NGRM - The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum

Thursday 25 March Working Party

With the daily train service for the season starting this Sunday, today was the final Thursday working party of this spring. It was attended by most of the faithful few, Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers; Brian Kelland and Winston McCanna.

The forces were spit into two gangs. One, comprising Phil and Winston put a second top coat of paint on the new display grid propped up in the Gunpowder Shed. At the end of this effort it looks much better. Ray and Brian meanwhile spent a profitable morning cleaning and polishing in the Museum, in readiness for the new season. And when Phil and Winston had finished painting they assisted them. At the close the Museum looked ready for 2010.

These working sessions have been highly productive and what has been achieved includes the identification and labelling of every item in the collection as part of the successful accreditation process. All signs of wear and tear from last season have been removed, and the Guinness loco cab has received some long overdue attention. The Museum has been thoroughly cleaned and polished, and items on the north wall on the ground floor have been repositioned to enable us to fit a new grid to display recently acquired brass nameplates. This grid has been painted and is ready for installation.

The regular monthly Saturday working parties will continue and the next of these in on 2 April. Report to Don Newing if you are attending.
Future dates 1 May; 5 June; 3 July; 7 August; 4 September; 2 October; 6 November and 4 December. The weekly Thursday sessions will recommence when the train service finishes for the season at the end of October. Come and join in the pleasant and worthwhile sessions

Thursday 18 March Working Party

The group turned out to be the smallest since these regular sessions were started five years ago when the new building was being commissioned. Indeed when I arrived and opened up I thought that I was going to be working on my own as several of the regulars had already indicated that they were not available, and as it was my intention to get a top coat of paint on the new display grid, I got assistance from Steve, the Wharf cleaner, to lift it into position. However after a short while Phil Sayers arrived and spent the rest of the morning with me. We put a coat of paint on both sides of the grid by just after 12.00, cleaned up and knocked off for lunch. We found that Brian Kelland, Eric Wooding, Ann McCanna and Tony Edwards were all about on other business and had a small gathering around the lunch table and then we were joined by Keith Theobald. The grid will require another coat of paint.

There will be working party on Thursday 25 March, and that will be the end of Thursday sessions as train services are about to resume on a daily basis. The next working party after that will be on Easter Saturday 2 April and will be led by Don Newing.
WMc

Thursday 11 March Working Party

A small group consisting of Ray Brooks, Phil Sayers and Malcolm Phillips continued work on the slate wagon in the gunpowder shed. The wagon was dusted following the rubbing down of the paintwork last time, and Cuprinol 5-star was applied to the bare woodwork. Although the wagon was pushed out into the sunshine, it was still a cold day, and the Cuprinol did not dry in time to apply the wood primer.

Saturday 6 March Working Party

The usual working party held on the first Saturday of each month took place today. In attendance were Richard Evans; Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers; Richard Hope; Keith Theobald and Winston McCanna. After lunch David Broadbent arrived and offered his services and for the following day also, and Richard Evans was also available both days this weekend.
A start painting the new steel grid was made. The job was done in beautiful sunshine outside by the water tower, and a coat of undercoat was painted on by Richard Evans and Phil Sayers
Richard Hope mixed and applied wood stopper to the slate wagon in the Gunpowder Shed. The next stage will be to apply Cuprinol to the exposed timber, and primer to the exposed material. Painting can then begin with three coats of grey undercoat and black gloss on all the metal parts. When this wagon is finished the space in the shed can be used to dry out and refurbish the Aberlefenni incline wagon.
Keith was working all morning in the office collating the donation figures in order to reclaim tax from those that are gift aided.
Later Ray did admin jobs in the museum while Phil polished glass on the stairs and around the Awdry Study. Winston swept the floor throughout. He then applied a second coat of undercoat to the grid, while Richard Evans and David wire brushed and waxed track components, a seemingly endless task! At the end of the day the grid was put in the Gunpowder Shed for safe keeping, as the museum is now open on Sundays

The next working party will be on Thursday 11 March. It will be led by Trustee Malcolm Phillips, and Ray Brooks.

The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum Accredited - 4 March

We are pleased to announce that our application for Accredited status was considered by an Accreditation Panel appointed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) on 25 February 2010, and the Panel agreed to award us the status of Full Accreditation.

The Museum Accreditation Scheme was started by the MLA in 2004. The Scheme is regarded as one of the most innovative and effective developments in the museum sector. It has led the way in raising museum standards in the UK, and has been used as a model and source of inspiration for museums overseas. Since the opening of the new museum, we have been working hard to achieve accredited status.

Accredited museums must adhere to published standards in how they care for and document their collections, how they are governed and managed, and on the information and services they offer to their users. The Scheme encourages innovation and improvement through the use of other materials and resources produced by MLA and its partners relating to the care of collections, access, learning, inclusion and diversity. These materials provide support and guidance in meeting and exceeding the current standards.

We are planning an event to celebrate our award, and details will be published as soon as they are available.

Thursday 4 March Working Party

The customary Thursday morning working party held during the closed season resumed today following a break of two weeks. In attendance were Frank Yates; Ray Brooks; Brian Kelland; Tom Place and Winston McCanna.
It had been intended to start painting the new steel grid which has to go on the wall of the ground floor to house the brass plates currently in the Recent Acquisitions showcase. The job would perforce have to be done outside, and, although the day was bright and relatively still, it was very cold at 0930 when we gathered; certainly far too cold to have senior citizens working outside, and consequently the only part of that job which was progressed was to select a shade of paint from the Hammerite colour chart. This was done and the paint was ordered in the afternoon from the local Hardware shop.
Instead Frank returned to painting of the cab of the Guinness loco, and that job is making good progress. Brian stayed in the warm and cleaned exhibits.
Tom, Ray and Winston adjourned to the Gunpowder shed and found it well sheltered from the cold, so a start was made in preparing the three bar slate wagon that has been drying out in there all winter. Don Newing had left clear instructions in what to do and, following these instructions, the wagon was wire-brushed to rid it of all loose paint, particularly in the crevices. It was then scraped with two brand new and very efficient scrapers before being rubbed down with coarse glass paper. This was all very tiring, but now the wagon is ready to have the holes filled and dressed, then Cuprinol applied to the exposed timber, and primer applied to the exposed material. Painting can then begin with three coats of grey undercoat and black gloss on all the metal parts.
The next working party will be on Saturday 6th March, followed by one next Thursday 11th March, at which I cannot be present, as Ann will be in hospital. But come along and assist.
WMc

Thursday 25 February Working Party

Brian Kellard, Ray Brooks, Eric Wooding and Chris White attended and did some light cleaning. Chris gave the office a good clean and did some work on the website.

Saturday 20 February Working Party at North Ings

Tom, Jack and Chris attended at North Ings. They delivered two new three link couplings for Indian Runner which had been made at Pendre, fitted the newly painted fuel tank and refurbished fuel cock to Indian Runner, took measurements for the glazing materials for the cab of Indian Runner and a new pin for the engine covers on Penelope.
Although it was very cold it was quite pleasant in the sunshine so the front end of Penelope was cleaned up and some green undercoat applied in preparation for repainting into something nearer the original livery.

Thursday 11 February Opening of the Tom Rolt Exhibition

To-day Sonia Rolt opened the Temporary Exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tom Rolt's birth on 11 February 1910 in the presence of about sixty representative visitors who have become part of the groups that Tom Rolt helped to form.

Sonia Rolt in front of the exhibition she had just declared open

Images and text about Tom Rolt's family, childhood and adult life

A display of all the books of which Tom Rolt was the sole author and images and text about his involvement with the Talyllyn Railway

Sonia Rolt in front of the special train which was hauled by locomotive No. 4

Saturday 6 February Working Party

Another good size group assembled, including Malcolm Phillips, Keith Theobald; Christine Homer; (on her first visit to a Museum Working Party and very welcome), Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers and Winston McCanna.

Malcolm tidied up after the last session and then continued with the challenge he started on 4 February by making good the paintwork on the walls on the ground floor. Keith started to get the new mesh in place to receive the brass plates currently on show in the recent acquisitions show case. This entails re-positioning the long Kettering Furnace plate and picture on the north wall of the ground floor. Christine and Winston gave him a hand and the scaffolding was used. Phillip cleaned the yellow noses on the stair case. Ray swept the floors and stair case and tidied up. Most of the gang finished at lunchtime, but Keith, Christine and Winston continued in the afternoon, and by the close had the Kettering Furnace pieces re-fixed in their new positions and the mesh up on the display cases and so safely out of the way. Future working parties will need to bring it down, paint the mesh and then position the brass plates before putting the whole assembly up on the wall.

Eric Wooding meanwhile has been carrying out a survey of the Visitors Book and Day Books to determine where our visitors come from and how many. The results are most revealing.

There will be no working parties on 11 or 18 February due to the Rolt Centenary event on the 11th and the half term train service on the18th. The next working session will therefore be on Thursday 25 February. Come along and join us.

The new arrangements on the north wall down stairs

Thursday 4 February Working Party

In response to a plea for support, a slightly larger than average sized group attended. Present were Malcolm Phillips; Ray Brooks; Tom Place; Phillip Sayers; Frank Yates and Winston McCanna.

The Tom Rolt temporary exhibition now in place on the first floor was much admired.

The principal task was to start to tidy and clean the Museum in preparation for the Tom Rolt Centenary event to be held in the Museum on 11 February. Malcolm started taking the white paint brush around the walls on the ground floor making good the damage done by the floor cleaning. This involved masking the floor before painting. Frank cleaned the glass on the stair case and show cases to a very high standard, while Tom and Ray worked on the museum exhibits themselves.

Tuesday 2 February Work at Olst (The Netherlands)

Work on the new window frame for the weighbridge office and collecting boxes for the museum has been taking place in the last few months at Olst. The window glazing is ready and will be fitted soon.

Sunday 31 January

The temporary exhibition for 2010 was completed ready for the special event on 11 February to commemorate the centenary of Tom's birth. The exhibition will remain on display for this season.

Thursday 28 January Working Party

A small but loyal group assembled to continue the on-going tasks. Present were Tom Place; Ray Brooks; Phil Sayers and Winston McCanna

Phil put a coat of fresh yellow paint on the risers of the steps to the landing by the café door on the ground floor before he had to depart to undertake Booking Office duties. Ray resumed his work with “Henry” and found further places where the dust of the last five years had lain undisturbed, while Tom and Winston carried on with the re-painting of the grey stools. This time those on the upper floor were tackled. The surrounding floors being masked, the stools under the Tablet Machine and the plinth in the Signal Box, under the lever frame and under the Ticket Carousel were all finished.

The new mesh panel to be mounted on the wall of the ground floor to display the additional brass name plates currently on show in the “Recent Acquisitions” showcase had been delivered. In subsequent discussion with Keith Theobald it was determined that at the next Saturday Working Party on 6 February it would be fixed on the wall in position temporarily to clear it out of the way for the Rolt Centenary celebration to be held in the Museum on 11 February. It will then be taken down, painted and the name plates fixed in position before final installation.

The next working party will be held on Thursday 4 February to tidy the Museum ready for the Rolt Centenary, followed by the regular monthly session (see above) on Saturday 6 February. There will be no working party on Thursday 11 February due to the Rolt event or on the following Thursday 18 February, when trains will operate for half term. Please come, we need your support.

Thursday 21 January Working Party

A good attendance saw progress on a number of tasks.
Phil Sayers painted the yellow skirting as required, while Andy Lawton, who had travelled from the Midlands specifically to join us and to take timetables away painted the remaining three stools. Ray Brooks busied himself with the vacuum cleaner, “Henry”, cleaning places which had not been touched since the museum was opened, such as behind the Woolwich wagon and Rough Pup. Brian Kelland took care of general housekeeping, while Eric Wooding emptied the donation boxes and took the cash to the bank.

One unexpected visitor was an old friend, Robin Higgs, the president of the Mid Hants Railway.

At about 11.30 Tony Edwards brought in a reporter, Rob Shelley from ITV, with a camera. Rob interviewed Tony at length about the museum and Winston spoke about the Rev Wilbert Awdry and his connections with us. The programme was transmitted on the 6.00 local Welsh News the same evening.

The next working party will be on Thursday 28th January at 0930

Sunday 17 January

The Museum Server, PC & Router are now protected by the UPS power backup supply. The opportunity was also taken to re-organise all the IT in the museum office and untangle the various cables. This should give a more reliable service to those using the website and make the task of those using the IT equipment in the office somewhat simpler.

Thursday 14 January Working Party

The working party was attended by Ray Brooks who led the session, Tom Place and Phil Sayers.
Among jobs done, Tom continued painting the stools which support the track components near Rough Pup, while Phil cleaned off the yellow skirting on the ground floor.

Thursday 7 January Working Party Report

Due probably to the wintry weather a very small working party today, just Ray Brooks and Winston McCanna.

Notwithstanding, preparation was commenced for some necessary re-decorations. The historic rail artefacts were removed from the four stools around “Rough Pup”, and the stools were prepared for re-painting. Floor protection (very necessary with slate tiles!) was laid and the stools placed on timber to raise them off the floor. Thus a quick start can be made next week, when Ray will be the man to contact as Winston will be in Swansea due to Ann’s hospitalisation.

Other work next week will be to clean the yellow skirting and this may mean some repainting. Prior to that masking as required has to be done.