Today was another special one for both C & W and the Railway as a whole when we said our final goodbye to Bob Mack. The last coach of the first Cheltenham train was reserved for Bob's family and members of the Railway who wished to attend. On the return journey Bob's ashes were placed in 3850's firebox and a long whistle blown.
Everyone detrained on arriving at Winchcombe and made their way to the viewing area between the signalbox and the Works. Here Richard spoke about Bob's amazing life with the Railway, literally from the start of the GWSR and all the roles he took on. Gillian, Bob's wife, followed with a moving tribute to him and unveiled the plaque that had been mounted on the fence.
Afterwards Richard gave the party a guided tour of the Works where Bob spent many happy hours on the days he was with us and not elsewhere on the Railway in one of his many other roles.
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Happy memories of Bob doing his favourite job in C & W. How we wish he was still with us.
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Now on to the day's activities.
Firstly RMB 1876 where Tony is continuing the secondary filling and sanding where still required on the Cotswold side.
The Malvern side sanding wasn't quite completed as I thought on Thursday, so Ainsley takes this in hand beginning with some further work on a window frame.
Meanwhile back to the Cotswold side where Martin completes the repairs I was doing on the south door frame with a coat of light grey undercoat.
Back to the Malvern side where Bob begins greying up window frames.
Pam is back on the frame of the Malvern side central door.
The Malvern side south end doorframe needs more attention. Robert works out and measures up what is required. However we first needed to remove a section of capping strip, which Ainsley subsequently took care of.
Another repair, this time at the opposite end where Robert has replaced a broken bit of beading on the door liner.
The north end of the coach with the floors out in both toilet compartments and the corridor.
Dave assists Phil with loading a cleaned up sink.
A visit to Upholstery where Laura is checking the final bit of the fourth contract from the Forest of Dean Railway.
Jane pauses while spray glueing the soft lining fabric to the foam filling.
Robert works in the Malvern side toilet compartment in SO 4798 preparing the window space for more hardwood frame.
John is back to creating more pins for our freight wagons.
Clive begins blacking the underframe on the weed spraying wagon.
BSK 35308 is the first coach on the Railway destined to go into blue and grey livery. Before it goes to the Diesel Dept for repainting we are undertaking some bodywork repairs.
James is currently working on one of the Cotswold doors and side panelling. Below he is recreating the base plate for the bottom hinge.
The wagon team are having a major exploration with Mink D 28833 to assess the state of the planking. I suggested putting chalk crosses on the bad planks.
Maurice and Paul began today's work with a combination of scraping and hot air gun.
Tony worked on one of the steps using a combination of anglegrinder and hammer.
Maurice holds up the first one removed to be kept as a template.
Then followed more cleaning up of the frame.
I made a tour of the van so far assessed. There are an awful lot of chalk crosses.
Maurice watches the last train of the day on the final section to Toddington.
At the 1st., 2nd., and 3rd. pictures, Richard does have a very apt name, as he looks very much like richard Dean Anderson, Brig. general Jack O'Neill, of Stargate SG1 and its spin offs.
ReplyDeleteI noted in the picture where Pam is working on the centre door, that there is an ETH heater to the right of the picture. I thought you didn't use electric heating, or is this one due for removal?
There are indeed a lot of planks listed for replacement on the MINK D. I am sure that the wagon, as are all the coaches, will look absolutely perfect in the end and yet another tribute to Winchcombe C&W.
Regards, Paul.
Regards, Paul.
Seeing the amount of X marked planking on the MINK D, would it not make sense to bite the bullet and replace the whole lot now rather than having a repeat process in a year or two time? Spend now, save later.
ReplyDeleteThat assumes all the Xs are actually going! I think someone may have got a little overzealous...
DeleteI've not had a proper assessment yet, it's clearly worse than we first thought though.
Considerations against "biting the bullet" and replacing the whole lot include quality of wood. That's all original BR or GWR planking, and the original quality will always be higher than anything we can get today at a sensible price. If it's still good now, then with the right protection and regular care, it will probably still last longer than today's fast grown timber.
I do try and consider the environment as well, no need to cut down another tree if it's not necessary. My current thinking is keep the end planking bar one or two spot replacements. Cotswold side probably is just a little too far gone so not worth patching, do full replacement. Not had time to stare at the Malvern side for long enough yet to make a proper decision. Maybe enough good planks still on the Cotswold side to do some replacements there, see what happens.
Equally, if it really does all need to be done, it shall be done.