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GWSR General Discussion and Operations

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by michaelh, Aug 25, 2013.

  1. 84A

    84A New Member

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    My reply wasn't completely aimed at the angle of an Anorak though. I would imagine that the local community in and around the railway would have had some idea of the situation the line has been through in the past couple of years. My point still stands that it will take time for the GWSR to fully recover from the landslip - just because the railway is back in one piece again does not imply that everything is suddenly hunky dory.

    Also, is there a heritage railway in the country that doesn't have at least some vehicles sitting in sidings awaiting restoration? If Joe public were to visit another line, they would see similar vehicles requiring attention just like those on the GWSR. I guess the key take home message is that both preservation and restoration take time, effort and money, whichever angle you look at it from. I am certain that in the future this situation will improve on the GWSR - it’s just that I, as a paying customer, would be prepared to cut them some slack where perhaps others wouldn’t.
     
  2. Kinghambranch

    Kinghambranch Well-Known Member

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    Further to the need to care for the Mk1 and other coaching stock on the GWSR, the recently commissioned Finishing Shop at Winchcombe seems to be bringing almost instant results. For the 1st time at Winchcombe C&W, work is able to be carried out on coach bodywork preparation and painting at the same site. Witness the swift progress being made on bringing the GWSR rakes up to a good standard. See the latest blog:
    http://cwatgwsr.blogspot.co.uk/

    Of course a carriage storage shed is the long term solution and it hopefully will be addressed in due course. This all takes funding of course but it is just one example of the investment being carried out at the GWSR, and some other railways of course. Another example of PW replacement is here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwr_permanent_way_photo_log/

    All this is besides the ongoing work at Broadway!
    http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk/

    I look forward to 2014 on the GWSR with cheerful alacrity.
     
  3. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Yep, the usefulness of the paintshop.sometime definitely shone through yesterday, we beat our record of lining out 3 times over! We have been able to do so much more than a normal quick repaint than before, with all the cracks filled in and time to do the whole coach, rather than the planned one side.

    As kinghhambranch says, huge amounts of filling were able to go on next door on a choc n cream quick repaint, with the second maroon coach for a quick job now under cover too.

    So over the winter maintenence period we will have completely repainted two coaches, repainted the side of another, plus work still going on on two more slightly longer term projects.

    By the time the maroon rake us in regular service, it will have 4 coaches painted within the last year, so that should keep everyone happy!
     
  4. 46118

    46118 Part of the furniture

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    Having followed this on the C & W blog, you appear to have facilities at Wichcombe which will be the envy of some other Heritage lines. Facilities that look as though they are paying dividends very quickly.
    Incidentally, full marks to whoever organised the "blog" structure for your various departments. So easy to access and view. How I wish other heritage lines would follow your lead on that facility. Some lines have a confusing mixture of websites that dont always get updated, and "social media" sites that contain much irrelevant chatter.

    46118
     
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  5. martin butler

    martin butler Part of the furniture

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    As a fellow person involved in C&W, in my case in between jobs, you look to have a board that have realised that this aspect of running a railway needs to be properly funded.

    In far too many cases the coaching stock on our preserved railways leaves a lot to be desired its shortsighted as the public who in the end pay the bills, wont put up with it, in my former position, we would outshop a coach in about 4 months if it was just a prep and repaint, but very often you would find corrosion problems, then your talking anything up to 8 months to a year ,but in my case this was a department that was under stafted, just 2 full timers, 2 part timers doing 2 days a week and the rest was volounteers, even with the best will in the world you are going to struggle to keep up with the work load, when you think the same people that do the restoration were doing the routeen work such as running checks and 18 monthly exams.
    The problem is this, most railways will invest in that shiny engine at the head of the coaches, but what is the first lasting impression the public get? its that thread bare uphoustery, the cloud of dust that rises from the cushions , the varnish peelling from the woodern panels , the toilets locked out of use. need i go on?? its this that on which our industry gets compared with the multitude of attractions out there all aiming for the same market
     
  6. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    Martin I agree entirely but a small staff doesn't necessarily mean slow progress. Here at Havenstreet we have 3 full time staff and one part time so roughly the same. We still manage to revarnish every coach (anything between 10 and 12 coaches) each and every year. We also have 12 monthlies, 6 monthlies, weekly exams and monthly door exams to do.
    In addition to that, last year we totally rebuilt one wooden framed goods wagon (all new wood) and repainted 6 other wagons. A fully restored bogie coach was put into service after 80 plus years as a bungalow and the next 4 wheel restoration started. Our biggest restrictions are lack of workshop space and budgets!
    We are very lucky to have a good bunch of volunteers usually around 20 over week, they are the ones who make the difference. They have to have a purpose and feel part of the team. The volunteers range from the totally unskilled through to a number of highly skilled ones who could tackle any job. A few started off with no particular skills to speak of, but now can do almost any task.


    A good team makes a big difference.
     
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  7. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    everyone at the GWSR are volunteers remember, save 2, with no plans to introduce any further paid positions in the foreseeable future. most Saturdays at C+W we have about 20, with the numbers dropping to about 15 on Thursdays. those are the two main days that we work, with Wednesdays mainly for woodwork as other things cannot take place due to the dust (although this may change now with the new building). I started off with no skills at all, started of undercoating wagons, got promoted to topcoat on wagons then lettering, then filling and sanding on coaches, priming, undercoating, then top coating and lining. I see them all as ranks you progress through. I've managed it in about a year, although I can't do lining without masking tape. we have been after a paintshop for ages, it was due to a bequest to the railway that we finally got it.

    We certainly don't do as much varnishing as you lot do by the sounds of it gwalkeriow, coaches tend to be repainted every 3 years or so from what I can make out. we also managed to do a number of wagons though, completely rebuilding one, and a good 3 needing new wood put in (including the monster van, which is almost the same size as a BG) we have also just started overhauling a number of dogfish wagons, then need much more than a repaint with lots of welding and patching up, with lots i difficult places.
     
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  8. JWKB

    JWKB Member

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    We on the Gwili we try and get two- three coats of varnish. It means you only need to do a full reprint 5-6 years.
     
  9. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    That's an idea, we only do the one coat of varnish, it already prolongs the life of the coaches as could be seen last year, the last service coach not to be varnished showed remarkable difference to those with paint of a similar age but with varnish on. I might try and pass that on, but we don't really like doing it, it runs so quickly and can all to easily make a mess of a coach. I had a go once and it had to be taken off for someone else to have a go, not many people can do it satisfactorily, so takes time. however, with the new building, might be worth considering.
     
  10. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    One of our coaches has not had a full repaint since 1997 when it was first restored, but it has had 17 coats of varnish since! It still looks good, the new storage building should make it last even longer.

    One of our biggest problems is caused by the plywood sheets starting to delaminate, we are endeavouring to improve the quality of the ply that we purchase.
     
  11. JWKB

    JWKB Member

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    I must admit I've never come across the varnish issues you've meant ironed but then again once we get down to that point it is usually carried out by the same couple of people.

    As for ply delaminating have you ever thought about metal sheets ?
     
  12. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Has anyone tried Medite Tricoya as a sheet for panelling coaches which are going to be painted? Some of the Middleton Railway's plywood coach panels are de-laminating and we are going to give this a try with four panels. It is untried territory for us but, if the claims are justified, it might solve a lot of problems.

    http://www.meditetricoya.com/products/medite-tricoya
     
  13. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    The LNERCA are looking at at timber called Khaya for replacing the mahogany panels on NER FO 2118. It is very similar to Honduran mahogany and was the recommended replacement for railway carriage use when that timber ceased to be available. I haven't fully costed it yet, but I don't think it will be a lot more than plywood and should be a lot more durable. If there is any interest, please get in touch with me.
     
  14. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    It was recommended to us by a supplier, but as soon as MDF was mentioned we were less than keen. I would be interested to know how it really does perform.
     
  15. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I was similarly sceptical but our supplier has a piece submerged in a container full of water which it is claimed has been there for three years. The blurb suggest a service life of 60 years outside. Time will tell.
     
  16. martin butler

    martin butler Part of the furniture

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    Gary, give the ply a coat of clear epoxy resin, thats what K&ESR use, then that seals the ply , it should last a good 5 years,
     
  17. gwalkeriow

    gwalkeriow Well-Known Member

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    Martin we give the ply 3 coats of epoxy resin already, but we want it to last more than 5 yrs. We are getting 15/20 years but we want more :). We striving for less body maintenance, we would like to spend more time raising the general standard of our coaches even higher. The panels on some of the early coaches are not easy to change as the beading is actually part of the frame, the panel is meant to be slotted in.
     
  18. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    Five year! The teak panels on Greslet buffet 641 have been on for 20 years and are still fine. People seem to think teak is expensive, but if it lasts several times as long as plywood then it starts to look to be a price worth paying!
     
  19. martin butler

    martin butler Part of the furniture

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    when i said 5 years, thats because we had only been using it for 5 years but one of the bits of the birdcage had been patched with treated ply and this time round it showed no wet ingress or delamination, so in theory should last agood 15 we only gave it one coat of epoxy, because of the cost of the stuff, wests's 101 i think, like everywhere we had to be very carefull about the budget,
     
  20. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Different topic, but same railway, the broadway lot have recently launched an appeal to buy a bracket signal for Broadway in time for this year's gala, I'm sure you'll agree this will really add some atmosphere to the site and bring the vision so much closer. you can donate here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/broadwayareagroup.

    Back on carriages, we are really zipping through the planned repaints (and really, they have been so much more than the previous "repaints" done) with the first maroon coach almost done (just varnish and a little bit of lining left) and the next almost ready for painting, after having lots of filler and other repairs (this is the new meaning of a quick repaint now!) quite a conveyer belt!
     

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