Saturday 28th - Bubble car

That's more like it. After the relatively quiet Thursday, we had a good number in today with 24 attending.

[Photo : Alex]  It was a busy day with various bits of shunting to be done, which included the weed spraying wagon and BR Vanfit 755964 which has been repainted in BR Bauxite at Toddington by the  Wednesday wagon group. The van has been brought down to have a new roof canvas fitted.

Ian and Alex in discussion. Getting that 03 number sorted out will eventually be done - it's in the very lengthy list of things to do.

It was also Jenny's birthday. I tried to capture one of her lovely smiles, but she hid behind the new mop that Paul W. had bought her. She did however bring in some lovely treats for us to enjoy during the day.  Happy Birthday Jenny !

Simon ask me to help him lift the very large piece of heavy duty plyboard on to the trestles in the Woodwork shop. This is going to be a new worktop for the Upholstery workshop.

Maurice has also been doing some woodworking lately. The rebates ......... 

........... and sawn planks are necessary to complete the walls of the Mink D van, the remaining top spaces requiring the modifications.

The Bubblecar slowly approaches and stops in the station. It looked well filled.

We had the first of this year's Behind the Scenes tours. This was the Carriage & Wagon version. Dave H. and I share the tour guiding, with me taking on this one. We always start with Upholstery and hand over to Laura who gives an excellent description of their work. Upholstery is always of high interest and often quite a surprise to our tour members. Tours are usually about an hour to fit in with the trains. It's never enough time, but the tour members always seem to enjoy their day and we get some very nice feedback. The next one in April is the all-railway version which includes the loco and diesel sheds, a signalbox, and of course us. The cost includes all travel on the line, a talk about the Railway, lunch and tea.

While Laura was looking after the tour members, a chance to capture Peter, Jane and Carol busy making the curtains for SO 4798. These will blend in very well with the Snapdragon moquette, red carpet and lovely wood interior.

Returning later in the day Simon was finishing off the new worktop. He had attached a wood surround and was carefully planing it to create a nice curved edge.

Peter and Jane had finished for the day, leaving Carol and Laura busy with more curtain preparation.

Phil and Paul watch the Bubblecar returning north. The tour members were onboard presumably returning to Toddington for lunch.

On now to progress with SO 4798. Jeff took on the window undercoating on the Cotswold side.

Graham continued the overfilling on the Malvern side, bringing the surface back up where dips in the bodyside showed.

Further along on this side, George sanded more secondary filler. It's all hand sanding now.

Bob flattened the filler I had put on the north end earlier on. I had also cleaned up under the roof edge and alongside the top of the connection, and then coated the area with Red Oxide. This had now dried and Bob was able to fill the large gap between the metal panelling and the hardwood supports.

The next job, a coat of undercoat Light Grey. We would normally put on the Dark Grey, but with the amount of tidying up so far required, it was thought better to rely on the standard base coat which would better show up where further filling was needed.

Saying all that, Graham found areas on the undercoated Cotswold side where he thought more filler should be applied.

It was a different world inside for Ian who was carefully inserting the eyescrews ready for hanging the curtains.

In the Workshop James was cleaning up the bottom section of another door from BSK 35308.

With the old filler removed he was able to see exactly where to cut off the corroded metal.

Next job - cut out the required section of new sheet metal with the plasma cutter.

Returning later, James has tacked on the new piece. 

Jenny stops by for a chat with James, who by now is in the process of folding the metal over the door base.

The next job is to complete the weld.

The new bottom section has been clamped in place.

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With shunting over Alex has a chance to signwrite the new direction board for Toddington.

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Both Robert and I had expressed a desire to have a ride in the Bubblecar and hoped to have the opportunity while this current timetable was running.

I joined Jenny and Robert on Platform 2 not long before it arrived. This was the last run of the day to Broadway, terminating at Toddington.

It was driven by Steve and Jenny's husband Andy was second man. Jenny was catching the train so as to end up at Toddington where their car was parked.

It was a treat to ride on it again. I couldn't remember when I last did this, just that it was a long time ago.

It didn't sway as much as it used to.

All the re-covered seats in Bournemouth Blue done by our Upholstery team.

The pigeon basket at Toddington. Not real ones of course!

Having got off at Toddington, we watched it go by with waves from Andy and Steve. By now it had gone really chilly so we were glad to wait in the Diesel Dept mess hut until Andy was able to join us. Andy and Jenny then kindly drove Robert and I back to the Works, where we joined the others having the final cup of tea.

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[Photo : Alex]  We were all trying to remember when we repainted the Bubble car and reupholstered the seating in Bournemouth Blue. Was it 3 years ago or even longer? A quick browse through the Blog archives soon provided the answer.  The photo of the almost completed car was published in the posting for 28th June 2022. So it's 4 years!

Weds 25th / Thurs 26th - Beginning to look great

Wednesday

Thanks again to Gerry for the day's photos.

Trevor is fitting the new back panel to the Cotswold side north door on SO 4798 ............

....... and then working on the footboard (?).

Now at the opposite side, south end.

Ken is fitting the top connection supports at the south end of BSK 35308.

Yet another doorside repair on the Malvern side of 35308, this time being done by Nick.

Preparing replacement sheet metal using the plasma cutter.

That's a very handy straight edge.

Welding in the replacement section.

It's PAT testing time again with our regular testers Dave and Ainsley.

The interior of the kichen in the GW Inspection Saloon, currently being rebuilt.

A happy Tony working on the vacuum braking system.

More testing and adjustment of the spraying equipment on the weed wagon is being done by Bob. As previously mentioned he is formally qualified to do this having been a farm manager. Currently no chemicals are being used, only water.

Gerry took a video of this but it is too large to load.

Jeff did a number of trestle painting jobs, which included the table from Rose's garden.

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Thursday

We were blessed with another fine day. Paul was cleaning again in Rake 3 (note the ladder!) which is due to be split into a short rake comprising specific coaches. Stu will have a fair amount of shutting to do to achieve this. The temporary mini rake is due to be diesel hauled during the Bricks event which is taking place over the Easter Weekend.

The remaining seating was installed in SO 4798 on Wednesday.  Take all the dust sheets away, hang the new curtains, and this will look great!

Geoff and Alan continued reinstating the numbered seat tops.

Tim continued the prep work on the north end of the coach. We need to get this greyed up as when checked, despite its appearance, the surface is actually relatively smooth. We need the grey to highlight anywhere that does need more filler.

Bob taped up the windows on the north half of the Cotswold side and then proceeded to undercoat the upper section, bar the windows which will be done separately.

Tim also spent the day sanding filler on the Cotswold side north end door edges and frame. This was completed with a coating of undercoat Light Grey. We can now get the rest of this side taped up and undercoated.

Ainsley worked on the Malvern side centre door. This door will be permanently locked out, but the edges were cleaned and greyed up for the sake of tidiness.

Amongst all the various logistical jobs, I worked on the Cotswold side south end, topping up with filler.

Phil is removing all the old 240 volt cable from the GW Inspection Saloon.

Rose enjoying the newly painted table. She is performing miracles in this area. Small trees have been purchased, and all kinds of things are now planted in pots, tubs and other containers. The greenhouse is crammed. The vegetable garden is being dug ready for potatoes, runner beans and no doubt other good things. Well done Rose!

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Finally to answer a comment in the previous posting, Pam is taking a break for a while with other things occupying her time. She will be back.