Weds 20th / Thurs 21st - So much going on
Once again, no Nick or Gerry on Wednesday, but Alex was in and grabbed some photos of the day's activities - many thanks Alex.
Wednesday
Stu, our Works Manager, and John working on the Malvern side traction rod on the south end bogie of TSO 5042.
This looks like John and Ian attempting to extract the traction rod and tube from the Malvern side of the north bogie.
Stu completing vacuum cylinder records.
In the south end vestibule of FK 13326 Derek continues the gradual stripping away of the panelling and other bits in preparation for the major rebuild of the metalwork.
At the north end the Metalwotk team adjust the new sections of the connection support pillars.
In the background are the green primed half end panels that will be used on 13326.
Ainsley working on the Cotswold side emergency door on RBr 1675
Richards I and II and Phil enjoying a cuppa while going over the electrical plans in place for 1675.
I wonder what the collective name is for a group of electricians - sparks?! Actually a trawl of the web has uncovered two names:-
"A battery of electricians is a phrase used to refer to a group or team of skilled professionals who specialize in electrical work".
An ohm of electricians, though as there was a crack about a home, I suspect this one isn't real.
David working on the Malvern side of NYMR SK 25488. As with all prep, it will go on, and on, and on, and .................
Some filler is already going on.
In Upholstery John sorts out seat securing brackets.
Jenny, back from her holiday, works on a seat back for the FODR. Is this the last? The contract must be almost completed by now.
Gosh, when did this go up? New shelving for boxes of screws and other bits, in addition to the existing large shelving area on the other side of the Woodwork shop. One of the blue trolleys, normally used for moving doors, has been put to a different use carrying all of the wooden window frame components, machined from Walnut by Geoff and Colin.
Plenty of activity in the Doors/Woodwork shop.
Thursday
After all the storms over the past few days, a lovely day at last!
Looking back towards the Works with Tool Van 4 standing out with its bright red end.
Dave was making the most of the good weather and was back down the headshunt applying dark grey undercoat to the old Army RBr. By the time he has finished it will look a lot better.
Also making the most of the weather was Alex, who got going on the "M A I L" on the Model Railway TPO. I could have started some sanding on the south end panel but problems with dust, and the fact that another School Evacuation Experience was taking place, prohibited this.
I returned late afternoon to see the results of his work and it is beginning to look really good, with the black highlighting also now done.
A comment in Tuesday's post, answered by Alex, queried why we use plastic tape for our lines. WE DON'T! As far as I am aware, we have always painted the lines on our coaches, and now thanks to Alex, transfers (bar the roundel) have also been replaced by paint. The coach with the taped lines which has given us problems with its removal is SK 25488 which, along with SK 24804, has been kindly loaned to us by the NYMR. Regular readers of this blog will know that the only tape that we ever use when lining out is masking tape.
Now on to 25488 and towards the end of the day. Alex was going round applying oxide where whole areas of loose paint had been scraped away and subsequently sanded down to bare metal. There is still a lot of general sanding down to do, and I will be once again concentrating on cleaning the doors and frames where there is a lot of loose cracking paint.
Bob has removed a lot of loose paint from the sides of the roof and coated the rusting areas with red oxide. Both sides were later coated in undercoat dark grey.
Rod was cleaning up handrails from one of the emergency doors on RBr 1675.
A pensive moment for Phil, while he and Richard I are discussing the electrics under 1675. I think Richard II was looking out of the nearby door.
Richard II was doing a cable voltage test. There are some very lengthy cable runs now in place on 1675 and he wanted to check the voltage when under load.
The dummy load in use was the board containing numerous light bulbs which he switched on one by one, all the time keeping an eye on his meter. This particular load test was in relation to the action of the water pump.
The poor old battery boxes, now stacked out of the way against the Workshop wall. They will eventually be mounted, but at present, Phil has more than enough to do. They will probably need another coat of paint by now.
Bryan and Gerry mount another window on the Malvern side of 1675.
Our Indoor gang were out in full force in the 3rd Rake. Roger, back from holiday, had mounted a new corner section on the ceiling at the north end of the corridor in SK 24949. This was later primed ready for painting.
A loose table in RMB 1808 is soon re-secured by Alan and Geoff.
Alan pointed out this door base to me. Neither he nor Geoff liked that big gap, and when back in the Works I later saw them carrying out several triangular door bases of different sizes, no doubt to try and see if an improvement could be made. Mind you, when helping Alex sweep out one of the Maroon Rake carriages at the end of a running day when he was guard, that sort of gap was very useful !
Tool Van 92 progresses with just Maurice again spending time on it. He completed all the metalwork cleaning and coating in red oxide.
The next job was to give the Malvern side its second coating of boiled linseed oil. This completes this activity and makes the next stage, a coat of wood primer.
Meanwhile Steven and Chris have been working on the replacement roof beams, the first of which has now been mounted.
In the Woodshop two more have been completed and await fitting.
Wow, and when did this go up?! Alan S. made a wonderful rack (a very long one!) to hold all the chisels. Did he make this rack to hold all the heavy clamps too?
