Weds 20th / Thurs 21st - And a little bit extra

It was a busy couple of days with some good attendances.

However, firstly a little bit extra from last Saturday (16th) with some photos taken by Paul E., who is working on the Toad brake van. The four photos show the removal of the vacuum cylinder with help from a member of the PWay team.

**************************

Before capturing Thursday's activities, I went round taking a few photos of some of the work that was done on Wednesday.

 Four shaped lengths of hardwood waiting to be cut into door liners, or even new frames.

Good progress with two of the doors for CK 16221. All the wood will look lovely with two coats of varnish.

The frames being made by Simon as ceiling supports under the toilet tanks in the vestibules in 16221.

 The varnished grab rails completed on Tuesday have been mounted in the corridor in 16221.

The beautifully made recess for the mid corridor sliding door in 16221. Not sure when this was actually mounted, but it looked too good not to be photographed.

 The mounted north end door on the Cotswold side of 16221.

The vacuum cylinder from the Toad, dismantled and awaiting servicing.

Another inspired invention in the making from the Metalwork team. When completed this will enable the plasma cutter to be moved about the Works much more easily.

**************************

Moving on to Thursday and beginning with more activities with the Toad rebuild.

Bryan is trimming down rivets to fill in for missing ones on the Toad.

 

These look good when fitted in place.

Gerry is cleaning up the welded patches inside the sandbox at the south end of the Toad.

On out to the Yard and the Third Rake to see how the Indoor Gang are getting on. Instead of  repairing trim, they were enjoying a nice relaxing sit. I was more than happy to join them!

The bits of trim to be used for the repairs were abandoned when Dennis appeared to say that some more urgent repairs were needed on the Main Rake. With the long spell of running over the Easter period, unusually Thursday became a non-running day. As there were a number of jobs to do on the rake it had been brought down to Winchcombe. It also enabled FK 13337 "Gillian" to be removed from the front of the rake and returned to the sidings.

Geoff had the joys are humping the large bag of tools. There were gentle mutterings of "Why is it always me?!"

Two of the doors had the door pull coming adrift.

Geoff loosens the left side screw to enable the loose righthand side to be repaired and resecured. In the distance Dennis walks back after checking other doors in the rake.

Having the Main Rake with us for a day also gave Paul and Dennis the chance to do some internal cleaning. Our Monday Cleaning Team are sadly depleted in numbers at the moment so it's good to be able to help out. Well the bucket and mop are there, and the floor is wet, so better go no further, but where's Paul?

Ah, here he is! Paul cheerfully waves the vacuum pipe out of the window.

Ainsley's first job of the day was to produce three wooden letters for one of our outside teams.

An excellent result! Of course everyone visiting the Woodwork Shop couldn't resist fiddling with them and as such over the course of the day G W R became R W G, W G R, R G W, etc, etc. In the end Ainsley stored them safely in a tin until they can be collected.

In the Paintshop we had another concentrated effort on the Bubblecar with Jeff the first to resume the sealing up of the door frames with filler. It's a lengthy job with so many doors, but anything is better than leaving the gaps between the wood frame and metal panelling.

Jeff was later joined by Robert and Russ, and also myself until as usual I was diverted with other things.

Robert mixes yet another blob of filler and hardener.

Yes, it's Dave once more cleaning luggage racks from 16221, but this time the simpler ones from the Second Class end of the coach.

Bob was back in and varnishing the corridor in 16221, but first a light sanding of the first coat.

Towards the end of the day, Ainsley had fitted the striker plate and was securing the door handle at the south end on the Malvern side of the coach.

Final job of the day for Paul - cleaning the Mess Room.

While I was back on bin duty - three for the price of one!

Tuesday 19th - A very productive day

 A good number attending on what turned out to be a very productive day.

 Starting with the Toad brake van, Stu is removing the worn out planking in one of the doors. 

 Maurice is back on the south end, wire brushing the upper halves of the vertical girders.

Returning later in the day to find Maurice has coated the cleaned up girders in red oxide and has almost completed undercoating the lower half of this end.

 Stu has been similarly busy undercoating the sides

 Other parts are also being undercoated.

On the Malvern side there is still some metalworking left to complete. 

 The final concrete ballast block newly made.

The stripped down door and the support for the vacuum cylinder, which is currently being overhauled in the Workshop. 

Our new gala barrier stands are proving to be very useful as this is the second area where they have been put to temporary use, reserving an area in the Workshop for the new floorboarding for the Toad.

It was a lovely morning, so time to get back out and try to complete the main painting of the Gunpowder Van. Phil applies top coat to the south end of the roof on the Malvern side.

All that remained lower down was the Cotswold side underframe area. With the van pulled out to allow more access, Ian applies Underframe Black

 

Unfortunately the clouds gradually pulled in and annoyingly it started raining, which put paid to any more roof painting. However Ian was able to complete his work as the areas left to paint were in effect under cover. So, bar the bit of roof to finish, main painting is complete and it's now over to Alex to add the embellishments on the Malvern side and at both ends. 

We had a good number on the Bubblecar today which was heartening as it has been rather out of the picture with so many other things to get done. Roger works in the north end cab entrance on the Cotswold side. There were never any capping strips fitted to the door frames, and some of the gaps between the wood frame and metal cladding are relatively wide. As such we will probably fill most of these rather than use sealant.

Russ continued with the removal of the window warning signs. The bared areas were then undercoated.

At the south end Richard rubs down the filler that had been applied to the 13 holes next to the guards entrance. The CDR group members had been in last Sunday, put in new screws and then added the filler.

The busy scene looking along the Cotswold side. Russ later moved round to the Malvern side to continue with the window warning sign removal..

Richard later moved on to the job I was doing on Saturday, applying very fine filler to the back of one of the toilet doors from TK 24006. He later undercoated it. The other side has already been varnished, hence the underblanket protection.

Until the rain started Dave was busy chipping the old paint off the roof side at the south end of 24006.

Another tea break over.

As with the underseat grills, cleaning the luggage racks from CK 16221 seems to be endless, but we are getting through them. Alan tackled this one and began a second. A good rub over with soft wire wool certainly brings them back up.

Keith gives the grab rails from 16221 a second coat of varnish ........................

........................ and then moves on to the three compartment doors. The reverse sides have already received two coats.

The new plaque for the Memorial Wall is given its first coat of varnish.

Off to the recycling bins in the station yard - a mundane job, but just as important as anything else.

What it's all about !