Thursday 14th - The usual mix

 It's Thursday again which means that Paul, Dennis, and the Indoor Gang are back in.

 "Hey, not this way, I'm getting soaked!!!" 

"That's better!". A nice picture of Paul and Dennis washing the Malvern side of the Maroon Rake.

RMB 1876 - the Maroon mini-buffet with some of the loose paint on the roof already scraped off by Bob M. - will be next in for a quick repaint as soon as the running season ends. And it will be quick as it has to be back out and in the rake for the new season.

Now on to the Indoor gang, with Alan making repairs to the Malvern side guards door on BSKD 34929.

The other two members of the gang, Roger and Geoff, are repairing the lazy tongs fitting inside the south end door on CK 16221.

Roger cleans up the base section of the door's back panel.

Wow, a bit of blue sky! Actually it cleared up quite a lot and became a very pleasant day. And for a change it was dry!

You off then Paul?! Somebody brought these in for display.

The undersides of Tuesday's planks (still don't know what these are for) are painted in Dark Grey undercoat by Maurice, ................

............ who having completed all the listed Tool Van tasks, then gave it a final clear out ready for it's return to the outside world the next day. The second Tank Wagon will take its place, and being shorter, the roller shutter to the Workshop can be brought back down.

Also making very good progress is SK 25488. Jeff spent some time paint snagging on the Malvern side. On the opposite side Phil J. added a second coat of varnish to the south half, upper section (sorry for no photo).

Gerry continued his work on the windows for RBr 1675, putting a new rubber seal around this main pane.

Returning later I was just in time to catch Gerry finishing the fitting of the pane on the Malvern side of the coach.

Still plenty to do with the electrical side. Richard II is working in the control box for the 24 volt system and making modifications to the panel to incorporate the emergency stops.

Richard I and Phil S. discussing some of the required installation.

Richard I fitting a connection box for this particular pigtail.

The new generator, now fitted to the sliding mechanism that was recently installed on the two heavy angle-iron sections.

While having our early cuppa, our Works Manager Stu handed Chris a drawing for a receptacle for 1675's water heater, and in the early afternoon here it is, with Chris adding the final screws. Think this will be appearing on the Paintshop trestles on Saturday.

Finally a pop into Upholstery to bolster the excellent photos taken by Gerry the day before. As we receive more spare rolls of moquette, the range of cushion patterns and colours ever expands. I like the bottom right one. There are quite a few stored away now.

The bags and glasses cases are very good too.

Arm rests without their clothes on!

These, in the making, are dressed in the lovely horsechestnut leaf design.

The Bournemouth Blue moquette ready cut for more arm rests for the Dean Forest Railway contract.

A stack of the MK2 seat backs, cushions and arm rests awaiting collection by the DFR.

Wednesday 13th - Decisions

 The main decision was to all agree the South Malvern side door pillar was in need of some TLC, Steve and Bob moved in and before long Steve had removed the lower Z section, and Bob had removed the heavily corroded floor bearer.

Steve's aim was to do as little damage to the surrounding structure, here he is carefully removing the lower part of the wood door spacer.

Bob is about to start removing the rather tired timber floor support, and yes he did put his safety goggles on after the photo was taken.

The alternative chuckle brothers, clearly very happy with their work so far.

Please ignore the water pipe ..... the repaired door Z section pillar .... the door can go back on.

The first of three parts of floor bearer, its much easier to get them in situ like this. Once measured and square they will be fully welded and the floor can go back in.

It pays to look busy, because if you don't a delivery arrives and this is what happens.

....... it wasn't just metal, a little later a large quantity of Moquette arrived so once again it was all hands....

Laura is making the latest must have from our upholstery department ..... a spectacle case.

Eve is working on a couple of cushions which are selling like hot cushions (cakes).

Jenny and Laura marking out for yet more cushions.

With 1675 Simon is looking at a piece of wood .......

...... thats where it goes.

In the saloon David is shaping a piece of moulding, I would imagine for a window surround.

Ainsley is fixing what looks like the last piece of capping to this door again on 1675.

Rex is making parts for the generator mount to go under 1675.

One half of the generator mount.

Ken and Geoff in discussion ..... we do have a large space heater in the workshop but with the big roller shutter open it struggles to get warm .... hence the outside clothing. Roll on the better weather.

Gerry is fitting rubber surrounds to a quarter glass window.

Ben and Trevor making new parts for door locks.

The end of a very busy day.

Many thanks to Gerry for the brilliant photos

Tuesday 12th - A little more sparkle

A very small number in today, so a small posting. We did have a very nice surprise during the morning with an unexpected visit.

Maurice's first job was to undercoat the large planks destined for another wagon repair (not sure which one).

 

After that he spent the rest of the day doing the final exterior jobs on Tool Van 92, The van will  be shunted out on Friday to be replaced by the second tank wagon which is currently in the sprayed primer put on by our grit blasting contractor. There is still some interior painting to do, but that can be done later when the van is at Toddington, if not before.

Dave was back in SO 4798 free'ing up more seating as far as possible ready for transfer. That is when he could get out there with the heavy rain somewhat contradicting the weather forecast for the day. Derek also had this problem with his ongoing repairs to the Monster Van.

A very pleasant surpise during the morning was when Eddie, our former Head of Woodwork, turned up unexpectedly with a bag of sheets, etc for the Painting Team. Willow was itching to jump out of the car into that great big puddle.

Pam adores dogs, so Willow had some extra fuss. It was good to see Eddie again and catch up with the news.

Although there is still some paint snagging to do on the Malvern side, we needed to crack on with the first coat of varnish on SK 25488. Stu was first off as usual on the Cotswold side, beginning with the upper section (top panel down to the lower line).

 Richard began at the south end.

 Then on to the lower panel.

 Pam arrived and get going on the Malvern side north end.

 Much later in the day, all three were well into the Malvern side.

Varnish is never nice stuff to put on coach sides and unless you are careful, it will so easily backfire and run. It's also difficult at times to see where you have been, but the backlighting is a big help.

 First coat completed and the sides of the coach now really gleaming.