Cymraeg ar gael isod!
On Thursday 31 March a small group consisting of Ray Brooks, Phil Sayers, Keith Theobald and later after lunch Nick Potter and Don Newing attended. Ray and Phil worked in the museum on general duties while Keith fitted the side door to the new block instrument plinth and fixied one of the collecting boxes so that it cannot be knocked over but can be moved if required. A willing gang of volunteers helped transfer the second Tyers No 6 Single Line Tablet Machine to the plinth. During the afternoon Don worked in the museum office while Nick sanded and painted the side door for the plinth. There were plenty of distractions during the day like the loading of locomotive No 3 Sir Haydn onto a low loader for a starring role at the National Garden Railway Show on Saturday 2nd April 2011 in Hall 2, Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, Warwickshire, CV8 2LZ.
This was the final Thursday Working Party until they resume in the second week of November and a big "thank you" is extended to all who have taken part either regularly or occassionally.
On Thursday 17th March only Ray Brooks and Frank Yates attended. Ray spent the morning shredding unwanted paperwork arising from a serious spring clean of the Museum office which Don Newing and Malcolm Phillips had recently conducted. Frank meanwhile continued with his work improving the cab of Jubilee 1897. We are now held on that task awaiting the provision by Pendre of a special nut to hold the gauge glass on the rear boiler sheet. One of the two nuts is original, but the other was missing and a replacement is required before the modified protector can be fitted.
Thursday 24th saw the regular gang present. This included Keith Theobald; Chris White; Brian Kelland; Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers; Richard Evans and Winston McCanna. Ann McCanna arrived in time to make coffee for the gang mid morning, which was very welcome. Keith was busy manufacturing a new wooden stand for the second Tyers No 6 Single Line Tablet Machine. Chris first put identification labels on the racks holding name plates on the ground floor and then worked on the ticket collection. Ray swept the stairs thoroughly and Brian, Phil and Winston dusted and polished the locomotives on the ground floor. Richard continued with the lengthy job of wire brushing and waxing the iron track components in store in the Gunpowder Shed. Another useful couple of sessions!
Ray and Phil sweeping and dusting
Richard cleaning a TR joint chair
Keith working on the wooden frame for the new stand.
The next working parties will be held on Thursday 31 March and Saturday 2 April.
This will be the last Thursday session for a while as daily train running then resumes.
The regular sessions on the first Saturday of each month will continue and the next of those will be on 2 April. All are welcome to join in this essential challenge of keeping the Museum spick and span.
Keith Theobald, Malcolm Phillips, and Ian Evans attended all day and Don Newing arrived at Lunchtime. Additional LED light fittings were installed on the tracking in both floors of the museum to improve the lighting of exhibits. The two recently acquired Snaefell Centenary Headbords were mounted on display above the case containing other Manx exhibits. A new printer/scanner was installed in the museum office to replace the old printer which was retired after a long life. Don performed various administrative tasks and photographed some exhibits which have recently been sponsored.
The newly mounted headboards
On Thursday 3 March Ray Brooks, Phil Sayers, Chris White, Kevin and Winston McCanna supported. Ray had spotted that locomotive "George Henry" had not had its darkest corners swept out and cleaned for some while and volunteered to get that done so Phil, not to be out done, did the same for "Rough Pup": both showed much improvement for their efforts. Chris and Kevin meanwhile were busy re-painting and re-assembling a new station name board for Quarry Siding, ready for installation the following day: however, they did find time to make and fix identification labels to the display cases. Keith Theobald had been working on a grant application at home but came in and identified a problem on one of the PC peripherals which was causing a malfunction: he isolated it pending replacement or repair. Winston was busy working on the contents of the forthcoming Awdry Centenary Exhibition, and in the afternoon he was joined by David Mitchell and Don Newing, and much of the material was printed and stuck onto card in readiness.
Saturday 5th saw Winston, David Mitchell, Don Newing Ray Brooks and Richard Evans attending. Richard and Ray started by conveying a number of boxes of historic paperwork from Pendre to the Museum for consideration for archiving, and Don calculated that he had a full weeks work in front of him to sift through it all. Richard then went to the Gunpowder Shed and continued with the task of conservation on the cast-iron artefacts stored there. After many hours that task is beginning to come towards the end. Ray then assumed duties as the Attendant for the Day. Winston, Don and David continued to print and mount photographs for the display and took that job as far as possible at present. Don then carried on with other administration duties and Winston dismantled a quarter mile post which it was we now know is not from the Lynton and Barnstable Railway at all but is probably ex-standard gauge. The items were labelled and stowed for safe keeping. The mounted photographs were then boxed to be taken away for captions to be prepared.
The next Working Party will be held on Thursday 10th March at 09.30. All are welcome to join in.
Present: Malcolm Phillips, Chris White, Jack and Declan.
It was a mild but damp day. A survey was made of the work needed on PENELOPE following its return from repair at Alan Keef's Works in the autumn. It had obviously been handled with great care and only minor repairs to the paint work needed attention and these were cleaned up and undercoated. The wooden front floor was painted and the frames cleaned down. The loco was moved backwards and forwards a little using the starting handle to free up any seized parts and move the lubrication around the system.
The cab roof of INDIAN RUNNER was cleaned and treated to black undercoat and various parts of the loco that had been missed previously were painted with green or black undercoat as appropriate. The long repair to this loco is coming to an end with the main remaining tasks being to obtain a satisfactory paint finish and clean and paint the inside of the cab. This loco was also moved by winding the starting handle slowly with the gears engaged.
A heavy shower just after 14.00 dampened the spirits somewhat and it was decided to call it a day and return when the weather is warmer and maybe drier to complete the gloss work and start the remaining tasks on INDIAN RUNNER.
Present were Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers and Brian Kelland.
As the Railway was to start its half term train service the following day, work was continuing with that undertaken the previous week when all the glass was given a clean. The evidence of the winter's work was cleared away and then all the locomotives and exhibits were dusted and polished. The timetable racks were replenished where required and other leaflet displays topped up as necessary, as a result, at the end of the session all was spic and span.
There will not be a working party next Thursday (24 February) as the Museum is open to the public for the Half Term train service. The next working party will therefore be held on 3 March, with another on Saturday 5 March. All are welcome to join in for a variety of tasks.
The working party on Thursday 10 February 2011 saw Don Newing; Malcolm Phillips; Ray Brooks; Dick France; Phillip Sayers and Winston McCanna in the Museum. Don and Malcolm had been busy all week at times assisted by David Broadbent and had carried out a major spring clean and tidy up of both the Museum Office and the upstairs storeroom. They had both then turned their attentions to archiving material, and were occupying most of the upper floor in the process.
Dick commenced work by re-installing the descriptive photograph inside the cab of Jubilee 1897. Phil meantime removed and waxed the length of Hughes round patent rail from the stand, where it had been installed near Rough Pup without any treatment. He and Winston then replaced it . Ray tidied away all the pots of paint and other material to the Gunpowder Store and located a can of woodworm treatment to deal with two wooden nameplate patterns ex TR, for loco No 1 and loco No 5.
Winston placed a recently acquired TR item concerning surcharging in 1st class accommodation in the Recent Acquisitions showcase after Malcolm had photographed it for Catalist (The Museum electronic catalogue system).
Dick and Phil then set to and cleaned all the glass, showcases; staircase, etc, removing traces of the drink spillage mentioned in earlier reports. Phil then cleaned and polished the brass plate unveiled by HRH Prince Charles when he opened the new building in 2005. Dick installed a very recently arrived plate from Cymru/Wales declaring the Museum an Accredited Attraction on the outside of the door onto the platform. Ray located and installed 13 amp plug covers as required, but this showed that further supplies are needed.
Winston was busy in the Awdry Study, starting to collect together suitable items for the forthcoming Awdry temporary display, which will be part of the centenary celebrations of the birth of Wilbert Awdry on 15 June.
At the end of the session Don and Malcolm were intending to continue with archive work until the following day.
The next working party will be on Thursday 17th February at 09.30.
Ray Brooks, Tom Place, Richard Evans, Ian Evans and Malcolm Phillips attended.
Following the repairs made to the top of the fixture around the industrial railway display cabinet last Thursday, this, and the top of the fixture around the gas works locomotive, were cleaned by Ian, Malcolm, and Richard. Ian then repainted the entire top surface. Ray and Tom cleaned some of the glass, and together with Ian and Richard attended to a number of scuff marks to the yellow nosings on the stairs which had appeared since Christmas. Other surfaces were cleaned and touched up as required. Richard then applied further preservative to the Aberllfeni incline waggon in the Gunpowder Store.
The next working party will be on Thursday 10th February when all will be welcome. MNP.
Only three in the gang this week, i.e. regulars Ray Brooks, Phil Sayers and Winston McCanna.
Phil continued with painting the inside of Jubilee 1897's cab. He touched up the white where the black had locally over run, and then painted the cab floor and footstep black. Keith Theobald had provided a suitable piece of hardboard to repair the damaged roof of the fixture around the industrial show case on the north side of the ground floor. It had been locally damaged while moving the display above. Ray and Winston therefore prepared to fix this piece of board in place. Ray fished out four rail chairs from the Gunpowder Shed to use as weights to hold the board down, while the adhesive cured, and located a tube of suitable glue. Winston meanwhile cleaned off the top of the fixture in preparation.
After coffee break (biscuits, provided very kindly by Ann) Phil continued painting the loco, and Ray and Winston fixed the sheet of hardboard in place, weighted it down and left it in place to thoroughly adhere until the next working party.
Ed Lund kindly provided a large container of patent glass cleaning fluid, the Museum supplies having run out, and Ray re-charged the atomiser spray using a funnel loaned by Chris Parrot, and then stored away the canister for future use. Keeping the glass in the Museum clean is a serious challenge, and yet again evidence of drinks spillage on the staircase was evident.
The next working party will be on Saturday 5th February commencing at 09.30, and it is expected that at least two Trustees will be present, but everyone is welcome. WMcC
Present to-day were Phil Sayers, Ray Brooks, Andy Lawton and Chris White.
Phil was busy painting the inside of the cab of Jubilee in brilliant white gloss making it much brighter than it has even been since it was first built. Ray and Andy were busy cleaning other exhibits upstairs and downstairs. Chris was dealing with two sets of pictures which have recently been donated, some from Howard Fuller and some from Keith Walton. Good progress has been made on the list of tasks which was prepared at the start of the winter and thanks are due to all who have assisted either regularly or occasionally.
Andy and Ray take a break from cleaning
Philip in the cab of Jubilee
The next working party will be on Thursday 3 February when all will be welcome
Attending were the familiar faces of Ray Brooks; Brian Kelland; Phil Sayers; Winston McCanna and Eric Wooding.
Ray paid attention to local damage caused by the recent moving of captions, preparing the surface, stopping up holes and then rubbing down. A touch up coat of paint will be necessary next week. He then measured up for material to cover the damaged section of the showcase under the new mesh grid on the ground floor. Phil washed out the upper sections of the cab of Jubilee 1897 and then masked up in preparation for repainting the white sections next week. A start could have been made to-day, but the paint in store in the gunpowder shed had gone solid. Brian tidied up and did some cleaning, while Winston worked on preparing a schedule of instructions to assist with producing a sketch on how to drive Jubilee 1897. Eric Wooding meanwhile did the end of the year emptying of the donation boxes.
Phil produced from his own collection the text that was originally used with the John Adams film slide strips, as these can be used in sorting out captions for pictures in the digital photo frame, so copies were made of the text. Fortunately the new copier in the general office handles foolscap size paper.
The next working party will be held on Thursday 27th January, and all are welcome
Report on our activities today from a Tywyn virtually cut off by flood water.
The usual small but regular and loyal gang turned up and this included Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers and Winston McCanna. Additionally we were pleased to see Malcolm Phillips with us again.
Ray Brooks volunteered to clean the ballast under the Forest of Dean wagon, Jubilee 1897, the Oakley wagon and George Henry. This was a painstaking task as all had become infected with glitter from the Christmas decorations when the Santa Grotto was hastily moved into the Museum, following the re-arrangements after the snow prevented the planned service. Phil continued to take items of cleaning from the prepared list, and these included the grey surfaces on the Eaton showcase and the floor of the cab of "Jubilee 1897". The expectation is that cleaning the cabinet will be all the work required, whereas the loco cab floor will definitely require fresh paint.
Malcolm was checking and up-dating captions to prepare for further Welsh translations, working from a list which Keith had prepared. Phil then commenced the lengthy task of viewing the photographs in the digital picture frame in order to consider captions. Winston made a start on re-securing the Oval Rail to its stand on the ground floor. The adhesive holding down the exhibits had been disturbed while repainting the stands. Malcolm and he also acted as tea boys in Ann's absence.
The next working party will be held on Thursday 20th January at 09.30. All are welcome.
Those attending were Chris White accompanied by Kevin, who were updating the ticket carousel. Also present were regulars, Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers; Ann and Winston McCanna.
Phil cleaned the kick strips on the internal doors on the first floor, and then clambered up and dusted the roof of the guards van on the Host Wagon display. Ray meanwhile removed the remaining items from the Recent Acquisitions showcase, the brass plates having been removed the previous weekend and mounted by Keith Theobald on the new grid prepared in readiness on the ground floor. Ray then cleaned the inside of the show case and redisplayed the remaining items. The information labels for items removed were safely stored in the museum office.
Ann dismantled and stowed the Christmas decorations, including the Christmas Tree, while Winston sorted out items required for today's and future activities.
The next working party will be held on Thursday 13 January. All welcome.
Museum volunteers doing what they do best - having a coffee break.
Phil and Ray attending to the New Acquisitions cabinet
The new Name Plate grid on the ground floor with the first plates now fitted
Kevin re-assembles the ticket carousel
The ticket carousel with some of the work started
