Saturday 26th - Summer already?

 The day before British Summer Time kicks in, but it certainly felt very summery today, Dinmore basks in the morning sunlight as she steams past us:

First thing there was a gathering around the CK to discuss doors:

Or alternatively, 1 working, 3 supervising!

One outcome was to commission John to make some of these rectangular plates, which he duly obliged:

 

Dennis was on his own today on the third rake, continuing the clean-up operation:

Upholstery continued their two fronts, Jenny and Laura on bubble car seats:

While John worked on the next RBr chair:

Back down to see how the door team was progressing, Ainlsey was on the pillar drill with some door furniture bits:

While Robert and Ben and moved onto the end door to investigate:

Come lunchtime we all abandoned the mess room to enjoy the sunshine outside. With our benches still under repair we all headed to the station, which looked pleasingly busy. The new timetable is perfectly matched to our lunch break, so we watched 4270 stop right in front of us:

It would have been quite easy to spend the rest of the afternoon sat out in the sun, but we dragged ourselves back to work. Ken found some quarterlights off of the RBr to play with:

And a look inside  the CK late in the day showed Simon and Steve were making great progress in panelling the corridor:

You can't really see from the pic but there's a lot more windows with panelling around them than are behind me without!

I had a fairly genteel morning working on the latest station sign, this one for Cheltenham:

Dave marched out and completed the first top coat of the GPV:

We both finished off the day with some sanding down of the bubblecar:

It was just Paul on the Toad today, priming some more of the emptied ballast boxes:

On my way to Toddington Wednesday afternoon I stopped by to see that some concrete blocks had been cast as replacement ballast:

Which segues nicely to our activities at Toddington Wednesday evening. This was to be our first riveting session on the tank wagon chassis, and a team of four of us cracked on. getting too many pictures of this wasn't easy, when you're dealing with hot rivets you haven't really got time to hang around to take pictures! 

We worked well as a team, Mark H was 'cooking' I was rivet runner, Mark Y held the bottom of the rivet while Ian came in on top to do the noisy bit:

Working our way along the outer edge of the solebar was relatively easy, but the inside edges were much more challenging for access!

A little under 2 hours later and we'd done about 25 rivets, about 1/5th of the total we think:

That was enough riveting, but there was still some other bits to do. We soon had our shiny new rivets in primer:

And Mark drilled out the last of the holes with the mag drill:

Greg and I meanwhile dug out the timber baulks for the tank and had them all in undercoat:

With the riveting being more challenging than expected, we're still not sure if this will be ready in time for the gala goods train, but we'll do our best and see what we can do. Hopefully there should be several new additions since last year either way.

Thursday 24th - Destruction and construction

Firstly a correction to Tuesday's posting. 3960 has been sold to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, not East Somerset Railway as I incorrectly reported. Dave H. and I had been talking about Cranmore and I'm afraid that stuck in my mind. Thank you Woodster for pointing out my error.

Now on to Thursday.

Quite an eventful day with a lot going on, particularly in the Barn with RBr 1675 and its major refurbishment. So, for a change, a report of events in the order in which I was able to capture them.

1032: I am keen that we make the most of this lovely dry weather to get the repainting of the Gunpowder Van finished. Martin could only stay for the morning, but got the north end and the first panel on the Malvern side top coated.

1053: Walking round to the end of the Barn where Ken is busy cleaning up the various bits of metal used for a corridor connection rain cover.

1055: Entering the Barn reveals a hive of activity where the destructive side of RBr 1675's refurbishment is now well underway.  Gerry is busy ripping up the floorboarding to expose the corroded cross members underneath.

 

1055: Nick is removing a lot of the redundant pipework.

1056: It takes a bit of brute force but getting this out of the way will assist with the rebuild. 

1104: Mid-morning tea stop with our records secretary Eve and husband Nick enjoying the break.

1138: With so much activity going on, a return to the Barn and 1675 is a must. Inside the old kitchen area Rex is removing this large metal sheet. 

1139: In the corridor Bryan has taken over the floorboard removal.

1140: With part of the side panel removed Nick is better able to assess the repair needed with this cross member and attachment (or lack of it!) to the side ribbing.

1142: Back to the end of the Barn to see how Ken is getting on. One of the curved sections of metal bracing from the corridor connection is now being cleaned. A number of items later found their way onto the hooks in the Paintshop ready for a coat of Red Oxide and then Gloss Black.

1145: Despite my searching on Tuesday I could not find the remaining chairs from 1675. However Dave H. did find them, in the Monster Van where I had looked, but hidden under a blue tarpaulin. Well done Dave! These can now be taken upstairs to Upholstery ready for stripping and re-covering in the Red Chainlink moquette. There are 24 in all, so this will be a lengthy job.

1146: Dave H. and Robert are in the south vestibule of CK 16195 reinstating the varnished access doors. These will still be given probably two more coats of varnish.

  

1148: While Dave and Robert are busy working in Clive's coach, there is plenty of activity in their coach, TK 24006. Roger is clearing away dirt and rust from the ribbing under this window on the Malvern side of the coach.

1148: Geoff is continuing the rebuilding of the inner frame on one of the Cotswold side windows.

1149: As mentioned in the the previous posting, the veneer in this final compartment has been sanded and is now having its first coat of varnish added by Bob.

1153: Time to walk up the yard to see how Dennis is getting on in the 3rd Rake. However, first the view west towards Langley Hill and the Works.

1154: I found Dennis in RMB 1808, cleaning the tables after the rake had been used for the third Race Train. 

1207: Returning through the Barn to capture Phil struggling to remove some electic cable and connection from under 1675.

After lunch: Two previous photos of the Bubblecar 55003 taken on Tuesday after the shunt to bring it into the Paintshop. Kevin, from the Cotswold Diesel Railcar group, visited to discuss various aspects of the work to be done, the main subject being the removal of the glass to enable the rusting areas to be treated prior to painting. The rust is mainly at the base of each window. 

Removal of the glass is relatively easy and done simply by the careful easing out of the outer rubber seal. Each pane and associated seals will be stored inside the car underneath the window void. The removal is planned for this coming Sunday. The Bubblecar work will be the priority for the Painting and Prep team when the top coating of the Gunpowder Van has been completed.

1432:  With initial varnishing in 24006 completed, Bob has moved into 16195 to continue the varnishing in there. His words to me just before he left for the day was that we were now using our last tin of varnish. No surprise with the amount of varnishing that has been done over the past few months for the many parts from 24006, and now 16195, but my new paint order arrives next week with another four 2.5 litre tins.

1433: Destruction over for the moment. Time for a bit of construction instead. The existing corroded cross member at this point has been removed and Nick is ready with the new top hat bar. A fair amount of bodyside panelling has been cut away to allow access to the base layer of underfloor cross members and their connections to the side ribbing.

 1437: Gerry gives Nick a hand while the new bar is carefully fed through.

1437: Hmm, something is stopping the complete insertion. Nick investigates while Gerry attempts to push the bar home. 

 1440: The shower of sparks from the angle grinder seems to point to where the problem lies.

 1441: Back to 16195 with Bob now varnishing the First Class end of the corridor.

1442: Dave and Robert have now moved out into the Workshop and are cleaning up some of the formica from the Second Class compartments of 16195.

 

1455: I was just about to go out to continue the top coating on the Gunpowder Van, when I was hailed from the Workshop to come and see the progress on 1675. Success, the first of the many replacements of the old cross members has been achieved.

 

1456: With a dusty bang the existing section of floorboarding is put back. Nick did tell me how many cross members they would be replacing - I forget the exact number, but it is a lot. 

1615: With Dave and Robert now leaving and everyone else already gone, it's time to pack up and close up the Works. A quick look at the newly varnished centre vestibule of 16195 to see how Bob has done - it looks great!

1630: On the way back to the car, a final look at the Gunpowder Van with the second and third panels painted by myself during the afternoon. It would be nice to get a second coat on the van, especially with a new tin of Gloss Black arriving next week. Let's hope the good weather holds on for a bit longer.