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.

 11th April

The new vintage weekend event for 2026 is in full swing so as a visitor the trip down to Hayles Abbey in the 1920’s rail car was a good opportunity to photograph the poster now mounted on the GWR notice board we fitted at the Hayles Abbey halt two weeks ago.. And one of the ladies in period costume sat upfront in the rail car.

 Wednesday 8th April 2026 a lovely sunny summer day

                                   

The AA box has received a newly painted petrol can and the door edging strips were found to be warping and falling off so requiring a drill, countersink and a screw to get them flat again.

With the  GWSR Vintage  weekend on this Saturday and Sunday it is hoped the classic car fraternity will appreciate this exhibit.

       

Nice and warm so ideal for floor painting in Honeybourne box and Taylors office, so more sweeping hovering and moving exhibits so we can apply grey floor paint.

However once in thw Honeybourne museum it is apparent that some thing have moved in the display cabinets so reposition them first.

Then down to the cleaning and painting.

                             The glass is in on the line side oil lamp hut so this is ready for a repaint

Taylors office floor got the same treatment.

The line side 2 wagon interior paint is a bit shiny so a coat of matt lacquer has been applied.

The Scammel Scarab was covered in dust from the gravel drive and rain so a wipe and wash with the hosepipe made it look better.

The load on the rear is weathering so a recoat with gloss black improved the visual look to something in transit for use rather than scrap iron.

 

With the addition of new petrol and a squirt of easy start it fired up easily and ran so the solar panel is keeping the battery charged so time to inflate the well perished tyres to 30psi or 2 Bars to save any that are well rotted from exploding. Engine running well and tyres inflated it was time for a few shunts backwards and forwards to clean the brake drums up.

Now the sun had dried that water after the wash down peeling paint stood out so a quick sand down and repaint was needed.

The 2Ton 5 cwt Morris cab has also had work done, one door window is in but with the wrong winder because the correct one has been temporarily mislaid.

And the bulkhead has had a  plate welded in after having the rust cut out.

All these things now look more inviting to encourage visitors to get closer and go inside to look around with the vintage weekend being the test.

 Wednesday 1st April 2026 a nice dry summer day so time to crack on getting the displays ready for the influx of visitors no time for jokes today..

An old fire extinguisher rack has been repainted and the extinguisher cartridges cleaned up ready for mounting in the line side wagons as period kit;

                                        

Taylors office is looking tired and dirty after the winter spell with nature and the birds getting in along with a good coating of dust. So  a good sweep out  dusting and treatment of the work tops with lanolin followed by hovering all the insect debris out and cleaning the windows.

        

           The till needed a polish                                 The floor needs a repaint

     The travel chest needs a clean                           The outlook before cleaning

All the brass in the building is looking tired and dirty so before a good clean it looked like this.

                                                       

                                             Apart from the floor painting it is ready for summer.

The 1874 building needed a sweep out and tidy around as the dead leaves from Autumn were still blowing around.

      

Foss Cross has a good amount of dead leaves in so the leaf sucker was brought into action, moving and replacing exhibits was necessary to get at them all                                                         

                                                                                                                After

                                                                           

                                                  The leaves added to the bonfire

                                       

The line side oil lamp hut had had a pellet put through a window pain in the past so glass out although the old putty was rock hard and not willing to come off easily. Some old glass will be cut and fitted to keep the period look.

                                            

When dumping the broken glass in the skip a near new hand drill was spotted so this is now in the Trust shop for sale to give it a new life.

                                   

The Honeybourne signal box floor also requires a repaint so some big stuff out into the oil hut then a good sweep out and tidy around.

            

It was then time to strap the GWR notice board onto the car roof and visit Hayles Abbey halt to mount it on the waiting room ready to have some relevant period posters mounted on it. Another scrap item that has been saved and reused on the railway/.

                                        

As we departed 3850 came up the line in reverse so the first train to see the newly mounted sign board.