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2021 Statistics for Carriage and Wagon

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Following on from our 2021 Round Up, which by the way is now the third most read posting since we began the blog in September 2020, you may be interested to read some of the statistical information for both C&W and the Blog for 2021. 

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STAFF AND WORK

Total volunteers in the Department (Works, Maintenance and Cleaners): -

  • 119

C&W volunteers logged: -

  • 3134 attendances
  • 18,358 working hours 
Winter maintenance jobs identified at the end of 2021: -
  • 81

Works arising from our November condition surveys of the three rakes: -

  • 28

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THE BLOG 

Please note that the period for the Blog statistics actually runs from February 2021 to the first week of January 2022. They were taken on 10th January at 1700.

Links have been set up from the postings and pages below where indicated (coloured).

The blog had: -

  • 200 postings
  • 161,000 viewings
  • 448 comments and replies
World viewings broken down by country: - 
  • United Kingdom .................... 136,000
  • United States ........................ 5190
  • Australia ................................ 2520
  • Canada ................................. 1240
  • Netherlands .......................... 1210
  • New Zealand ........................ 957
  • Spain .................................... 871
  • Belgium ................................ 740
  • South Africa ......................... 444
  • Indonesia ............................. 398
  • Austria ................................. 321
  • France ................................. 155
  • Ireland ................................. 132
  • Germany ............................. 117
  • Sweden ................................100
  • Philippines ........................... 56
  • Romania .............................. 43
  • Russia ................................. 40
  • Norway ................................ 29
  • Other countries ................... 11,000 

 

 The top ten postings - viewing totals: -

 
 
 
 
 
 
2. 2021 Round Up  ...... 847
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

5. Saturday 6th / Sunday 7th (Nov) - A really great weekend .... 772

 

  

6. Electrics on MK1 carriages for GWSR (Mar) .... 772 

 

 

7. Thursday 4th (Nov) - What we've all been waiting for .... 738 

 

 

8. Saturday 13th (Nov) - The next project .... 719

 

 

9. Thursday 2nd (Sept) - Another one on the way .... 716

 

 

10. Saturday 27th (Nov) - Walking in a winter wonderland .... 704 

 

The fixed consultation pages - viewing totals: -

The Meet The Teams pages are initially published as a normal posting so will gain their own viewing totals in the normal day-to-day stream. A copy is made and placed in the Pages section of the Blog for permanent consultation and it is the viewings when here that are recorded below. These copies are kept updated as new staff join and existing staff retire or move to a new department. There are now 19 Meet The Teams pages - still to come are Engineering, Maintenance and the Management Team.

The top ten of the pages section: -

1. Carriages .... 2300 

2. Wagons .... 1710 

3. Currently in the Works .... 1050

4. Meet the Teams (Introduction and list for selection) .... 730

5. Our Workshops .... 457 

6. FAQs .... 234

7. Meet The Teams - Painting and Preparation .... 169

8. Meet The Teams - Woodwork .... 143

9. Meet The Teams - Doors .... 66

10. Meet The Teams - Mechanical (aka "The Dirty Gang") .... 46 

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The all-time totals

To finish off this posting a brief look at the overall totals since the new Blog began in September 2020. 

  • 291 posts
  • 220055 viewings
  • 697 comments and replies
 The top twelve postings: -

3. 2021 Round up .... 855
 
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The Blogging Team hope you have found the above of interest. 
 
What will all these look like after 2022?
 
Stop press update:
 
On 17th January at 1630 a check was made of the viewing total for "2021 Round Up". It had achieved 879 hits, making it the second most read post since the new blog began. It will no doubt continue a bit more before stopping completely.
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Saturday 15th - Shunting on Ice

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 The day we've all been waiting for was finally here, 34929's eviction from the paintshop! We did think about smashing a champagne bottle on it as it left, but we didn't want to ruin the paintwork. Instead we simply watched it rumble away (with comments of "finally" or "good riddance" muttered under our breath):


The standard 'the workshops are empty' shot:


Because of course shunting the paintshop necessitates dragging everything else out first, out came the CK, the Mink, and the BCK, in what was a rather frosty yard:


And finally, into the light, is BSK 34929!



It's not quite finished yet, but boy is it great to see it outside looking all fresh and sharp.
The occasion merits a couple of old photos of the coach, Dave found this one from on old GWSR guidebook, in its previous configuration:


Looking back on the old blog (sadly no longer available for some reason but I managed to take some PDF backups before it disappeared) we first started work on this way back in 2015 with some doors coming in for welding repairs before the coach itself entered the works.

Looking through in 2016 Peter thoughtfully took some "before" photos as it began to rise to the top of the pile:


It finally came in to the barn March 2017, Dave wrote "Ideally we like to finish this in time for Broadway. I rather suspect that will be a very tough race." He was right!!

And a few to remind people of the substantial former parcels area end rebuild:




I apologise for the very low resolution of those pictures, my backup of the old blog was very crudely done unfortunately, but that's all we've got left. I hope it shows the general point anyway - it's been a big old job!

Back to today, and it wasn't long before the next project rolled in, TSO 5042 is coming in for a quick 6 week paintjob:


Phil was engrossed in bits for the RBr on the jack road as the other RBr briefly came into the workshop, merely to save a shunting move. It will be coming in properly soon but not quite yet:


Also undisturbed by today's shunting was John, back on brake rigging washer spacers. Last week he cut the outside holes, this week it was the inside holes:


Soon enough, everything else was shunted back:


And the yard was suddenly filled with maroon coaches!


Coaches on the left were having bogies power-washed I think, in the middle having brake blocks changed over the pit, and on the right is 34929.

It did give quite a good scene of our current shunter roster:


Ian and Andy braved the cold all the rest of the afternoon in the pit changing brake blocks, it was getting dark when they finally shunted everything clear:


Meanwhile inside, we were getting to grips with 5042 as it was drying off:


Dave set to bashing out the filler rivet line where it was beginning to go:


And Pam abandoned her varnishing to get her favourite tool out to angle grind some metal away on this patchy corner (photo Dave):


I came along and scraped all the vinyl lettering off, having spent much of the day sticking vinyl numbers on, implementing our new window and door numbering scheme:


(13 is the window number, F the compartment)
Keeping me company outside was Paul and Dennis, continuing the deep clean:


Today Dave and Robert thought they'd come and help with the CK rather than their own coach. They claimed it was a matter of conscience, but I suspect the fact that one coach was nice and warm inside a workshop and the other wasn't had a part to play... :-)


The carpentry shop was full of people making bits presumably for the CK too, Ainsley on one of the doors:


Robert and David making door back panels:


David and Steve cutting some more bits to size


Also working wood today was Richard and Paul with the doors on the Mink. First a quick test of the frame zie to check everything lines up:


I blinked and they were planked and primed!


I'll have to be quicker than that to catch them at it.

Speaking of me being quick, I popped up to upholstery to see how they were getting on to find they were having sewing machine problems, that being way above my competence level I beat a hasty retreat, but I'm assured they sorted the problem out ok in the end:

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Thursday 13th - A beautiful day

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It might have been very cold at times, but no denying that it really was a beautiful day, and when it came to working in the Barn and the Santa rake, it was warmer out than in !


Frost-coated sleepers, a blue sky and a hazy escarpment - the view from the station foot crossing.

Beginning with some of Wednesday's work, the roof canvas on the Mink A van has been trimmed and battened down. The heavy metal curved end sections have also been put on.


The view from the mezzanine (Photo: Nick)


The north end corridor slider is also now in the process of being sanded and primed, with a coat of oxide on the outer metal side.


A double effort to remove all the old varnish from a vestibule access door from CK 16221. It took concentrated work getting these cleaned up, hence Dave joining Bob for this job.


Moving into the Barn to find RBr 1672 now up on the jacks to allow access for the repair work underneath. (Photo: Nick)

 

Gerry moves stuff out of the way to make ready the access to the coach, and gets the heater in the foreground going. (Photo: Nick)

In addition to the battery box, the gas bottle cupboard has also been cleared to improve access.

In the corridor Gerry is steadily removing the floor. It looks like quite a bit of repair work for Nick, Gerry and Bryan to do, and I was later informed that it could be three weeks before the job will be completed and the jacks free'd up ready for the final work on BSK 34929.


BSK 34929 will still be shunted out but may go over the pit to allow some underframe work to be done. Meanwhile, it's the last day to get all the painting and related work finished in the Paintshop. The repainted metal base has been put back underneath the guards seat and Phil is tidying up the surround with some grey undercoat. Nobody will see this, but at least we will know that all is neat and tidy. The seat will be put back first thing on Saturday before the shunt.


 Both Jeff and Phil then went round the coach doing some further snagging.

 


So, that's it at long last. The stabilizing props were removed, battery charger unplugged and everything else cleared away ready for 34929 to be shunted out on Saturday.


In the quiet of the Mess Room, Paul extracts all the Indoor Gang's tasks from the Condition Survey spreadsheet. There are quite a few things to do.


Over to the Santa Rake which is now in Platform 2, having been previously brought down from Toddington. Dennis stripped out the Christmas decorations in RMB 1876.


All the coaches will need a vacuum throughout to remove the subsequent scatterings of tinsel. Paul is busy doing this in the preceding coach, CK 16195.


At the north end of the coach Roger is repairing one of the droplight catches which has worked loose.


 Alan is checking that the door lock striker plates are secure.


Another job in our long list is to install new heaters in the disabled compartment in BCK 21092. Rex is creating the necessary space in both walls.


 The Malvern side wall.

The next job is to clean up the metal covers. When completed these were put on the Paintshop trestles ready for a coating of silver Hammerite on both sides.


One of many jobs for me was filling the primed recess on the side of 21092 where old filler had broken away. Being so cold in the Barn it took some time for the successive layers of filler to harden, but by the end of the day all the sanding down was completed, the area wiped down with thinners, and then patch painted in GWR Brown.


 One of Ken's jobs was repairing the very wobbly wheel on this sack truck.


Phil cutting a copper pipe with a special cutter. This enables a very clean and straight edge to be produced.


Away from all the dust and noise, Eve is busy on our Works computer with the many records that we now keep. 


Russ was back in and working on his son's garden model. Although simply an ornament, it will look really good when the job has been completed.

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