curator

A bright and breezy morning in Wharf Yard and two team members were on site early to make the most of it; this morning extra hands Ian Evans and Robert Morgan turned out to join regulars Andy Sheffield, Allan Black, Pete Thomas, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen.

The first order of the day was to go round wagon no. 136 tightening all the nuts and bolts up, then Charles took up a wire brush fitted angle grinder to clean up a pair of drawhooks as the set we had prepared had been used to replace life expired examples on other wagons. Allan and Pete had the other pair of angle grinders to continue the de-rusting work on the ex GWR steel basket, while Robert, Ian, Andy and John set the new frame for the Corris mail waggon on the stands (recycled from the old wagon 136 frame) for wood preservative to be liberally applied by Robert and Andy.

Ian and John continued the patient dis-assembly of the Corris mail waggon frame, cutting off a final nut holding the frame together and the penultimate nut holding the drawbar in place. The new frame was turned over for the bottom to be treated and then a sleeper crib made to support the drawbar and cross members before the Corris solebars were knocked off each side, freeing the cross members and allowing the central cross member to be turned over for easy access to the last nut on the drawbar. John applied heat with the blow torch and Andy gave the nut its coup de grace to release the drawbar completely.

With the 10:30 train waved away coffee time was called and we took over one of the octagonal picnic tables under the canopy. Max Birchenough and Mike Green joined our coffee, biscuit and chat as the Slate Heritage Trail train was boarding its full complement of passengers.

Back on site the work of de-rusting and cleaning continued alongside the next dis-assembly job, removal of the Corris axleboxes. One solebar was lifted onto the new frame so that we could work at a comfortable height and John once more applied the blowtorch to the first rusty nut after the threads had been wire brushed; it didn’t shift despite the use of the club hammer on the spanner. But John was already heating the next nut and when that was given a whack it moved quite readily. In short order all the nuts were heat treated, including the first stubborn one and successfully removed without damage to the cast axleboxes.

Allan and Pete ceased their cleaning and applied a coat of acid etch primer to the newly exposed metal to protect it from rusting. Charles completed his cleaning of the drawhooks so that they can be painted next week and the, now free, Corris wheelsets were moved out of the way and the sleeper crib dismantled.

With the track clear no. 136 was shunted up onto the weighbridge and chocks inserted. All the metal work removed from the Corris frame were stored inside the upturned wagon body and the wagon cover placed over the ex GWR metal basket, leaving the site clear and safe for the Anything Goes gala over the weekend.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen

Another bright sunny morning in Wharf yard greeted the working party team, Max Birchenough, Pete Thomas, Charles Benedetto, Andy Sheffield, Ian Evans and John Olsen. Despite distractions in the yard taking place just feet from the work site, the main business of the day got underway after a quick shunt of the Corris Mail Waggon frame and the new no. 136 frame.

Pete went to work on the remaining rusted nuts that held the last pair of angle plates inside the Corris frame and Max painted a set of washers with black Hammerite in readiness for the re-assembly of wagon no. 136, the three slat wagon. The floorplate of no. 136 was lowered onto the frame after the remaining horizontal axlebox fixing bolts had been annointed with Evil Green Grease (EGG) by Andy and loosely screwed in place. Then the bobbins and wooden slats were retrieved from the Gunpowder Store and loose assembled in place like some large scale Jenga game. With the four long corner bolts, suitably greased with EGG, inserted through all the bobbins and slats it was time to wave away the first train and go for our coffee break so that the distraction could carry on without the sounds of the working party interfering.

There were no guests to join us for coffee chocolate biscuits and chat this morning on the platform, under the canopy for a smidgen of shade.

We returned across the tracks in time to wave away the Slate Trail Train and then get stuck into the reverse ‘Jenga’ puzzle. It was whilst trying to get the end central long bolts to thread through that John noticed that, despite his labelling the slats and pointing the labelling out to the team, some of the parts were in the wrong place. Cue dis-assembly of the slats to free the misplaced ones and insert them in their correct positions; with an additional twirl of 180^o for good measure, we now had the ends all loose bolted.

Just four more long bolts to fit and while three went in with a bit of pushing and pulling, screwing and finally driving home with the rubber mallet, one bolt would not cooperate as the lowest slat had twisted just enough to thwart the bolts entry into the hole through the floorplate. Not to be defeated John used one of the sash clamps that we recently acquired from the estate of Winston McCanna, a long time gang organiser, to press the twisted slat enough for the bolt to be pushed home. Nuts and washers were then tightened up by hand before an early halt to proceedings was called as John had an appointment with our MS Mabon ap Gwynfor.

The long overdue return of wagon no. 136 to running condition is almost over, while the restoration ‘journey’ of the Corris Mail Waggon is just beginning.

Photos by John Olsen

A hot sunny morning for the team after the fortnights holiday break, but fortunately for Allan Black, Charles Benedetto, Pete Thomas and John Olsen the yard by the Gunpowder Store is shaded by trees.

The first task of the day was to assist Keith Theobald in getting the platform scales, that had been repainted by Steve Crane, out of the Store and into the Weighbridge house. To make the task possible we first shunted the new wagon no. 136 frame and the old Corris Mail Waggon frame west out of the way. Then the scales were partially dismantled to lighten them, as it is an extremely robust cast iron item, followed by laying down plywood and sterling board sheets to roll it over so that Keith could get the Bobcat forks under it. A delicate lifting and moving operation got the weighing machine to another set of boards leading into the Weighbridge House where it was tipped on its side and manhandled through the doorway, rolled across the floor and into its final resting place in the north west corner; where it was re-assembled allowing the temporarily displaced furniture to be brought back inside.

With a growing thirst, and the first train waved away, we went into the relative cool of the cafe for our coffee break in the company of Ann McCanna, Malcolm Phillips, Andy Sheffield, Mike Green and Tom Place. Even inside the chocolate on the biscuits was becoming runny in the heat.

Back in the yard the Corris wagon frame was shunted back up beside the Store and the metal basket of the ex GWR steel bodied slate wagon moved away from its frame and placed atop the upturned Corris wagon body; this was to make the remaining stripping and priming activities easier.

Allan cleaned off one end and then use the acid etch primer to protect the newly cleaned metal. Pete used an angle grinder with cutting wheel fitted to cut off more rusted on nuts to release another internal corner plate from the Corris frame while John used an old fashioned hacksaw to cut through one of the drawbar fixing bolts. Charles applied the second coat of black bitumenous paint to the new floorplate of wagon no. 136 and left it to dry.

The wagon cover was placed over the metal basket to protect the bare metal from the forecast rain later in the week and the site tidied of tools and tripping hazards.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen

In this week’s absence of the regular gang, Talyllyn Tracksiders stepped forward to paint the Pooley weighbridge. The weather mojo arranged a hot and sunny afternoon for the purpose. We also cleared room in the gunpowder store for the impending delivery of the weighing machine currently at Abergynolwyn.

A glorious sunny morning today to greet the team in Wharf Yard; Allan Black, Pete Thomas, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen made the most of it.

The cover was removed from wagon no. 136, the three bar ex TR slate wagon, and its newly galvanised floorplate and a quick game of ‘try it in all possible orientations to make sure we’ve got it the right way round and right way up’. It was in the correct orientation already! Then the wagon chassis was rolled into the sun for Charles to wash it prior to its first coat of black bituminous paint.

Allan got to work with an angle grinder fitted with wire wheel, scrubbing rust out of the nooks and crannies of the ex GWR slate wagon metal basket and Pete and John wielded hammers and spanners on the dwindling number of nuts and bolts holding the Corris wagon together.

We waved away the first train of the day before going for our morning coffee out on the platform where the hot sun proved to be a hazard to both the chocolate digestives and the Jammy dodger biscuits, but the last of Andy’s biscuits were scoffed before the heat got to them. We were joined by duty attendant Mark Gibson, Max Birchenough, nursing a painful back, Keith Theobald and Tom Place for our coffee, chocolate and chat.

John performed a quick bit of dismantling on our old red donation stand to reclaim usable bits, before returning to the yard, as we now have a very smart cylindrical perspex donation station just behind William Finlay; be sure to admire and ‘feed’ it on your next visit to Tywyn.

Back on the wrong side of the tracks Charles painted the floorplate with black paint that was drying almost as quickly as he applied it, Allan scrubbed away more rust and old paint and the last, of four, horizontal axlebox bolts succumbed to Pete and John’s combined attention. They followed this up with cutting through a central bolt on the brake gear that allowed them to remove the brake shoes and the operating arm, having first labelled the shoes to make re-assembly easier.

There will be a two week holiday break in working parties, with the team returning to Wharf Yard on Thursday 15th June.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen