Saturday the 18th July a warm sunny day for a visit to the buildings mentioned on the Wednesday blog.

A team of five Greg the instigator, Lyndon with knowledge of building moves, Mike, Joe and myself  in 2 cars off to Pewsey to view a 12ft X 15Ft  concrete section al building from the early 1950's and a line side corrugated hut that are in a garden near the station,

The owner and donator of these buildings showed us around and helped with the investigative work.

The line side hut was encased in a timber and chicken wire run where chickens had been kept in the past this looks pretty straight forwards but it is rusty around the base and the roof sheeting is wrong.

Then onto the concrete building, this will be a major task and involve so heavy lifting where machinery may be required

Drilling a few exploratory holes proved the mortar used on assembly was soft so will come out and a dig around the base revealed it is just sat on a concrete plinth. This is a major task as the roof is also preformed concrete slabs and a few are cracked. This task needs some machinery and a lorry with a hiab crane on.

The line side building will be a lot easier and cutting up then dismantling the wire run to gain access took and hour then the false floor needed breaking up and removing.

digging around the perimeter showed it is just sat on the soil which has built up around it over the years.

This is now accessible but again a lorry with Hiab iis required 

All in all a fruitful day that required a stop at the Waterfront bar and bistro on the Kennet and Avon canal on the way home to discuss what we had looked at.

Should the concrete building prove to be beyond saving as there are some cracks it contains a large cast grate and oven alongside the 3 metal framed windows.

 Wednesday 15 July a cloudy start so a nice temperature but it cleared and warmed up later.

                                

The second electrical cable sign has been painted with the white highlights ready for mounting.

                                    

The heads of bolts used for the brass plate to stake have been ground down thinner so they fit between the sign and brass plate without damaging the signs.

                                                        

A trip down the metal skip located a piece of suitable angle iron so now the 2 are completed..

                       

The modern yellow plastic signs are now hidden behind the new old style signs.

                             Before

                                                                          After

                                         

Mother nature does not stop her take over bid on our area and displays so another clean of the window frames and areas covered in cobwebs in the buildings then cutting off and removing the weed growth on the paths and outside displays.

                         

The footpath after the clean looks more inviting for the visitors to walk up.

The varnish applied to the museum coach has suffered in this hot weather and has yellowed so it needs sanding off and loose screws tightened or replaced before filling and repainting.

The 2T 5cwt Morris has had some more painting on the suspension the underfloor area is done and rivnuts fitted to secure the main plate.

 

     

         

         

                                        The floor plate painted and ready for fitting.

                                       

Then it was down to a diesel locomotive cab that has been purchased by Mr J boskett as a hands on display exhibit for the visitors, there is a long way to go but with the diesel gala fast approaching just tidying it up is a good start so much sanding on the exterior is in progress.

The Tuesday volunteer group have cleaned the shop and reorganised the displayed goods for sale it now looks a lot better for potential purchasers.

The end of another session but we are out as a small group on Saturday to survey a GWR concrete building and shed down in Pewsey with the hope they can be dismantled and relocated back here on the GWSR.

 The AA Box gets the thumbs up from vintage car enthusiast

Click on the pic to see text from our neighbour  at Toddington

We put the box at the entrance to grab attention for the railway from passers by, which it now does.

 While  our key blogger Keith is away, I thought I would add a few photo updates

The restoration of the Toilet Vestibule in 1926 build,GWR Collett coach 4777, is well under way, being retiled with 4 inch square,wooden , painted plywood tiles.

The broken, solid  Linoleum floor is repaired  too.

Plus a few photos of the Vale of Berkeley railway at Sharpness who are opening the Branch line to Berkeley road for Passengers 31st July- 2nd August.

Best Wishes to them.

n 

 Wednesday 1st of July a lovely summers day after the heat wave and 3 weeks away.

Mother nature has been busy with plants growing and others failing in the heat so a sweep out of the buildings and some major plant growth removal the brambles have grown 4ft plus over the last 4 weeks.

              

                                                 

The luggage racks from a passenger coach are in need of refurbishment they are hard wood poles with a metal rod holding the net into a slot secured by small wire staples which all needed to come out.

             

           The 7 stripped racks most of the netting is unsalvageable and one pole is broken only the meatal rod was holding it together.

                                               

The poles were cleaned with a scraper then tidied up on the belt sander before a light coating of oil.

                                            

The Morris pickup floor had a small gap on one side so a plate has been put into the corner beneath it.

                                                     

The BR -WR buried cable signs are getting there number 2 had deformed and in the heatwave it swelled up so much it was scrap so a fibreglass matting and resin one has been made in the mould.

number one sign is now painted with the lettering and border in  white, the brass backing plate is secured to the post by 2 6mm bolts with thinned down heads to fit behind the sign.

It just needs installing in the station flower bed where new yellow plastic eyesore signs have been installed.

The rail motor car sign is progressing with any figure that is not right being tweaked.

The only other job done was securing the staple on the AA box door as somebody had closed it without lifting the hook but no photo.

First day back lots done but time consuming job..

 Our good friend and main blogger keith Taylor is taking a break away for a few weeks so I am adding a few updated photos of GWR Bow ended Collet coach 4777.

One compartment is starting to look a lot more like a passenger coach now that the upholstery has been made up by the GWSR Carriage and Wagon Upholstery department.

The team of volunteers at Winchcombe are leading the way in a skilled and challenging area of preservation and restoration work.

Nineteen new luggage rack brackets have been cast in aluminium at Madeley Brass Castings and these are adding to the period look.

 

The bulkhead under the seat has been cleaned down and painted, very soon there will be no evidence of the blue and silver paint that once marred every internal panel.

Pictured, are the window panes and frames I made up for the toilets.

After fixing all the gutter leaks in January, today we had the first real heavy rainstorm since then, and gladly there were no internal drips.

As the coach appears dry I am replacing the wooden tiles back on to the toilet wall, i am screwing the tiles to the wall rather than pinning them. If there is an ingress of damp in the future they will be easier to remove without damaging them.

The Petrol tank has been reunited with the Morris chassis too.