Maintenance Update (chairs, clearances, brakes, cladding)

Thursday 19th
The sun shone (but there was a cold northerly wind) and I went for a bike ride up some hills (because I'm training for doing the British Heart Foundation sponsored ride in May) and found myself at Toddington!  So, I made a cuppa, fed Maurice and applied a primer coat of paint to the eight rail chairs we'd cleaned on Wednesday.

Saturday 21st
It was the volunteer fair day at GWSR, which clearly frightened off our chaps [Bruce is let off because he has a valid excused-duty-permit as his wife, Daphne, has slipped a disc].  John and I spent a leisurely day chipping grease off rail chairs and cleaning them up.

By end of play, I had applied top coats to the eight; John beat three chairs into submission all on his own, and then between us we de-greased a further seven.

Monday 23rd
Ever had a nightmare about trying to get somewhere and everything was determined to stop you?  It's called trying to get to Tewkesbury!

Got there eventually.  Visited many roads (some several times) that I didn't know even existed! Picked up some Deproma paint and  returned to Todders.  Picked out the lettering (in silver/gold according to chair colour) on the chairs that were approaching the end of the production line.

Wednesday 25th
Today had a kind of gentle feel to it.  The sun shone, which helped.  Gil spent the entire day measuring clearances on the loco and tender, ably assisted by Bill.

After attempting to find out where the bit of cladding went, and discovering that because of the thickness of the new brake blocks, it won't fit anymore, John G entertained himself by polishing all the brass and copper in the cab.

I finished off the boot scrapers, fitting their brushes and boxing them up.  Then having discovered that John's cladding can't be fitted for two reasons: (i) the thick brake block, and (ii) the upper half is missing …. I went in search of the missing pieces!  Eventually found them, hidden under a box. Finally, I cleaned up three more rail chairs.

Over at Winchcombe, Fred was working on the siphon van; Geoff was doing some painting there, too, for a while; Ray might have been there (but as I wasn't, I don't know for sure!).


Roger