Wednesday 3rd December our first Winters day and it was cold n' clear.

Time for more exhibit uplifts from the 1874 building.

A biscuit tin and lid is suffering rust so a spin on the wire wheel got the loose stuff off before a treatment with lanolin and wire wool brought a semi shine back..

The early 20th century American toaster has cleaned up well  and needed a final rotary brass brush and clean then the lanolin treatment.

The Salter 15Lbs scale face came up well after an application of cleaning acid a wash the polish the silvering has come off the needle so it will go back on as a dark metal finish..

                                                     

The wall mounted box phone was in serious need of a refurbishment and clean as the spider population had been using it.

                                                

It needed an exterior strip and the shellac scraped off before a gentle sanding to remove some discolouration.

         

                    The black front plate was carefully cleaned revealing a chrome back with a design on it.

                                         

A coat of wood stain makes it stand out before reassembly and fixing back on the wall.

                                                                                  

                                 The tea section on top of the heater needed a good clean and tidy up

                 

It was then dry enough to go down to the 2nd line wagon to measure the roof lights for new glass and design something to hold it in place. The climb up gave us some unexpected poor work with the roof  sheeting this was done somewhere other than Toddington.

It has however added another job to the long list we have ahead of us.We are now on the look out for 6mm glass sheet 130cm X 52cm minimum we can trim to size.

Continuing with the 1874 clean up the safe and heater have had a wipe over and treated with a silicon based protective coat.

                                                          

                                                          A before and after of the oil burners for the heater.

                                                       

The end display unit has a good covering of dust so this has been cleared and polished along with the displays from there.

The Mint tin got a clean with a rotary brass wire  brush then a gentle application of lanolin to stop the rust.

                  

Then that was it for the day but we are making steady progress.

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 Wednesday 26th November a cold start but blue sky, the railway staff are preparing the santa specials coaches.

Today turned into an exhibit tidy and restoration day as outside painting was a definite no go

starting with an old oil container a clean gentle rust removal and a coating or two of lanolin before returning to the 1874 building display.

   

         starting point                                                     the start of a gentle rotary wire brush clean

             

After derusting a lanolin coating brings the colours out and slows further rusting.

                                         

A metal box for a small top hat has been happily rusting so a rotary wire brush got the rust off and exposed more of the paint that is left on it.

            

                       After two coats of lanolin it certainly looks better and the retailers name is now legible..

                                                        

The scale weights in 1874 are showing signs of rust so rotary brush and lanolin yet again

By then it was warm and dry enough to domore de rusting and start applying some protective paint  to the interior of the Morris 2T 5cwt to prevent further degradation.

                               A few more cans from the 1874 exhibits were collected for a spruce up.

               

                 

Finally the restored GWR notice board was secured to the wall in the museum coach to save it from the weather.

                                                                 By then time had run out.

Wednesday 19th November winter is here with snow on the hills and decidedly cooler temperature.

                                            

Not the ideal day but the workshop door has been dragging the floor and rotting for years so it was removed for new wood on the bottom and rehanging so it is clear and swings easily.

A new brass lower hinge replaced the heavily corroded steel one and the side and bottom got new wood it just needs treating now to preserve it..

After a couple of hours a fully working door

                                                   

The Morris van has been a dump for parts and mice had moved in at sometime so a clean out and reorganise the contents with some moved to other places for ease of access and future work.

The workshop floor also got a good clean so we can move around freely and find stuff

Smoe old faded AA books got treated to a clean up and a coat of lanolin these are now in the AA box and hopefully the lanolin will stop degradation from the damp weather.

Then the time got the better of us.

 Wednesday 12th Nov after a very wet stormy night we had to change the plans.

The station master coat looks better after the dying done a couple of weeks ago.

The touring England board  has been stained and clean and look new.

The process of refurbing the exhibits in the 1874 building is progressing the cash box has been cleaned off as the stain had gone grey and brass looking sorry.

A strip down and scrape over followed by some new stain and the brass polished it looks better.

                                           

The little stocks style holder also got the same treatment

                 

The bed frame off the Morris got one coat of hammertite on the bottom after it dried before the next rainfall.

The table in 1874 looked very tired so a clean then treat with linseed oil before cleaning and placing the artefacts back on

the drums and bottles on the floor also got a make over but do you preserve the history or make like new, we like to preserve if possible.

A lower shelf also got the full treatment with one iron being stripped to clean leaving one to do.

Then more cleaning of the artefacts on the floor.

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                                 The Morris cab has been treated to interior de rust, preservation and priming.

                                                         

                                                                        The time was up.