James Taylor's Beckford Station, Coal office, to be saved

Happily, I have at last, had a result over the acquisition of James Taylor's former Beckford Coal, Brick and Tile office, approx 150 years old.

It is about 40 years since I made my original inquiry, I noticed the building had been cleared as an oil store and is due for demolition.

It is a quirky building displaying,many features of the Victorian era,it sitting on a small footprint of simple wooden construction ,with a brick chimney and tiled roof (probably supplied by J Taylor) access is super and should be easy to dismantle,

If my memory is right, I remember seeing the original signwriting on the exterior before it was painted brown, I am hoping to get a team together to return it to The Rats HQ, or if ideas for a permanent location could be considered that could be good.,

One view I have is that it could add to the new Usk bay and diorama, at Winchcombe, as another asset for the public to access, and enjoy.

Lyndon Knott, who moved the Monmouth Troy building stone by stone to Winchcombe is eager to be involved, and anyone interested in becoming involved with our restoration work can get in touch with me Greg Wigg, on 07917666040

The Beyer Garrett, O Gauge kit.

Keith mentioned in a previous post, the restoration of an O Gauge metal kit.

It was found in a bad way,and the original builder had obviously had difficulties in assembling it.

These metal kits are very hard to make, as they rely on parts being soldered together.

We did not know what to do with this model as attempts to give it a facelift ended up with parts falling off.

I gave it a blast off to remove poor paint and rebuilt the motions as they locked up when attempting to move the wheels.

To make a working model, I mounted the restored loco on a wooden base allowing it to run in situ.

I am pleased with the result as it now runs perfectly at the push of a button.

We can now trial it on display to see if it will be durable enough to withstand the attention of our visitors.

           Restoration of the corridor connection of GWR Ocean Mails van.

After many years stripped of its identity, Andrew Goodman's Great Western parcel mails van, looks like it should be after replacing all the corridor end steps, roof rails and finally its missing corridor end connection.

The steps, handrails and suspension hanger for the corridor bellows were made from scratch by Ian Carpenter, who's talents are amongst  the best in the land, the bellows frame, we bought from Tom Wright from the DMU group.

After remounting the frame, for expediency, we used a second hand canvass, which will have any damage repaired, in due course.

The Ocean mails were a service provided by the GWR, to speed on, mail from trans Atlantic Steam ship services arriving in the country.

The Liners would dock at Plymouth, Neyland or Fishguard, unload the mails on to express trains to London and other destinations arriving faster than if the ships continued on to their final destination Southampton.

The City Of Truro, locomotive set the Great western's rail speed record of 106 miles per hour on an Ocean Mails run.

We are proud to have taken this vehicle on a restoration thus far and hope to tackle a roof paint in the future. 

Close inspection of this end of the PMV shows how it was, pre restoration

The corridor end, now complete with new door, steps and hand rails. 

Getting there.

Whilst working on the PMV, I noticed that the cream paint on a panel had faded and chalked off,

clearly I had missed it when I varnished the vehicle three years ago, and after the sun had had its fun

it stood out.

I rubbed down the panel with Scotch Bright to give a key and then, using an old cotton towel, I wiped on a coat of thinned down Yacht varnish, it restored the colour, and the gloss with no brush marks,

before

After

 Monday the 18th a warmer than it should be dry day and my last before Christmas.

A quick look from the workshop across the Trusts exhibits that have been worked on over the last few years and then back into the workshop

Over the past week and a half the facia boards have misaligned so a quick realign and ad more screws 

                                            

Then it was gutter bracket time and refit a clean gutter a quick test with the watering can proved it flowed away nicely.

                                     

Ian and the Heritage Team dug up a fire bucket hanger whilst at Broadway this need a good clean and repaint then fitting to an old fire bucket board we have in stock.

Nature is taking over the sign outside the Honeybourne signal box

                                        

                                The Signal box and Scammel from the visitor car park.

                                

It was then Scammel time as it has been parked for six months plus so needed a full fuel drain to clean out the water and time on the battery charger,  New fuel and 12 volts a quick sort out of the plug leads as the resistor caps have now gone and copper connections fitted so we have a good spark at last and we have a runner.

A terst drive failed as the righr rear brake was seized but the application of an hammer on the handbrake linkage freed it off so it was a drive around the yard for Greg

Greg has got the LNER 2395 on a model base so it can be run at the touch of a button.

Whilst Greg was draining petrol I got on with shelving in the lamp hut the support bracket was hot riveted on and corroding but structurally sound enough to be used.

The battery angle grinder went flat before I could cut the rusty end of the original shelf

We have received more donations one being this GWR line map that just needs a light restoration it may then be displayed at Broadway Station.

 Wednesday the 13th and wet weather at Toddington so on advice from Greg on site the guttering install can wait a day or two as we would be working in the mud making more mess, Greg has some other work on and I am stuck awaiting a heavy parcel at 45Kgs from TNT/Fed Ex which I missed Tuesday as it did not show as in transit but sat at the warehouse. Monday is looking favourite for guttering, Scammel starting and Morris cab sealing before the bad weather sets in.

 

Wednesday the 6th December a bittier cold start the windscreen wanted to keep the ice on it so the deicer had to come out so I could get to the railway

Greg has been busy on the locomotive model it is now looking good and it actually works when connected to a power supply

I started on the corridor connection hangers for the museum coach, a quick session on the rotary wire brush got the rust off ready for the red primer

Mean time Greg started levelling a dip in the block path outside the workshop.

The ivy is rampant on the fence posts and untidy so I have cut the stems around the base so it will die and make removal easier, in time this fence will be replaced by GWR wire to the straining posts.

Once the paint was dry it was time for corridor connection fitment to make the carriage look like it is usable

The corridor locking mechanism had been restored a few moths ago and just needed carrying across the car park to the coach where it was balanced on the step.

This angle gave us access to bolt on one old hanger and the new one fabricated in the GWSR repair sheds. then it was a simple stand upright and fit the hanging pins, springs and nuts. This just leaves us the canvas bellows to sort out.

We had to call into the records office where the team are busy digitising thousands of photos, slides and information donated to the trust

It was then onto the shaded side of the workshop to remove the gutter and uneven fascia boards

The guttering was full of frozen leaves and debris.

We squared up the timbers and trimmed a joist to get a straighter edge

We then attached the new boards and had to trim them so the windows would open.

A trip  out to get new gutter hangers is next on the list so we can reinstall the gutter at a later date.

 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.