Weds 19th / Thurs 20th - Two busy days

Wednesday

Another excellent set of photos from Gerry covering the day's activities.

Beginning with Ken preparing the north end of RMB 1876 for fitting the passcom equipment.

Inside the coach Trevor is preparing the centre section of the ceiling for painting. Filler is being added to mask the old screw holes where the original strip lighting had been fitted.

Ben setting up the required extension cable ready for pad sanding the filled areas as well as removing the crusty paint remaining after the lighting strips had been removed.

 Simon preparing more wood for the toilet compartment rebuilding in 1876.

A warm welcome to Jim who has transferred from S & T to our Woodwork team. Jim was originally with our Painting team before moving to S & T.

Eve and Chris are stapling padding to what looks like part of one of the NYMR DMU seats.

Ceri and Laura are preparing Snapdragon moquette for seat side panels in SO 4798.

John working on the bogies destined for 4798.

Rex, Bryan and Nick working on the removable safety rails on the weed spraying wagon.

Bob is connecting the spray liquid tanks.

Nick is creating identifiers for use when reassembling the wagon.

The various identifiers in the form of welds.

Bryan applying more green primer.

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Thursday

Another very cold day but there was plenty to be getting on with. Apologies for the heavy coverage of 1876's progress, but being in the Paintshop I'm more able to capture what is going on.

Paul has another vac throughout 1876 following Wednesday's work on the ceilings.

Alan replaces the heater cover in the north vestibule after giving it a good internal clean.

Roger removed some of the arm rests in need of re-covering.

With the relevant seating area well protected with old curtains and blankets, Bob prepares the ceiling panels for undercoating.

Later he applies a special primer to the central sections of the ceiling.

Outside there was a concentrated effort to continue the catch up with the painting. Martin top coated parts of the Cotswold side centre door and frame, and then moved on to the south door.

Phil black glossed the remaining undercoated area to the right of the corridor connection. He then painted the connection bellows in matt black.

 

Looks like Ken had to cut out the metal panelling where the passcom chain passes through. It was the same on the Malvern side.

Ainsley said that the Malvern side south door frame needed a bit more filler.

Martin's top coating was moving on very well.

With final sanding completed Ainsley began undercoating the door frame.

Richard enjoys doing windows, always making a very good job of it. He made a start on second top coating, initially giving the paintwork a light sand.

The undercoated north end panel - everyone comments on the brightness of the Express Red undercoat. The cream panel above was left because of the cut out hole above where the passcom equipment is located.

Richard now undercoating the first window.

Ainsley now well into completing his area.

Window painting is now well underway with Ainsley joining Richard.

Almost all the windows on the Malvern side have now been done with each one indicated so we know where to continue. Jeff surveys the progress.

In the Workshop Bob and Pete, our regular flooring contractors, have made a start on screeding the vestibules in SO 4798. Pete mixes up a bucket of screed.

The north vestibule is carefully laid.

The completed south vestibule.

Jeff adds a second coat of Silver Hammerite to the waste bins from the toilet compartments in 4798.

He then moved on to the heating pipe covers and completed this batch by painting the top sides.

The side panels for 4798 being made by Upholstery the day before.

Headrests too!

Derek works on the south end pair of doors on the Malvern side of the Monster van, planing the edges to make them shut properly.

The weed spraying wagon is looking very good.

Meanwhile a considerable amount of shunting was taking place to enable RBr 1675 to be included in Rake 1 and replace 1672.

Well, there it is, positively gleaming! I avoided including badly faded maroon SO 4787 which was coupled on the right.

1675's tool and instruction manual box and how everything fits inside it.

Richard fitting the box in the electrical cupboard at the south end of 1675.

We get through a lot of rags in the Paintshop, and I have even set up a box load in the Barn. I refill the Paintshop box to overflowing, but it doesn't take long to empty it yet again. Old cotton sheets, pillow cases, duvet covers, towels of all types and clothes are always welcome, but not silk, nylon, wool and synthetic materials.

The four armrests needing attention in Upholstery now ready for repair.

We weren't the only busy ones yesterday at Winchcombe. Rose was actively adding futher decorations to the station.

Back in the shed just across from the Works, she is putting together the greenery ready for display.

[Photo : Rose]  All the time she was there she had company in the form of a friendly little Robin, who's main aim was to help himself to the berrys. So if you wonder why the station displays are without berries, you will know why!

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To answer a comment from Tuesday's post.

WharferatNovember 20, 2025 at 4:31 PM

I have enjoyed following the blog for a few years now. I have nothing but admiration for all the work done by everyone involved, steel, wood, fabric, electrical, painting, etc.
When you bring a carriage into the workshop for refurbishment, do you have a tentative target turnround time? I realise that sometimes once started you find a lot more work than initially expected, but is that possibility factored in when deciding the next project?
Thanks.

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Thank you for your compliment.

With respect to timings, yes we do have deadlines, although this doesn't often become a deciding factor as to which vehicle will be next. As you say, so often the unexpected arises, although from experience as our coaches continue to age,  the "unexpected" is increasingly tending to be the "expected". So the answer is, yes we do try to factor in this aspect, but it's often impossible to be completely accurate. Also, so much depends on who turns up to do the work - one week we are competing for space, the next only a small number turn up, one of the negative aspects of a volunteer workforce which in turn can make planning difficult.