Wednesday the 22nd Jan 2025 a cold start with patchy fog.

A walk down to the line wagon where Greg has fitted a brass plate to the end door as it has had a few repairs over the years and looks a mess but making a new door removes history and is not in keeping with the body.

                                    

It was then inside to paint the roof lights with undercoat and fill some of the timber joints before top coating

                                Before  filling                                                                     After

It was then onto the left door where Greg has removed the windows for some new glass as the originals were heavily marked. The support strips were refitted and the top timber refitted.

Cutting Victorian glass saved from a builders skip so the glass going in is period correct.

We have an oil light filler can that was in the museum this is going in with the oil lamp cupboard both items need ork first though.

The Salter scales had started rusting at the weld repair and where we used heat to straighten the lock rod so a touch up was needed but with nothing like the original colour, a rag was sprayed with apple green and hammerite green metallic this was then wiped onto the areas to blend them in.

The areas will be treated with lanolin when dry.

I have been contacting Salters Scales about the 20 stone display dial as there is not enough black markings on it to repaint and the printers could not use the only photo I could find on the web due to missing parts and a damaged face that was used.

We spotted an old barrel truck with a wheel off near the waste skips by the engine workshop and asking around it was not wanted so it has been saved.

A jubilee clip was used to refit the wheel so it could be walked back to base.

The load plate was bent up and pulled off the rivets so a clamp on both sides pulled it back down to enable welding.

                                                


 The sheard and seized cotter pin on the left stub axle was drilled out and the wheel secured with a new pin. It now need the right handle warming and straightening then a paint to keep it period.

            We also need to find a wooden cask or barrel to suit the curves in the cross rods

Whilst the welder was out the fence needed so tlc  as previous welds had failed so the disc cutter removed all the old weld lumps to enable a neater job.

It was then back down the line wagon as it was decided replacement glass would be better than the again heavily marked originals in the units that had been refitted last week.

 Wednesday the 15th Jan 2025 a clear day warmer than it should be so great for outside work.

                                    A nice view of the morning from the workshop door.

                                            

We have acquired a railway lamp cupboard this is not a GWR one but a rarity so it will be saved, it has been painted a few times and is now black so some careful paint stripping revealed the original brown colour. This is a future project for the museum.

        the lid opens and the oil tray is in good condition but we need to secure the loose fixed top.

                                            

                            It was then onto the Salter Scales out in the sun.

            Tipping them over allowed access to lubricate all the rusty joints and pivots.

                                

some carefull drilling from the rear got the heads off the seized screws holding the face on then heat and levering got the needle off to expose the seized mechanism

the drilled screws needed to sleeve left in the threads removed with a slightly larger drill to enable tapping for some new brass screws

                        The broken lock mechanism handle needed welding it lined up nicely

A quick dress of the mating surfaces it was then clamped together so we could weld it together again the little £39 parkside inverter welder came into it's own.

After a good oil and grease of the internal mechanism it was a surprise to find it worked and returned so the dial was refitted loosely to keep things together. The needle was shot blasted and repainted with the brass centre being polished

It was then down to the line wagon where the refurbished end door catches were refitted

                                                           The side door windows were refitted

The new roof lights were painted grey on build so they need to go white in the wagon

This is a line storage wagon that needs some TLC but it shows the condition the one we are working on was in.

 

New Life for Old Ticket Cupboard

The Carcass of this cupboard was recovered from a skip at Winchcombe.

It is stamped BR(W) but is a Great Western Railway design.

Having no door or drawers, it was to be a future task to remake them.

Having, recently met Kevin Broughton from Carriage and wagon to talk about assisting the R and A trust, he mentioned that he had seen  a door and some drawers that could have originated from the cupboard in the model railway coach.

Kevin investigated,  recovered them and sure enough they are from this Cupboard,which is great news as we will have another piece of authentic railway furniture to restore and use.

Interestingly the drawers have stickers on the front refering to Paddington (cheaps) Heathrow, and written pen inside, Worcester Shrub Hill and Stratford. These will remain in place for provenance.

 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.