Tuesday 23rd - Back to the routine

My first day back after a great holiday and a busy one catching up on the work of the past week or so, and putting all our Gala display goods back in store. While I was away it was good to know that the Gala was very successful and we had plenty of visitors to the Works over the three days. Lots of videos on YouTube to peruse, with the freight trains looking really great.

Beginning today in the Barn where Tony has been doing a great job, along with his son Bob. John H., and other members of the Dirty Gang in getting these serviced and cleaned up ready for 1675. Unfortunately the Underframe Black being applied is almost the last in the tin. Some new tins have been ordered and hopefully will be with us next week.

Later on I captured Tony cleaning up one of the hellicle springs.

More progress with 1675 as Robert creates another doorframe liner.

He later worked on one of the rebuilt emergency doors.

The various new inserts on the rebuilt door.

The second emergency door with the new metal skin and hinges in place.

Bob was creating more supports for 1675's sheet metal skirting.

Inside the seating area of 1675 Derek was applying crecote to the wood underfloor supports.

When reading the blog while I was away, I was very pleased to see that the filling/sanding process on the Santa Coach had progressed far enough for greying up to begin. We've still a way to go yet with the original paint surface, but there will still be secondary filling on the parts that have now received the Light Grey undercoat. Part of the reason why we apply this of course is because it shows up where more filling is needed.

Pam did quite a bit work on the original surface, as did Ian who was also working on thr Cotswold side. They were later joined by Richard, who worked on the Malvern side.

Alex had left two lamps on the trestles that were in need of a repaint. Maurice got going on both of these, one of which needed quite a bit of derusting and hence a good coating of the green primer followed.

The afternoon tea break with Bob M., Bob S., Roger, Maurice, Pam, Robert, Tony, Dave and Richard. Ian is out of sight on the left.

Dave was now on the Malvern side of the BG which he is tidying up. As previously explained, this is a great way to make our storage and other out-of-use vehicles look a lot better, and of course use up old paint.

Furthering Alex's Saturday report of Upholsery's progress with the Forest Of Dean Railway seating, the new moquette cut to size and laid out ready on this seat back.

Side panels in the making.

The notice says it all.

The increasing stack of FODR seating next to the reupholstered seating for TSO 4867.

Richard and Pam watch Pendennis passing on its last run of the day. It has been a real treat to have this lovely engine on the Railway and, as Alex stated, she is with us for the rest of the month. Hopefully we can drag ourselves away from our work and have a ride behind her.

The new bench is proving to be very popular. Maybe because when we rush out to watch the trains passing we can just crash out for a bit, especially as we spend almost all our working hours on our feet. Trouble is, once the trains have passed, it's hard to leave the comfort of the seat and get going again!

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

So, what made me miss the Gala and go on holiday for a week?

Quite simply, this!

Anyone who knows Exmoor well will instantly recognise most of these, and in May arguably at their best. Lynmouth, the view from Countisbury Beacon, Malmsmead and the Doone Valley, the Valley of Rocks, Lee Abbey and Woody Bay, that incredible cricket ground in the Valley of Rocks and the wild goats, the East Lyn Valley and Watersmeet.

And then the more unusual.

In Lynton there is Charlie Fridays, a quaint, quirky cafe bistro. Superb cooked breakfasts, enormous pizzas, and just a really great friendly atmosphere.

 I wasn't kidding when I said "enormous pizzas", plus sides of course. Yep, one each!

 Rosemoor RHS Garden had an amazing tribute to the Coronation - in lettuce!

And not forgetting:

There wasn't the usual Spring Gala as such, but other things were going on to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the opening of the L&BR. Axe was giving footplate rides, while Lyn was running the main train. On Sunday, at the end of the day, the Railway's General Manager Stuart Nelhams gathered all the staff in on the day for a group photo in front of the two engines. A nice ending to a really enjoyable day.

Of course one visit is never enough, so on Wednesday on the way back from Rosemoor, time for a visit to the tearoom for tea and cake.

Finally, a sad farewell to Lynton and Lynmouth, but back at the end of September for the L&BR's main gala.

Monday 22nd - Busy Day

 11 for Carriage Cleaning today. Very fortunate as it turned out there was a lot to do.

Neil had arranged for the rakes to be swapped over and moved down so that carriage A was on the platform and so could be washed.

So when I arrived Team Leader John was discussing with Paul and Tim what to do. Suffice to say it took them an hour to clean just this 1 carriage! It was the first time this year we had had the "A" coaches on the platform.

Now unfortunately our HoD had time on his hands recently and took a train ride! Here he noticed the window "cills" in "Mary" were a bit grubby. To be fair he did suggest it needed to be attended to in the winter shutdown, but I am old enough to take a hint! So I went prepared with sponge scrubber and washing up liquid just in case. With such a good turnout I was able to attend to the problem.

Before

After

One half done

And the state of the water

Ian is right that it needs to be done in shutdown, when the tables can be removed so the window can be accessed without having to do contortions, but I hope this is better for now.

While I did this David was helping Paul and Tim and inside were John, Nigel, Greg, Kath, Jane, Rich and Sarah. After David and Jane left I helped Paul and Tim wash the Malvern side of the maroon rake. Fortunately that was not so bad as the Chocolate and Cream set. Busy Day! 

And a little aside. Rich is a qualified First Aider so we went down to The Goods Shed to locate the defibrillator. When you need one it's no time to wonder where to find it!

Saturday 20th - Going grey

 A relatively quiet day in the workshops but busy on the trains, and good progress made with a couple of projects too.

On the woodworking side on the RBr, Alan was continuing with the floor.

While Robert had a nice little wood-working project cutting the joints for the frame of one of the emergency doors.

On the metalworking front, John was making a new window cut-out for a window on the Malvern side, here using the old patch as a template.

A bit of nudging here and there and clamped in place, ready for Nick to weld in place when he's next in.

We were treated to two forms of express superpower today, with Pendennis Castle on train 1 and P&O on train 2. Sometimes we get a bit used to this sort of thing, so it's good to step back and occasionally consider that the idea of 4079 and P&O passing each other on a railway that stretched between Broadway and Cheltenham would have been unthinkable even 30 years ago probably.

It was a nice warm sunny day with lighting conducing to a 'going away' shot with the Castle. It's in service now every operating day up to and including the 1st June, so catch it while you can.

Back in the workshops and John is measuring up the moquette for the next seat back for the Dean Forest TSO.

A little bit of adjustment required on the seat to allow it t fit our standard templates.

I only managed to capture Paul and Dennis on their way back from cleaning the 4th rake after the steam gala, sorry guys, you were too efficient! :) Ken also got the North end corridor connection off the FK today, as this is having a new end welded on.

With no wagons currently in the works (We have the next projects lined up and funds in place, just need a driver to push them in!) I cracked on with the Santa coach. Determined to get some grey on it before Dave returned from his holiday, I spent the morning working on half the Cotswold side finishing off the filling and sanding before splashing out the undercoat grey.

Pam did the same on another section, which needed a bit more work, but we are now steadily ticking sections off for undercoating. One more pass with a little more filler then onto the livery undercoat, then it'll all come together quite quickly.

And finally, Paul was in shock as John and I did the washing up after tea break!