Toplight Coach Group at the Swindon and Cricklade Steam Railway

GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News.

November 2004

The group have been moving forward with the restoration and a number of different items are being worked on simultaneously.

Mike Bradley has been making and restoring the many forged steel handrails on the coach body including a new large curved handrail that bolts onto the end of the coach and which you hold onto when you climb onto the roof (to fill the toilet tanks etc). He has also started on the corridor connection which had previously been removed. This has dismantled and the parts will shortly get de-rusted ready for painting. He is making some new components to replace those which had become distorted.

Nick Bailey has been making doors for the new cupboard that we acquired from Farringdon Community college. We are using this to store all our screws, bolts in etc.

Nick and I recently went to RAF Caerwent. Here they are scrapping many old coaches including Mark 1 EMUs that have only recently finished in service. We removed some parts/ wood etc which may prove useful and also one complete compartment seat as a test one. We will probably go again as they are getting new stuff in to scrap all the time.

Andrew Creaser has been working mostly on Wednesday nights on bay 4 of the coach body framing. He has been making repairs to the bottom side framing, and has started making new body framing rails to replace the ones that are rotted. In addition he has needlegunned / wirebrushed and painted some of the vacuum pipes which have been removed. Andrew works as a teacher at Farringdon community college. Four of his students are restoring one of the coach battery boxes as a project. When the battery box was removed we found the remains of the lead acid batteries in glass tanks inside. One complete battery has been kept. The lead plates from what was left of the other batteries will be sold.

The four young lads working on the battery box have made some new pieces for it and then rubbed it down and repainted it. They are coming to look at the coach/railway before Christmas.

The majority of the restoration we will do ourselves, but one job we are not doing is to make the Bollection mouldings. (These are the ornate mouldings on the outside of the coach around each window.). We are contracting these out to Peter Milne. Pete does woodwork for many different steam railways on a commercial basis. He made parts for the Mike Little/Tim Hornby autocoach and he also made the Bollection moulding for the 3 restored Toplights at the Severn Valley Railway. The SVR had a Spindle moulding cutter especially made to the correct profile for these, so Pete will use the same cutter for ours. He has already been to measure up ready to make them.

Ken Hapgood has been finishing the first section of body framing. This section is almost ready to be repanelled. Since then he has made a new end bar which is the big chunch of wood that sits directly on top of the buffer beam. This has already been fitted. The gaps in the buffer beam have been filled with Fibre glass resin to stop them getting full of water if the coach is in the wet.

Norman Whitworth has been concentrating on the toilet side of the coach. He has repaired two of the uprights that has partly rotted. These had rotted because for many years the toilet window has no glass in it whilst the coach was "abandoned" outside.
These have had new pieces of wood expertly spliced in and have now been refitted to the coach. Norman has also fitted the new piece of bottom side framing which he had made earlier. In addition to this he has fitted the second of the new corner posts. This end of the coach is now starting to look much more complete and restored/new bits are being put back on instead of be taken off.

Fancy getting involved? We can show you what to do. 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 on:- James Faulkner tel 07715 322241 or james75452000@yahoo.comor Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522.


	GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News. November 2004 The group have been moving forward with the restoration and a number of different items are being worked on simultaneously. Mike Bradley has been making and restoring the many forged steel handrails on the coach body including a new large curved handrail that bolts onto the end of the coach and which you hold onto when you climb onto the roof (to fill the toilet tanks etc). He has also started on the corridor connection which had previously been removed. This has dismantled and the parts will shortly get de-rusted ready for painting. He is making some new components to replace those which had become distorted. Nick Bailey has been making doors for the new cupboard that we acquired from Farringdon Community college. We are using this to store all our screws, bolts in etc. Nick and I recently went to RAF Caerwent. Here they are scrapping many old coaches including Mark 1 EMUs that have only recently finished in service. We removed some parts/ wood etc which may prove useful and also one complete compartment seat as a test one. We will probably go again as they are getting new stuff in to scrap all the time. Andrew Creaser has been working mostly on Wednesday nights on bay 4 of the coach body framing. He has been making repairs to the bottom side framing, and has started making new body framing rails to replace the ones that are rotted. In addition he has needlegunned / wirebrushed and painted some of the vacuum pipes which have been removed. Andrew works as a teacher at Farringdon community college. Four of his students are restoring one of the coach battery boxes as a project. When the battery box was removed we found the remains of the lead acid batteries in glass tanks inside. One complete battery has been kept. The lead plates from what was left of the other batteries will be sold. The four young lads working on the battery box have made some new pieces for it and then rubbed it down and repainted it. They are coming to look at the coach/railway before Christmas. The majority of the restoration we will do ourselves, but one job we are not doing is to make the Bollection mouldings. (These are the ornate mouldings on the outside of the coach around each window.). We are contracting these out to Peter Milne. Pete does woodwork for many different steam railways on a commercial basis. He made parts for the Mike Little/Tim Hornby autocoach and he also made the Bollection moulding for the 3 restored Toplights at the Severn Valley Railway. The SVR had a Spindle moulding cutter especially made to the correct profile for these, so Pete will use the same cutter for ours. He has already been to measure up ready to make them. Ken Hapgood has been finishing the first section of body framing. This section is almost ready to be repanelled. Since then he has made a new end bar which is the big chunch of wood that sits directly on top of the buffer beam. This has already been fitted. The gaps in the buffer beam have been filled with Fibre glass resin to stop them getting full of water if the coach is in the wet. Norman Whitworth has been concentrating on the toilet side of the coach. He has repaired two of the uprights that has partly rotted. These had rotted because for many years the toilet window has no glass in it whilst the coach was "abandoned" outside. These have had new pieces of wood expertly spliced in and have now been refitted to the coach. Norman has also fitted the new piece of bottom side framing which he had made earlier. In addition to this he has fitted the second of the new corner posts. This end of the coach is now starting to look much more complete and restored/new bits are being put back on instead of be taken off. Fancy getting involved? We can show you what to do. 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 on:- James Faulkner tel 07715 322241 or james75452000@yahoo.comor Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522.