Thursday 21st - Where are my sunglasses?!

Getting close to Christmas, yet we still had a good number attending, though I didn't manage to photograph everyone. Think it will be a bit different on Saturday, and certainly when we open on just two days next week.

There were many comments (the post title being one of them) about the brightness of the fresh white gloss that was going on GW Tank Wagon 43930. Maurice did as much as he could - the Cotswold side and sole bar - but was limited because we have run out of undercoat white, so the Malvern side had to be left. We are putting on two undercoats to give a good depth of paint, hence running out of undercoat!

Martin sanded down the back panel on the Malvern side north end door of SK 25488 ....

..................  and then added a fresh coat of varnish. While this one just needed tidying up, the back panel of the opposite door will need to be replaced as the veneer is coming away.

Some of the draft excluder in the four doorways has been replaced with new, but if still in reasonable condition it has been painted in matt black, a distinct improvement as can be seen in the above photo.

In the south vestibule the laminate was flaking badly at the base of one of the large panels. Bob trimmed off the flakes, lightly sanded the area .....................

 ........................ and then applied several coats of an appropriately coloured wood dye. This will then have a couple of coats of varnish.

Richard cleaned up the Malvern side windows, removing any paint splashes and checking that the sliders were working ok.

We have a lot of old paint to remove off the sides of RBr 1675. We have previously used angle grinders with wire brush fittings which certainly do the job, as well as some paint stripping disks, which also do a good job, but they don't last very long so may be best used for finishing off. Now that we have returned to this lengthy task we are trying heat guns, although the very bottom layer of paint is proving stubbon. However Martin followed up Jeff's efforts on Wednesday with a pad sander, and as long as the sandpaper was changed regularly, it finished this area very nicely.  Meanwhile Bob and I worked on the Cotswold side with heat guns and between us cleared a good area of paint, which as far as possible will be finished off with sanders. I think in the end it will be a compromise and all these methods will be used depending on the stubborness of the old paint layers.

On first entering the Workshop I was soon very aware of the great tangle of wire hanging out of one of the windows. All these are of course in the process of being connected.

The mystery was soon solved. Ian was in the process of painting creocote on the wood spars attached to the top hat crossmembers, which provide the supports on which the floor panels are attached.

And the next, but first a sweep up of the accumulated dirt under the board.

Phil was in the process of connecting more of the light fittings.

Richard was again working on the emergency stops circuitry in the 24 volt system control box.

 It certainly looks complicated, but not of course to the electrics team.

In the fading light, the final Santa Special for the day.

Tuesday 19th - A quiet day

Just a small number in today as the result of a number of unexpected absences - we hope they are able to return soon. 

A very pleasant surprise was to see Bob back. He soon got stuck into the repaint of the GWR tank wagon 43930, initially wire brushing the light rust patches that had come through the spray primer.

Having already cleared his area of rust patches, Maurice was well into coating them with red oxide.

 Large areas of oxide were gradually appearing as the time ticked by.

Eventually the priming was complete and both Bob and Maurice were painting the metalwork in white undercoat.

One of my jobs was reinstating the grab handles on SK 25488. The retaining straps were also reconnected on the Malvern side north end door. 

Bob noticed a slight hiccup in the coach dimensions. Can you spot it?

Our 1100 break. Ian had popped in to return a borrowed plane. Unfortunately he has had to join the off-work group with a leg injury and it may be a while before he can return.

With some time to spare from doors, Ainsley did some paint removal on the Malvern side of RBr 1675. The hot air gun removed the top layer, but not the stubborn maroon base layer.

A walk to the end of one of the coach lines to capture a shot of the Cotswold escarpment and wet tracks - the rain had at last stopped. 

Then crossing the tracks to obtain a view of both Tool Vans, looking really great with their new paint.

Climbing onboard SO 4798 reveals Dave still hard at work freeing up all the seat backs, cushions, and side panels. The tables will also be transferred.

Looking quite a jumble now, but it will be good to see this relatively recent reupholstered seating transferred to one of our running SOs, to replace its upholstery which has now become shabby.

 

The general kitchen area inside the RBr. I completed the sanding down of the formica and metal sheeted walls, which Pam and I had been doing on Saturday. This is in preparation for the hygenic lining that will be put on.

So what was wrong with the coach dimensions at the north end of SK 25488?

The partially missing number in the overall weight had been painted as a "2". SKs are 33 tons.

Monday 18th - That Was The Year That Was

 For the Cleaning Team this was the last visit of this year. So 5 at Winchcombe and 8 at Toddington.

Kath at work in "Mary".

And then doing what we do best - Tea Break!

The outside team of Paul Tim and Peter (in orange) with Steve checking in. They prefer being outside - they weren't banned!

And inside Kath, Val, Roger C and Steve.

Thanks to Paul and Dennis who washed the Malvern side of rake 2 last week -  members of our team who were at the railway over the weekend noticed the improvement, as did the "Away" team today.

Being ex train spotters we like numbers, so the stats are 358 train sides were washed this year and there were 397 volunteer days from the team.

Normally we have finished until March but as mentioned last week we plan to start in mid January on the parts we don't normally have time for. Weather permitting of course.

Trains are running after Christmas 27th December - 1st January. Not up to Broadway as the Stanway Viaduct is under repair. The unexpected extra has come in at £270k with work extended in to March. The Appeal is still open of course! Viaduct Appeal

Season's Greetings from the Cleaning Team.

Saturday 16th - New wagon please!

 Starting off on Friday, when I popped in to swap wagons round with Stuart. With Tool van No.92 complete, we were chomping at the bit to get the second tank wagon in.

I didn't get a chance to take many photos as it's best to concentrate on one thing when you're shunting, but we did stop to take a couple of photos of 92 before we temporarily moved it into the back siding out of the way.

And the sunny side. All the sanding of the old paintwork well worth it in the end, a good final result.

And the next in, the second DD3 GWR tank wagon 43930. It was grit-blasted and spray-primed in the summer, but we've been messing around with tool vans since then. A little surface rust had developed in the meantime, but that shouldn't take too long to address.

Also of note was that earlier in the morning the P'way train had moved siding, it's now positioned in the P'way yard (what a novel idea!) and helps hide the inevitable untidiness behind. The other potential positive is it frees up siding space to have the demo goods train formed up on a more permanent basis...

So on to Saturday and Maurice was soon off the starting blocks taking off the surface rust.

By the end of the day a fair bit had been patch primed and a bit more of the solebar had been undercoated, a job I had started on it outside in the summer.

Just as a reminder this is the aimed for livery, white with red lettering and a dark red band. It would have carried some sort of lubricating oil for the loco department in all probability.

The RBr returned to its place in the workshop after the shunt, still plenty do do on this. Robert was using a sheet of paper to check for binding spots on the emergency door on the Cotswold side.

Phil was fitting the electrical bits on the end.

And Chris was looking at foot boards.

Inside Dave and Pam were sanding some of the kitchen panelling in preparation for contractors coming in to install some new proprietary panels.

Ian and Stuart in discussion over the next phase in here.

Just Alan on FK 13326 today, grinding...

...And welding on the South end, where one of the floor bearers has had to be replaced. Luckily Alan worked out a way of safely doing this without either having to rip the toilet out or risk setting everything on fire.

More shunting today, FK 13329 came off the jack road having had its steam leaks repaired.

And in came FK 13337 which is having a temporary bogie swap. The dirty gang unhook the brake rigging underneath before lifting the coach up.

Soon after and the bogies were gone.

A bit more shuffling later.

On FK 13329 now outside, Paul and Dennis investigated some faulty plumbing.

Santa trains are always a good opportunity to 'borrow' a steam loco to do some steam heat tests. We've made some good improvements on rake 1, but not had much of a chance to assess the state of play in rake 3. 5526 did the honours and hooked up.

Yup, there's one! John and Andy worked their way along and identified what needs sorting.

Back inside, I spent the morning lettering and numbering the NYMR SK, very nearly there with this one now.

The DFR contract continues, with another batch of Mk2 seating sent off and swapped for more yet to do. The team soon got stuck straight in.

Old cover off, new cover on.

Kevin continues to keep us all in order, where would we be without him!

Last pic for today, just before I left at about 6.45 2807 rolled in to stable train 2, lit by Christmas lights.