The Toplight "Dream Team" have been busy as usual. Major work has now started on the Cricklade end of the coach. We began by removing the corridor connection and all the rusty knee irons. The next step was to use various wooden props cut to length to prop up the roof under the cant rail. This was to prevent the roof dropping when the frame sections were being removed and worked on/replaced.

Ken Hapgood, Tony Davis and Andrew Creaser then spend a few days removing the toilet sink, taps and other bits and took out the floor in the vestibule end and in the guards compartment so that the timbers underneath could be replaced. They then cut the new bottom side and end bar timbers to size, the bottom sides are approx 9" x 3" and end bar 7" x 3" section, so they are heavy bits of timber to lift about. Unfortunately on the compartment side, the bottom side had a crack along approx a 10-12 foot section, so this has meant we have had to replace about a third of the bottom side on the compartment side of the coach.

Originally these heavy timbers would have been marked out by a marking out gang and then cut at Swindon works on a machine nicknamed the "Loch Ness Monster" which would take a full 60 or 70 foot long piece of wood (spliced together) and then cut all the door opening and holes for the upright pillars all on the one machine, presumably it must have been easy to get all the holes etc parallel and the same, and would have been much faster than doing it by hand. Do any readers have any photographs/knowledge of this machine?

We have had to do it the hard way and either cut the mortise holes using the mortise machine (with the other end propped up on something) or doing it by hand.

At the same time work has been going on to needle gun, scrape using angle grinders with wire brush attachment and then paint the chassis. This is very dirty, tedious and time consuming work. The chassis itself needs 3 coats of paint, primer, undercoat and then chassis black. We have found rolled into the chassis sole bars 03/07 Hence March 1907.

I had an email from Malcolm Holland who has found some small parts in his garage that he had refurbished when the coach first arrived at the Swindon Cricklade in 1980 so these have been passed to us. If anyone has a complete set of original seats in their garage then let me know!

Andrew Creaser has been working on the door ventilators, mostly making new ones. We have managed to get some of the reproduction adverts from Didcot. He has also been working down the compartment side of the coach making the new waist rails (directly underneath each window) from 3" x 3" square Sapele timber.

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At Faringdon Community College:-

David Ashby (one of Andrews students) has been repairing one of the outside doors at Faringdon Community College, he has made new horizontal rails for it and new blocks for each corner to replace the originals which are totally rotten. This door is almost complete.

Ross Harrison has made a set of wooden trestles at FCC which are intend for use when work start on the doors, These are ready so that Ken can start working on the coaches external door shortly.
Ross, David and Nathan have also been at the railway working on the coach and have been painting the chassis and cuprinoling the interior on the inside of the panelling.

We have ordered all the remaining Bolection window mouldings from Peter Milnes. Peter is a busy man and has recently been commissioned to build brand new six wheel Queen Victoria Saloon coach body from scratch to go inside a museum at Ballater in Scotland.

We have had a new member join us, his name is Tim Chambers and he has already been busy. Tim has previously worked at the Glouc Warwicks and Avon Valley on the Mark 1s but has now decided to come and work on proper coaches !
He has been busy cleaning and painting the battery box straps and also the curly handrails that you hold onto when climbing on the coach roof (Ken tells me the they are called Ascending Irons). He is keen to get more involved.

Mike Bradley has been working on the chassis components. He has cut out a section of the buffer beam that had rusted very thin and then thanks must go to Martin Luffman who cut and welded a new piece of steel in. Mike has also arranged for a complete new set of bronze bushes to be cast and machined ready to go on the corridor connections. He has been busy cleaning and painting the steps on the end of the coach and the door tread plates for the guards compartment. Some of the refurbished steps have already been refitted to one end of the coach.

Mike has agreed to restore one of the Swindon and Cricklade Trusts own open coal wagons (the China Clay one, with the end opening doors) and this will be departing the railway to premises near Mike house for it to be restored, returning back to the railway once the work is complete.

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For the rest of the year Ken Habgood will start to work on some of the external doors and I myself will continue with the frame repairs with the hope that all the plywood panelling on the outside can be completed by roughly the end of the year.

Nick Bailey has been preparing the Taff Vale Railway "red coach body" ready for it to be moved away for full restoration, Opening the doors on it etc. [See Here for Details]

Finally for the "new" Toplight, 3898 the entire coach has been completely cleaned and swept inside and all the windows have had boarded up so it is now dry again inside. The coach has been shunted so it's now behind the Hayes Knoll shed. These tasks kept Ken, Andrew and I busy for some time.

Fancy getting involved? Much of the work is easy such as sanding and varnishing, wire brushing etc. We are would desperately like it for more people to get involved as the main limiting factor in any of this is a shortage of skilled volunteers. You can contact us James Faulkner Tel 07715 322241 or email James75452000@yahoo.com or Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522 or speak to us when we are working on it.