FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
How many volunteers work in C&W?
Including the cleaning and maintenance gangs, over 120!
What days of the week do you work?
The workshops are open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, with some days having a particular focus e.g. Tuesday mainly painters, Wednesday woodwork team etc. In addition, the cleaning gang are usually out on a Monday, and the maintenance gang Thursday or Friday depending on timetables.
Can we tour the workshops?
Not normally, there are usually too many sparks flying, wet paint drying, welding glaring, and all manner of other things which mean we're unable to accept visitors. However we typically open everything up for people to look around during the main Steam and Diesel Galas in May and July respectively. There are volunteers on hand to explain what we do and show you around, and an excellent photography spot fenced off out the end of the works to watch the trains go by.
How do you decide what vehicles to restore?
There are so many factors to consider! Initial condition is usually a big deciding factor, but we also have to consider how many of each type of coach the railway needs to operate, both now and as we expand our operations, and plan ahead to replace coaches we know will need to come out of service soon.
How long does it you take to restore a carriage?
How long is a piece of string!? "It depends" is usually the answer. A carriage can be in and out of the works in a day if all it's having is a bogie change. A repaint and minor body repairs usually take a month or two. If some welding is required and a window or two taking out it can be several months as lots of the inside has to be taken apart and put back together again, which usually means we find more things that need fixing! A full restoration can take up to 2 years, or even longer if other priorities come and go in the meantime.
How do I volunteer to work in C&W?
Visit the GWR Trust website (link on the left) and click on "volunteering" which will tell you everything you need to know. We're particularly keen for more volunteers to join the cleaning gang, the maintenance gang (full training provided) and anyone with any skills in woodworking.
When do your carriages date from?
All our carriages are British Railways Mk1 design, built from 1951-63. They were the last generation of steam-hauled passenger stock built in Britain, the following Mk2s being brought in alongside dieselisation.
What's a TSO, or a BSK, what do they all mean?
These are carriage codes, which describe the internal layout of a carriage and any features it has like a brake compartment or a buffet. There's a full list of carriage codes if you click here, but here are some of the more common ones:
B - Brake (prefix) or buffet (suffix)
C - Composite (first and second class seats)
F - First class
K - Corridor - this means compartment carriages, as opposed to...
O - Open carriages - open plan seating around tables
R - Restuarant
S - Second class
A TSO is a Tourist Second open, which is 2+2 seating around tables, and a BSK is a second class compartment coach with a brake compartment.
Why do you bother restoring wagons?
There are loads of reasons we do wagons up!
Firstly, they're really useful as mobile storage. We have a lot of spare parts, not just in our department but across the railway. Having them in wagons makes them easier to move around and our space more flexible.
Secondly, they don't impact on or slow down carriage restoration. Each of our workshops can accommodate 1 carriage and 1 wagon, so wagons don't take up the space of carriages. Despite our best efforts, there's not always a carriage ready for painting, or a carriage that needs lots of metal work repairing, available to work on, so there's usually some spare labour to do the work.
Thirdly, we like doing them! Depending on our skills and what needs doing, not all of us are always flat out working on carriages, and wagons are a welcome outlet. It's also nice to work on something different from the usual, and there's a huge variety in wagons, compared to the single design of carriage we toil over. Some of our volunteers specifically like working on wagons too.
Finally, they do actually earn us money too. Photo charters like using freight sets and among our steam engine fleet we have several freight engines which look just perfect pulling a rake of wagons. They're an additional attraction on gala days as well, providing a greater draw for the event, and we often sell brake van rides on these days, a unique way to experience our railway.
Toads, Macaws, Minks, Starfish, Dogfish, Sharks, What?!
These are all telegraphic code names for various wagon designs. The idea being it was much easier to request a "Mink A" than "A 12 ton 16 foot covered van". It was a GWR system, the origins of the names are lost in the mists of time, but you can find a longer list here. For some reason P'way wagons all acquired names with an ocean-going theme, and this vein continued into BR days.
What about a carriage shed?
In time...
Why don't you fit retention tanks for the toilets on the train?
It's a lot more complicated that it first appears. In fact, so complicated, it was felt worthy of its own blog post to explain it, here.