Wythall Works
Now that we are in to the open season, much of the work to the site itself is routine, ensuring it is a tidy, safe and welcoming place for visitors. Particular thanks are due to a number of people for this; Dennis Herbert as always for keeping on top of the grass cutting, Mick Doolan for keeping weeds at bay and Mick Green for sweeping and tidying the road edges on the main drive.
One area to receive attention has been the foyer by the Electric Vehicle Hall. Fred Withers completed a project to put a rack in there for the various leaflets other organisations ask us to make available to our visitors. This has both cleared space in the café and makes the leaflets accessible to visitors on days other than special event days when the café is open. Having put up the new rack it was realised the walls were looking pretty scruffy and Maurice Collignon offered to give them a new coat of paint. This has now been done and it looks much better.
Much of the other activity that will be noticed by visitors involves paint in one way or another. The work on BCT Guy 2976 has been completed with the application of transfers and sign-writing. Similarly the repainted Midland Red S14 now sports its lettering, apart from the large 'Midland' fleetnames. Paint has also been applied to the works 'tug' GHA333 that Alex Potts has got going and put a cab structure on. Full size buses repainted are the Leyland National GHA544R which as James Munro reported in the last Omnibus has had the steel window pans extensively treated to prevent rust getting a hold and making it a major restoration job in years to come. Although fully repainted, completion of this project received a set back when trying to refit the windows. The old window rubber proved too fragile to reuse and replacement rubber is currently being obtained.
Continuing on the theme of paint, the Harper's PD2, which was prepared for painting over the winter, has now got its final coat of paint and very smart it looks too. Kevin Hill who did the painting wasn't too impressed that the livery includes dark green lining out; that's six one inch wide lines all the way round the bus! Finally, whilst most other people were away enjoying themselves, either on the Hereford route tour or attending the Wiggly Worm day at Chasewater, Kevin Hill and Pete Murphy transformed the Guy, SUK3, from a playbus back to a Wolverhampton bus. The preparation had been done in advance but for people leaving the site in the morning to come back to find the bus fully repainted was an eye opener. Just before anyone points out that there are still dents in the panels and most of the windows are perspex, plywood or aluminium, it should be pointed out that having retrieved this bus from the side of the Shire Hall where it had been out of public view, fairly minimal work has been done to prevent further deterioration and to make it presentable for public display. Unfortunately proper restoration is not an immediate prospect.
Some things are just not so obvious that we have done them. The Bristol L5G is one example. Being due a check in early June a few points requiring rectification were noted, including a failure to charge that was traced to a trapped wire and faulty regulator. The rectification work required several man-hours work and, in the case of the voltage regulator, identifying someone who could repair it (at a cost!). The bus is back together again now and charging correctly but apart from a bit of missing paint where the driver's door hinge needed rectification it looks exactly the same to the casual observer! Thanks to Dave Parry and myself (!) with assistance from a few others for the work on this bus.
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
