WYTHALL WORKS
As always when I write these notes, I have mentally gone round the site, trying to remember what has happened since the last report in "Omnibus". Inevitably this must mean there are omissions for which I apologise, but it does make one realise just how much gets done - even if some of it is relatively minor - in a fairly short period of time.
On these virtual 'walkabouts' the entrance area is the necessarily first to be encountered. Here the entrance gate itself has received attention by our EMES friends. After years of having to warn people about the tag sticking out from the second gate (and even worse people catching their cars on it) the problem has been solved by the simple expedient of moving the tag to the other gate. Still with EMES, they have laid a patch of block paving where a bench in memory of their member, Ron Scott, who sadly died in 2004, is to be placed. EMES have also resolved a water leak in their tunnel, put more paving blocks to make a floor in the lawn mower shed and are in the process of replacing some railway sleepers with plastic wood ones. Also in conjunction with EMES, the Museum has been considering the best way of replacing some of the picnic tables where the wood is rotting.
Moving round to the Scania Hall, a new exterior lamp has been provided by the personnel entrance, while the portion of the floor nearest the vehicle entrance door was re-painted prior to the October open day.
Attempts to stop the café roof from leaking obviously failed as in November a group of people standing outside suddenly heard a crash from inside! Investigation found that part of the plasterboard ceiling had collapsed under the weight of water from above. At the time of writing dustbins and plastic sheeting divert the water to where it will do no further harm and arrangements are being made for a permanent repair to the roof in the new year. Outside that building, Maurice Collignon has completed the repaint of the sides of the phone box that he could get to.
It has recently been established that Chasewater railway could usefully use the three redundant fuel storage tanks we had on site. For two of these transport would be relatively easy but, for the third, the big diesel tank near the toilets, it was more problematical. Nevertheless, Alex Potts with assistance from Kevin Hill did manage to get it on to the Potts' lorry and all three tanks have now been delivered to Chasewater. The accumulated rubbish behind the tank by the Gents has now been cleared giving a more open aspect to that part of the site.
Moving down to the Shire Hall, Maurice Collignon has again been busy with his paintbrush. This time the subject of his attention has been the large engine crane, which was suffering from surface rust. It is now adorned in the unmissable bright yellow we have recently painted plant items. Behind the Shire Hall, Pete Murphy and myself, with some input from Tom Couling, have continued to erect racking and transfer spares from outside and from the prefab. As part of the process, the double opening doors on the prefab have been reinstated, replacing the emergency repairs done last winter after wind damage.
As well as the permanent changes, a lot of time and effort went in to preparing the site for Event Days and publicity associated with them. Although it was a lot of hard work for Pete Murphy and Kevin Hill to move what seemed like most of the buses at the Museum, the photo-shoot for "Bus & Coach Preservation" paid dividends with eight pages of coverage, which must have contributed to the record breaking event on 10 October. That event also required huge amounts of preparation in advance of the day, followed by all the clearing up afterwards. I will not try to list all who helped, but again particular thanks must go to Kevin and Peter who were busy parking buses when they should have been earning themselves a living!
Alongside all this activity, it is perhaps surprising anything happens to the buses. The run up to 10 October saw lots of activity to get Midland Red projects to a point where the buses could be displayed to best advantage. Painting the S12 was completed just in time and the 1685 Group put in additional work on the LD8. The Q, which was on display to the public for the first time, received a finishing coat of maroon gloss and the addition of lifeguard rails. Earlier, the LS18, having been prepared for painting mainly by Bob Williamson, was treated to a coat of red paint by team of painters. The more obvious transfers have also been applied so the bus looks presentable although it is obvious 'proper' restoration is required.
The need for attention to the Bristol FSF on the Saturday evening during the Classic Car Show weekend has already been recorded and the bus has also been over the pit on other occasions for a number of other defects to be rectified. Kevin Hill and myself dealt with many of them but Jeremy Price's expertise was called on to overhaul the brake system.
The most recent occupant of the pit has been Tim Clayton's London Merlin which now has an engine that runs thanks to Alex Potts efforts, although at the time of writing due to some fault in the electronics of the gearbox it doesn't mean the bus runs under its own power! Dave Taylor's long Walsall Daimler is currently inside and looks quite smart having had much of the new panelwork painted.
Dick Lolley, with help from Steve Johnson and Fred Withers has taken on the completion of the upper deck of the West Bromwich Daimler (248) and the linoleum has already been laid. Geoff Hodkinson continues to work on the Harper's PD2 and is currently seen in contortions as he works in the cramped space of the cab. Bob Williamson has been applying more paint, firstly to the Fleetline chassis and then to the Tilling.
Incidentally, if anyone notices that the Fleetline chassis's fuel tank has changed from a well silvered one to a dirty black one, the reason is that James Munro has engineered a fuel tank swap between various Fleetlines, which will see the Trust's DD12 end up with a good one and the Fleetline chassis having the one with a hole in it. James was also instrumental in purchasing a number of sets of batteries. This was done on the Black Country Museum's Midland Red centenary weekend when the presence of spare charged batteries proved useful in keeping mobile the Museum's buses that were present.
That event, which I'm sure will be reported elsewhere, again required time from our volunteers, not least to low-loader (paid for by Black Country Museum) the SON to Dudley. Again, the effort was worth it - look at the centre spread of the February 2005 "Bus & Coach Preservation"!
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
