NGRM - The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum

Working Party, Thursday 18 December 2008

Phil Sayers; Ray Brooks; Sue Whitehouse; Ann & Winston McCanna attended, joined shortly by Brian Kelland and Eric Wooding.
We concentrated on show case cleaning, and have thoroughly cleaned the cases and objects in the Lynton & Barnstaple/Ravenglass; Signal Box and Recent Acquisitions displays on the first floor and the big Festiniog case on the ground floor. There are just three cases left to tackle.

The signal box area and display case

Other work included giving Jubilee and the Dundee Gas Works loco a deep clean, behind as well as the bits one sees.
Later we were joined by the injured Frank Yates and Olwyn and Tom and Pauline Place, fresh back from an 80th birthday trip to the Normandy beaches. We then had lunch together.

MANY THANKS TO ALL THE ATTENDANTS FOR THEIR WORK DURING 2008

Working Party, Thursday 11 December 2008

A small but useful working session this morning: present were - Phil Sayers; Ray Brooks; Brian Kelland; Ann McCanna and Winston McCanna.

The two Talyllyn cases and the Irish and Isle of Man case were emptied. The artefacts and inside of three show cases were all thoroughly cleaned. All three looked much improved for the effort when re-assembled.

Frank Yates came in but was unable to work as he had a fall recently at home and cracked a rib. The painting materials he was using on Jubilee's cab were therefore packed away out of sight to leave it free for the Christmas traffic.

We are planning on gathering up Attendants at Wharf for lunch together after next Thursday's working party. All welcome. You might even get a mince pie!

Working Parties 4 and 6 December 2008

The newly lettered Mail Waggon and the scales which have featured in previous reports

Regular working parties are taking place on Thursday mornings during the time the Museum is closed to the public but open as an emergency exit for the Slater Room while the Welsh Class is in progress.
On Thursday 4 December Frank Yates was painting the inside of Jubilee’s cab and Ann & Winston McCanna, Ray Brooks, Eric Wooding and Brian Kelland were cleaning and polishing items from the Estate Railways display. Chris White prepared the Corris Railway mail waggon for lettering and
up-dated the website.
On Saturday 6 December, Richard Evans continued cleaning the various heavy metal artefacts in the Gunpowder Store, Chris White completed the lettering on the mail waggon and Don Newing was preparing detailed sheets for the 2009 audit of the collection. James provided valuable assistance to Don and Chris in working with the website and the Welcome page was altered to bring the location and opening times more immediately to view.

Working Party at North Ings 19 November 2008

Chris White, Dale and Tom were working on INDIAN RUNNER again.
Various small but tricky tasks were undertaken and the contents of the cab and tool box were sorted, the good parts being saved and the scrap and rubbish thrown out.
New straps were fitted to secure the fuel tank.
The radiator front grill was fixed in position with four bolts.
Corner bolts on the radiator top were adjusted so that a full set of fixings is now in place.
The new oil presure gauge was fitted with some new pipework although final fixing awaits suitable nuts and bolts.
The lower side panels were removed and a start made on cleaning the engine and surrounds.
The off side panel was re-fitted using new UNC bolts but the drivers side panel could not be re-fitted as the old bolts had been sawn off and the remains left in the tapped holes. These will needed to be carefully drilled out to leave the tappings.
A countersunk bolt was fitted to secure an upright on one side of the radiator.
Careful measurements were taken for the provision of a replacement air input filter which is now on order.
New and refurbished clips are on order for the side panels and new springs for these are now to hand.

This was the final working party of 2008 on this loco and work will resume in Spring 2009. Thanks to all at North Ings and those who have worked on the project so far.

Museum Working Party 1st November 2008

A very good turnout, with several people joining in at the end of Tracksiders week. Present: Phil Sayers, Don Newing, Ray Brooks, Keith Theobald, Richard Evans, Sue Whitehouse, Ian Evans, Paul and Sam Lolley, Andy Lawton, and Michael Biggins.

The weather was fine and sunny (but cold!), which allowed the Corris mail waggon to be moved outside of the gunpowder store building for further painting, while work continued inside on cleaning up the hidden parts of the Avery weighing machine. One wheel had seized on its axle, and the complete assembly was removed and taken up to Pendre works by Keith, freed off, returned and reassembled, and a further coat of undercoat applied. Sue rubbed down and applied primer to the cast iron letters on the sign outside the station. Routine cleaning of the larger exhibits in the museum continued, and further inroads were made in the wire brushing of the assorted cast iron objects in the store.

The next working party will be on Saturday 6th December. All welcome, even if you just turn up on the day, although it would help if you could give advance notice to curator@ngrm.org.uk .

Working Party at North Ings 29 October 2008

Chris White, Mark, Dale and Stuart were in attendance. It was a sunny day although the temperature was below 5 degrees C. Motor rail MR8826/43 "Penelope" was started after lunch and the coolant topped up with anti-freeze. This loco then drew Ruston No. 200744 of 1940 "Indian Runner" out of the shed and a considerable amount of work was undertaken to complete the re-build of the front end. This included the refurbished coolant head tank, formerly on TR No 5 "Midlander", new replacement and refurbished platework and steel angle parts and numerous nuts and bolts. Although this major part of the work needed is largely complete many other items need attention before re-painting can be considered. Briefly: new bolts are needed to fix the body side panels to the main frame; a new air filter; new straps to secure the fuel tank; fittings to join the new oil pressure gauge to the pipeworkand a new container for diesel overflow pipes; new side panel catches. A thorough clean of the whole is needed to remove surplus items such as spare fishplates and indentify items which may be needed such as the sanding pipes.

Working Party at North Ings 18 October 2008

Chris White, Mark, Tom and Kevin attended and used Motorrail Penelope to drag Indian Runner out of the shed into the light for the first time for over twelve months. It proved possible to fit the new fan belt and start fitting the fan assembly and the cover to the fan belt drive. Various other tidying jobs were done and a list of outstanding task compiled, along with a list of the bits and pieces required, mainly a replacement air filter, fittings for the oil pressure gauge, and retaining straps for the fuel tank. All the moving parts of the locomotive were checked and found satisfactory way so were lubricated as required.

Museum Working Party, 4th October 2008

Present: Winston and Ann McCanna, Ray Brooks, Keith Theobald, Don Newing and Phil Sayers.

The Guinness Locomotive and 'Rough Pup' were given a thorough clean, as was the Awdry study.
The Corris mail wagon, which had been moved into the Gunpowder Store last month, was given another coat of paint, and Phil has offered to give it a further coat prior to the application of lettering by Chris White. Poor weather meant that the wagon had to be painted indoors, effectively preventing any further progress on the Avery Platform scales.
Keith was kept busy entering details from donation envelopes collected during the summer into a spreadsheet prior to claiming tax refunds on gift aided donations.

Museum Working Party, 6th September 2008

Present: Tom and Pauline Place, Winston and Ann McCanna, Ray Brooks, Tony Edwards, Adrian Woodhall, Richard Evans, Keith Theobald and Chris White.

The regular cleaning of exhibits and the glass in the showcases to keep everything looking sparkling was one of the main tasks.
The yellow strips on the stairs received a deep clean and a coat of emulsion paint was applied to cover scuff marks on the stands.
The Gunpowder Store saw activity to remove accumulated rubbish, empty paint tins and the like. The platform of the Avery scales was removed, the mechanism beneath cleaned and lubricated and then re-assembled. One wheel resisted attempts to free it off. The Corris mail waggon had been recovered from Pendre the previous week-end and was placed inside to dry ready for re-painting and lettering.
Various administrative tasks were completed, including preparations to make more durable signs advertising the various opening and closing times.
On Friday the TR Co electrician had replaced about twenty of the halogen spotlight bulbs and fittings in the entrance area near JUBILEE with new low energy bulbs and fittings . The light quality has a slight blue tinge rather than yellow but the advantage should be a much reduced need to replace bulbs and as the bulbs are 11w rather than 50w a total replacement programme would show a significant saving in the electricity used, even if some of the darker places have a few more spotlights than presently fitted.

Museum Working Party, 2nd August 2008

In Attendance: Winston and Ann McCanna, Tom Place, Adrian Woodhall, Philip Sayers, Richard Evans, Francis Stapleton, Tony Edwards and Don Newing.

The usual monthly cleaning of display cases and dusting of exhibits was undertaken.

Work continued on the Avery platform scales - all the brasswork was given a thorough clean and polish followed by a coat of conservation wax, and the ironwork was given a coat of grey undercoat in preparation for the green and black top coat.

The various pieces of ironwork outside the museum store, some of which had appeared following the clear-out at Pendre, were photographed. While we know what some of them are, we hope that John Bate will be able to identify the others from the photographs. Further work was made on the cleaning and waxing of the large quantity of untreated track components in the store.

Sketches were made of the key dimensions of the museum's wagon collection to enable quotes to be obtained for fitted tarpaulin covers to enable the wagons to be protected from the worst of the elements during the winter months. This will hopefully reduce the workload of regular repainting.

Next Working Party: Saturday 6 September 2008. All welcome, even if you just turn up on the day, although it would help if you could give advance warning to curator@ngrm.org.uk .

'Curator's Tales' In the Museum

"Curator's Tales" was run twice during Victorian Week. This was a series of dramatised readings that attempted to bring to life some of our Victorian exhibits. On Monday it had 10-12 visitors and on Wednesday 12-15. It was well received. Thanks to Ian Evans who wrote and introduced the experience Jon Richmond and Martin Sutherland who helped with the readings. At least one gift aided donation was made - Ian had to lend them a pen for the form to be filled in! It also got mentioned in the general Victorian Week write up that appeared in the Cambrian News, so a bit of publicity too.

Railway Experience Day at North Ings 5 July 2008

The annual Railway Experience Day for 10 -14 year olds took place at North Ings Farm Museum www.northingsfarmmuseum.co.uk . The event is organised jointly by the NGR Museum and the TRPS East Midlands Area Group with the co-operation of the staff at the North Ings, Tim Hall and Malcolm Phillips.
Twelve young people took part with a total of five adult leaders. The locos operating were SWIFT, the vertical boilered steam loco and PENELOPE the ex Army motor rail diesel. Besides working on the locos the young people gained experience in signalling and train control, ticket issue and checking and guard's duties. In spite of a heavy shower at lunch time most of the day was fine and several parents gathered at the end of the day to look round and enjoy a ride on the train and take photos.

Museum Working Party 2nd June 2008

Only a small group this month, Richard Evans, Don Newing, Sue Whitehouse. Others worked at cleaning and tidying in the museum, but the author forgot to record the names. Apologies!

Tasks undertaken:
The metalwork of the covered van was given 2 coats of black paint (the woodwork having been previously been painted by a Tracksiders gang and by Philip Sayers).
Work continued on the rubbing down and repainting of the platform weighing machine.
Routine, but important, cleaning and tidying in the museum.
Processing the paperwork for a number of items transferred from the archives, scanning images, and updating the Catalist database.
Many thanks to those who attended. Next working party Saturday 5th July

Working Party, 5 May 2008

In attendance

Don Newing, Phillip Sayers, Richard Evans, Tony Edwards, Tom Place, and Keith Theobald.

Brief Progress Report

• The stairs were swept and the glass panels were cleaned
• given a coat of metal primer
• Catalyst records were updated
• A questionnaire was completed and sent off.
• Various receipt forms were completed including the Robert Evans books, albums and pamphlets. Which Chris Parrott facilitated
• The Covered wagon was returned to Wharf edge
• The Gift Aid details were checked against the spreadsheet
• Richard Evans on the Sunday cleaned more of the metal items in the Gun powder store
• The draft Annual Report was updated and amended as required.