Working Party

The Tywyn weather mojo was in good form this morning with sun on offer as the team assembled in Wharf Yard. Max Birchenough, Andy Sheffield, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen wheeled wagon no. 146 out of the Gunpowder Store for part 2 of its roof restoration. But first the van had to be emptied of the accumulated tools and fittings so that someone could actually get inside it as the fixings that held the ridge strap in place had to be removed (the second half fits under it). Then there was a visit to the museum to fetch out a pair of step ladders to reach the top fixings.

With a safe position secured, John did the honours undoing the nuts and setting them to one side before the team lifted the second roof sheet up into position. There followed the game of ‘to you, to me, to Wharf edge, to Pendre’ as we made the small adjustments to get the bolts to thread up through the all the holes, or down in the case of the endmost bolts through both roof sheets and the roof strap. Only then could the nuts and washers be put back in place to hold things in position. It should be noted that we have encountered another of those little ‘the bolts too short’ issues for the four bolts that go through internal angle irons, as well as the roof beam and all the layers of the roof, hence those downward bolts to get those holes aligned.

This seemed like a good moment to break for morning coffee and we made our way into the warmth of the cafe, for although the sun was shining it was a pretty chilly morning. As we crossed the threshold we beheld Mike Green tucking into his morning repast and joined him to continue our banter fest over coffee, shortbread and a variety of biscuits. Our chatter kicked off with the history of car making in Coventry before Mike revealed that he was now the Bionic Man, having been fitted with a pacemaker, and he was now feeling a lot better than of late; and his banter showed it! We discovered that the TR has a new person in charge of Health and Safety and Efficiency, before winging it with the history of early attempts at flight.

Much refreshed we returned across the tracks, where Keith Theobald came to inspect progress and chat about relevant matters whilst taking our photos. As we attempted to fit the third roof strap, that holds the bottom of the zinc sheet in place, we re-discovered that two of the fixing coach screws had snapped off in the holes during disassembly all those years ago (before COVID kicked off). So we only had two functional holes and getting the four holes through the roof strap and zinc to align with them was proving to be a headache. After much pulling and pushing the misalignment was still there and we reluctantly concluded that original holes through the strap were too tight to allow proper reassembly. As our drill set was not up to the task of opening out the holes Andy volunteered to take it home and use his better equipped workshop to do the job. The tools and remaining parts were put back into the Gunpowder Store before we heaved no. 146 back under cover and closed the doors on the mornings efforts.

By the close of play four men had gotten one half of the roof in place, but not yet secure, as we inched towards completing the rebuild.

Photo by John Olsen

The Tywyn weather mojo was a bit tardy this morning, not driving the rain threatening clouds up the valley until mid morning, but it did keep us dry. Andy Sheffield, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen were on site to continue our re-assembly of wagon no. 146, the covered wagon.

Having rolled it out of the Gunpowder Store, the law of levers was applied to help lift the end metal straps just enough to thread the coach screws through into the frames and then tighten them up; all except one! That screw just kept on turning so clearly the internal timber had rotted a bit too much. Our first thought of using a longer screw was quickly discarded as there was barely 1/2” of wood left to screw into. The longest bolts we have are 100 mm but this isn’t long enough to go through the strap the frame and still have enough thread to put a nut and washer on; a longer bolt will have to be sourced during the week. Having gotten the straps more firmly attached to the frame we tightened up the bolts into the planks prior to adjusting the height of the longitudinal roof beam so that its top was near flush with the top of the curved plank. This adjustment was necessary before attempting to put on the zinc roof plates. To assist the lifting operation we employed a long wooden beam and a chunky screw clamp; lifting the east end first as it had the smallest distance to rise and tightening the angle bracket bolts to hold it in alignment.

By this time Max Birchenough had joined us, bringing tales of loss of broadband and a morning spent trying to get it back with the aid of the Helpline staff. We decided the poor chap needed coffee, chat and chocolate biscuits, so downed tools for our break. We were joined in the warm sunshine on the platform by Di Drummond, Frank Nolan and Keith Theobald who had been busy tidying up the museum after the mammoth sorting operation that has sifted through Sarah Eade’s bequest. Our idle chatter encompassed such delights as fellow passengers with laptops hogging the communal table top, or worse, precipitating drinks into laps by carelessly shoving it across the table. The all pervasive nature of these mobile devices is unfortunately accompanied by their downsides, such as satnav errors and unwanted ‘noise’ in the Quiet railway carriages. David and Mandy Broadbent joined the happy group at a socially safe distance, the next table, and David reported on his examination of Sarah Eade’s stamp and stamp related collection; some items will enter the museums collection others should go to the county archives or indeed the Welsh National archives, such is their rarity.

Refreshed, and with the clock ticking on Andy, as he had a cat feeding mission to fulfil at lunchtime, we returned across the tracks to attempt to raise the west end of the longitudinal beam, which went surprisingly well despite the larger gap to be made up. With everything ‘within tolerance’, well very generous tolerance, we retrieved the first zinc roof panel from the Gunpowder Store and lifted it up into position; a bit of “to you, to me” and four bolts went through the correct holes. The zinc sheet was then capped with the roof strap, in the correct orientation first time, and loosely secured as this operation had revealed another short bolt problem for the four bolts that secured the angle bracket to the roof beam and up through the zinc, ho hum; but the good news was that the holes all lined up. The lower roof strap required a flip over to get the two central bolts threaded through the body timbers, zinc sheet and the end holes to align with the existing screw holes; the ends were then secured by coach screws. Nothing was tightened too much as we are still missing the second lower roof strap for the doorside of the wagon, currently in Pendre works for replacement of wasted metal, but enough progress for photographic purposes as the TR’s resident movie maker Luke Ryan was on hand to record our efforts for posterity. We attempted a pirouette on the turntable for the camera but were foiled by the turntable locking mechanism that had seized in the locked position and as time had run out we rolled no. 146 back into the Gunpowder Store for another week.

By the close of play three men had adjusted and secured four end straps, tweaked two roof brackets and attached half a roof to the wagon body.

Photos by John Olsen

The Tywyn weather mojo got wind that the working parties were restarting as the latest Omicron wave is now receding and delivered a dry morning with sunshine in time for coffee. The team assembled amidst the puddles of overnight rain and after a bit of a catchup chinwag, Max Birchenough, Charles Benedetto, Andy Sheffield and John Olsen did a fair impersonation of Thunderbird 2 rolling out of its silo with wagon no. 146, sadly minus the stirring music.

The walls are all in place but not all of the bolts holding the walls are, as there had been an underestimation of the number of long bolts required. Before Christmas John ordered a further batch of A4 marine grade stainless steel, this time in chemical black finish as the bolts go through black painted strapping, and they were cheaper than the shiny ones! Andy and Max did the honours of putting in the new bolts while Charles and John sorted through the box of metal parts, all labelled, and the painted wooden door parts, all labelled, and began to assemble the three doors.

Andy needed to drill out a new hole in one plank as the repairs to it had plugged the original hole, but with the drill and 12mm bit, the job was as good as done. John investigated the coffee making facilities in the Guards Room as the January shutdown of the cafe was likely to have led to one or more ingredients being used up; no milk. He went to the Coop to correct this situation and declared coffee time upon his return.

He and Max emerged from brewing the coffee to find David and Mandy Broadbent, plus faithful hound, on site to join us in the warm sunshine. David is recovering from a heart attack so has a doctors note freeing him from heavy duties but it still allows him to come and join the banter over coffee, cake and his contribution of shortbread biscuits, delicious. Inevitably our discourse covered who had had a heart attack and how many before moving onto lighter non medical matters like the rather rudimentary storage conditions of the local archive to which a car load of Talyllyn Railway documents had been added mid week. We then bounced onto the ever popular COVID restrictions and the latest scandal to hit the Prime Minister. This led to politicians blagging free rides in tanks and why couldn’t we, the general public, get a free ride in a tank; well we have paid for them!

Refreshed we returned to the wagon where Andy and Max got some of the hinges ready for remounting by cleaning them up and painting them while Charles and John hit a problem with the third door, the holes just wouldn’t line up with the straps and hinges. A forensic examination of the two short planks revealed that during the repair of a split in one plank it had been labelled on the outer face rather than the inner one; end result the inside face was beautifully, but incorrectly, painted. Flipping the plank over allowed all the holes to line up, ho-hum, just another day in paradise. Charles sanded and primed the true outer face and this was left to dry for next week. John dug the roof straps out from the darker recesses of the Gunpowder Store ready for the next major job, which is to re-attach the roof sheets.

By the end of play numerous bolt substitutions had been made, three doors had been ‘assembled’, two doors actually bolted together, one missing bolt hole drilled and no. 146 returned to the shelter of the Gunpowder Store.

Photos by John Olsen

The year is waning and the Tywyn weather mojo is flagging a bit, but it still managed a dry, if overcast, morning for the last working party of 2021. We were a much reduced duo this morning as we lost team members to other ‘duties’, but Charles Benedetto and John Olsen had a year end goal in sight, the fourth side of wagon no. 146.

Hauling the wagon out of the Gunpowder Store was just about manageable and it wasn’t long before one of the new end angle pieces had been aligned with the bolts and secured with finger tight nuts to start building the East wall. We had almost reached the reached the top plank when Ann McCanna turned up with a bag full of her special mince pies and Max Birchenough arrived to take pictures of the progress and join us for coffee.

With Sue Benedetto and Keith Theobald on site John handed a bottle of mulled wine to the cafe staff to be heated up as a winter warmer with our festive nibbles. Sue had brought bara brith and John cinnamon flapjacks to go with the mince pies, and chocolate biscuit selections supplied by Max; a veritable feast. We raised our glasses of hot mulled wine to toast the efforts of the working party through the year and then got on with the chatter as Mike Green swelled our numbers. Our discussions encompassed possible COVID effects on Christmas, exporting our carbon costs (if we didn’t mine it then it can’t be ‘our’ carbon) hence why buying Russian coal is so much worse for the climate than keeping our own mines going. Did you know that next year marks the centenary of the Great Western Railways absorption of Cambrian Railways? This event upstaged the slightly later, but more famous, ‘Grouping’ in 1923; you learn a lot at our little chinwags.

Refreshed by the wine, and high on the sugar, we hardy pair returned to the task at hand and cracked on with fitting the second new end angle. This had one hole misaligned by nearly 1 cm so a bit of work with a chisel and file was necessary to extend the hole through the plank to allow the bolt to be threaded through. Then the two outer straps were added in short order as, miraculously, all the holes lined up and that allowed us to attach the topmost plank, completing the side. But we went one better by installing the angle strap inside the wagon to firmly join the longitudinal roof timber to the east wall; though this required both of us to push up on the beam to lift the rib enough for the holes to align. Tired but victorious we then eyed up the challenge of getting the wagon back inside the Store, over the small but significant hump where rail gives way to concrete. We gave it a big shove and surprised ourselves by very nearly sending the wagon careening into the pile of wagon covers and boxes of bits!

By the close of play six planks, two straps, two angles and one angle strap had been attached by two determined men on a mission!

So we close our year with best wishes to you and yours for a happy and safe Christmas, ready for whatever the New Year throws at us.

Photo by John Olsen

The working parties will restart on Thursday Jan 6^th 2022, COVID permitting.

After its recent poor showing in letting Storms Arwen and Barra soak Tywyn, the Tywyn weather mojo pulled a proverbial rabbit out of its hat with a lovely calm and sunny morning in Wharf yard today.

But all was not well with the big sign on the Neptune Road face of the museum for John observed that it had acquired a banana-like bend of its western end due to the savage gusts out of the NW. Thus together with Max Birchenough he set about putting matters to rights; this required tools from the Gunpowder Store which led to him spotting Charles Benedetto idly chattering in the yard with Tim Wilkinson. Our third errant team member got his marching orders and joined us out on Neptune Road to re-hang the sign post de-bananaing, which is when we discovered that half the fixing holes did not correctly align with their ‘corresponding’ wall plugs. A bit of judicious opening out of the holes in the sign allowed it to be securely re-hung; with two new fixings at each end to curb any future tendencies to ‘go with the wind’.

Ann McCanna called us to coffee in the warmth of the cafe together with Sue Benedetto and treated us to her ‘Christmas Distilled’ cake, a delightful confection that included mince pies and cranberries – totally moreish but we kept one piece back for Keith Theobald as he joined us partway through our verbal meanderings. Naturally encounters with the wind featured in our discourse with Charles describing how some G scale wooden wagons were unseated from the rails by lesser winds than Arwen and Barra had thrown at us. Keith revealed that he had found the missing keys, not down the back of the sofa but actually suspended from the underpinnings of the sofa; how they managed this gravity defying transition without the aid of a dog or cat remains a mystery. With Andy Sheffield absent, all the members of the team felt obliged to eat the chocolate covered Hobnobs with his name on them, taking one, or more, for the ‘team’.

Refreshed by our chat, chocolate and cake we returned to our current project, wagon no. 146, which we hauled out of the Gunpowder Store under increasingly grey skies. This morning we attached the two vertical straps to the western end of the wagon, joggling the planks to get all the holes to align well enough to tap the coach bolts through and tighten up the many nuts. Getting the top plank in place allowed Charles and Max to secure the end wall to the roof beam with the angle strap, stiffening up the whole assembly. John ground off the square shanks from some more coach bolts ready for further work on the east end of the wagon. We were in the process of wrapping up the mornings activities when the first rain drops began to fall and quickly heaved the wagon back into the protection of the Store before collecting up the tools and stowing them too.

By the close of play three men had attached two straps, secured one top plank and rectified the wind damage to our museum sign.

Photos by John Olsen