Wednesday 6th March 2024 a cold start with fog then the sun came out so great for outside work.

With the sun peering through the fog Greg has completed the museum coach roof as far as he can go from now on it is a two man job off a ladder.

First job is to strip the station notice board/hoarding frame down to get the metric tongue and groove to fit. the large woodscrews were hidden by a glue and sawdust mix and did not want to play at coming out easily so a small carbide tool was used to  clean out the screw slots.

the groove needed to be 3mm wider so router table out and set up but things did not go to plan the router bit came loose enough to move up into the work and widen the cut. even thought it was tightened as much as possible luckily it did not move up quite enough to come through the work fully.

after abandoning the table and not able to find the router guide the job was abandoned.

so time for other jobs as the railway is now open a tidy up of the Taylor pipe work was in order.

A good sweep up and weed the reorganise the pipe display

A barrel lifting yoke had been left by the display so a quick sanding and loose paint removal

After a treatment with linseed oil it was put on the display.

The original seven wire railway boundary fence needs repair and new posts but in the mean time it was clear the ivy off the posts so it looks better and more inviting for folks to use the footpath.

Greg came back to start on the hoarding board frame and with the router playing up it was easier and safer to plane the back section of the channel off on the other 3 parts so it could be reassembled

the boards were cut to length and fitted, the end which had the rear planed off will need screws to secure the boards.

The board will go up on the end of platform 1 building so 3 battens were cut and painted to screw to the station wall to hang it on.

 Wednesday the 28th Feb 2024 a cool dry start so fine for outside work but rain came over late morning.

Walking in past the museum coach and Greg has started on the black roof paint which is gloss black mixed with some matt lacquer so it does not shine in the sun.

Then on past platform 1 building we were working on last week this is now completed and a long crack in the down pipe repaired.

The 3rd of March is the 2024 season start day so time to prepare for visitors.

The 1874 wages office has been repainted during the closed season with just the window frames left to do, so out with scraper, sander and paint.

number 2 on the South end has the original small opening wages window but is also an opening sash window.

The North end is a simple sash window

Whilst at the old Beckford Station Yard looking at the shed Greg went on a search for hidden treasures in the way of Midland Railway artefacts but found a tin of white primer paint buried up to lid level in the soil  which was dug up and brought back.

Today was opening time

The lid was rotten in the groove but came off

Revealing a separated paint with ingress of water but after the top brown goo was taken off and water poured out the white base paint will be mixed with some white spirit or alike to see what happens it may be ok being oil based.

Then time for a general clear up 

 Wednesday the 21st Feb a windy day with a wet start so why not work outside somewhere a bit sheltered. The rain stopped after the first hour or so but the wind continued.

Greg had finished off the brick work repair around the lower part of platform 1 gutter down pipe so it was time to look at the top section.

                                                

This meant getting the access platform borrowed from the Steam Department onto the platform whilst avoiding hanging lamps and signs. Whilst looking at the task ahead a strong gust of wind was seen to be lifting the corrugated tin roof on Taylors Office so change of plan to prevent damage.

Two holes drilled in the tin and two screw in fixings with rubber seals later the roof is now safe.

Then back to the task in hand and removing the damaged bricks and light coloured mortar.

Removing one brick revealed a mouse nest of chewed plastic bag and other stuff all 9ft off the ground

A  long hammering session then managed to get the other damaged bricks out as two had rounded ends a trip to Winchcombe station was needed to source and collect replacements before breaking them out.

        

It was then time to start cutting bricks and mixing mortar with the black colouring agent to match the old GWR mortar made with ash.

                                              

Whilst walking the platform a chance to get a photo of the museum coach and it's now clean flake free roof one crack was found and Greg sealed it up. Just needs some dry weather to get up and do a full repaint in black

Greg has been busy with the carriage gas lamps and one is looking a lot better

after a few hours fettling and painting one looks a lot better.

 The Spalled brickwork, Then and Now

Toddington Station building, needs a few things putting right, hopefully they will all be done over time.

We recovered the old gas lamp fittings to go back into Andrew Goodmans Tool van, they are relitively complete apart from the missing glass globes.

They are a masterpiece of the work of the time, representing many years of fine tuning, before the common use of electric lighting.

I am looking at new glass globes to be blown if that is possible, I think a large bell jar or glass cake cover could suffice, they would have to be 27 cms or 9" in diameter to fit.

 Wednesday the 7th Feb after a wet night outside painting and prep is out so something else to do.

Greg has been busy in the workshop after buying up the stock of Parkside magnetic storage strips and fixing them to the walls and sorting out the tools so everything has moved from it's known location. But life will be easier as things can be seen.

A walk down the platform and the museum coach roof looks better after a scrap and pressure wash just needs some good weather and a large quantity of matt black polyurethane paint when the weather is suitable..

The end corridor on the coach is looking great after the fitting and repairs

It was then down to platform one for some visual enhancement of the building around the down pipe GWR originally used cement and ground firebox ash for mortar so it is dark. 

Hammer and chisel time to remove mortar and broken bricks.

our collection of old bricks had no round corner ones so a trip to Winchcombe for a search in the storage yard.

The cast iroon down pipe join was broken and had had car body filler applied to repair it, so a good clean on the wire brush and liquid metal to reattach it

It was then on with the brickwork and removing two damaged corner bricks now we had replacements.

It was then time to start the brick repairs so a new rounded corner brick in first using a mortar mix with black colouring power mixed in.