Tours of Carriage & Wagon department at Winchcombe

There will be a warm welcome for visitors to C&W at Winchcombe, throughout the festival. There will be tours hourly, from 11.00 to 15.00 on each day.

The workshops, housed within the spacious, extended former goods shed, are where all of the carriages and wagons in use on the railway are refurbished, overhauled and maintained.

The GWR currently has 26 coaches in operational use, all refurbished here over the past 20 years. All are ex-BR Mk1 stock, around 50 years old. In the sidings behind the workshops can be found a number of Mk 1 coaches awaiting restoration - giving a good idea of the work awaiting the C&W team.

When a coach is overhauled, it is brought into the workshops and an assessment made on what needs to be done. It is then stripped internally of all seats and fittings and the panelling sanded to reveal the original veneer, which is repaired where necessary and re-varnished. All fittings are repaired, replaced or refurbished before being refitted. Leaking and broken windows are also replaced. Depending on their condition, the seats are either cleaned or reupholstered.

Beneath the body, the vacuum cylinders which operate the brakes are overhauled, along with the rest of the braking mechanism. Axleboxes are stripped, overhauled and repaired as necessary. The steam heating system - which takes its supply from the locomotive to maintain warmth during cold weather - is also overhauled. The plumbing system for the toilets - including piping, tanks, sinks and toilets are also overhauled and replaced where necessary. All coaches are also completely rewired, new batteries fitted and the generator refurbished.

The aim is to ensure that everything works properly on the coach, just as it would have done when it was first built. Each coach takes, on average, about a year to overhaul - a restaurant vehicle, with its cookers, electrics and additional plumbing, taking rather longer!

Says Richard Johnson, the Carriage & Wagon department manager: “We are all volunteers and we are always on the lookout for additional help. We have people with a wide range of skills, including carpentry, electrics, plumbing, metalworking, coach painting, upholstery and general DIY. We have a large band who work Wenesdays and / or weekends - pay us a visit during the Festival and if you like what you see, join us!”