Despite, the Winter days, Restoration work continues

The back of the Morris Cab is severely rusted at the roofline,

so new patch plates are made out of Scrap galvanised steel, and welded in.

Very pleased with the result

 Today,  angle iron supports were welded into the Morris Subframe, to support the

floor and for a mounting for the Hand brake.

The Steel sheet was then cut to length

and then cut to profile.

Very happy with the result.

November the 22nd another clear dry day  warmer than it should be for Autumn so another outside painting day.

Greg has been getting on with the Morris cab floor channels are in and the rear bulkhead painted and today he has started on the rotten rear roof seam.

The engineering department were given a corridor support mechanism which is for the end of the museum carriage and they made another from scratch for us

original

Newly made and awaiting paint

The 1874 building repaint is on going the light stone is finished and the dark stone application has started.

before and after of the North end

The North West corner is done

the South East corner in process

The West facing rear is nearly done

                                        

The West side roof had a nice collection of moss growth this was removed with a garden rake upside down and the sharp corners were ideal for tilting into the gap between the tiles, need to do the East side next.

                                                                                Before

                                                                                after

                                        

                      Then it was gutter clear time as all the leaves are off the tree by the building and some moss had fallen in during cleaning.

               

The rain when it arrives will wash off the loose moss and clear out the debris left in the gutter but we now need to redo the concrete end stops as the leak.

Time consuming work again but another good clear warmish day should see it completed.

                                                                                  

Wednesday 15th November a clear dry day so outside working

.

First an update on the model train refurb Greg has put new metal in the roof to close it as on the real

 locomotive, with power supplied to the wheel contacts the drive works it is not 100% but this is a display not a working model.

It was then outside with the sander a finger files with medium paper and some tools.

the lights and signs or surrounds were removed from the 1874 pay office all loose and peeling paint was removed and the rest rubbed down

After a dual attack with sanding to get a good area completed I went on sanding down and Greg followed up painting in GWR light stone

Front and one end done with 10 ladybirds moved from behind a sign to another place in Foss Cross to over winter then a Hornet popped out so it also got moved  to safety and painting then continued.

Looking a lot better.

The rear is all rubbed down and the bare areas painted as we ran out of time, this has been a time consuming job but it needed doing to protect the old wood so it reaches the 150 year mark in style next year.

 

Keith reported last week that a drain gully and salt glazed

 section of clay drainage pipe had been laid to improve rainwater drainage around our workshop.

I have been collecting old Clay pipe to include as props for our historical recreation of the James Taylor coal office

After finding that it would cost in access of £100  to buy the plastic equivalent, we saved some money and used some sections from our collection. 

There is still plenty of the old clay pipe around, if readers have any lying about, let us know we would love it to add to our display.

 Wednesday 8th November a dry start then heavy showers started so some outside work was managed.

Greg has been busy on the hand made model of the Garrat  locomotive it is now all in black livery and the motors are driving the wheeks.

He has also got the new bottom plate in the GWR bucket.

It was then into Taylors office for a floor clean and paint it a lighter grey to make it lighter in there.

The assorted bricks had to be moved for the job but they are from some long gone brickworks

they rotared on the phone but will not here so some testing to do. 

Some if the old clay pipes and a hopper from the Taylors supply display have been used to get water away from the workshop onto the station flower beds a good job by Greg.

Next it was outside to start on preparing the 1874 pay office for some much needed painting and tlc.

scraping of the loose peeling paint then rubbing the area down for priming to stop the wet getting into the 149 year old timbers .

                    The Northern end suffers less from the prevailing weather and sun damage

When the first heavy shower stopped play it was time to find other tasks to do and after spending time searching for paint in the myriad of tins in various places a sort out in the storage shed would make future searches easier.

so clean out natures autumn fall debris

clear a shelf or two sort the tins out add some labels and reload the shelves

A bit of worrying advice on this tin

Then it was floor clean in the workshop as again the wind had blown the fallen leaves in by the hundred

with the outside water diversion done and guttering repair the floor can be repaired as the water should stay outside now not flow through.

 1st November a dry Wednesday morning the rain arrived as we finished the area of paving.

Greg has been busy on the model train boiler with new boiler bands fitted from sheet plastic

He has also been busy on a vintage suitcase that is nearing completion

And the old GWR station masters megaphone rescued from the shed in Winchcombe is now straight clean and painted.

It was then a walk to the Scammel Iron Horse to remove the plug lead caps and solder brass fittings to the leads it also needed two new leather door check straps as the had broken over the summer.

We then looked at lighting in the museum carriage and treated the metal display items with an oil/graphite mix to slow the rusting process.

It was then back to the workshop to look at the brick paving as some areas had sunk and weeds had grown through.

 Digging out the grout and dirt works but the sunken rows needed lifting and the sub level built up.

A level check

Starting the lift

Some trimming of more bricks was the result of a couple cracking

8 rows later and a few shovels off shot blasting grit we have a level entrance

Just as we finished laying the last brick the rain came so the gap filler will be applied on a dry day.

The old GWR bucket needed a new bottom cut and lead soldered in the first one cut was close but it can now be dropped in and marked where we need a bit extra on cut sheet 2