Toplight Coach Group at the Swindon and Cricklade Steam Railway


	Toplight Coach Group Report Sep 2007 James Faulkner Work has been ongoing but I haven’t been able to do as much as hoped due two, three week work trips to Cape Town. This meant that not only do I miss the time but then when I get back I have forgotten what I was doing! Flour Mill Trip, Beam, Forest of Dean Myself and Ken Habgood went for a visit to Bill Parker’s Flour mill works at Bream in the Forest of Dean (the rest of the group went previously but I was on holiday then). This was very interesting and Bill has a large quantity of heavy machinery some of it originally from Swindon works including a wheel lathe. At the time we were there the GWR locos Ravingham Hall and a 56xx were being overhauled. The building itself is historic and once formed part of a colliery. Ken formally worked for Bill Parker full time and during this time worked on a very historic 1881 GWR Dean Saloon. The coach has the unusual Dean centre-less bogies. At some stage in the 1980s a crane jib fell on it at Toddington and crushed the roof at one end, so Ken had the job of rebuilding the end including an all new roof section to repair the damage. We saw the coach and it has a very ornate mahogany and walnut interior plus etched windows etc. Ken had etched windows made by the original company to match those that were undamaged. The vehicle is often known as the “Madame Patti” coach. Adelina Patti was a famous Italian Opera Singer (the Pavarotti of her day) and was extremely wealthy often earning up to £1000 per performance in the 1890s and appearing in New York, Paris, Russia, London etc. She moved to Wales and lived in a castle called Craig Y Nos, near Abercrave. She paid for a large station on the Pembroke line and would regularly hire the Dean coach to travel around. Although the Pembroke line has long since closed, the castle is still there and the grade 1 listed opera house she built at the castle is now the home of the Opera school of Wales. The coach is of similar although older design to the Toplight, the main big difference in that it has a clerestory roof, but unfortunately is looking increasingly tatty and has deteriorated considerably at Bream from being stored outside. I understand that at one time it was offered for loan to the Steam museum (when in good condition) but this was turned down in favour of Mark 2s etc, which seems shocking really considering its historic value. In addition to this we also saw a Heavy Steam crane which readers may remember was at one time derelict and unused in the siding between Blunsdon and Hayes Knoll. This were built as part of a big order for heavy cranes places by the government at the beginning of WW2 to handle the anticipated damage to the railways caused by bombing etc. It left approx 4 years ago and is now in use (although mostly stationary). It’s used to lift loco boilers, frames etc as part of the Flour Mill’s work. Contrary to popular belief (whilst it was at the SCR) the guys informed us that they paid approx £1000 for all their cranes including about 3 others to be inspected each year and therefore they said that it paid for itself with only about 4 lifts per year, Toplight 7545 work Work has been ongoing on the doors, Ken Habgood has finished the first set of Double opening Guards doors and at the time of writing is probably about 40% done on the second set for the opposite side. I am busy doing what will be door 12 at home in my garage (this is one of the spare doors off the coach that was scrapped in 1980) Norman Whitworth is doing an excellent job skinning the doors, This involves trimming or packing out the front face of the doors so that when the door panel (9mm Marine ply) is put on that it lines up correctly with the rest of the body, he has also been putting the door locks/handles on. We have another new member called Brian who has just joined and is a friend of Normans. Andrew Creaser is busy as usual this time he is concentrating on the droplight windows for each door, these are all new as the originals were well rotten and it’s a skilled and fiddly job as the mortise and tenon joints are only ¼” thick. GWR droplights are far more complicated that other railways (for instance LNER) as they are designed with a separate internal frame within the droplight. This allows the glass to be replaced without having to remove the whole droplight from the door and take it completely apart, but this makes them more complicated to make in the first place. We have has a new door lock cast in brass for the toplight using the pattern previously made by Ken Gibbs. This as turned out quite well and will be machined next. We have had just one made as a test initially but we need probably another 5. They are £82.50, so if any reader would like to sponsor one then we would be grateful to hear from them. Mike Bradley as usual in concentrating on metal parts and fitting, for example he has been doing the new door tread plates these strengthen the wood around the doorway. Originally there was a bit of a mixture of original ones and bits of steel etc, so he has a had some new ones cast to the original pattern so that they will all be the same. China Clay Wagon Readers may also know that Mike is restoring a China Clay wagon near his home which belongs to the railway and originally was acquired by the SCR (along with two other wagons) from the Port of Bristol Authority. We normally keep coal in them for the steam locomotives but all three were in very decrepit state. I gather work is progressing on this and Mike has had a new buffer housing cast as one of the originals was badly cracked. The wagon is usual in that it has an end door and originally would have had a bar above it running form one end to the other to support a canvas cover. There is some pictures before work started of it on the Toplight website. How about a full report for the magazine eh Mike ? Nick Bailey has been doing odd painting/filling type jobs also all organising work for the Taff Vale Coach project. (that the one SCR members often call the “red” coach) If you want to see lots of pictures etc then check out the Toplight coach website at www.gmnabooks.co.uk/tcg Finally if you would like to come and take a look at what we are doing or get involved yourself come to the Hayes Knoll shed. We usually work on the coach most Saturdays and Wednesdays, but if you particularly want to speak to someone it’s best to call first. My tel is 07715 322241 or (01793) 433760 or email James75452000@yahoo.com or alternatively contact Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522. 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.