Tuesday 1st - Another tribute

As stated in last Tuesday's posting, Alan Richards, a former member of the Tuesday Painting & Prep Team, sadly passed away on Monday 24th August. He had been seriously ill for some time. His last attendance with the team had been in September 2024 after which health issues meant he had to give up volunteering.

Alan lived next door to Ian Crowder, the Railway's Press Officer, so we were able to keep in touch with his situation.

A tribute to Alan follows at the end of the day's posting.

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Tuesday was a bright sunny day with a nice comfortable temperature. We had 12 attending. 

Richard takes a break and watches one of the morning trains as it slows for the station and the token exchange.

It's good to see Keith back in again. Keith primed a number of carriage connection parts and finished painting Alex's sandwich boards for Toddington and Broadway.

The state of the Malvern half of the north end of TSO 4867 looks pretty grim. James had previously replaced half the baseplate and bottom sections of the Cotswold half.

It was now the turn of the Malvern half with James beginning the necessary cuts to remove the corroded metal.

I returned later to find Ian lending a hand by levering up the corroded baseplate while James cut through it.

Replacing the wheelset on the bogie that had been brought into the Barn on Saturday.

There is still some roof work to do on the Mink D van, but for now the concentration is on cleaning the underneath.

[Photo : Paul E]  Maurice joins in.

Finishing off the day with some quiet painting.

In the Paintshop the preparation work on SK 25451 really is getting somewhere, although at this stage you wonder when it will end. However some greying up had previously been started by Martin and now Richard was finishing off a bit of sanding before plugging in the Henry for a good vac of this end.

For David and myself it was still hunt the recess or bit of unsanded filler, the camouflage appearance of this side making observation difficult. However we are winning, or were until I found some flaking paint covering some rust under the gutter. Frustrating, but it won't be long now before the Light Grey undercoat begins to expand. 

In the background Richard is now vacuuming his area ready for a wipe over with thinners and then a coat of Light Grey.

On the Malvern side the amount of filling has been minimal, it being in much better condition. Ian is working on the central doorway, thoroughly sanding down the frame.

Richard finishes off his vacuuming.

The end section and door are done, now onto the windowframe.

Richard has completed his section. Mine still has some filler to sand, while the discovered area under the gutter having been treated, now needs some filler.

The final crossover of the day with 3850 on the Toddington train and D6948 coming in with the last train to Cheltenham.

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Alan Richards - a tribute

I first met Alan during one of our May Steam Galas. He used to drive all the way from Brecon, never minding the time that it took because he loved the GWSR and was always so enthusiastic about it. During his visits he always came into the Works and being one of the Gala monitors I always had a chat with him. I'm not sure how long he had been coming - I started volunteering and doing gala monitoring in 2008, but Alan's visits could have been well before that.

On July 1st 2012 I visited the Dean Forest Railway to enjoy their Branch Line Gala and what an excellent day it was. Both of their GW tanks 5541 and 9681 were running and, as good as they are, the cherry on the cake was without doubt 1401 with both autocoaches.

It was later during the day while on the main train waiting at Lydney Junction that I had dozed off. I awoke with a start when I heard the TTI talking to someone a few seats back and mention the GWSR. The person to whom he was talking responded and I immediately recognised the voice. Good heavens, it's Alan from Brecon! I promptly joined him and we spent the rest of a very enjoyable day together, including another ride on the wonderful little autotrain.

Alan continued to visit the Works during Galas, and then one day said he would be moving to Woodmancote, just a few miles away. Sadly things had changed for him. Now with sight problems he could no longer drive and had to rely on bus travel, which was not always that reliable. He was already a member of the Railway and now wished to become a volunteer and work in Carriage & Wagon. Obviously I said he was more than welcome, especially with him having been a supporter for so many years and his sight issue didn't affect his safety around the Works.

23rd October 2018 - I'm not sure exactly when Alan started, but this is my first photo of him and as I always took photos for the blog, this date is almost certainly it, especially as his overalls look brand new.

Alan did many different jobs within the team and the following are a selection of the many photos taken of him during the time he was with us.

19th January 2019 - sanding down table tops.

21st May 2019 - enjoying a break with Maurice and Richard

6th October 2020 - sanding a coach end

15th June 2021 - top coating a battery box cover

22nd June 2021 - tea break with the Tuesday team

14th September 2021 - cleaning up tail lamps ready for fresh paint.

 21st September 2021 - lunch time in the Barn entrance with the Tuesday team

21st September 2021 - Alan often took a turn with the vacuuming around the Paintshop

19th April 2022 - cleaning up a luggage rack

7th March 2023 - reaming out the rivet line on the coach body

6th June 2023 - painting the sole bar in gloss black paint

25th July 2023 - sanding down a compartment door

19th March 2024 - working on the underframe utility boxes 

16th April 2024 - sanding down Winchcombe Station's fire buckets prior to repainting

27th August 2024 - cleaning buffers, the last work that I photographed Alan doing

3rd September 2024 - the very last photo I took of Alan watching the Cheltenham train along with other members of the Tuesday team.

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Alan was always very interesting to talk to. It is amazing the backgrounds that some of us have in our lives and in Alan's case particularly so. During one of our tea breaks he talked about his ancestry and we were in for quite a surprise.

Alan's great, great, great uncle was a harpist by profession. He went out for a walk one evening and, on his return home, said to his father. "Dad, I've thought of this wonderful tune". He then picked up his harp and played the tune. His father instantly took up his pen and wrote some words with it. The result was "Land of my Fathers", the Welsh national anthem. That was on his grandfather's side of the family.

On his grandmother's side and further back in history, on the battlefield of Agincourt to be precise, one of her ancestors was listed by Shakespeare as Davy Gam Esquire in the list of the English dead. In fact his title is wrong because he put himself in between Henry V and a French knight, who was about to inflict a serious injury on the king, and in so doing received a fatal injury himself. He was knighted by the King either as he lay dying or posthumously. The name Gam has no doubt perpetuated to modern times because Alan's grandmother's surname had evolved to become Games.

Now sitting with our other former friends on our Memorial Wall, Alan will always be remembered.