wednesday 22nd October a lovely clear autumn day

Walking in on platform one I noticed the pop up racing pigeon was not visible and a quick look in he was lying on the bottom of the cage upside down so pick the basket up and over to the workshop.

opening the front up we had another surprise 6 plastic decoy birds and a egg that had hatched.

Instead of the fixed rocking wire a spring mount was an option that may last longer when fingers push the top bird around.

He is now a bobbing pigeon and was put back on the platform.  When leaving later a visitor was taking a photo of it so that makes it worth while taking time to keep displays up to spec.

The Station Masters coat had been hanging in the 1874 building near a window and sunlight has faded it, this is after a deep clean and dry clean so some cold water black dye has been purchased and prepared to immerse the coat in..

The 1874 building clean up continues the rear display had the top done last week so three more shelves to do as it is the 2025 Autumn Gala this coming weekend so the railway will be busy..

before and after

After the clean up even the bread bin got a polish.

Several display item are showing their age so needed attention the rawplug box needed the label reaffixing, all the cans and other items needed a clean, the ruler has gone into a white spirit bath to try and remove some of the marker that has leeched out of another display item.

before and after

before

Mother nature has been busy with the Autumnal leaf display being deposited on the floor and in building so a sweep around and then the garden vacuum we have an improvement, not perfect but there are loads more to drop yet.

It was then time for a walk down to the 2nd line wagon after last weeks removal and hovering of the debris left from scraping the peeling paint. Now it is time to finish removing all the additional shelves fitted over the years and other items to get the interior back to how it was originally.

All 4 end units had extra metal work bolted in to put a lower shelf in so these are coming out.

After removal it has opened up the space.

The unit above had a plywood middle shelf so this and it's supports have gone and when the original frame is repaired it will be boarded, but first we need to get these broken and rusty screws out.

looking more spacious and we now have better access for a good clean and painting.

Another day with some good progress made.

 

 Wednesday 15th a nice dry day.

                                    The day started with clearing the Autumn leaves from the paths

We have received a lot of boxes containing brass screws of various type and size so thes needed sorting into a stowage box for future use.

A wall mounted paper clip was found at a flea market and on cleaning the paint off it was found to be a  LNER one,

We had some shelves collapse in the 1874 building so the cabinet was taken to the workshop where the corner posts were drilled and some of the new brass screws fitted as shelf supports.

After repair the cabinet was cleaned and put back in place however it showed up how tired the other exhibits were.

A good clean of the windows to let more light in and remove cobwebs was done.

The inside of the frames and floor were also attacked with the vacuum cleaner

The counter tops were cleaned and a start on removing all items from a shelf to clean the shelf the clean and replace the displays has made a big difference when looking in.

Top shelf done.

This made the cabinets above look even worse so a dust and clean followed by a coat of linseed oil brightened them up. Note the extinguisher bottom right photo.

The bottle shelf got the same treatment

Some of the old cardboard boxes on display have deteriorated so a regluing session was needed.

the extinguisher was washed off with soapy water the chromed brass had acid applied to clean it before a clean on the brass wire wheel. It was then coated with lanolin.

Time to go down to line wagon 2 with the vacuum cleaner and a long extension lead to clean up all the leaded paint remains we had scrapped off.

The vacuum needed emptying twice to get the job done but it is now a better working environment.

It is going back to how it was so removal of modern shelves and upgrades are being taken down.

The large bin unit had dropped and inch and come forwards so the hydraulic porta power was used to lift the unit to put a metal end plate back on it was then jacked back aainst the wall and secured.  The newer timber was binned so we have more room.

But what a difference to work in.

 Friday 10th September an unusually warm October day.

During the week the Morris cab has been treated to a few coats of lacquer and is looking good.

                                

The 2nd line wagon is coming along but moving the high pressure hydraulic filters from under the stowage cabinets revealed more rotten floor at the end the top boards have gone the lower set are rotten.. 

         

More scraping and sanding then the brown oil based paint covers well and looks a lot tidier.

                              

                                                    Not much of a blog but a time consuming job.

 Wednesday 1st a lovely October day.

The Mail coach refurb has been going on a while but the top strip is completed, now nice and secure with brass screws and the whole side is looking better but needs a final finish lower down..

The roof has had one coat after the scraping of the peeling paint and a rub down it looks a lot better.

                                                

The BAC metal printer has been strippeed as it prints the letters but the end termination cut was inoperative, the die is missing where the guillotine goes down into it.This is obviously a easily changed service item back in the day, but now we may have to get one machined from plate metal..

The die location in the print wheel                             The brass and steel guillotine.

          

                                          The main mechanical frame the discs sit on.

                                                

New foam seat squabs have been acquired for a coach rebuild but and original base needed stripping back this involved removing loads of tacks and 1.5" nails

Measuring the Morris door several months ago for rubber it came out around 18mm wide the18mm rubber channel  I located is measured across the inner sides so it is too wide,  full length cutting will be needed to remove a section from the width so it fits nicely..

                                                    

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It was then time for line wagon 2 which needs the peeling paint removed and a big tidy around before being repainted using an oil based paint that had being thrown into a skip, It will be a while before  the interior is starting to look better and habitable.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Number 2 wagon with number 1 in the back ground

                                                   

On climbing in it is a mess from the work already done on the roof and the tools left in there along with general detritus from the owner.

                                                

                  The northern end of the interior before starting work

                                 After a good scraping and sanding it looks better.

                      

The old tools on the floor needed removing to gain access and a sweep around followed by the dustpan and brush got it tidier

                

                         After the application of one coat of old oil based paint it looks a lot better, the steel sheet is covering a hole in the floor that could not support my 16 stone on one size 12 boot so new floor boards required.

The same treatment has been going on at the southern end of the wagon but here we have a large wash down?  bath shelf with a drain tube and a smaller one above it that drains into the lower one so possibly a second stage of the process but any ideas of it's use would be welcome.

That is it for today.