Tuesday 22nd - Another one leaves the nest

 A plea for help

As you will have read in Roger's Monday posting, our Cleaning Team are in trouble with now just a small group remaining. It's all very well the Works producing lovingly restored and refurbished coaches for our visitors to enjoy travelling in, but their enjoyment will soon diminish if we cannot keep our coaches clean, both inside and out, and especially the inside.

If you are thinking of joining the GWSR as a volunteer, or are already a volunteer in another department, why not give the Monday team some help. As Roger says it will be a great shame if this essential work has to go out to paid contractors and as such more expense for the Railway.

If you would like to help please visit the Volunteering section on the Website: 

https://www.gwrt.org.uk/Volunteering.html

Thank you

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Tuesday

What a lovely warm spring day again, making it very enjoyable for those working outside, and even better, it looks to carry on for a while and so giving us a chance to get outside work completed.

Back to the Gunpowder Van in Platform 2 Bay for three of our staff today. Richard needed the heat gun to remove the red G.P.V. transfers, which proved to be somewhat stubborn to sanding unlike the white lettering.

 Ian worked on the side, continuing the overall sanding and removal of the large painted X.

 

Returning later on, a cheerful greeting from Richard, now working on the south end, and Phil,  continuing his work on the roof panels.

By the end of the day much of the oxided patches had received a coat of undercoat Dark Grey. We should soon be adding the Black gloss, after which Alex can get going with the lettering and the large X.

In the Barn Maurice and Richard S. were back on the Toad refurbishment. The work is now mainly the removal of the rotten planking.

 Another end of day photo showing the good progress made.

 Another job with an excellent end of day result was the painting of the container by Roger.

Roger not only completed this, but also painted the sides of the new roof section on our original container, which had been put on to cure leaks. Reference a comment made recently, yes we do check the roofs of the containers. With the painting completed all three containers now blend in nicely with the Works buildings.

Ainsley continued working on the doorway on CK 16195 where Chris had been removing the hinge screws on Saturday.

Later in the day with Clive and myself helping, the Cotswold side south end door was put back on. The gibbet hoists make this activity so much easier.

Clive had come in for the day to act as shunter, but with that work completed he moved on to a number of small jobs in the Works.

 Dismantling and cleaning the valves from vacuum cylinders.

As Clive said, I wonder how many have noticed that when upside down part of the valve resembles an elephant's head. There's even an "E"on the side!

Upstairs in Upholstery Dave is dismantling another cushion from the Bubblecar. There can't be many left to do now.

Returning later, the old cover and padding are in the bin, and the repairs to the wood frame and base are underway.

In TK 24006 owner Dave is sanding more of the veneer panelling in the final compartment ready for Bob K. to varnish. 

One of the compartments already done with the Weathered Sycamore veneer gleaming nicely. Roll on the day when we can see reupholstered seating, wall lights, and pictures back in place.

Alan and Keith were busy with quite a number of jobs, which included varnishing and painting various items on the trestles at both ends of the Paintshop, and lightly sanding our seats from the yard, one of which is undergoing repairs as previously reported. Both seats will have a fresh coating of teak oil.

Quite a shunt had to take place to extract 3960, which has been sold to the East Somerset Railway, and keeping Neil and Clive busy for some time. 

3960 was at the end of this siding, so the very rare sight of seeing it empty!

 

Hardly had the extraction been completed, when the transport was observed slowly nosing its way along the road by the Works. Returning later to see 3960 loaded and ready to depart.

A coach slowly passing by on a transport is not something regularly seen from our Mess Room as we enjoy our 1100 tea break! It would have been years before we ever got around to restoring 3960, so it's nice to know that it is going to Cranmore to be restored and in use much earlier.

Wow, double headed shunters! Actually, not quite. The 03 is still not working and the limited siding space meant it had to become part of the remaining shunting that was still required.

Job done with TSO 4986 now over this side of the yard and the 03 ready for when the repairs can be made.

The end of a very satisfying day.

Monday 21st - Here We Go Again

 Well, some of the Carriage Cleaning Team do. With Mrs Blogger not fit to go for some time we were unable to attend, so just 6 volunteers did this turn. That is pretty much it. Pre Covid we had 16 on the books and often had up to 12 turn up. But Covid, old age, ill health and travelling have decimated the numbers. When the holiday season starts and the inevitable weeks these regulars can't make it we will be very short on numbers. Hopefully we can attract some more or else it may be another area that has to go out to paid contractors.

There was one upside this week. As the maroon rake had not been cleaned internally following the Race Trains the contractors came to do that. The volunteers were much relieved! In the words of John the team leader the inside "looked as if a bomb had hit it"! So rake 1 was cleaned inside and Malvern outside rake 1 washed, Cotswold outside rake 2. 

So if you want to do something useful (and fun!) on a Monday morning we would be very pleased to see you!

Saturday 19th - Next Tuesday then? No, it's now today!

It's rather nice to have a plan for the day that is suddenly changed into something even better, especially as we are now blessed with what seems to be a lengthy spell of lovely weather.

Almost the first photo of the day after that quick dash outside to capture P&O looking superb in the sunshine and interestingly with the 3rd Rake in tow, not the Maroon. The Main (First) Rake had gone down a while before behind Dinmore on the starter train from Cheltenham - nice to see Tina driving too. Alongside the Paintshop is the Bubblecar 55003.

Beginning with Upholstery, Jenny is well on the way to completing another cushion for the Bubblecar.

Laura is adding the final touches to a three-seat cushion. Although our newest upholsterer she is doing a great job. In the background more Bubblecar seating awaits refurbishing, but there isn't much remaining now.

The first of the reupholstered chairs from RBr 1675, now completed, and what lovely work by John and Dave to get the awkward shaped back done so well. A real professional job - well done!

With the Bubblecar being brought down on Thursday, our Deputy Head Clive informed me that the Bubblecar would be moved into the Paintshop on Tuesday during the course of a big shunt to extract a coach that has been sold to the East Somerset Railway. 

Suddenly - all change. Neil had brought the 04 back down from Toddington, so it's now today!

A lot of hasty unplugging, shifting, and other aspects to make for a safe shunt, and we are away.

The empty Works always looks impressive and as such it's always worth another photo. No hasty sweeping up today as it is all still relatively tidy after the recent moves and follow up vacuuming sessions.

CK 16122, the Mink A van and the Toad brake van are pulled out. A short train for once as there was nothing in the Paintshop.

The shunt pauses while we wait for Dinmore to pass with the first train from Cheltenham.

Paul and Dennis were cleaning in TSO 4986 across the yard, but who can blame them making the most of the sun.

At last, the Bubblecar in its new temporary home ready for the full external repaint. With a gap in the Paintshop while major work remains on the CK and obviously the RBr, this is an ideal opportunity to get this work done. There is still internal work remaining, so repainting in there will be done back at Toddington at a later date by the Railcar group. 

Of course it didn't take long for the whiskers to be added to the north and south ends respectively!

 

With the Bubblecar now in, all the various bits along the Malvern side of the Paintshop needed clearing away to enable full access for steps and the scaffold tower over the next month or so. All the various trestles and items remaining for repairs, varnishing and painting were positioned at the north end. This included the two yard seats, one of which is being repaired by John following the storm damage. The new sheet metal braces made by John are now painted and awaiting fitting next week. Both seats will have a fresh coat of teak oil.

The roar of a safety valve, and back out again in the lovely spring sunshine to enjoy P&O with the valve now quiet.

Dinmore arrives and the token is exchanged. With the mid-day relaxation over, now back to work.

Great progress with CK 16221 as more and more panelling is added by our Woodwork team. Simon carefully tacks another section in place.

Steve displays the special section for the south vestibule with the large rectangle cut out for the fire extinguisher.

Although the formica in the second class compartments is being retained as far as possible, the second class corridor is now all veneer panelling as the formica could not be saved. At least 3-4 coats of varnish will make this look very good.

At the north end George continued his work on the corridor connection. He has been quietly working on both ends for sometime now and is doing a really great job. These will probably be the tidiest coach ends in the fleet, and after all, when a coach has been getting on for 30 years awaiting restoration, then why not?!

On to the doors where progress is also good. Robert carefully bores out a screw hole in the metal frame in the Cotswold side centre doorway.

Returning later on and the doorframe liner is now in and being trimmed to enable the door to fit comfortably.

Good to see Chris back after a spell away helping his daughter Nicky with her new house. Chris is very carefully removing the special hinge screws from the north end doorway on the Malvern side of the coach.

The mid-afternoon down train with Dinmore provides another excuse for dashing outside to enjoy more sunshine, the locomotive, and our newly repainted TSO 5042 when it passes by.

It was just Ken on RBr 1675 today, working on the removal of the somewhat stubborn chequer plate in the corridor connection. The whole connection will be removed for repairs and this in turn will allow Nick and the Metalwork Team access to the crash pillars and other necessary repairs at this end of the coach.

 

Paul and Richard were back with the Toad brake van cleaning out the troughs ready for coating in red oxide.

Returning later to find oxide now painted in three of the troughs. Concrete in wooden boxes will be place in the centre troughs for ballast.

The two cabin benches await cleaning up and repainting.

Inside TK 24006 owner Dave sands down the veneer in the final compartment requiring this, making it ready for Bob to add the first coat of varnish next Thursday.

The working day is nearing its end, many have now left, but still time to begin sanding down the Bubblecar. A few bumpy bits need some filler, hence the chalked areas.

Many side windows will need taking out because of the rusting panelling under the rubber seals.

The final down train of the day behind the excellently repainted 47105.

 The CK's refurbished centre door is back on. 

The final job of the day for Robert and Ainsley is to test it for clearance.

The Workshop-Barn roller shutter comes down.Time to go home.