Coping with disasters

Experience has taught me  to handle disasterous situations, for instance i once dropped a brand new tin of expensive 2 pack brown paint, the lid came off and the beautifully pure brown paint spread into sand gravel dead leaves and soil..

Of course I was saddened and annoyed with myself, but as it was 2 pack paint it would remain liquid and tarry for some time to come, so i had to clear it up for the sake of the environment.

I shovelled up the ground it was on and put the mess into a bucket, not knowing how to dispose of it.

That gave me time for reflection and later  i thought i would have a go at salvage.

I decided to add a reasonable amount of thinners to the bucket and stirred the contents up,

remarkably most of the contamination remained at the bottom and I could pour off the thinned paint through a stocking.

That paint left to stand for a while and was later sprayed on to a lorry panel.

An important lesson which came to mind in the next case which happened yesterday.

I was checking out the Morris commercial which is undergoing an extensive rebuild and i noticed bird droppings on the paint work, it was everywhere on every surface of the recently painted cab. 

What sort of bird could do that?An albatross perhaps.

On closer inspection it was hardened paint and the culprit was soon found, an aerosol of etch primer had exploded and deposited a shower of paint every where.

At that point i remembered how to handle disasters, keep a calm mind.

Not wishing to prep and respray i used some towelling to very lightly soak with thinners and lightly rub the thousands of paint drops, it worked, but if i had applied too much pressure or used too much thinners it could have gone badly wrong.

Several hours later the cab looks like it used to be. 

The empty aerosol 

 Wednesday 29th April 2026 a lovely blue sky but with a cold wind.

The Morris 2T 5CWT work is on going the bonnet rubbing strip is being fitted and secured by bifurcated copper rivets which is problematical as they are in a upside down U channel above the bulkhead, they are stiff to open out and a screw driver could only do so much but they were still able to pull out.

A bit of lateral thinking found an impact wrench tool for slot head screws that pushed into the slot and stayed put so a G clamp was then used to push the tool into the slot opening them up so they are secure. The big but is repairs over the years means the body is too thick for the rivets to pass through far enough to bend open enough.

  one of the successful ones so play spot the copper.

The railway electrical PAT testing team noted our TV in the museum coach was on a shelf and not bolted down so could be pulled off so a nut and bolt has been fitted.

The paint on the Honeybourne signal box has lifted and is peeling so a rub down and treat the bare wood with linseed oil ready for painting in the future.

The BR electrical cable warning signs are out of the mould however the end result is rubberised and not solid.

I have mixed another pouring and this time it got a correct spot on 70/30 mix stirred with a paint stirrer for about 10 minutes so the colour was uniform so we will wait and see.

The one dry sign has now been trimmed and the few high spots removed using a hacksaw, coarse file and a small dressing tool in the dremmel type tool.

The left front chassis and suspension on the Morris has been de rusted and painted

The right side now has the wheel off for access to repeat what was done on the left side.

The spiders and insects have been having a field day.

On the way out a check on the Scarab revealed a door not closed and the info sheet on the passenger seat so now back in it's clip. 

After the wash down a few weeks ago it was covered in thick dust due to the gravel road and adjacent building site so hose pipe out again so it is cleaner for the bank holiday weekend visitors.

 Wednesday 22nd April a lovely sunny start with a cold easterly wind and for a change the car park at Toddington.

                                       

The workshop door has started dragging on the floor due to the bottom of the frame rotting at the base.

So lever it up and bolt on a new piece of timber inside to take the weight.

             

The foundry has done a good job on the wagon lights but the flashing from the casting process needs removing  before any thought of assembly can start.

The belt finger sander was brought into play and did a good job at a reasonable speed the hacksaw was used for big lumps in the corners.

            one completed and one untouched

The original the mold was made from and three new ones now with all the flashing removed

The Steam Passage sign has now been filled and is in process of being sanded smooth this is a very long job and so it gets a few bursts of sanding when there is time.

                                       

On the platforms there are modern yellow plastic signs for buried cables but they stand out like sore thumbs in the period setting so some concrete coloured resin has been purchased and we have a latex mold taken from an old GWR sign so work can begin.

                            A mold                                        Concrete resin and hardener

No instructions or manufacturers name so going on bag size 70% resin 30% hardener mixed and in the mold on top of the perfectly levelled ultra sonic bath

                                                   

Work on the Morris 2T 5 cwt lorry is progressing the bulkhead is finished so onto the chassis forward of the cab where water has caused excessive corrosion where the wing stay bolts on. This area was heavily pitted but not holed so a build up of weld on the surface has strengthened it. Then the painting started.

                                              

                                               

The door lock on the AA box has come loose as the wood has shrunk and the screw have come loose so drill through and fit a nut and bolt. It is just another task on the list of keeping exhibits in good order.

                                                    

We spotted the door hold open hook and chain missing from the museum coach last week so dowels have been glued in, it was the drill and fit brass screws so they will not rot away.

                  

                                                                      Refitted and secure

                                                       

The seized and rusty mystery machine has had a week for the oil to soak in after the application of heat to get parts red hot last week, use of large stilsons got the 2 turn screws out and a lump hammer and punch got the threaded feeder positioning nut to do 1/2  rotation. Now parts are moving the oil can go on creeping into the disturbed rust.

                                             

It was then down to line wagon 2 to remove a ceiling light mounting on the way we passed a pair of very nice Z900 motorbikes.

                                 

                            the fire extinguisher rack is now full of the disposable canisters

                                            

A wooden light mounting was taken back to the workshop where a place for the hinge on the new casting was chiseled away one done the surface line was marked on the brass so we could drill a hole and fit a hinge pin, then the wood was cut away to make the pin sit below the surface.

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In between the jobs we had time to take a load of modern detritus from behind platform 2 to the skip and save some useful bits behind the GWR trust shop in the yard.

                                         Wednesday 15th April 2026 a dry but windy start to the day.

                                       

The Boxford building has beeb stood outside for 4 year now awaiting a permanent location but the paint is peeling in places so a scrape and a sand down followed by an application of thinned linseed oil on the bare wood areas, when this has soaked in and dried we can repaint to areas.

                     

     

                                     

The transatlantic shipping sign from the days is having all the rust removed mechanically before filling and repainting,     This is a long job as the sign base metal is badly pitted and it all needs to be mirror finish to slow the rust down.

                                                    

Natures growth spurt was noticed in the 1874 building gutter so out with the ladder and remove a gutter full of dead leaves and moss doing this we also spotted a broken slate that needed immediate repair. The front of the building was much cleaner.

                   

                                                  

The ticket cabinet and wall panels that had fallen off the musuem coach wall 2 weeks ago were refitted and secured with counter sunk screws, the cabinet was refitted but  cleaned and wiped over with lanolin.

            

      

                                   

             The cleaned up and treated cabinet and desk are now looking loved in the corner.

                                                   

The restored fire extinguisher done a few weeks ago has been installed in line side wagon number 2 and the door furniture has been refitted.

                                                 

The mystery engineering tool is standing in the yard taking up space so time to get it freed off so the heavily rusted parts can move again a soak with oil followed by being got red hot then cooled and re oiled has got a few handles and a clamp moving. So time to leave it soaking in oil so it can creep through the joints.

Throwing some modern plastic rubbish off the platform the no entry sign was found face down on the ground, not in our remit or scope but it is now back where it belongs.