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.