Meet the Teams - Painting and Preparation
THE PAINTING AND PREPARATION TEAM Updated 29th January 2024
Otherwise known as the Paintshop Team, we currently have 20 members, including myself as team head. It would have been nice to have a group photograph or even several with smaller groups, but with the number in the team and attendance on different days, the easiest option was to collate individual photos taken over the past years. I have tried to pick the best for everyone from my many blog photos.
Although we are the largest team within Carriage and Wagon, in reality a number of our members have other skills within the Works and/or are also involved with other departments and aspects within the Railway. As to be expected not everyone is available all the time and on some days, in particular Saturdays, we sometimes have no more than 2-3 attending.
So let me introduce you to the team. Regular readers of our blog will recognise them all. They are in no particular order.
Current members
Tony
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Former members
In the Summer of 2021 with our Door Team diminishing and obviously in need of more members, Ainsley, Rod and Des made the transfer and settled in well. Des has since retired from C&W and I believe is now just involved with the continual improvements to the Discovery Coach at Winchcombe.
Ainsley
is now Head of the Door Team, as well as a member of our Carriage and Wagon Management Group as one of
our Health and Safety
representatives, and one of the Railway's PAT
testers. He was very active in the Wartime-in-the-Cotswolds team when that event was running, and was also a TTI before joining Carriage and Wagon.
Jim
Jim joined the Painting and Prep team a number of years ago and soon proved to be a very good painter. He then branched out to become a member of the Signal and Telegraph team and as of late summer 2021 has decided to stay with them full time.
Cheryl (Chez) Newman
Chez joined C&W in 2010 after visiting the Works during the GWR 175 Gala. She soon became one of the top painters within the team and right from the start was attending two mornings every week. Always cheerful and smiling, when she left for the day it was always "Bye Boys" and quite often we would find one of her wonderful "Wet Paint" cartoons where she had been working.
Chez was also in our Cleaning Team and used to be with the Railway's Meet
& Greet team, welcoming and looking after visiting coach parties.
She last attended in September 2020 and then stayed away while the Covid crisis continued. She made the decision to retire in Spring 2021. She is very much missed and we hope that, armed with her Retired Volunteers Pass, we will see her on the trains and she will come and visit us.
Alan Baugh (during a Wartime-in-the-Cotswolds weekend)
Alan had been with C&W and the Painting and Prep team for many years, but having moved initially to Bath and now at Bradford-upon-Avon has had to retire from volunteering. He intends visiting the Railway when he can and hopefully will be able to visit us as well.
In his time with us he did both
metalworking and painting, and for many of us he was synonymous with
carriage roof painting. In our regular blog postings there was inevitably a photo captioned "Malcolm on the
roof".
Sadly we lost Malcolm when he passed away in January 2022. He is much missed. not only by his comrades in C&W, but in the hospitality aspects of Meet & Greet, the Race Trains and Car Park monitoring.
Richard Fairhurst (visiting with his daughter)
Richard joined C&W and turning up on a Tuesday was immediately hoisted into the team. He soon settled in and was happy to take on any of the jobs associated with the Team's work. Unfortunately persistent problems with his knees meant that he was unable to stay with us for long and as such he had to retire from the team in 2019. He has taken on a new role within our H&S Department.
Dennis Stevens
Dennis also joined us on a Tuesday and thus by default also became part of the team. In his own words he wasn't a proper painter, but where he really came into his own were with the many "hands on" jobs that arose during our work. He was always very cheerful and soon became a life-and-soul within the team. He decided to leave in 2020 to continue as a TTI, which he has been for some time, and also become a Booking Clerk.
Adrian Buckle
Adrian joined C&W in 2016 and immediately became part of the team. He was a much travelled member having visited places all over the World, and although other members of C&W go abroad to quite exotic destinations, Adrian very likely outstripped everyone. I remember that he and I had a very similar taste in music. Sadly ill health forced him to retire in April 2019. Always very cheery, he is much missed.
John Hughes
Following the second Lockdown in late 2020 John did not return and we assumed it was because of Covid concerns. Then on 1st January 2021 we were very shocked to hear that he was suffering with pancraetic cancer. He sadly passed away not long afterwards. John had joined C&W in 2010 having already spent some time with S&T. As well as being a member of the Preparation and Painting team, for a while he had also worked in Upholstery. Always cheery and eager to help, he is very much missed.
Pete Lucas
Late in 2020 we heard that Pete had passed away. Pete had also joined C&W in 2010, became a member of the team and soon proved to be an excellent painter. Sadly oncoming dementure forced him to retire in 2017. Pete was very cheery and willing to help, and is still very much missed.
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Other activities
Anyone joining the team is very welcome to engage in other activities, either within Carriage and Wagon, or elsewhere on the Railway. So what else do some of the team do within the Railway?
The range of activities is varied to say the least: -
Alex is also a Director with the Trust, a Guard, he maintains the Guards/TTIs roster, is Head of the C&W Wagon Team, and now very
much in demand on the Railway for his signwriting skills. He also set up our current blog and is thus the blog master.
Bob K was a professional painter and as such our Number 1, although as he has been been caught up by Alex, this probably ought to be joint Number 1.
Bob Mac is also a Guard, Signalman, and steadily handing over the job as the Railway's Finance Manager.
Bob S is also involved with the Indoor and Mechanical gangs.
Jeff is also our Carriage and Wagon Finance Officer and chief organiser of the Fish and Chip Specials. He was also a TTI.
Maurice is also with the C&W Wagon team and Lineside Clearance.
Phil J is also Deputy Carriage and Wagon Finance Officer.
Pam is also a metal worker and, to help out for a short spell, was in Upholstery (she used to have her own business refurbishing the interiors of period cars and light aircraft). She is also the Snowman at Toddington when Santa Specials on the DMU are run from Toddington.
Richard H is also with Railway Catering.
Roger is also one of the Friends of Winchcombe Station.
Russ is also with Railway Catering and with the Friends of Winchcombe Station.
Others also actively get involved with other jobs as they arise within the Works or elsewhere on the Railway.
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The Paintshop and elsewhere, and general requirements
Our home is of course the huge Paintshop, a long wished for dream that became a reality when building began in 2012 and, along with the Upholstery and Woodwork shops and Mess Room, is all thanks to a wonderful legacy left by Bill Ellesmere who was a member of Winchcombe Station staff and one of the Friends of Winchcombe Station. Two excellent photo-shopped pictures by Des Adams are mounted within the building, one of which is below.
The level of skill varies with some members doing mainly preparation, even preferring to go no further than undercoating, while others are either naturals or rise to become top coaters of the coach bodysides. All aspects are equally important - the excellent top coat can only be so if the prior preparation has been thorough.
Anyone joining is expected to be able to do a reasonable level of painting. Obviously training will be provided and as a member's skill improves then the top jobs will eventually become available.
As can be seen from the list of names above, everyone has the opportunity to expand into other work within the department and even to other departments on the Railway. Some of our painters now mainly work in other jobs within Carriage and Wagon, but are happy to come back to the team when needed.
At the south end of the Paintshop are the trestle tables used for all sorts of painting and varnishing, so we are not limited to just coaches and wagons.
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Varnishing
Varnishing is also a very regular activity in the team, not just on wood (door backs, internal panelling, and miscellaneous items done on the trestles), but also to protect the paintwork on the sides of our coaches. It does take skill to get it right, which is particularly important when being done on coach sides and on the internal veneer panelling, where brush marks (the break-off points), runs and sags will show especially on the darker colours. However if the general technique of coach painting is maintained then the results will be fine.
Varnishing coach sides in Carriage and Wagon has had a chequered history and for many years wasn't done. It was initially started with a single coat being put on, but problems with discolouring made us stop. However fed up with fading paint, we have brought it back in and most coaches are now varnished with two coats, in particular with crimson (carmine), maroon, and also the dark green used on the DMUs.
Bob K. varnishing in a coach vestibule. Not a single brush mark - perfection!
I have an excellent video of Bob varnishing CK 16221 "Abigail/Charlotte" but it exceeds the maximum size that can be uploaded. A pity because it shows the relaxed easy style of Bob's varnishing and how he achieves such good results.
A typical coach repainting job
Bar the first photo, the sequence below is based on the repaint of the Permanent Way Dept's Mess Coach which was done in the Barn.
Greying-up to final check the filling and provide the base coat. When completed the line positions will be taped up ready for undercoating.
Top coating
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Lining out
Sole bar, footboards, door handles and stops, grab handles, catches, toplight bars - all need black gloss
Coach ends into dark grey undercoat and then black gloss
Lining out completed
Touching up and snaggng
We no longer use transfers
Two coats of varnish to finish off
Job completed with the coach back out and in use
And in with the next one ...............
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A miscellany
Roofs are included
The note says it all ! It was actually done on a warmish day when the two main rakes were based at Winchcombe during the Winter Shutdown period.
Our lobby and stairs signboards
With the paint still wet, Charlotte is thrilled to see her name, while Clive (owner of CK 16221) and his other daughter Abigail look on. Abigail's name is on the other side and she was equally thrilled. No wonder Alex looks both pleased and relieved it has all come out so well.
