curator

A warm and sunny morning for a reduced size team after last week; Allan Black, Andy Sheffield, Pete Thomas and John Olsen got out our newly PAT tested power tools to continue dismantling the Corris Mail Waggon and de-rusting the metal basket of the ex GWR slate wagon.

Our first job was to turn the metal basket over so that the undersides of all the slats and rim could be properly cleaned up, then Allan could settle down to the task. Andy, Pete and John used a selection of spanners, sockets, air gun and hammers to undo more of the rusty bolts holding the Corris wagon iron work on the frame. The last cross bar, which supported the second brake shoe, succumbed to hitting with the lump hammer to remove it from the frame, revealing it had a slight bow in it, quite possibly a result of the non perpendicular holes through the frame.

With this out and several more nuts successfully removed we stopped for our coffee break out in the sun on the platform, in the company of Mike Green and David Broadbent. A serious dent in Andy’s chocolate covered Hobnob supply ensued over our caffeine and chat.

Refreshed we returned to the yard to our tasks and deployed an angle grinder with metal cutting disc on the Corris wagon as the nuts on the coach bolts holding the SW corner angle plate were seizing and then the bolt spinning as the rotten timber failed. But we managed to remove the SW corner plate, much wasted by corrosion, and the four bolts holding the brake operating arm so that the brake gear can now be dis-assembled.

Our morning was made complete by Chris Johnson delivering our galvanised floor plate for wagon no. 136; we quickly removed it from the flatbed van and placed it on the wagon frame. By great good fortune it was the right way up and the right way round so that we were able to put the wagon cover back on to keep it dry ready for cleaning and painting next week. The metal basket is now ready for a final clean down and priming as well.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen

A dry start brought out a good showing for this mornings working party. Allan Black, Andy Sheffield, Charles Benedetto, Pete Thomas, Max Birchenough and John Olsen were in the yard to continue cleaning up the ex GWR metal slate wagon basket and further dismantle the Corris mail waggon.

Allan and Max had to wait a short time before they could start applying the wire wheel equipped angle grinders to the basket as our electrical kit was being PAT tested this morning, but after about 15 minutes delay they were busy. The rest of the gang attempted to shift the nuts on the cross bars of the Corris wagon, but even after heating up with a blow torch the first nut remained unmoved. This was partly due to the long cross bars acting as torsion bars thus cushioning any attempt to use a hammer on a spanner to break the rust ‘seal’. Reluctantly John agreed that we should cut away the nut on one end and then extract the bar. Andy set to work with an angle grinder fitted with a cutting disc, but even with the side of the nut cut away it still took some ‘persuading’ with a hammer and cold chisel to start turning the remnant of the nut.

We stopped for our coffee break when Ann McCanna and Mike Green arrived on site and sat out on the platform in the warm sunshine that had broken through the cloud layer. We all squeezed up to make a space for Tom Place to join us as we tucked into the chocolate biscuits.

Returning to the yard Allan and Max continued the patient task of removing old paint and rust while the rest of the gang removed the two end cross bars after the nuts on one end had been cut away; but even then the bars needed to be hammered out of the frame revealing that the metal within the wooden frame had rusted very badly. Our attention then turned to the first of the two cross bars that hold the brake shoes, first with the cutting disc, then the hammer and chisel and then the hammer on the bar. The bar didn’t shift! It took the two pound lump hammer and a good swing before it began to move and only when it finally came out did we find the cause of such resistance to movement; the end had been bent into a shallow S shape. It seems unlikely that this occurred due to any operational mishap as the bar is nearly 3/4” thick, so we must presume it was intentionally bent, possibly to correct for an incorrect position of the hole in the frame causing problems with operating the brake shoes.

Rather than attempting to remove the other big cross bar we finished the morning on one of the smaller horizontal bolts holding one of the axleboxes in place using Pete’s hammer action compressed air tool, but the degree of rusting defeated it. Only after heating the nut with the blow torch and then giving the spanner a whack with a hammer did it finally begin to unscrew the bolt. It seems that the frame has been very wet for long periods of time and this not only resulted in the rot in the headstock joints, but has also likely severely corroded every single bolt passing through the frame.

We were presented with a salvaged, and slightly bent, brake operating lever and shaft from a TR slate wagon by Mike Christiansen who had salvaged it from the stream in Abergynolwyn; thank you Mike. This might make a working brake lever on a future wagon rebuild once cleaned up and straightened out.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen

The strong gusty East wind was raising the dust in Wharf Yard this morning as the working party team Allan Black, Charles Benedetto, Andy Sheffield, Pete Thomas and John Olsen joined forces with Keith Theobald to lift the metal body off the Corris Mail Waggon and then, safely, flip it over.

The lifting off was comparatively easy with Keith in the Bobcat and John as Banksman, but the turning over taxed the talents of everyone and there was much discussion before a plan emerged thanks to Andy’s expertise as a ‘Slinger’ during his working life. Essentially by using a pair of strops the body was turned first through 90o, the strops reset and the body then turned the second 90o and deposited on the ground before being moved to a working location atop wooden battens.

The arrival of Ann McCanna, Mike Green and Max Birchenough coincided with the successful completion of the operation and we retired to the cafe for our morning brew and chat. This morning Ann had brought in a tub of chocolate brownies to keep our chocolate levels up, which we gratefully ate, thank you Ann.

With the sun breaking through the early clouds we returned to our ongoing jobs, Andy assembling a second under stair barrier, Allan and Charles attacking the rust on the FR (actually an ex GWR wagon) metal slate wagon basket and Pete removing the drawhooks from the Corris wagon frame.

John went upstairs in the museum to re-secure the stand holding the Rev. Awdry biography folder to the wall of the Awdry Study before rejoining the main working party. Liz Porrett came over to discuss formalising training in the safe use of our power tools and to help get the railway electrical department to PAT test the museum power toolset as they were overdue an inspection before we wrapped up for the morning.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen

An overcast morning in Wharf yard today and work started early with John and Keith removing the packing timbers and lowering the metal body, no. 14. onto its old chassis in the entranceway to the station and then re-instating the explanatory sign.

This morning the work was divvied up between Allan Black, Charles Benedetto, Andy Sheffield, Pete Thomas and John Olsen. But first everyone contributed to moving the spare wagon wheels and shunting the wagons so that the Corris Mail Waggon could be worked on more easily. Then Allan and Charles resumed their removal of the old paint and rust from the FR metal slate wagon basket, a process made more demanding by the many nooks and crannies of the basket design.

Andy was tasked with turning the old metal ‘museum open’ signs into barriers to close off the under stairs area from over inquisitive young visitors; this entailed precision drilling of holes for the clips to allow the signs to be clipped to our existing tension barrier tape posts. Pete and John returned to the removal of the remaining bolt securing the body of the Corris wagon to its frame by applying a blow torch to the seized nut and then using a hammer and spanner to undo it. Max Birchenough checked in with the gang prior to going up the line working on the trains and Malcolm Phillips joined us from his overseeing of works elsewhere in Tywyn.

We took our coffee in the cafe to stay out of the cold wind and were joined by David and Mandy Broadbent, Mike Green and Keith Theobald; the extended table stretched most of the way across the cafe.

Returning to the work site John and Pete jacked and packed the Corris wagon body up so that a survey of the condition of the frame and body underside could be made. The corner brackets were all corroded, with one of the West end brackets being extremely wasted away; these will all need replacing. One of the brackets that hold the base of the door in place could be seen to be peeling away from the floor plate due to rust expansion in the contact zone, this will need attention. There was significant corrosion on the body floor plate where it had been in contact with the frame, but most of the rest was in seemingly fair condition; the body will be lifted off next week and turned over for a more detailed inspection.

Allan and Charles progressed the clean up operation of the metal basket and Andy completed the first barrier, which was then installed in the museum.

Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen