Thursday 12th - A big step forward
A busy day with 23 attending. Many thanks to Roger for the extra photos
The day started with the temperature plummeting as the fog descended. A walk along Platform 2 with Alan and Geoff to visit RMB 1876 in Rake 2 soon has us commenting on how cold it had become.
The first job of the day for Alan and Geoff was replacing a missing aluminium floor strip in 1876.
[Photo : Roger] Then it was back to fitting the remaining heating pipe covers in 1675's saloon.
[Photo : Roger]
The screws securing the oak panels on the two emergency doors had cup washers fitted, which made them stand out too much. As such the decision was made to remove the washers so the the screw heads were flat against the panel - a much better result. Roger tackles the Cotswold side door.
Richard I was connecting more cable between the kitchen and lithium battery box. First job - remove the cover from the junction box.
Wow, this looks complicated.
Feeding the wires through.
Both Richards in 1675's kitchen with both the 24 volt and main voltage panels open.
David and I turned 1675's internal sliding doors over so that the corridor side could be painted in Executive Light Grey top coat. The back of the connection door was also done with the same paint.
Alex watches as Stu tests the working of this vacuum cylinder.
Vacuuming a cylinder piston.
Tony and Phil were working on a toilet tank from SK 25488.
Getting the valve off this one needed a fair bit of force, hence the enormous tool.
Later on I found them connecting the tank to our testing facility in the Barn.
At the large pillar drill Rex cuts holes in another piece of internal window framing for SO 4798.
Gerry (and Bryan) were attaching sections of internal framing to the next window being rebuilt.
Over to FO 3127 in the yard where Dave has now unfastened all the seats and tables in this part of the coach.
This particular table however was proving to be somewhat of a trial to free.
Now into the Paintshop and progress with FK 13326.
The door pull on the Malvern side south door was a replacement for the original broken one. It needed a good sanding by David before revarnishing.
On the Cotswold side Phil continues the prep work on the door and frame.
Maurice continued the general sanding of the first top coat on the Cotswold side. By now this had progressed to the north half.
Meanwhile Alex, who had second top coated the windows and cream panels on Saturday, now began the main panel, which on this side of the coach is almost the full length.
Jeff worked in the south corridor connection, initially vacuuming all the accumulated dust and then wiping the area over with thinners.
Bob arrived and began glossing the left side of the connection.
Jeff was now well into the painting of all the black areas within the connection.
Maurice had now moved on to the lower panel with the light sanding.
A general view from the south end of the Paintshop. There were 6 of us from the team today, mainly working on the coach.
With the main part of the Malvern side now complete, Alex moved round to the Cotswold side and top coated the whole of the side between the south and central doors.
The "new" looking Malvern side. Great to see this at last and done so quickly. Well done Alex!
Alex then transferred to the north vestibule and began painting Georgian Mahoghany wood dye on the new veneer.
Once that had dried (the spirit base dyes dry very quickly) Alex began varnishing.
Mirror, mirror ...... not a single brush mark. A great job!
The end of the day, and what a great leap forward with 13326's progress.
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Saturday 14th - A very mixed assortment
We had even more attending with a total of 25.
Saturday was a much warmer day and with glimmers of brightness after the dull weather on Thursday. Foremarke Hall comes down from Toddington to pick up Rake 2.
Hearing the rumble of the O3 trundling by, a quick exit to see what's going on. With Ian in the cab, Andy 1, Andy 2 and Clive are the shunters. Hmmm, that number transfer on the O3 is getting worse.
Of course, the mid morning exodus from the Works to the station is now traditional for the toasted teacake and cuppa when the Coffee Pit Cafe is open. This increases during Galas, Santas and other special events when the griddle is up and running. And all very nice it is too!
What better to enjoy your sausage and onion bap (with the obligatory brown sauce) with the wonderful ambience of a live steam loco to add to the moment. 3850 rests after arriving with another happy trainload of passengers to see Santa.
Just need to clean the shovel for a footplate fry-up.
Back in the Workshop John is making the metal parts for a batch of vacuum cylinder piston rod covers. The covers are made by Upholstery.
Phil is repairing the main lighting switch unit from SK 25488 or SO 4798?
The fully repaired toilet tank from SK 25488
Kevin was busy cleaning some of our spare tables.
Ken is setting up spare buffer extender keeps ready for replacing worn ones. He carefully measures where the bolt holes are to be drilled. All these were later taken to the Paintshop trestles for painting.
Phil sorts out more plumbing repairs for 25488.
Looking up into 25488 (now shunted out of the Barn into the yard) with the ceilings down and the toilet compartment on the right related to Phil's plumbing repairs.
The removed ceiling panels and associated beading were given a fresh coat of paint by Alex. Alan below makes a new beading strip.
Simon is cutting out some curved sections, which I suspect are also destined for ceilings.
It was just Laura in the Upholstery shop covering two seats from the Bluebell contract. These two are different from all the other two-part seats in the batch.
Tea time! Paul counts the signing-in sheet for today to estimate the number of teas to make. Note the number, then take off those you know have coffee or just water.
At the south end of SO 4798 James is working on the frame underneath where the toilet compartment is located. Note the rubbish bin on the wall!
Simon and Alan are fitting more ply panelling inside 4798.
Inside 1675 Paul vacuums around the saloon following the fitting of the remaining heating pipe covers on Thursday.
A walk through the yard to see what has been happening with the shunt - an array of bright coaches, with 25488 now pulled out into the open air behind the O3.
The wagons eventully destined to come into Works have been relocated to the bottom of the headshunt. Beginning with the part-dismantled van that is to be converted to carry weed killing equipment. Then the two tankers that will end up in the goods train. Finally the Starfish undergoing a repaint.
Moving on to the MICA van where Paul E. is adding more filler to the Cotswold side planking.
Maurice is wiping down the main frame prior to adding white undercoat.
A discussion involving Robert, Chris and Paul about fitting the Cotswold side door frames.
Wow, that was soon done! The left hand doorframe now part mounted.
The right hand one with rebates cut for the hinges.
Robert sorting out the fitting of the bottom hinge on the left hand door.
With the main top coating completed on the Malvern side of SK 13326, it was time to remove the line tapes. Bearing in mind that the tape has been on for more than a year and the coach had a spell outside, we knew it was going to be a trial to remove.
Pam joined in and between the two of us we removed much of it on that side, but often only removed in small pieces. Occasionally a longer run could be achieved.
Alex meanwhile got cracking on the north half of the Cotswold side beginning with the cream topcoat.
The remaining aspects on the north end door and its internal surround was completed by Robert and Chris during the morning.
Robert creates a new section of beading for the inner door frame.
At the other end of the coach on the opposite side Dave fits the replacement door pull which was obtained from our stock of spares. Unfortunately the new one was too thick and couldn't be retained. So back to square one to see if the original can be repaired.
At the south end Ainsley and Ben are back on the internal door surround.
Alex has now almost completed the second top coat of the cream section of the north half.
The next job, second topcoating ppppthe large brown panel below.
Just over half an hour later, Alex contemplates his efforts after completing the large brown panel. A superb effort!
He now joins Pam and myself with the line tape removal, working on the south half of the Cotswold side which he had painted on Thursday. He has more success on this side of the coach, with the tape coming off a lot more easily.
With the old tape removed Alex begins the lining out. The two lines of tape mark out the upper yellow half of the line - note the tape rolls perched in the gutter.
Ainsley completes the work on this doorframe with some filler. Once sanded this area can now be taped up ready for the lines and then undercoated.
The Paintshop whiteboard written up for Tuesday.
Dusk gathers as Foremarke Hall runs round for its final run to Cheltenham.
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