South Devon Railway

Today was my first day working at Staverton on the SDR as a volunteer. The Staverton sub-group are the 'British Legion' equivalent of the other departments, where evreybody seems about 60 years plus and has a go at everything, though some tasks appear quite a 'niche' thing.

I was paired up with 'Sid', a sprightly 80 year-old who said "we are going to the paint lettering" on Toad 68777, just like that! Gulp! Built in 1939, it was allocated to Newton Abbott,survived War Service and has been the main project at Staverton for a couple of years.

I watched him do the 6,8 and then one 7 on one side, then he gave me the brush and said 'Put the brush on, follow the lines, and keep going without stopping until the paint runs out..' and I did the next two. Then, with more instruction, the straight bits on a 'G'. Then we shifted the scaffold around the cooler side and he asked 'Are you going to do the 'G' then? ' This side was next to the car park, with members of the public passing by.

With his instructions, I did it, chuffed to bits! Pictures below. On Saturday we will try to get 'Newton Abbott' on both sides if the weather holds. As we packed up he said

'I wish it had been allocated to Par….'
Why? said I.
'Cos it's only three [naughty word] letters…'





Here endeth this chapter of 'Noddy goes to Train Town'.

All the best,

Doug

:)  Magic  :thumbs


Cheers

   Matt

Nice one Doug.

I'm OK until I get the brush/soldering iron etc within a hair's breadth of the work, then my hand starts shaking. Is it nerves or age?

Your work is really good Doug.

Bravo.
Every time it rolls past you'll be able to say "I painted a bit of that", quite special.

cheers

Hi Doug.   Very good. Many years ago I used to volunteer on the Severn valley. During my time away from Model Rail. I had a go in the paint shop, but someone told me a short cut on the filling and sanding, but after that went wrong? I wasn’t appreciated.   Best wishes.   Kevin

Wow! POW! (Picture Of the Week)

Thank you,

Doug

Nice pics and story Doug. If it all ends up as good as the Shunters truck they did it will be great. Catch you later. I shall be up sometime over the Easter break so I'll have a close up look.

Visited the SDR yesterday and had a close look at the Toad Doug. It looks fantastic, well done. Are they doing the Mogo as well?

We owe Railway Enthusiasts so very much!


Wonderful work, another piece of our railway heritage back to her former glory.
John :)

Excellent work! I don't suppose you had a chance to measure the windows or anything whilst there? ;)

But seriously, great work and thank you for your time and effort in keeping this van looking smart and new

Any details etc, happy to oblige,

Doug

Well, I really could use measurements of the windows and their spacing. The drawing I found doesn't have all of that so I had to guess when making my template. But I would be happy to revise it with the actual measurements