spare fan,  the large lights ready for Phil to reinstate in the customer area ceiling .......... and below, job done!

Paul returning from more floor cleaning in Rake 3. It's just over two weeks to the Rail 200 Weekend, so we need to crack on with all the preparations as it will be on us before we know it.

More vacuum cylinder rebuilding following the refurbishment. 

What those instruction plates at both ends of the MICA van actually say. It will be so good to see both this and the Open C wagon move out of the Works on Saturday.

We have got Ralph back for the final time to do his magic on TSO 5023. Both he and Bob are going to add the second coat of varnish on both sides. Ralph initially goes over the first coat of varnish with a scotch brite pad on the Cotswold side, while Bob does the same on the Malvern side.

Varnishing now well underway on the Cotswold side.

The second coat completed with my barrier items in place to keep everyone away from the side of the coach. Even with this there were still some near misses. I should have moved that tower! However all was well and first thing on Saturday I will remove the barrier items and reinstate the grab handles.

Now starting on the Malvern side. This also went well. 

Overall it has been a cracking job and it has set a new level for us to achieve when we get RMB 1876 into the Paintshop on Saturday.

Overall it was a good day with everything so much fresher outside following the heavy bouts of rain after that overlong dry spell.

The "Cheltenham Fryer" headboard proudly stating "World's Fastest Chips" - a striking parody of the famous Cheltenham Flyer headboard! This train had the lunchtime Fish and Chips where you are sat in "Mary". Having enjoyed this myself I can thoroughly recommend it. All dates for this were soon stating "Sold Out", so if you are interested in trying this, then book early when next year's events appear on the website.

Looking very striking in its new paint, Class 26 26043  comes past on the northbound train.

Now for some shunting. With Stu driving the 03 and the special towing bar mounted, the shunter heads off down the Works siding to collect the bogies currently stored there.

With the bogies collected and stored elsewhere in the yard, and the towing bar removed, Ian now drives the 03 with the Fruit C van and Santa coach collected from Platform 1 Bay at the far end of the Works siding.

Stu now guides Ian as the two vehicles are slowly propelled along the nearby yard siding.

The whole object of the moves is to position RBr 1675 in Platform 1 Bay to enable easy access for all the catering staff who will be undergoing the necessary training.

Now nicely positioned in the station and something very different for our visitors to see.

Phil, Paul and Bob enjoying an ice cream after a busy day.