Thursday 23rd - A mini pre-Christmas posting

With just five of us in, a few pre-Christmas pics of life at our favourite Works.

 

Beginning today with Roger in FO 3132 "Mary", cleaning out the bases of the sliding windows.

Back in 2012 we conducted an internal survey involving all the Works staff in C&W. One of the questions asked was "what is not good about C&W". The majority response to this was "lack of communication regarding the jobs in progress", obviously something that was not good with different staff working over three days. Since then we have extended to four days, so this is even more important. 

Thankfully all the instructions left for Roger and others in the Indoor Gang, as well as all the mounted whiteboards within the Works and the boxes of notepaper, clearly show how things have improved.

The inside of "Mary", now looking much tidier with all the repair work completed and the seats gradually being put back.

There are still many Winter Shutdown repairs to do throughout the open coaches in the 3rd Rake siding. We look forward to the Spring when the three rakes are rebuilt in their old configurations and we can hopefully resume normal running.

In the Workshop Phil is continuing the rebuild of the lighting units from TK 24006. The previous day he had taken the ceiling ones cleaned by Alan on Tuesday to the Paintshop trestles and added green primer where needed.

Inside 24006 Dave was wiping over the ceiling lights. The upper levels of the compartments with the repainted ceilings and restored light fittings are beginning to look good, especially when the sanded veneer panelling has been given a fresh coat of varnish. Dave was also continuing the refitting of the cleaned and revarnished panel strips, mainly to keep them out of harms way while other work was going on.

In the Woodwork shop Robert was preparing more internal battening for the corridor and vestibules in CK 16221.

No guesses what my number 1 job was for the day. Get the final prep work on 34929's Door 6, its frame and the surrounding panels completed ready for undercoating.

Job done, and does that look better! 

There is still a fair amount to do with 34929 before it goes out to the Barn - top coating and lining out on Door 6 and area, some repainting in the guards compartment, repaint the central vestibule skirting boards, and a load of varnishing (the backs of three doors, and various bits in the disabled vestibule and corridor that need further coatings). The target to aim for? We hope to get 34929 to the Barn and TSO 5042 in the Paintshop on 8th January.

A very pleasant surprise when I first entered the Paintshop was to find a tin of assorted brushes that had been left on one of the trestles. These, along with a huge box full of various screws and packs of sandpaper, had been very kindly donated. So many hearty thanks to whoever this was - your kindness is very much appreciated.

So at the end of the last working day before the big day, to echo Alex's words in his last posting, I would also like to wish all our readers a very happy Christmas. Thank you for taking so much interest in what we do and for all your very kind comments.

We will be back next week.

Tuesday 21st - Now that was a really good day

The title says it all for a day that shows just how close to completion we are beginning to get with some of our projects. With 34929 in particular there was a feeling that it would soon be ready for the Railway.

Richard, Paul and Stu had all been in early and soon busy continuing with the roof planking for the Mink A van.

By mid afternoon it was completed and they went home knowing it was a job well done. They will be back in after the New Year break to fit the canvas.

On to BSK 34929 and the infamous Door 6 (formerly 9 or, as I call it, the Cotswold side central passenger door) and surrounding panelling. I carried on with the filling until Roger came in and took over. It took quite some sanding to get it all done.

Alex had tidied up the bottom line on the large panel where we had had problems with the lining out tape and lifting paint. It all looks fine now.

He then went on to add the black section of the top line on the guards door. As for the guards compartment, that was now full of all sorts of bits and as such I gave it a thorough tidy up and vacuum. Some fresh painting will need to be done to bring it back to what it was.

Phil spent the day with more internal varnishing. There is still quite a bit of the woodwork that has had just the one coat, so we need to progress with this and get at least three coats on. I later carried on with varnishing the passenger corridor window frames.

 On one of the Door Team's benches, the straps for Door 6 await fitting.

Alex took on the job of sorting out and cleaning the notices for the heater controls and window ventilation instructions.

These were then mounted in the four compartments.

The "No Smoking" window notices were next. Initially in the new disabled compartment.

 

Then the passenger corridor. It was the application of the various notices that gave the feeling of nearing completion. 

Alex then went on to add etch primer to the aluminium capping strips for Door 6 and patch paint the sanded filler. The next job will be to paint the whole lot in undercoat Madder. We would normally add the lining out tapes before undercoating, but it is likely some top-up filling will need to be done, so for once we will skip a stage to save time. Earlier in the day Ainsley announced that the main back panel will have to come off the door as the strap securing position isn't correct - the infamy of this door will live on and on!

In the peace and quiet of the Woodwork/Doors shop Ainsley is attaching the top of the lazy tongs to the droplight for one of the doors for CK 16221.

Tony fits new seals to some of the window quarterlights on 16221.

Cutting the new lengths of rubber seal.

With the window work completed, Tony sands down the edges of the toilet door from the second class end of 16221. Repaint it black as before or clean it up enough for stain and varnish. Oh definitely the latter!

Now moving on to TK 24006, Alan cleans up more of the ceiling light mountings from the coach ready for a fresh coat of silver Hammerite.

Both Robert and Dave, the coach owners, were in again and sanding more of the panelling in the north end compartments.

Closer inspection of the two toilet compartments revealed that the Cotswold side one had an aluminium frame, a more modern later addition. The Malvern side one was the original wooden version. It would be nice to replace the aluminium one with one more in keeping.

Dave and Robert had a heater going in 24006, but for Bob it was somewhat cold in BSO 9000 where he continued his repainting of the guards corridor and disabled compartment. He'd had enough by lunchtime, so in the afternoon went to help out in 24006.

 

In Upholstery Dave was back on yet another seat back for the Bubblecar. They must be getting on for finishing this job now. Dave pointed out a trial re-covering of one of the chairs from RBr 1675, so presumably this will be the next project for the team.

 

One of the Santa trains slows for the station with another happy set of families all looking forward to meeting the elderly gentleman in red (with apologies to whoever was Santa for the day!).

Two jobs for the New Year. RBr 1675 and TSO 5042 patiently await their turn in the Works. 5042 will follow 34929 in the Paintshop for a quick external tidy up and repaint, a good candidate for this job following the re-upholstering of all the seating and repairs within the north end vestibule. 1675 will go into the Barn initially to disconnect the brakes and lift the body ready for the underframe repairs.

Monday 20th - 299 All Out

 No, that that lot Down Under! Number of carriage sides washed for this year. Today was our last Carriage Clean until March with 7 volunteers attending.

Paul and Roger O started with the washing of rake 1.

Greg and Nigel P were inside this set and John, Kath and myself were inside rake 2.

After that it was time for a Team Photo and a mince pie. L to R, Kath, John, Nigel P, Paul, Greg and Roger O. Blogger hidden behind the camera!

As you will see elsewhere Covid has struck again so there are no post Christmas trains for the second year running. Hopefully it will not impact the many infrastructure works due to take place before services resume on March 5th (fingers crossed). Keep an eye on the various blog pages to see progress.

Thank you for reading the blog. I know the photos repeat, but that's the nature of what we do! Season's Greetings. Will 2022 be a "Normal" year?

Saturday 18th - Nearly there

Not long to go before the big day now, but still a goodly amount done. Starting off out in the barn where 4763 was a focus for much activity. The dirty gang started off with some spring adjustments to the newly fitted bogies:

This was then followed by a quick shunt up and down the yard to settle all the suspension and see what effect it had had:

By the afternoon, focus had moved onto investigating for steam leaks, with the aid of some smoke and a vacuum cleaner lashed up connected to the steam heat pipe:

Also on 4763 was Simon and Steve (not pictured) doing some internal repairs; here Simon is resealing a window:

On the adjacent through road Paul and Richard carried on with work to strip the toad down. The aim being that when this comes into the workshop properly once the Mink is finished, Nick and his gang can hit the ground running with the metalwork repairs required on the lower sections.

Life was fairly quiet in the workshop, just Phil working on more light fittings and fixtures:

Speaking of light fixtures, Robert showed me the chrome plated ones for 24006 when  went to see what they were up to, he took them home and soaked them in vinegar which brought them right up to a shine again:

Today though it was back to veneer sanding in the compartments, I think they are getting there with this mammoth task!

16221 did see work done towards it today although most of its activity was in the woodwork shop. Robert was on the bandsaw cutting various parts out:

While Ainsley was fitting the wood sections to one of the door skins:

John, Jenny and Laura were back on bubble car seats today, here cutting some of the fabric for the backs of the seats:

Onto 34929 with Dave and I on the final hurdles. Dave was applying filler round the last door and frame to be signed off by the door team to cover all the screws:

While I applied the number and "GUARD" lettering on the Cotswold side (Thanks to Dave for the photo):

And later on painted the black waistline between the 2 yellow bands on this section too.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, so I'll take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very merry Christmas, thank you for the interest shown in what we do, the views and comments makes it all worthwhile.