Weds 25th / Thurs 26th - Getting ready

With the new season beginning in just over a week's time there is the final rush to get as much completed as possible.

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Wednesday

Thank you Gerry for another excellent set of photos.

We begin on a sad note. The sad aspect being the life of someone who can do little more than throw a brick through a coach window at Toddington. Thankfully Stu, Rex and Bryan (and Ken) were able to make the repair with a replacement pane.

Nick cut a section of sheet metal for fitting to the Mink D van.

Bryan sharpening drill bits before fitting a missing hinge and section of capping strip to the Cotswold side south doorway of SO 4798.

Ben is working on the repaired luggage compartment door from BSK 35308's Cotswold side.

Before the trip to Toddington to fix the broken window, Ken was cleaning a vacuum cyclinder chamber. 

In the connection gangway and vestibule at the north end of RMB 1876 Mike and Ainsley were reinstating the access doors of the utilities cupboards.

Neil (?) was fitting the lengths of beading to the corners of the Malvern side toilet compartment. These will receive two coats of varnish.

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Thursday

Thanks to Roger and Paul for the extra photos.

Another job done on Wednesday. Nick's team have started painting the top yellow section of the weed spraying van.

Now on to progress with RMB 1876. This coach will need to be in Rake 2 in place of RMB 1808 (which will return to Rake 3) in time for Race Week (10 - 13 March).

The ceiling rebuild in the north vestibule is now complete with the beading in place. A painting job that must be started and hopefully even finished today.

The new beading in the Malvern side toilet compartment that must be varnished today, with a second coat to be done on Saturday.

The Cotswold side toilet compartment is beginning to look really smart. However the ceilings in both compartments still need top coating. Another "must do" job for today.

It was just Roger working on the plumbing today.

An adjustment to one of the tables is keeping Alan busy.

Then on to the south connection slider. Simon had done a heroic job refitting this very heavy door, made somewhat difficult with the coir matting in place. The door had ended up just slightly out of line, but Alan successfully made the necessary adjustments to the fittings to enable it to close correctly. 

The new 6 volt batteries have arrived, two on each side to provide the 24 volts needed for the 1876's servery electrics. I gave Richard I a helping heave to swing these two into the battery box, each one very much a dead weight.

Also being loaded by a member of RCS were the supplies for the store cupboard. Stu lends a helping hand to get everything on board. There were numerous trolley loads before the job was completed. Other items for the servery had previously been loaded.

The servery access door had also been fitted on Wednesday. The outside face needed a second top coat so Bob preceeded to give it a light sand before later painting it.

Meanwhile those toilet compartment ceilings needed their top coat and Bob gets cracking.

Roger prepares to fit the mirror in the Cotswold side compartment.

[Photo : Roger]  Job done, and doesn't it all look good. Still more to do though.

[Photo : Roger]

[Photo : Roger]  The vestibule access cupboard for the Cotswold side compartment.

Bob got the beading primed in the north vestibule ceiling. I have thinned the primer so that it now dries a lot quicker and as such he was later able to give the whole ceiling a top coat.

On now to the outside and Barn activities. In this case the fitting of the refurbished bogies (in the foreground) under TSO 4763.

With 4763 now in the Barn and the coach body raised up on the jacks, the existing bogies are pushed together and will be hauled outside using the special towing rod. 

The new bogies will then be brought round and fitted underneath the coach.

[Photo : Paul W]  In SO 4790 Paul was busy with more cleaning in preparation for Gold Cup Day, when Rake 3 is run from Broadway for the racegoers who have come down on the Northern Belle.

[Photo : Paul W]

Tim returned to the improvements to the backs of the toilet compartment doors from SO 4798.

The cross beading was removed from both doors ready for a good sanding down to remove the old varnish and, on one of them, old graffiti. Tim then repainted both doors. The door fronts have already been given another coat of varnish.

We made some more good progress with the external refurbishment of 4798. At the south end Ainsley cleaned off all the old paint on the tank filler pipes using a powered wire brush. These were later coated in green primer.

Ainsley later gives the Malvern side south end a coat of Light Grey undercoat. All the bumps, lumps, troughs and grooves remaining now become very obvious.

Stu likes working right-to-left because he is left handed. Starting at the Cotswold side north end he applies the Light Grey undercoat. 

The Cotswold side now fully greyed up. Lots more secondary filling and subsequent greying will be needed, and almost certainly more after that. We will of course "draw the line" when it becomes good enough. We have many more coaches out there all screaming for attention.

Stu, never one to stop for long, was soon on the Malvern side and beginning to grey up the north end of the Malvern side. All this of course after checking that all the filled areas were completely sanded down.

He certainly doesn't hang about! It's great to see him back in action again after his long spell away following his accident.

It's also good to see the Malvern side gradually turning grey after the hotch-potch mess of preparation.