A better, sliding door handle for the Great western Railway, Tool Van.

Here is a photo of an original GWR door handle, courtesy of the Severn Valley railway association, together with a photo of the 1960's door handle replacement that was on our van door.

I made this replacement, by modifying a modern brass handle with an old brass bezel

Better I think, than what was there before.

 After missing a week with the New Year Wednesday 8Th January 2025 was a cold frosty restart so the line wagon tasks was delayed in favour of work around the workshop area as popping in and out on an white icy day was ok.

Greg has been busy with the line wagon windows and both are painted on one side.

The change of schedule if we ever had one meant the old scales could be started and Greg had already bonded two scaffold planks together so these were cut into a 38.5mm square and sanded down

then the router table go used in anger for the first time to put a corner shape on

The broken base plate parts were collected and put on the rotary wire wheel to clean the up before a coating of lanolin.

The new wooden block was then pilot hole drilled and the cast metal parts fixed with their original screw holes using brass screws.

the scales look better already with a simple fix

The platform lock out rod was bent so careful application of the cutting torch to a nice cherry red it was bent straight and pulled up through.

It was then time to straighten and weld the ols GWR gate which had been damaged and the inner upright was bent and snapped it two so straighten clean align and weld it up using the Parkside inverter welder that has never been unwrapped but for £39 it did actually manage to weld the old gates 1/4" metal frame

                                                                the upright done

The upright was then welded back onto the gate and the outer top corner welded after squaring it up.

the bottom hinge needed the mounting bolt hole drilling out and tapping as the original coarse thread bolt was heavily corroded and not screwing in.

 It was the down the sidings to the line wagon to change the wiring so all 3 old lights are through the door switch but on the way  we passed the no loner lone racing pigeon now with 5 friends in the flock and one escape

After the wiring changes it was back to the workshop as fingers and feet were now cold but a quick look at the scales resulted in lubricating oil applied to the top of the operating tube to see if we can get the needle to read.