Monday 22nd - A Change in the Weather

 This is what greeted us today - 

Frost on the outside windows of the carriages not under the canopy in the sheltered platform 1. 

It took Paul well over an hour to get water flowing through the hose but he was determined to win!

For the rest of the year rake 1 will actually be rake 3 as it is all compartment stock and Covid is still lurking. This rake had been very well cleaned by Paul W and Dennis while at Winchcombe, and with only the charity Santa use yesterday it needed very little internal cleaning - Nigel P and Greg attended to that. So the rest of us helped with the washing.

Kath, John and Roger O here and Nigel P below also doing a turn outside.

 

Saturday 20th - The end is in sight?

 It really is feeling like the end is finally in sight for BSK 34929 after I think the lengthiest Mk1 restoration we've ever undertaken at Winchcombe. It's always an encouraging sign when the lettering and numbers go on, Dave caught me painting the end lettering:

The number and logo was also applied to the Malvern side, the Cotswold side still awaiting its second topcoat. The number still needs its black outline painting:

Other finishing jobs included Dave taking off the masking tape at the end to paint along the other side to finish off the black:

Inside Dave was fitting the brackets for tables in the compartment end:

Doors still not quite finished, but nearly there too! Steve was fitting the last door pillar and door lock, while Robert was fixing some trim above the door on the opposite side:

Working my way out, in the workshop George did a great job undercoating the north end of the CK after all his hard work filling and sanding:

While John was on the grinder making a tool to try and machine the balls for the door hinges into a better fit shape to account for wear:

The barn feels rather empty at the moment, with nothing occupying the through road since the Queen Mary left and just a pair of BR1 bogies on the jack road. The dirty gang were in full force today attacking these, with lots of cleaning, chipping away of crud and dismantling going on:

At the end of the day and one wheelset was out thanks to the large gantry:

Outside, Richard and Paul continued stripping down the toad to allow Nick and his gang to make a start on the metal work repairs:

We opened up the ballast boxes at the end to see what treasures we could find too. The sandboxes were filled with old cast brake blocks, which we thought was a bit odd:

Maybe a bit of life left in one or two of them...?

While in the central box there was all sorts of bits and pieces, bolts, offcuts and the like:

The weights with GWR stamped one side and a date on the other look to be counterweights on tommy bars for Screw-link couplings. The lid with chain we think may be a sand box cover, but we're a bit stuck on the screw clamp contraption, any ideas?

Dave and Robert continued out in the yard on their coach, internally it's beginning to look quite good with some bits going back on. Here, Robert's cleaning up a compartment ceiling ready for it to be painted, probably by Bob:

In fact progress is so good that Pam seemed to be running out of bits of trim to varnish on the trestle tables, and was cleaning up a whole stack of light fittings given to her by Phil instead:

Finally also out in the yard, with the coaches now swapped round round and the open rake in the siding, it was an opportunity to sort out a few niggling things that annoyed as the trains trundled by during the main operating season. So Bob took out a ladder and attacked some flaky paint on the roof of TSO 4763:

Thursday 18th - A new rake is formed

It was a very busy day in the yard with the setting up of the Santa Specials rake of compartment coaches only. Neil, Kevin and Andy D. brought the Maroon Rake down from Toddington behind 37215., with Mike B. as guard.

With Andy T. guiding from within the last coach, the rake is steadily reversed into the headshunt. The 3rd Rake had already been pulled out of its siding on the right of the main line.

 

It was then a case of separating out the corridor coaches from the Maroon Rake to add to those of the 3rd Rake. All sounds easy when written in a sentence, but the reality is very different and involved both the Class 37 and our 03, and a lot of shunting. Our shunters for the day were Andy T., Clive, and Tony B. , with Ian on the 03.

 

It was now well past 2 p.m. With 37215 now back on the main line, the 03 prepares to pull the newly formed rake back out to the station.

With the new rake now on its way to Toddington behind 37215, the remains of the 3rd Rake and the opens from the Maroon Rake have been pushed back into the 3rd Rake siding.

 

With Paul away, it was just Dennis today from the 3rd Rake Maintenance team. SO 4798 has been unused for some time at the end of the 3rd Rake siding and now had an infestation of cluster flies. A good spray around will hopefully get rid of most of these.

 The toilet ceiling was also down. This coach is on the refurbishment list.

 

Alan and Geoff from the Indoor Gang are busy adding more new internal window frames in the corridor of TK 24006. Alan is tapping one of the holes.

Now attaching one of the frame sections. Some of the windows were tapped ready with the bolts inserted part way - a good way of safely storing these.

 A completed window with new wood sections, each having had two coats of varnish.

Both Dave and Robert, the owners of 24006, were in today. Dave is depositing a number of underseat grills to be cleaned up and painted in Silver Hammerite. A job for this coming Saturday. Later in the day, while enjoying the afternoon tea break, they were perusing the marmoleum catalogue. It will be quite sometime before a new covering of marmoleum is put down, but it's nice to have an idea of what there is available.

Up on the mezzanine Steve is creating some more LED lighting. Richards I and II, also from the Electrics Team, were busy on the coaches in the yard but unfortunately I missed them.

Meanwhile, also part of this team, Phil is sorting out more light fittings for adding to our general store of these. There are now two piles of these on the Paintshop trestles ready for cleaning up and painting.

More work on the bogies taken from underneath the recently departed Loco Mess Coach "Tina". Bob is busy loosening bolts ready for the extraction of the wheelsets.

John is meanwhile cleaning up the wheel treads to assess their state. 

On to the progress with BSK 34929, and something that is very annoying to find under the topcoat - a few bubbles! Jeff carefully investigates. It's quite sometime since the initial stages of bodyside preparation were done, so could it be some rust coming through? The answer was most definitely no - all four places simply showed clean metal with some filler and initial paint layers, so why the bubbles appeared is a mystery. Repairs were made, and as a second top coat has to be done, these will disappear.

 

Then over to the Malvern side to get the final bits of lining out done. This section of line still needed the gloss black

 Bob K. begins second top coating the south half of the Cotswold side.

Jeff returns to the areas on the Cotswold side where the filler has now set and carefully sands each place.

Back to the Malvern side where Phil, having painted the lower line first, is adding yellow to the top line. This panel was painted two days before and was the final bit of top coating on this side.

 

Jeff adding black to his taped line ends the posting for the day.

Wednesday 17th - Ah, I have another job for you

 Although the work on the coaches in the work and paint shops is now reducing, especially for the metalwork team. There seems to be no shortage of other jobs, I say this because the list gets longer rather than shorter.

To start with, a number of us are trained to do Buck eye inspections ..... so Bryan (wooly hat) was requested to assist the team inspecting what I think is the third rake. This is all in aid of that bearded chappie who visits all good children around this time of the year.

Meanwhile the PAT testing team were busy in the barn, and dancing by the look of it.

Steam heater getting TLC from Phil.

Ainsley is busy sorting a box of assorted drill bits.

Stephen is wearing the mask to prevent ingesting dust etc. on the seat back ...... as always when it's finished it will look like new.

Robert is putting the finishing touches to some of the final bits to go in 34929.

34929 is getting closer, with the doors finally getting conquered. I have to say they really do look superb.

Our new grit blaster now has its very own bench, just another little job.

A lick of paint before its installation by Ken.

Ah, another little job. One of our pickups suffered tailgate damage ..... I couldn't find the pickup, so I hope it fits.

Such a lovely day, and no trains ......

Finally the TOAD, Paul is removing the planking and managed to undo the nuts holding it all together. As the metalwork team descend on it, we need all surrounding woodwork removed.

Much discussion had taken place about the 'Ballast' box, which has been bolted together since this vehicle was built. We need it empty so as to get at the end panel work which will be replaced, Paul removed the fixings and lo and behold a very rusty collection of railwayana was lurking in there. The team have started removing it all so fairly soon we will start removing the steel and rust panels. Happily the main structure is beefy enough and should need nothing more than a good clean up. Watch this space!

When our work is done, you could be enjoying this view at future Galas.

Lastly Roger is admiring the on going work on the ‘MINK’.