Wythall Works
Several of my reports on what has happened at the Museum recently have had a section on the toilets so the continuation of this saga seems as good a place to start as any! Having upgraded the Gents, it seemed appropriate to at least improve the appearance of the Ladies loo and in any case the revised water supply to the Gents needed boxing in. The work in the Ladies has included removing the old, rusty and inoperative water heaters and putting mirrors above the sinks. Also a partition has been put up to cordon off the part that is used for storage to give a tidier appearance and some paint has been applied to the exterior. During this work an unsavoury smell was noted and it did not take much investigation to determine that the sewer outlet was backing up. Fortunately, Severn Trent was persuaded that the problem could be due to subsidence as a result of the installation some years ago of its sewer from the Britannic site next door so they came and investigated. Jetting out the pipe cleared the problem and putting a camera through the pipe showed that whilst it was intact, there are various ups and downs. Having resolved this problem just a fortnight before the start of our open season, the water was turned back on in those parts of the system switched off for the winter - result - water gushing out of several places in the Ladies. One was easily fixed (who removed an old water heater and forgot to blank off the pipe?), but the other proved more problematical. After attempts to solve this ‘hard to get at’ leak by simple means failed, a new piece of pipework was obtained and installed.
The most noticeable change for visitors arriving at the site will be the replacement of the raising railway crossing barriers at the admission hut by a substantial hinged gate. This has been manufactured from steel tube already on site and, painted white with a red disc in the centre, looks far more appropriate as a crossing gate. It also swings so that when the road crossing is open the railway track is gated, making for a much safer crossing. Several people have been involved in this project, in particular, Pete Murphy and myself manufactured the gate, Fred Withers and Paul Gray painted it, Pete and Frank from EMES removed the old barrier and remodelled the gate posts, and Tom Couling had a lot to do with the erection of the new post to latch the gate to when closed for rail traffic.
Other activity associated with the start of the open season included the usual cleaning of halls and exhibits, Paul Gray doing his annual spring clean of the Electric Vehicles Hall. The spell of fine weather running up to Easter allowed the lines on the car park to be renewed after the whole area had been swept by Mick Green and Mick Doolan. The latter has also put a lot of effort in to removing the vegetation encroaching into display areas and threatening to engulf the railway carriages. Grass cutting had to start early this year and once again Dennis Herbert of EMES is doing a grand job in keeping the grounds tidy. The grass cutting task has been eased by the availability of a ride-on lawn mower for the larger areas.
Mention has previously been made of the clearance of vehicles from the sides of the Scania Hall in preparation for a spares building at the rear. Unfortunately things did not progress as fast as had been hoped so it was not possible to return some of the less presentable buses to their usual place out of the public gaze. This affected the two Leyland Nationals acquired purely for storage purposes and the Stratford Blue Leyland Tiger. However a virtue was made out of necessity and the Tiger, which is a long term restoration project, was fenced off with appropriate notices about it provided and has created some interest. The Nationals received similar treatment. The extra buses in the public area also mean that space is at a premium for days when buses are brought out of the halls. Activity before Easter by the usual bus moving team of Kevin Hill, Alex Potts and James Munro saw the Fleetline chassis being moved and other normally static exhibits being rearranged to make better use of space. This was followed by much bus washing on Good Friday and Easter Saturday.
The last few months has seen several of the Museum’s Class VI fleet needing their annual retests. As foreshadowed in April’s “Omnibus” the S16 is now back to good health and duly passed its test at the first attempt in late February. The Trent PD2 had brake balance problems and the assistance given by John James and his employers at Arriva Tamworth in arranging a session on their rolling road to allow these problems to be resolved by Kevin Hill and Phil Ireland is gratefully acknowledged. The bus passed with flying colours when presented again. The next for testing was the Crosville Bristol L5G. Unfortunately the bus chose the park at the test centre to refuse to start due to a loss of electrical power. After several minutes frantic attempts power returned for no apparent reason but the staff at the test centre, rightly, refused to test it in case it failed again when in the test lane. With the replacement test date set for early the next week Dave Parry very kindly, over the weekend, did the preparation work necessary on the next bus due for testing, the S15, just in case the Bristol’s fault was not found in time. In the event Phil Ireland, managed to establish why power was intermittently being lost - a corroded wire and terminal in the control box - and the L5G was able to go for its rearranged test and passed first time. With the S15 already prepared, that too was taken for test on its appointed date and passed first time although not without drama as the test centre initially insisted its brakes were tested on the rolling road whereas, due to how the brake servo is fitted on these buses, it can only be Tapley tested.
Much of the vehicle work in the past two months has involved paint. Two of the buses prepared for painting over the winter have now received the top coats. These are the S14, which just needs the lettering to complete it, and the Midland Red Leyland National, which has still to have the windows replaced as well as transfers applied. Dick and Fred’s Birmingham PS2 also received paint but the interior is where the most spectacular progress is being made. Whilst BCT blue was on paintbrushes, Kevin and Steve Johnson rubbed down the lower panels of the Museum’s BCT Guy Arab, 2976, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. This, together with a through clean of the cream by Mick Green, has greatly improved its appearance.
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
