Weds 23rd/Thurs 24th - Not finished yet

Something different for Wednesday, with a catch up on Thursday.

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Wednesday

Thank you Gerry for these photos taken on the West Somerset Railway at Dunster and Minehead. Hope your holiday is going well.

A nice view of Dunster Station.

Well, well - look what's pulling the train, looking resplendent in its new black ......

....... and pulling a rake which includes crimson & cream liveried coaches. 

I remember Hymeks when they first came in, but didn't see this one.

Lovely to see Lady Of Legend again. I hope we have her back on our railway at a future gala.

And of course our own 2807.

Returning to Dunster with the train pulling away.

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Thursday

A generally quiet day with some of our Thursday regulars away. 

First a catch up on some of Wednesday's activities.

Upholstery had a good turnout and it showed with the progress made with several aspects. The stock of cushions and bags looked as it more had been made as up on the storage rack there was a very impressive quantity.

The seat back from BCK 21092 is progressing with one of the arms now ready for refitting .........

......... and the other currently being re-covered.

The curtain ties for RBr 1675 look as though they have been completed, judging by the number shown above.

Phil had reconstructed most of the counter display unit in 1675.

Pat had had a very good session with the north end of SO 4798. Much of the filler added by Ian on Tuesday had been sanded and it looked like more had been added.

One of the heavy wood plates for the corridor connection had been mounted on the south end of 4798. The two angled plates that will sit either side lay on the tool bench and had been drilled ready for mounting.

On to today's activities.

Maurice preps and then primes new battery box covers that had been completed on Wednesday. Not sure where these are destined.

The little white rounds in the foreground are new door stops for the Monster van, which we could have undercoated in dark grey - forgot with all the other things going on.

Back to the counter in 1675 which Phil completes.

The nice bit of veneer that Robert added on Tuesday. Guess we need to varnish this.

The completed servery which now looks very good. It's not hard to imagine it all filled with biscuits, wrapped cakes, crisps, various bottled drinks, etc.

Alan and Roger were working on more repairs on FK 13329, in particular to the Cotswold side north end door. Alan runs the modified door base against the orbital sander.

The end result which I later stained ready for varnishing.

What was replaced!

Bob and I took a break and watched 3850 heading north.

Phil puts the original batteries back into 1675 after removing the temporary ones from RMB 1876.

We are on the final stages with the exterior repainting of 1675. The whole of the Malvern side was given its second coat of varnish by Bob and Jeff.

How did we miss this bit of the communication cord mechanism and the two flags. It was soon sorted out by Jeff.

So what do we do when 1675 goes out to the Barn on Saturday. A suggestion has been to see what we can do with our very faded Discovery Coach (BG 80893). It is crying out for a repaint,  but the dear old weather is wet on Saturday, and next week temperatures get as high as 24C. Not good news for repaints.

After a survey of 80893, time to enjoy 7903 and approaching 3850 readying for the token exchange.

The road railer is still at Toddington, so the unspoilt cameo with the goods office, wagons and that lovely tree can still be enjoyed both by our passengers and us.

Cheerio 1675. Actually there are still windows and other bits to clean on the outside, Alex still has the coach data to signwrite at both ends, and of course a host of things inside. In the Barn bogies and related items will be the main priority.

Tuesday 22nd - An ooh er moment

Just 12 of us in today, but some good progress with 1675 and the MICA van.

Beginning with Robert planing down one of the battens to hold the canvas on the MICA van roof.

Robert and Chris fixing the batten on the Malvern side of the van.

Back in the Woodshop where Robert is now planing the angle on one of the roof edging rails.

With the battens and felt adhesive now firmly holding the canvas, Paul and Maurice paint on the Evercryl waterproofing roof sealant.

Towards the end of the day Maurice top coats the door hinges.

At the other end of the day Maurice catches up with a bit of top coating on the Open C wagon.

[Photo : Paul]  The first of the heavy metal corner pieces for the Open C wagon is undercoated.

The Cotswold side of 1675 is almost completed with two coats of varnish now on and just some blackwork left to do. Richard lightly sanded the whole of the Malvern side ready for its second coat of varnish.

Back on the Cotswold side David carefully removes the little caps of masking tape from the tops of the door hinges. Any stickyness from the tape is cleaned off with white spirit and then if necessary the top lightly sanded. Any residue in the hole is cleaned out with a wire paperclip.

There are still some improvements that can be done inside by the Painting team. Pam made a very good job of two of them. The first was coating the tired looking metal edging on the draught excluders with Silver Hammerite.

The second, also using Silver Hammerite, was coating the heavy hasp and staple locks on the internal sliding doors to the pantry and kitchen. The base section of the window in the kitchen storage area also looked somewhat tired and was painted.

With the formica on the counter now fully stuck down, Robert has mounted an inner edge (presumably this will need varnishing). Phil will now be able to replace the metal frame and associated metal pieces.

With the light sanding preparation completed on the Malvern side and the whole area given a wipe down with white spirit, Richard now moves on to painting the blackwork (door stops and handles, grab handles and droplight tops) where still needed.

A swap of compartment doors. I helped Dave swap the revarnished door in the Paintshop with one he wanted from his BCK 21092. The extracted door has a cup shaped handle on its droplight which matches the compartment door droplights in TK 24006 which he co-owns.

The heavy wood corridor connection support plates for SO 4798 are undercoated by Keith.

And mentioning corridor connections I noticed that the south connection on RMB 1876 had been pulled back on Saturday. What it revealed was not good news, though I guess it shouldn't be a surprise - a definite ooh er moment! 

Saturday 19th - It's all coming together

A busy Saturday with a variety of things to report. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day; even the weather was better than predicted.

Starting off with Train 2, always a treat to see with the gleaming crimson & cream coaches in the consist, 3850 approaches ready for the token exchange.

Two of our staff are on board, Andy as the TTI and Richard with his wife Christine serving in the RMB.

I then wandered up to the Coffee Pot cafe to solve a mystery. From emails the previous evening it turns out that the stand that Simon had made and we had painted wasn't for a track chair bootscraper, so what was it for? On entering the Coffee Pot I found the stand at the far end, with railway items placed on top for sale and an explanatory note alongside. Mystery solved!

The Coffee Pot has become a great favourite for the morning break with some of our staff, including Maurice and Paul.

When Jenny did her wonderful clearance job in the fenced off area between the signalbox and the Works, she said it would be nice to have something displayed on the area of stone chippings. S & T came up trumps and donated a triple dolly signal that would not be needed anywhere on the Railway. 

Jeff works on the second of the two MICA van instruction plates. I love the jaunty angle of the paint tin - the paint was well down in the tin so it was quite safe.

Now to the MICA van itself where felt adhesive was going on to stick the canvas to the roof.

In the Workshop Andy's metalwork training continues under James' tutoring. The next section of metal repair is being carefully welded in at the south end of SO 4798.

Followed by anglegrinding to clean up the weld.

More anglegrinding prepares the area for the next section of sheet metal.

More practice with the plasma cutter to cut the required piece of sheet metal.

In the Woodshop a very different form of cutting is being done by Robert and Chris. 

The carefully measured and cut section of formica

is for the counter in 1675. With the relevant adhesive on the back and assistance from Phil, they firmly press the formica onto the counter's surface.  Two brake blocks have been added to maintain the required pressure.

Today has the second of the formal "Behind Closed Doors" tours, this one being "Lifting The Curtain" which takes the participants around the whole Railway visiting all the facilities. As part of the tour around C&W I wanted to show the group the interior of 1675. Laura very kindly put up the curtains in one of the bays to show the final effect.

Back in the Upholstery workshop Laura prepares more curtain ties using the red Chainlink moquette, which of course perfactly matches the chairs.

The large bundle of curtains all cut to the correct length, and in the photo below two completed ties.

The folded and sewn Chainlink moquette ready for making more ties. The saloon will look fantastic when all the curtains are in place and the remaining chairs are brought in.

Bob got going on the large brown panel on the Cotswold side.

Bob tops up his kettle with another load of varnish. His former professional side comes through with the use of old tights straining the varnish, even though it's from a new can which has only recently been opened. Bob did a great job, completing the rest of the Cotswold side with its second coat of varnish. With the window frames also having had a second coat on Tuesday, we are finished on this side.

Jeff completed the second coat of varnish on the remaining Malvern side windows - Phil J had done the first half when he was last in.

Alex completed the black lining out on his Malvern side lettering. So basically,  as stated earlier this week, we are definitely on the home straight with the painting and varnishing.

Jenny treated every table in the Mess Room with a wind-up Easter chick and decoration, so the morning tea break was accompanied by a lot of laughter. Jenny and Laura watch their chick as it scurries around the table top.

Pam and I had a white chick hopping about.

Thank you Jenny for your thoughtful Easter gesture.

Jenny's main job today was vacuuming throughout FK 13329, continuing the job Paul had been doing on Thursday.

After lunch she gave the Mess Room another clean.

Alex, Jeff and Pam watch Foremarke Hall go by while 3850 waits in Platform 2.

Quite a number had come out to watch the train. There was a general discussion then about the triple dolly and the best way to support it. To ensure it remains upright and stable we will create a base for it.

More fettling work for John as he carries on with his current job to make a cover for one of the sheeps head steam valves.

His new cover on the vice with an existing one below.

Where it will be fitted.

Alan and Vic continued the metalwork repairs on the south end of RMB 1876. 

The repairs in progress with new sheet metal welded in now that the bases of the connection support pillars have been done.

On the Malvern side the one pillar has been repaired and coated in MIO. The one on the right has been cut away by Vic and awaits repair.

We are so looking forward to repainting this coach in crimson & cream.

In the yard Ken is working on the brake mechanism under what will become the weed killer van.

The maker's plate showing this is quite a recent vehicle when compared with many of our wagon fleet. It has a number of very different  features.

Simon is making a new battery box cover.

The old main section of the battery box cover with the metalware removed.

On now to the Open C wagon where Alex is using the hydraulic 20 ton press to straighten one of the door straps.

A quick check to ensure it is straight enough.

Maurice and Paul continue securing more of the top coated planks.

Maurice primes the first of the corner sections.

The latest list of jobs prepared by Alex just before he left for the day.

Pam primes the thick wooden plates that will form the top section of the supports for the heavy corridor connection at the south end of 4798.

Pam cleans the glass in more of the wall light fittings from 4798 and then sands the wood before giving it a coat of varnish.