Wednesday 18th Feb 2026 a dry day but with a bitterly cold biting wind so inside work was preferable..

                                                    

Back on the sharpening stone, Greg has been busy slowly welding up the broken parts and dressing the welds all this is done slowly to save too much heat and cooling cracking the castings. But we now have 2 complete solid stands.

                                                            

The bolts and studs have suffered from corrosion over many decades and 2 broke where they had rotted away when we disassembled the frame, so time to get the seized nuts off using the induction heater to get them hot they screamed all the way off with a high pitch on the dry threads.

                                                

Once the nuts were off the bars were ground down to put a chamfer on the broken ends so we could butt weld them back together. Then all were cleaned up on the wire wheel and bent ones straightened.

                                                 

The sump plate is beyond repair so the solid ends were cut off to act as spacers for the assembled machine as the copper will crush. and a sheet of copper marked out for cutting a new plate.

                                           

After a lot of fiddling dropping and realigning the 5 parts all got clamped together in satisfactory positions the sump has not been sealed in but at least it will not fill with water and crack open should it freeze again as it will be displayed outside.

                                                

With the saddles on and rollers in the stone was refitted and clamped down. It spins freely by hand but will need the tension screws fully in to lock it when on display to save visitors getting hurt.

                                                          

Paint has had a going over with a wire wheel in the drill  to remove loose stuff and and dirt or green growth then a coat of grey undercoat applied.

                                                        

A good coat of oil based black paint will protect the metal from mother natures degradation when outside on display. The stone was treated to numerous rotations whilst some 180 grit paper was held against it this cleaned it up nicely and is better than the green algae effect it had.

A trip to Winchcombe got a rod out of the skip from the newly dismantled workshed that was beyond economic repair. the rod had the eye ground and cut to suit the treadle drive ball on the wheel and the other end flattened so it can be drilled and secured to the foot operating lever.

After this all that it need is a wooden handle made for the turning handle and the stone immobilising then it is ready for display, a relatively easy and quick repair of and old broken grinding wheel.

The interior of line wagon 2 got the final undercoats used up on it so that is progressing well and will soon be ready for top coating the interior..

 Wednesday 11th Feb 2026 a nice morning where the rain held off and the temperature was up a bit.

                                                

With the line side oil lamp hut in position it now needs related objects in and around it as one may have been back in the day so we dug out the blade sharpening stone that requires major repair.

With bthe one casting broken and the trough rotten a bit of heat was required to loosen nut which had rusted on over many decades

                                                       

Once the top saddles were removed we were surprised to find the stone shaft sitting on rollers not just a bush.

Stripping continued after the shaft and mechanism were removed, the leaves and rubbish in the trough has not helped survival

The one side had a plate bolted over it and a load of liquid nails to seal it this was ground off to leave the screws rusted into the holes.

After fully stripping the one side casting was found to have  broken into 5 parts so extensive cleaning grinding the edges for welding up and then using the trusty Parkside gas less welder that would be required to join it back together ensuring not to get much heat into the cast iron.

The broken leg assy was bolted to the good one to ensure alignment when welding.

However the broken side plate would not sit correctly so this was aligned in the vice and slowly tack welded to avoid the cast cracking with the heat..

After the initial tacks it was taken outside so the fumes and light were more beneficial to the task.

The saddles and caps were shot blasted and the cleaned on the wire wheel for primer painting.

The treddle linkage was derusted and primed ready for the top coats, the trough is beyond repair so we need some 2mm steel sheet and and english wheel to do a proper repair so next week is down to the engine workshops for a chat.

 Wednesday 4th February 2026 a misty start that developed into a cold sunny day.

                                  

With the line side lamp hut re-sited last week  now with a photo it was time to crack on so the project leader Mike Dodd can get the youngsters group and the Tewkesbury group to finish it off and do the display but first they need a floor. There was a pile of suitable timber down at Winchcombe yard so a drive down to select 9 lengths over 2m long.

                                                                                                                       

                            The boards needed cutting to 181.5cm length so they slotted into the shed and as luck would have it they fitted the length perfectly with no need to thin one down.

It was then down to line wagon number 2 for more floor work cleaning up and painting. The floor wood is all cut and needs the last 3 boards thinning where they sit proud on the ones underneath then they can be screwed down.

                                                           

Rubbish was emptied out into the skip including some laminated glass sheets and a rotten plastic sheet along with a few dustpans full of dust and general rubbish, this meant the shelves could be sanded and cleaned ready for painting.

                                            

      The interior is now looking a lot more inviting after a clean and paint with primer.. 

                                                 

It was then time up but most of the interior priming, rubbing down preparation for top coating is done. 

There is now light at the end of a long tunnel.

 Wednesday 28th Jan 2026 blue sky appeared for a change but after the storms the ground is sodden.

                                            

A Albatross flour aluminium container has been sat for a while so today it got a variety of cleaning methods used on it to bring it back into a suitable condition for display. varios light abrasive wheels, wire wool and oil and then the product that worked 10,000 grit wet and dry with WD40 ( it left a clean scratch free finish)                    

                                                    

A sand bag and small body panel hammer along with some finger pressure go the worst of the dents out before the cleaning it was then washed and treated to a coat of lanolin to protect it.

                                             

Line wagon 2 has had floor boardscut and laid in but they needed screwing down, at least it is now a safe wagon to walk around.

                                                         

Some brown exterior paint was saved from a skip and is now undercoat in the wagon after a sanding down to remove and loose or flaking paint.

                       

We had Steve and the Tele handler booked for 11.30 am to move the metal framed corrugated tin oil lamp shed from Tony's garden to near the Honeybourne signal box on the edge of the main car park. Once the space is vacated a new trust shed will be put there.

The 4m straps were obviously to short so Mike ran down to the steam shed to collect the 10m ones

protecting the straps on all sharp edges it lifted nice and level.

Reversing out on the super soft soil on rough ground was an easy task for Steve with aide from banksmen due to the very limited vision.

It fitted nicely on the buildings maintenance transit pickup for the drive to the main car park so it could be sited near the Honeybourne signal box.

Once in te car park  it was lifted off and put on the grass it will now need an ash path and floor  done and a few coats of paint before filling with lamps and the oil dispensing equipment.

 E

Wednesday 21st Jan 2026 at day that rapidly deteriorated with wind and rain and minutes later the Cotswold hills vanished from sight..

                                   

So inside the workshop and back on the metal strip stamping machine time to make a ferrous metal stamp die cutter that fits the hole in the letter disc, once done it can be case hardened. The bolt was used to hold the disc while shaping on the belt sander.

Once in place it was drilled ready for tapping the holes for the securing bolts but a 3mm drill is to small for the tap a 3.3 is needed. but the plate was also drilled for the end corners whilst on the drill press.

when tapped and secure the shape can be cut out to match the bat like hole in the wheel.

                                            

It was then a wet walk down to line wagon 2 for the floor and lights. the 3rd light mounting was fixed to the roof then the rotten floor was attacked.

The dust pan and brush got the debris and dust up there was a lot, this went into the skip along with the rotten wood. But we could now see where to work and the remaining rusty screws sticking up that needed removing..

                                             

The porta power was used to lift the heavy metal shelving clear of the boards this took a few attempts and required the pump bleeding before it would lift the weight. so we could remove the boards under them, luckily the bearer beams are sound so we can start cutting and laying new boards both under and top layer. The old boards differ to the new metric ones so carriage and wagon thinned them down by 2mm. 

                                                

The first lower board went in nicely board 2 was more time consuming being 2 piece as per originals and both required thinning over the bearers to sit level with the originals.

                   

Then it was time to start on the top layer folks will see and walk on.

These are quite long time consuming jobs so not much to report.