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Tues 9th to Thurs 11th - Three busy days

With the Tuesday post being the important article concerning our major carriage rake changes, activity for that date has been combined with Wednesday's and Thursday's news.

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Tuesday


Much of the concentration was with RBr 1675. Richard finishes off the lower brown panel painting on the Cotswold side. This section had been previously blocked by the continually open door into the kicthen/pantry area.


 Next, back to the Malvern side for more window frame undercoating.

Alan meanwhile was back on the preparation work on the sole bar.


With it being quiet inside 1675 today, Robert did some work to the base of the internal kitchen door frame.

The quiet day also meant we could progress the internal painting, beginning with the south corridor exit where Roger was able to get this section of ceiling undercoated.


With the ceiling finished, the walls were done in cream undercoat. The end result was a complete transformation and the whole area looked so much better. The door to the new power room still has to be done, and the room itself (formerly a toilet compartment) completely repainted.


A similar transformation was taking place in the counter area, where Stu completed the general sanding down begun by Roger last week and then applied cream undercoat.

Some extra filling was done on the south end wall of the seating compartment, so Stu gave this another coating. The overall effect looks great and I'm looking forward to the day we can get much more of the inside painted and in particular all the new oak panelling and window trim varnished.


Stu's first job of the day was undercoating the whole of the Malvern side lower panel on FK 13326, which he completed incredibly quickly. Just that little bit of filling to complete in the nearby corner.


 Maurice was back on the ply van cleaning up the heavy outer door frames.


The Malvern side of the van is in better condition and much of the wall plyboard merely needs a light sand. It can then go straight into fresh top coat.

Keith cleaned up the door fittings from the van before giving them a fresh undercoat.

Roger joined us today and put back the north vestibule ceiling in TSO 5023, currently stabled in the nearby yard.


 Another fire bucket, that Alex had brought in, is being scraped clean by Alan.

Opening this four year old tin of undercoat cream presented us with a fine layer of oil on the top. While giving it all a good stir, it was tempting to try and reproduce the leaf and heart patterns so often seen when buying a cup of coffee. 

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Wednesday

Many thanks to Gerry for Wednesday's photos.

Beginning with Upholstery, it was just Jenny and Laura today. Jenny is preparing various side panels for SO (future GWR FO) 4798, while Laura is working on a headrest project.


 

Down in the Workshop Metalwork area Bob is working on the new doors for the generator box under RBr 1675.
 
 
 

Rex meanwhile was working on the doors for the lithium battery box.
 
 

Up on the scaffold in the Paintshop Chris cleans up the Cotswold side of 1675's roof where the gutter has been removed.


Inside the seating compartment Ken is inspecting the heater attachments.

Doing a great job in the south entrance is David undercoating the primed skirting in dark grey. He also undercoated the repair done by me at the base of the door frame.


Simon working on the threshold at the north end of FK 13326.


The annual machine retraining in the Woodwork shop took place during the morning. This of course also catered for our newest members of the team.

David completed the skirting painting in 1675 and then moved on to undercoating the new inner panels for the doors of the ply van.


Stu working in the vacuum cylinder area.


Continuing the vacuum cylinder theme, John and Ken look to be in the process of removing this cylinder from the latest coach on the jacks (number to be filled in on Saturday when I am next in).


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Thursday

A typical busy Thursday with plenty going on. I wasn't able to capture everything, which included Chris in Woodwork working on the shunter doors, and Paul, Dennis and Bob M. busy with Rake 3.


However I did photograph Roger and Alan returning from SO 4790 in Rake 3 with a section of vestibule ceiling that needed repair. The corroded half was cut off and a new half made, which is now on the paint trestles and primed ready for painting.


Nicola, our newest recruit, is preparing earthing tags for setting up terminal boxes for BCK  21272, which is due to arrive on loan during April. In effect the arrangement of the boxes will be similar to the example below on the back of one of the battery boxes underneath FK 13326.





Later in the day Richards I and II  were investigating where to fit the electric trunking for the lithium battery box underneath RBr 1675.


The inner section of the box built by Rex which will hold the actual batteries, is now complete and being coated in black MIO (Micaceous Iron Oxide) by Jeff. 

Rex back working on the fitting of the outer framing for the lithium battery box.


The gutters on both sides of 1675 have been mainly removed, and although another hold up, the decision to do this has certainly proved to be a good one. On the Malvern side Gerry re-drills and cleans up the existing rivet holes. The gutter here is being re-welded and is gradually going back on.

On the Cotswold side Gerry continues the cleaning up of the roof side where the gutter has been removed.

This was followed up with a coating of green primer. Some rust holes were uncovered and will need to be patch welded, one of which is visible top left and indicated by masking tape.

It was again quiet inside 1675, so another chance to get some more painting preparation done. Initially Bob primed the two large end panels at the north end of the seating area.

This was followed by some general sanding down of the existing painted wall in the corridor.


In the Workshop Phil began undercoating the central Malvern side panels on FK 13326.


Back in the Paintshop more panels for the ply van had appeared, which were duly undercoated by Maurice.


In these cash-strapped times, the above message makes perfect sense.

Jeff completes the servicing and repainting of this vacuum cylinder with a coat of Underframe Black.


The DMU comes past with the final train of the day as it heads back to Toddington.

Carriage Fleet Strategy and Standard Rake Consist

Believe it or not, there is a vague strategy to what we do in C&W! We do get buffeted by events from time to time so inevitably plans change, but the overarching direction of travel will hopefully remain the same. Seeing as we've had some comments questioning why the rakes have been mixed up a bit recently, our Head of Department Ian has explained what it's all about. Over to Ian....

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Historically, GWSR have run three rakes of seven carriages with rakes 1 and 2 running throughout the season and 3 or more rakes running for Race Trains and Galas only. Each rake has been formed of a combination of open and compartment stock together with a brake vehicle and where possible, a catering vehicle and an accessible carriage but otherwise there has been no consistency between individual rakes in the formation/type of vehicles.

Our Standard Rake Consist strategy is intended, over a period of time, to achieve three interchangeable rakes of seven carriages with as near as possible identical formations. These will be the formation supporting our current commercial business model. This will enable rakes to be regularly rotated out of service during the Running Season such that:

  • Routine inspections, planned maintenance and reactive repairs can be planned and undertaken throughout the year thereby reducing the workload during Annual Winter Maintenance and improving the overall customer experience of riding in our carriages
  • Tyre and brake wear will be more even across the rakes
  • Reserve vehicles can be substituted into rakes more easily allowing vehicles to be brought into the works for planned refurbishment
  • Commercial activity is unaffected

The current agreed standard formation of each rake is as follows:

North

TSO

SK/FK or CK

FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Brake/Accessible Vehicle

TSO

SK or FK

South

Factors taken into account in formulating the above formation were:

·       Retention of mixed open/compartment vehicles to optimize the passenger experience

·       Overall seat capacity and thus loading per rake

·       Seating configurations to take account of group bookings (which prefer TSOs so that a large group can be seated together)

·       The number of available toilets per rake (note any toilets immediately behind the loco are locked out at both ends, so we have sought to ensure that the vehicles at the extreme North and South ends do not have toilets at the end of the rake)

Spot the odd one out!

To achieve the current agreed formations across all three rakes, we need the following vehicles by type:

Qty.6 x TSO

Qty.6 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.3 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.3 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.3 x Brake

The above totals must include at least 3 Accessible Vehicles

 

To facilitate planned refurbishments and removal from service for operational reasons, a reserve fleet will be required comprising a minimum of:

Qty.1 x TSO

Qty.1 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.1 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.1 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.1 x Brake/Accessible Vehicle

The vehicles in the reserve fleet will also be available to supplement Race Trains and to form a fourth rake for Galas.

Combining both the operational and reserve fleets will require a minimum total fleet comprising:

Qty.7 x TSO

Qty.7 x SK/FK or CK

Qty.4 x FO (or SO upgraded to First Class)

Qty.5 x Catering Vehicle (RBr or RMB which is subject to RCS On-Train Catering Strategy)

Qty.5 x Brake/Accessible Vehicle

As can be seen from the table below (GWSR Carriage Fleet @ April 2024), we are in a position to achieve the desired Standard Rake Consist without necessarily incurring any acquisitions albeit to fulfil our long-term requirement will require investment in the restoration of some vehicles.

GWSR Carriage Fleet @ April 2024

Vehicle Group

Vehicle Type

Vehicle No.

Accessible

Owner

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Carriages – Qty.11 in total

Qty.1

FO

3132

 

GWSR

 

Qty.3

SO

4787

 

GWSR

 

SO

4790

X

GWSR

 

SO

4798

 

GWSR

To be upgraded to (GWSR First Class)

Qty.7

TSO

4614

X

GWSR

 

TSO

4763

 

GWSR

 

TSO

4772

 

GWSR

 

TSO

4867

 

GWSR

Awaiting restoration

TSO

4986

 

GWSR

 

TSO

5023

 

GWSR

 

TSO

5042

 

Private

 

Compartment Carriages – Qty. 11 in total

Qty.2

CK

16195

 

Private

 

CK

16221

 

Private

 

Qty.3

FK

13326

 

Private

 

FK

13329

 

Private

 

FK

13337

 

Private

 

Qty.6

SK

24006

 

Private

Awaiting restoration

SK

24804

 

Private

On loan from NYMR

SK

24949

 

GWSR

 

SK

25341

 

GWSR

 

SK

25451

 

GWSR

 

SK

25488

 

Private

On loan from NYMR

Brake Vehicles – Qty.5 in total

Qty.2

BCK

21092

 

Private

 

BCK

21272

 

Private

On loan from April 2024

Qty.2

BSO

9000

X

GWSR

 

BSO

34929

X

GWSR

 

Qty.1

BSK

35808

X

GWSR

 

Catering Vehicles – Qty.5 in total

Qty.3

RBr

1672

 

GWSR

 

RBr

1675

 

GWSR

 

RBr

1965

 

GWSR

Awaiting restoration

Qty.2

RMB

1808

 

GWSR

 

RMB

1876

 

GWSR

 


In the short term, this will mean that rakes will not be in a single livery; however, we are producing a plan for some repaints that will alleviate this issue over the longer term.

This Strategy will take a number of years to implement with completion influenced by the availability of funding and, as important, the availability of volunteer resource and our overall ‘productivity’. Any acquisition and disposal of carriages will be considered on a case by case basis as the Strategy progresses. In 2024 we have implemented Phase 1 of the strategy which has Rake 1 broadly unchanged from its previous season consist (in order that we can meet commercial business needs) whilst Rakes 2 and 3 are now broadly identical in consist.

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So there we go, bear with us while we get there. We've already had some nice feedback from passengers and staff who appreciate having some compartment stock in rake 1 again, it was much missed.

Tuesday's usual blog will be appended to Thursday, so don't worry, you won't miss out :-)