Toplight Coach Group at the Swindon and Cricklade Steam Railway

GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News.

May 2004

by James Faulkner

The restoration has been steadily progressing we went to the Oscar Windebank timber merchants in Box and purchased enough Iroko and Sapele hardwood to complete the rebuild of the framing at one end. The original frame is made from Teak and Oak.
Most of the timber for the Mike Little Autocoach came from Oscar Windebanks so we took some pictures of the finished restoration taken on the WSR. They were very please to see them and now have a picture of the autocoach hanging in their office.

Ken Habgood has been making some plywood patterns to enable us to cut out the new corner posts. These will be made from two pieces of 6inch by 3inch Iroko glued and screwed together. Ken has found a place in Farringdon which has a large enough band saw and they will cut them out for us when we are ready.

Mike Bradley has been continuing the work on the steel corner gussets (knee irons). He has removed approx half the old rusty ones and has made enough new ones (welded together) for both ends of the coach. The irons are tailor made and are not all 90 degrees. All are handed and offset to suit the body profile. He has painted them with silver hammerite paint and they are now ready to fit. We are very grateful for the work he has done on this job and need to source some suitable new bolts for them.

Nick got us a donations box and I am glad to say that there are regular donations coming in, whilst visitors look at the notice board. The money gets paid straight into the bank account opened for the group and will be used for purchase of materials etc.

Nick and I removed the first of the toilet water tanks, lifting it through the roof and then lowering to the ground with a rope and sling. This is shaped to the roof profile, and unfortunately there is several holes in it where it has rusted through, The original was galvanised steel so Martin Luffman (the new shedmaster) has said the company he works for will quote for making a new one out of stainless steel welded together instead of riveted as per the original

I have removed part of the wooden floor at the end and also the toilet floor. The toilet floor was made from concrete, there seemed to be two layers and its likely this was laid when the coach was in departmental service with BR. This has been done so that the end bar and each end of the bottom side can be replaced with new wood. The bottom side has rotted completely under the toilet compartment but luckily the steel chassis underneath is ok.

I have made a start on stripping the wooden frame inside and out of the old paint. The interior mouldings are all made from mahogany and once stripped of the layers of paint it looks really good.

Looking to the future:-

Well the next thing will be to start making the replacement pieces of framing and also have the coach shunted back approx 10 feet and then jack it up off the bogie, rolling the bogie back to the buffer stop, and lowering the body onto a suitable prop, (probably a stack of wooden sleepers). This will allow us to overhaul the bogie and also needlegun and paint the headstock and chassis framing.

The thing we are most desperately short of is more people, and we really hope to recruit more volunteers. For example we need people to help with the sanding and paint stripping as the more people available to help the quicker it would get done. There seems plenty of people interested and always asking me questions whenever I'm working on it.

Also it would be great if someone wished to help overhaul the bogies.
The whole railway has a really desperate shortage of active workers; sometimes it feels like there is hardly any workers there! And too many of those that are there are old and wont be active members much longer. Every project could get completed so much more quickly and real progress made if more people were involved, so stop sitting in your armchair reading this and come and help!!

There is a possibility we may expand and take on a second coach, we would like to acquire the GWR Collett coach 7362 which is currently rotting away on the railway but the owner so far refuses to sell it to us, so it continues to rot away.! Also we would need more active volunteers to make this project worth taking on.

In addition if anyone has anything they would like to donate to the group towards restoration, including money, scrap hardwood, tools, spare parts etc then please contact us (see bottom of page)

Fancy getting involved? Much of the work is easy such as sanding and varnishing, wire brushing etc. we are actively looking for more people to get involved.

You can contact us James Faulkner james75452000@yahoo.com or Tel 07715 322241or Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522


	GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News. May 2004 by James Faulkner The restoration has been steadily progressing we went to the Oscar Windebank timber merchants in Box and purchased enough Iroko and Sapele hardwood to complete the rebuild of the framing at one end. The original frame is made from Teak and Oak. Most of the timber for the Mike Little Autocoach came from Oscar Windebanks so we took some pictures of the finished restoration taken on the WSR. They were very please to see them and now have a picture of the autocoach hanging in their office. Ken Habgood has been making some plywood patterns to enable us to cut out the new corner posts. These will be made from two pieces of 6inch by 3inch Iroko glued and screwed together. Ken has found a place in Farringdon which has a large enough band saw and they will cut them out for us when we are ready. Mike Bradley has been continuing the work on the steel corner gussets (knee irons). He has removed approx half the old rusty ones and has made enough new ones (welded together) for both ends of the coach. The irons are tailor made and are not all 90 degrees. All are handed and offset to suit the body profile. He has painted them with silver hammerite paint and they are now ready to fit. We are very grateful for the work he has done on this job and need to source some suitable new bolts for them. Nick got us a donations box and I am glad to say that there are regular donations coming in, whilst visitors look at the notice board. The money gets paid straight into the bank account opened for the group and will be used for purchase of materials etc. Nick and I removed the first of the toilet water tanks, lifting it through the roof and then lowering to the ground with a rope and sling. This is shaped to the roof profile, and unfortunately there is several holes in it where it has rusted through, The original was galvanised steel so Martin Luffman (the new shedmaster) has said the company he works for will quote for making a new one out of stainless steel welded together instead of riveted as per the original I have removed part of the wooden floor at the end and also the toilet floor. The toilet floor was made from concrete, there seemed to be two layers and its likely this was laid when the coach was in departmental service with BR. This has been done so that the end bar and each end of the bottom side can be replaced with new wood. The bottom side has rotted completely under the toilet compartment but luckily the steel chassis underneath is ok. I have made a start on stripping the wooden frame inside and out of the old paint. The interior mouldings are all made from mahogany and once stripped of the layers of paint it looks really good. Looking to the future:- Well the next thing will be to start making the replacement pieces of framing and also have the coach shunted back approx 10 feet and then jack it up off the bogie, rolling the bogie back to the buffer stop, and lowering the body onto a suitable prop, (probably a stack of wooden sleepers). This will allow us to overhaul the bogie and also needlegun and paint the headstock and chassis framing. The thing we are most desperately short of is more people, and we really hope to recruit more volunteers. For example we need people to help with the sanding and paint stripping as the more people available to help the quicker it would get done. There seems plenty of people interested and always asking me questions whenever I'm working on it. Also it would be great if someone wished to help overhaul the bogies. The whole railway has a really desperate shortage of active workers; sometimes it feels like there is hardly any workers there! And too many of those that are there are old and wont be active members much longer. Every project could get completed so much more quickly and real progress made if more people were involved, so stop sitting in your armchair reading this and come and help!! There is a possibility we may expand and take on a second coach, we would like to acquire the GWR Collett coach 7362 which is currently rotting away on the railway but the owner so far refuses to sell it to us, so it continues to rot away.! Also we would need more active volunteers to make this project worth taking on. In addition if anyone has anything they would like to donate to the group towards restoration, including money, scrap hardwood, tools, spare parts etc then please contact us (see bottom of page) Fancy getting involved? Much of the work is easy such as sanding and varnishing, wire brushing etc. we are actively looking for more people to get involved. You can contact us James Faulkner james75452000@yahoo.com or Tel 07715 322241or Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522