A Thursday report for a change the 25th April a dry start then the rain set in.

Taylor office has been suffering from rot for a while but a chance collection from a skip of Victorian floor joists means good wood is available at no cost.

The rotten board came off with some levering and the cutting disc to cut the screws holding it together

The panels behind were nit as bad as expected so a clean and paint with old engine oil will preserve them for longer as they are hidden from site.

These are the joists from the skip so some de nailing to do.

Selected a decent one, de nailed and sanded the face and top then cut to length. The outer top edge needed planing back to a 45 degree angle it was then treated to old engine oil on the base and rear.

Screwed into place at the ends but it is approx 1” shorter in depth than the original so leaves a gap under it.

A coat of white undercoat makes it look better and some 1”  modern batten was glued to the bottom to fill the gap and it it rots it us easily changed 

Then time to get the ivy off the rear and see what that was like behind the green growth.

Not in good condition with ivy and damp damage so time to clear all the bricks and tiles piked by it. The big stump at the end needs removing to enable a path to be layed.

The jib for next time the rear board is rotten and the ivy, nettles and other roots beed digging out.

The disturbed snails started a race up the shed but no bets were laced on the winner

 A photo of the benefits of varnishing paintwork.

The lettering on this Syphon Van was protected by a coat of varnish.

Ultra violet has eaten away the gloss of the paint and altered the colour. 

Always a good call to Varnish over new paint, one  problem is seeing where you have where the varnish has been applied, it is hard to see gloss over gloss.

 A personal archive of interesting photos of the early days of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire 

Railway.

Cadbury No 1 arriving at Toddington circa 1984

A view of platform 1 from the footings of platform 2.

This view includes the old Bella Vega bus which was home to security man Gerry Bailey and his partner Gwen.

The Midland lamp standard came from Gloucester East gate, station entrance, rescued before the site was cleared for the new Asda supermarket, it was replaced when 8 genuine GWR lamp posts were installed on the station. These I purchased from British Rail recovered from Ogmore Vale station,in South Wales.

Our first 08 Diesel pictured with owner Terry Bird at Toddington, not sure of the number and do not know where it is now.

  A workers cafeteria being added to the western side of the recently erected Flag and Whistle Cafe.

Although well used it quickly suffered from rot and was replaced

 You won't see anything like this again.

On St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, at a place called Tolman point

there is an area on the beach where all the scrap from the island was put, probably up to the 1950's., when disposal to the mainland became practical.

The iron and steel have fused together to become a hard conglomerate, it is, however possible to recognise some more robust items including engine blocks, differentials, cast iron tractor wheels and much more.

This find was made by agricultural manufacturers, Harrison and McGregor of Leigh, England under the brand, Albion, this machine is clearly number 12, it is possible to find photo's of Albion products, on line but not this one. 

  A brilliant find. 

Air dried Timber is a must for any serious restoration work.

In the past, Timber was cut,sawn in to planks and rails,then stored under cover with  

 air spaces built into the drying stack.

This allowed the sap to dry out and become resin giving the timber a much higher resilience to wet and dry rot.

It has now become all but impossible to buy seasoned building timber, instead the alternative is Timber that has been Kiln dried.

This process heats the timber up, drying it out to stabilise it, the negative is that it takes with it, the natural elements that could protect it.

Air drying timber would take up to seven years, clearly, if new batches of timber were processed every year then continuous supply would not be a problem.

Many visitors to this blog understand the short of life of modern timber, is hardly a green process, a short life will mean that more timber is cut to replace it.

I found a cache of 250 year old timber in a skip in Tewkesbury during major alterations to a house.

The old floor joists were in perfect condition and would have been seasoned before use.

This has given the trust a supply of  seasoned timber to use for future restorations. 

 After being away on the 10th Wednesday the 17th was the odd storm and a strong cold wind so lets get outside.

Greg gas been working on restoring the old ticket sign, now nearing completion.

The Morris bonnets are coming along ready for painting when the weather warms up.

Time for a sweep up in Taylors and the other building to keep it looking tidy.

The top of the museum coach is looking better in the new black.

Then time to rub down and repair the putty on the sash windows in the 1874 building. Previous paint had got onto the glass so scrapped off, new putty added where needed to save the windows and old glass.

         Over painted

Stripped and part rubbed down

 

Then repainted with primer apart from the new putty

It was the. Tidy up the area time as the weeds gave gone mad and weed killer is not good for the wildlife

Before

After

The compressor guard need med trimming to clear the pump

 This Bassett-Lowke catalogue, dated 1913, came to us with the cover torn in half.

Using strong wood glue, The two edges were brought together and bonded well.

The cover is as robust as it ever was.

 

This BR western region poster board was found in a skip, it was a later version of the GWR pattern, and came with a hardboard inner, which over the years had become damp and warped.

The hardboard was replaced with tongue and grooved pine as per the originals, it

has now been installed on the newly refurbished northern end of Toddington Station.