Thursday 21st - Cooling down

A very varied day with staff busy inside and out. Thankfully the weather had calmed down and it was a lot cooler outside, though residual heat made the Works and coach interiors still somewhat oppresive.

The Bubblecar has been moved across the yard and has the Baguley-Drewry railcar for company. It is now in an excellent position for viewing from the passing trains at the forthcoming Diesel Gala.

The roof stripping on the "Cheltenham High Street" Toad van is just about complete and Richard is now cleaning up the metal frame.

Three of the wooden roof beams which I imagine will be replaced with new ones.

With the gala imminent our Friday Maintenance Team have identified a number of jobs for us to get done on the 3rd Rake and the coaches that will go towards the make-up of the 4th Rake. One for the Painting Team is to repair the paintwork on three compartment ceilings in SK 24949. The above shows the worst of the three with the loose paint scraped off.

Seats well covered. A quick brush round and then on with the undercoat.

Much later in the day, with the undercoat dry, Jeff and Richard were able to add the top coat. Bob had a quick check of the roof but could see no evidence of leakage, and certainly some cowl resealing was done last year, so we are puzzled why the paint peeled away from the ceilings. 24949 could really do with the full refurb but will have to wait its turn in the queue. 

Another repair job ready for the Gala. .A new footboard for FK 13337 "Gillian", undercoated and awaiting a coat of gloss black. In the background the newly painted scotches have just been drilled and given a loop of string.

Not so much a 3rd Rake repair, but part of the recent upgrade in RMB 1808. Richard B. is installing an inverter in relation to the new chiller cabinet.

In between to the two bouts of paint repairs in 24949, Jeff and Richard were back on CK 16221's Cotswold side doorways. The day before David had had a good go on the north end doorway and Jeff continued the job. However the first thing was to tighten up the main back panel on the door.

Now on with main job, initially sanding down more of the fillet on the side of the capping strip.

Richard was busy with the centre doorway.

On to RBr 1675, with Bryan easing off more of the lower panelling to gain access to the ends of the underfloor crossbearers and uprights. The tape marked the cutting line.

On the Cotswold side Gerry is doing a similar job next to the kitchen/counter access doorway.

Plenty of corroded sections to replace here.

Time to get that north end corridor connection off. A very large socket and handle are enhanced by a good length of pipe, to give a hefty boost of torque. John ensures the socket is securely on the nut while Gerry and Bryan ready themselves for the big heave.

Ready chaps? Heave!

 The nut surrendered gracefully and John was able to continue on his own.

That's the first one loose. Now for the one on the other side.

Bryan and John later began dismantling the flexing apparatus at the top of the south end connection. The top of the section of the nearby crash pillar has been marked in chalk for cutting out and replacement.

A side job for Phil, repairing the steering mechanism from one of our trolleys.

Andy in his new overalls, also using a length of pipe for extra torque, works on freeing the innards of the bogie prior to changing the wheelsets.

Ian moves the long rake of bogies from their "home" by the signalbox.

Bob continues the initial undercoating of the Malvern side of TSO 4867's roof. 

Also outside of course is the cosmetic clean up of the bogie bolster. A new batch of Dark Grey undercoat and GW Grey top coat has just arrived, some of which will be used here. Newly painted up, the wagon will look really good stabled in the siding by the Usk Goods Office platform, and being low it won't hide the reconstructed building.

 Alex's initial job for the day, a final coat of varnish.

.Another superb job by Alex for the Loco Dept.

More for the skip. Dave pauses while I take the shot. 

Yet more for the skip, the metal one this time, as Andy cuts up some redundant frames.

Looking great wreathed in steam, the Ivatt Mogul waits for the whistle.

Wednesday 20th - A mobile workforce

 Today started with Rex and Bryan paying a visit to Toddington, they went to look at a 4ft bender which may help us with the lower outer skin on 1675. Of course they went by train from Winchcombe, they were asked to fix a door in another Buffet car kitchen. 

They are checking they have everything they need for the repair, they re-joined the train. I understand they carried out the running repair successfully. By the time they got back to Winchcombe many of us had gone home.

Voila, the repaired door.

Earlier in the day Derek and Gerry were discussing side panels and timber flooring on 1675. Where we are at the moment is made somewhat easier by having the carriage at working height.

Gerry then joined forces with Phil and they set about removing all of the old flooring from the saloon. 

As expected it has revealed some more 'tin worm' activity, however this does make the repairs much easier to deal with. Generally we find it is far easier to replace the entire cross bearer than to insert odd pieces, and we can paint and preserve everything before the floor goes back down.

Thanks to Gerry for the photos of me, you can imagine how hot it was in there with hot metal and the temperatures we have been experiencing.

The air supplied welding mask does help.

Gerry uncovered a bit more work, it looks worse than it is. We will replace the whole upright with a pre-formed section, and use wooden formers to locate it correctly.

Still with 1675 Phil is removing ceiling panels in the kitchen area.

In the upholstery shop a great team effort in stripping this seat base, I am told they were rather noisy.

Jenny, Stephen and John.

Our new volunteer ' Pete' on his first day. He worked with Ainsley making a new overhead door panel for 16221.

Ah its lunchtime, and it rained so no alfresco for us. Geoff, Colin and Phil building up their strength for the afternoon session.

Happily the temperature had dropped a little, but it was good to get those overalls off.

Saturday 16th - Getting hotter

The temperature was beginning to rise during the day and a foretaste of what is predicted to come over the next few days. With the Railway temporarily closed on Tuesday because of the excessive heat, this will be the last posting from the Works until at least Thursday.

Now that the water tank for CK 16221 south end has been successfully tested, it was time to put it back.

 

Phil has put out a call for help because these tanks are not only very heavy, but also very cumbersome to squeeze through the doorway and up into the ceiling cavity. Steve, Ian, and Simon have arrived to join Phil and Andy.

The cleaned up and primer coated bearers, now with the padding restuck to each, and ready to pass into the compartment when called for.

A big heave to raise the tank off the ground, and then a twist sideways, and finally through the door. Then the big squeeze getting as many as possible inside the vestibule for the big lift once the far end crossbearer has been put in place. A big heave to get the far end of the tank in over the bearer. As the near end is lifted, on the tower outside Andy ensures the circular filler correctly goes through the ceiling cavity. Once in place a final push and a bearer is quickly inserted underneath the near end of the tank, and relief all round as it is now secured.

Job well done! Andy looks down with a smile.

The main lift was impossible to photograph in such a cramped environment, but in the post-lift calm,  Phil and Andy now insert the remaining bearers and secure them with nuts.at each end. The tank will now need to be reconnected to the filler pipes and the plumbing for the toilet compartment.

With the excitement over, the relative calm of the Woodwork shop to find Simon cutting lengths of prepared skirting board for 16221.

I couldn't photograph Simon doing the job, but new panelling and beading is now going in next to the completed frames on the Cotswold side.

Door work continues on the Malvern side. Robert is preparing a new top section of doorframe.

 Ainsley carefully grinds down side of the north end door to enable a clearer fit.

Another short section of reinforced underfloor crossbearer destined for RBr 1675.

 Always room for improvement with whatever we do.

 Just that extra couple of inches makes John's work very much easier.

The cleared wooden base for one of the seats from BCK 21092, which are being completely refurbished. Jenny vacuums the final bits off the frame as John watches on. I think Laura had been working on the seat back but I missed her as they all went a little earlier with the afternoon getting hotter by the minute.

The Paintshop on the whole was relatively cool with a good draught throughout the three main workshops, with all the roller shutters raised and side doors ajar. Pam was able to complete a lot of work, initially giving the first top coat to another notice board and then proceeding on to more varnishing and painting with other irems on the trestles.

 

In the Barn Maurice was cleaning up the main roof supports on the "Cheltenham High Street" Toad van.  

Alex continued his cleaning up work on the Malvern side and south end of the bogie bolster wagon.

 

Returning later to find him well into priming the Malvern side 

[Photo : Alex]  The completed upper half.

With this BG being one of the locations for some of our reorganised storage, Dave thought it might be good to do something about the external scruffy appearance, much as we have done elsewhere.

4270 waits for the down train to arrive on what has by now become a hot sultry day. 

Dinmore arrives and the token exchange can now take place.

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

A postscript from Alex

 Unlike Dave, I didn't manage to get any pictures of the trains in glorious sunshine. The master plan had been for dinner and drinks at the Royal Oak in Gretton, where you get a great view of the line, and watch the evening fish & chip train steam past. The angle and lighting was perfect, just one thing missing:

No train! Best laid plans, foiled by a signalling issue so the train went to Broadway instead. It was such a good idea too! Protestations to the duty ops officer that we were lined up ready and waiting were to no avail. Ah well, we'll just have to have another go another time... - Alex

 

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