It has been quite a time sine my last report, and I was reminded that another one was due.

Since the last report our BSO (Brake Open Second) W9000 has gone into use. It runs on a regular basis, and after a few minor teething troubles it has proved to be a reliable performer. We have had a number of compliments upon the standard of the work, and seeing the finished product has made all the months of hard work worthwhile.

Putting 9000 into service allowed us to withdraw the BSK (Brake Corridor second) E34929. This had been running continuously for nearly 10 years and requires a thorough external refurbishment. It has now gone into the spare rake, and can be used as and when required, and will be refurbished as soon as we can get to it.

After 9000, as planned we began serious work on our replacement RBr (Restaurant Buffet) 1672. This is planned to go into service to replace its twin 1675, which has been operational now for more than 5 years, and needs work both internally and externally. 1675 has really earned its keep over the last few years, with thousands of bacon rolls having been sold. The lessons learned with 1675 - such as the need to carry extra supplies of bottled gas - will be incorporated in 1672.

We worked steadily on 1672, until the beginning of October. Virtually all window units had to be removed, and re-riveted in place, whilst at the same time several areas of corroded bodywork had to be cut out and replaced. A considerable amount of work was done internally. The water and electrical systems are now complete, and the gas system is being rebuilt and is virtually complete. The passenger area is fully finished.

This coach will emerge in chocolate & cream to run in that set. It was moved out of our workshop at the beginning of October to make way for TSO (Tourist Second Open) 4763.

4763 arrived in our workshop as a result of a plan agreed during the summer to make a conscious effort to smarten up our main service rake. This rake is currently a mix of chocolate & cream and carmine & cream coaches. This resulted from the fact that a couple of years ago, we decided to put the best of the coaches together for this rake; irrespective of their colours. Internally they are in good order, but externally they have become shabby as a result both of extensive use, and having to stand outside in all weathers.

The plan simply, is to take four of the service coaches from this rake into our workshop; each for a fixed six week period over the winter. This will allow a repaint into chocolate & cream, and a thorough clean internally. The work on each coach externally will deliberately be limited to rectification of minor repairs and a repaint, so that hopefully between October and the end of March all four can be attended to.

The plan is that after 4763, we shall attend to the FK 13329; then the TSO 4772 and finally the SO 4787. With a degree of discipline as to how much is done, we are hopeful of achieving this, and having the four coaches ready for the beginning of April. Together with our new 9000 and the RBr 1672, the rake should look much more presentable.

This plan does of course come with compromises. It means that external work has stopped on 1675. It also means that we have to slot in somehow, the finishing work on the Elegant Excursions coach 3045 which has been worked on for most of the year. 3045 has had all 6 doors stripped and literally rebuilt from the frames up. In fact, much of the wooden framework has had to be replaced, so the doors are virtually brand new. It is estimated that an average of 90 volunteer man hours has gone into each door, and the quality of what has been achieved is a testament to the skill and effort of those who have done this time consuming work.

We are waiting for the owner to arrange for a new carpet to be fitted inside 3045. When that is done, the furniture can be refitted; the window through which it has to go can be re-riveted in place, and final painting can be done.

The benefit of smartening up the chocolate & cream service coaches means that we can then plan to refurbish some of those coaches which are currently out of use, and which require more extensive work. One of our other SO's 4790, for example needs a refurbishment and sadly its doors are in much the same state that those on 3045 were.

Other work we have been doing is an extensive 'facelift' to one of our SK's (Corridor second) 24949. This coach was withdrawn some years ago with a leaking roof, and a rotten floor in the corridor. It was decided to 'do it up' to be available as the 7^th coach in the chocolate & cream rake, when one is needed next year. Inevitably, as we started on it, more work than we anticipated was necessary. The rotten floor was not just rotten boarding, the steelwork underneath was also rotten and has had to be replaced. 24949 will not have a full repaint as there is simply insufficient room in our workshop for it.

The other coach we are working hard on now is the second of the BG's (Gangwayed Brake) 92350 which was bought from Riviera Trains some months ago. This is being turned into a mess coach for P/Way. As a part of the refurbishment it will be fitted with a full kitchen, so that the gang can have hot meals whilst in far away places rebuilding our railway. The current P/way mess coach is an elderly Hawksworth Brake which has 'seen better days', to be polite about it.

In the last few months we refurbished a steel bodied BR Mk 1GUV (General Utility Van) for P/way to use as a tool van, to replace some of the wooden bodied vans they have had for twenty years. The GUV will be fully fitted out with steel shelving, and is a much more secure vehicle having been last in use for parcels traffic. This vehicle is fully air braked, so we fitted it with a through vacuum pipe to make it compatible with other vehicles in the P/way train. Originally, when built it would have been vacuum braked but unfortunately all that was removed when the vehicle was rebuilt with roller doors and reclassified.

The other project which has been completed is the complete refurbishment of a BR Shocvan B854082. This vehicle was originally overhauled and refurbished about 15 years ago. The refurbishment then was largely cosmetic, and the doors in particular were rotten, and broken. Our stalwart carpenters set about making four new ones in the exact style of the original. Now that the wagon is complete and painted, I defy anyone to be able to tell that they are not the originals. A Shocvan incidentally, was a standard goods van with springs laterally along both sides which allowed the body to 'float'. The idea was that in the event of a rough shunt, fragile goods inside would not receive such rough treatment and might survive unscathed. Who knows whether that worked out in practice?

Finally, our stalwart 03 diesel shunter D2182 has been thoroughly overhauled and repainted by its owner. It is used, together with the 04 as resident shunted at Winchcombe, and (save for having the coupling rods painted red) is essentially finished.

We have been fortunate in that one of the members of the diesel department works for a company which was disposing of a number of large BR type carriage battery chargers, and 3 were donated to us. I hesitate to think how much they must have cost when new. We are very grateful to him. We have also had a large quantity of paint, oil, grease and hand cleaner donated. Again, grateful thanks to the GWR member who arranged that for us.

The department continues to go from strength to strength. We now have a system of organising an overall working plan, with quarterly meetings to decide upon a strategy. That then allows us to plan on a more detailed month to month, and week to week basis, with different individuals taking responsibility for overseeing the work on various day. We have recruited a number of new members, and at the last count had 62 volunteers shown as working members of the department.

Sadly, in recent weeks one of our stalwarts Alf Boston died. Alf had been a volunteer from the early days, and at the Cheltenham opening was introduced to Princess Anne as our 'endologist'. "I work on the ends of coaches", he explained. "Do you mean those concertina things?" asked the princess, fascinated. Also, another of our stalwarts, Tony Seddon was taken seriously ill whilst actually working at Winchcombe a few weeks ago. He is still in hospital and we all wish him a full and swift recovery.