Toplight Coach Group at the Swindon and Cricklade Steam Railway

GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News.

March 2005

The Toplight group visited the Bluebell Railway in February for the branch line weekend.

We were shown around the carriage works by Peter Milnes / Richard Salmon, and it was excellent seeing all the various projects being worked on and the high standards of workmanship.Thanks must also go to the Bluebell C & W staff for making us feel so welcome. Their mess room is 5 star luxury, tea excellent and if anyone is missing their (very nice) Swiss roll from the fridge (that was generous offered) then Peter does apologise.

We have carried on with work on the body framing and now have the first of the Bolection window mouldings fitted; this was sealed in by Ken Hapgood using Polysulphide sealant.

Nick Bailey has been removing some of the non original Chipboard partitions inside the coach that would have been fitted whilst in departmental use.

The Severn Valley very kindly sent us some transfers for the toilet compartments (see photo) a big thanks to Colin Jenkins of the SVR for this.

The Farringdon college team working on the toilet doors have been making great progress. The original door has been total stripped of white paint and other gunge and been re-varnished. The door has been repaired over the years with different sections of wood spliced in so these have been stained so the door is all roughly the same colour when its varnished.

The panels are the originals, mahogany at the bottom and sycamore at the top.
The sycamore panels are two pieces sandwiched one on top of each other and have been turned over previously to show a new face.

The lavatory lettering has been applied and the door is ready for the new glass. The original piece of glass was cracked so we have had to replace it with glass with a reasonably close pattern. We have had to do a sandwich of plain glass and pattern glass to give the original thickness of the old piece of glass.

The second door (for the toilet at the other end of the coach) is all new as the original was missing. The door handles etc are being restored and will be fitted.

We have ordered some plywood sheet to cover the first sections of body framing. We should be fitting some of this to the coach in the near future.

I am also doing some preliminary planning work on a possible future extension to the Swindon and Cricklade Hayes Knoll restoration shed. This will depend on obtaining grant funding but if built would include more workshop space and room for 4 bogie coaches or equivalent.

That's all folks! If you would like to get involved then contact James Faulkner on 07715 322241 or Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522 or email James75452000@yahoo.com . You don't need to have previous experience.


	GWR 7545 Toplight Coach Group News. March 2005 The Toplight group visited the Bluebell Railway in February for the branch line weekend. We were shown around the carriage works by Peter Milnes / Richard Salmon, and it was excellent seeing all the various projects being worked on and the high standards of workmanship.Thanks must also go to the Bluebell C & W staff for making us feel so welcome. Their mess room is 5 star luxury, tea excellent and if anyone is missing their (very nice) Swiss roll from the fridge (that was generous offered) then Peter does apologise. We have carried on with work on the body framing and now have the first of the Bolection window mouldings fitted; this was sealed in by Ken Hapgood using Polysulphide sealant. Nick Bailey has been removing some of the non original Chipboard partitions inside the coach that would have been fitted whilst in departmental use. The Severn Valley very kindly sent us some transfers for the toilet compartments (see photo) a big thanks to Colin Jenkins of the SVR for this. The Farringdon college team working on the toilet doors have been making great progress. The original door has been total stripped of white paint and other gunge and been re-varnished. The door has been repaired over the years with different sections of wood spliced in so these have been stained so the door is all roughly the same colour when its varnished. The panels are the originals, mahogany at the bottom and sycamore at the top. The sycamore panels are two pieces sandwiched one on top of each other and have been turned over previously to show a new face. The lavatory lettering has been applied and the door is ready for the new glass. The original piece of glass was cracked so we have had to replace it with glass with a reasonably close pattern. We have had to do a sandwich of plain glass and pattern glass to give the original thickness of the old piece of glass. The second door (for the toilet at the other end of the coach) is all new as the original was missing. The door handles etc are being restored and will be fitted. We have ordered some plywood sheet to cover the first sections of body framing. We should be fitting some of this to the coach in the near future. I am also doing some preliminary planning work on a possible future extension to the Swindon and Cricklade Hayes Knoll restoration shed. This will depend on obtaining grant funding but if built would include more workshop space and room for 4 bogie coaches or equivalent. That's all folks! If you would like to get involved then contact James Faulkner on 07715 322241 or Nick Bailey on (01242) 604522 or email James75452000@yahoo.com . You don't need to have previous experience.