Monday 19th - Remember us?

 Volunteer Carriage Cleaning returns. Last week the contractors gave them a "deep clean" in addition to their regular fogging duties, so we were excused. Last week it was snow but this week it was clear blue skies and warm sunshine to welcome us back.

Roger O making a start on train 1

Phil, Paul and Kath starting on train 2. In total 8 were on site today.

Saturday 17th - Warming up

 Another freezing start but it turned into a bright and sunny day, even warm, with lots done.

There's a definite focus on finishing off BSK 34929 having been an ongoing project for a few years now. There's still quite a bit to do though. Chris was fettling the other door liner for the Malvern side guard's door:

While Ainsley was making a few adjustments with the angle-grinder to make the bottom fit:

John H continued his campaign against the comms cord equipment:

While Bob made inroads on the internal compartment sliding doors. This was was all sanded down and varnished by day's end, with a further 2 sanded down:

Meanwhile Jenny and John were in the saloon area continuing the fitting of the seats:

By the end of the day, done!

I guess it's just tables and this area is complete now, great!

On CK 16221 John O took a turn on the filling and sanding, there always seems to be more of that to do...

Elsewhere Derek continued his work on rebuilding the floors, although I missed a photo of him, he was to be frequently found walking between the coach and the woodwork shop, a piece of wood in hand, muttering away. I think it fitted in the end.

Andy and John S set to sorting out our collection of miscellaneous pipework, deciding what we can throw away, and what to tidy up.

"This bit could be useful"...

And so it was cleaned up and red-oxided for later use:

Elsewhere in the workshop Alan S carried on with the lighting improvements:

Before either servicing or swapping out (I wasn't quite sure which) the charging cable for the running rake. I spotted him wondering up the platform with it to meet a train while we were sat in glorious sunshine on the platform for lunch:

Speaking of trains, 4270 rolled through Winchcombe non-stop on its return trip for our lunchtime perusal:

While Dinmore Manor gave us something to wave at during our teabreak:

We soldiered on with the BG in the barn, opening the roller shutters to let some of the warmth in. Here Dave was applying some matt black to the corridor connection, while Pam had her first proper go at top-coating, taking the cream on the Malvern side, and a fine job she did too.

I cracked on with the lining out, doing the yellow lines on the Cotswold side:

No need to say "Alex woz here" with all that tape draped everywhere :-)

I finished off the day sanding down and undercoating the door that Nick repaired on Thursday.

Last but not least Dave H and Rob carried on with the interior dismantling of their coach, SK 24006, in preparation for future restoration:

The interior isn't actually that bad, but of course will still need stripping for eventual metal work repairs and general cleaning up.

Thursday 15th - Busy everywhere

A very busy day with quite a number attending. As Nick said in his excellent "Wednesday" report, a number of the Metalwork Team were in, as were almost all of the new Door Team. With all the others in various parts of the Works, it was a very busy day. Some of the photos that follow compliment those taken by Nick. 

It was also good to see the paint order for the restoration of the Mink van arrive in the early afternoon.

My first photo of the day was of Gerry sorting out the loose handle on the south set of double doors on the Cotswold side of BG 81049. We had simply thought about plating the hole over as the doors are not used by the P'Way gang, but re-attaching the handle was less of a problem than we thought it would be.

 

Gerry then carefully cleaned off the rough paint on the droplight bar, which saves us a sanding job.

Meanwhile Nick had cut off the corroded metal sheeting at the base of the other door..........

................... and was busy making the replacement, while in a discussion with Rex and Phil S.

 Gerry lends a hand while Nick finishes off the new metal section.

The new piece welded on and ready to be cleaned up. I later finished the job with some filler which just needs sanding down. Then the relevant layers of paint will be added to complete the job.

On the Malvern side of the BG, progress was well in hand with Martin (great to see him back) and Phil J. lightly sanding the undercoat Madder that had been added the day before.

With the sanding completed Phil and Martin began top coating the gutter panel. Later in the day Phil was joined by Bob K to begin top coating the centre cream panelling (I had to leave for a much needed haircut so could take no further photos of their progress).

 

One of the jobs for me was removing the tape on the Cotswold side of 81049 ready for lining out.

John and Ian were busy working on the suspension of TSO 4772. The coach was later taken out for a shake-down run up and down the yard.

In the Woodwork/Doors shop it was good to see Craig, our former head of the Doors Team, who will be coming in to offer helpful advice to the new team. With him are Trevor and new member Ainsley. Two other new members, Des and Rod, were also in.

One of the jobs was re-hanging one of the new vestibule doors (the left hand Door 4) on the Malvern side of BSK 34929 and in so doing giving the new members experience in using the gibbet hoist, which makes door mounting so much easier. Craig looks on while Rod and Ainsley guide the door from below, and Trevor carefully positions it with respect to the hinge locations.

With the door securely in place, Trevor tightens up the hinge pins. There will be some adjustment to the clearances but that cannot be done until the right hand door locking bolt has been finished. (photo taken by Rod).

 

The Malvern side guards door, that had been cleaned up and painted in the Workshop on Tuesday, had previosuly been rehung by the team. This was a trial fitting to check the position of the bottom hinge after door timber replacement, but this was not possible because the new door threshold was fouling the bottom of the door so it was removed again whilst we decide what to modify. 

Alan, from the Indoor Gang, was busy fitting door threshold strips on 34929.
 

With the threshold strips for the double doorways on 34929 missing, we decided to make some new ones. Rex carefully measures up.

Now cut to size, the edges are filed smooth. I didn't manage to take further photos, but Nick's photos show them completed and successfully fitted to the two entrances. The relevant holes have been drilled for the screws and main door bolt.

Phil S. was busy servicing the sliding door runner which was from 34929. The corridor door originally separated the passenger area from the guards and original luggage compartments. With our new passenger compartment and disabled area, the door has obviously become redundant.

 Inside 34929, Bob was staining the inner sides of the seating compartment doors with Light Oak wood dye.

He then varnished the other sides, which really brought them up. More photos of these on Saturday.

Wednesday 14th - We were not there really!

 It turned out to be a change of day for us metal workers, due to other commitments at home.

Please imagine this was Wednesday and not Thursday. We had been notified of a number of jobs .....

First job of the day was to remove the badly corroded door bottom on the P way mess coach, and make a new section and weld it in place. The wood frame is not too bad, so its all done and just needs the painters skills to make it look as good as the rest.

Door skins are always a challenge, look out for Dave's update next week.

34929 Rex made and fitted metal door thresholds to both sides of the disabled vestibule.

Another step towards the finish of a very long refurbishment.

Bryan carried on with w/shop jobs, the bench grinder brackets are now painted and it was decided the new LED light fitting should be nearer the wall and a little higher. All done and much more user friendly.

Gerry surveying the next door skin, we will use a wood frame as a template to make sure we have the right shape.

A lovely day, so it was lunch by the station ......

And watch the train come through, en route to Cheltenham.

It's so nice to see them running again.

We are probably the best train watchers on the railway.

I apologise if I have missed anyone on this blog, should be back to normal by next week.

A couple of photos and a paragraph from Richard from Wednesday proper of progress on the Mink arrived in the editor's inbox just in time:

"The story for Wednesday....we removed the roof hoops and timbers and the old canvas. Clearing the hundreds of bolt holes and rechecking measurements. Next step is to remove the old floor planks which are crumbling to dust....then grit blasting, a few metal repairs and a check on the braking system."

Apparently they are ahead of schedule and so are taking Saturday off - is this allowed!!?? Ed.