WYTHALL'S WORKS
As I write this, Easter is almost upon us and much effort is being put into getting the Museum ready to open for the season, from Easter Saturday. In fact we have got better in recent years in keeping things presentable over the winter but there did seem to be a slightly longer list of jobs this year.
One of the major changes the regular visitors should notice is that the organisation of the café and shop counters has changed, including a new lower counter to meet one of the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). Much of the structural work was done by myself, but Fred Withers and Maurice Collignon have done the finishing off and redecorating as necessary. The aim of the changes is to make these areas easier to staff and to allow more items to be on display in the shop. The reorganisation has also allowed the Museum’s exhibition to be set up by Malcolm Keeley in the other end of the café building, which in turn enables the railway carriages to be closed to the public. The need to close the carriages is another consequence of the DDA although there were some Health & Safety issues even for the able-bodied public!
I wasn’t at the Museum when there were strong winds on a Saturday in mid-March but I did get an e-mail message reporting that the spares prefab was disintegrating before people’s eyes. When the new spares building behind the Shire Hall is complete we will be happy for this to happen but at present it is a bit premature. Fortunately damage was confined to the doors on the front being completely destroyed and part of the roof coming off. With the wind died down on Sunday, Alex Potts was able to do a good job of boarding up the hole where the doors had been and Pete Murphy repaired the missing part of the roof on Monday. Other general site maintenance has been less spectacular but no less necessary with work on the café roof and one of the fire doors being replaced. Professional assistance in the form of electricians were on site early in March to deal with some faults found in an earlier check called for by our insurers.
In my last report, I recorded that the new stores building was largely erected but that the two end walls had to be built. This has now been done and all (the huge number of) bolts tightened up. Further work is needed before we can start transferring the bulk of the spares to it but we are now well on the way. In fact a few engines and gearboxes are now housed in the building. These have come from the Scania Hall, which will provide a little more space and allow a new gangway to be formed between the main hall and the Electric Vehicle Hall.
The recent work on buses seems to have mainly been directed at preparing them for tests. Whilst much has had to be done it has little visual impact. Of the museum Class VI fleet both the BMMO D9, 5399, and the Birmingham Guy, 2976, were checked over ready to earn their keep on the route tour on 28 March. The Trent PD2 had to have the two-yearly tachograph check before it could be presented for test and as part of the preparatory work had both an engine block crack ‘stitched’ and a reconditioned vacuum pump fitted. The Bristol L5G also passed its test and the BMMO S16 is next in line. Some private owner buses have also been checked over and passed Class V tests. Although not yet for test, the Wendaway BMMO S23 which has been parked up for some time has received mechanical attention by Kevin Hill and Alex Potts which has enabled it to move and now has a charging system which works.
To prepare the Museum for opening a lot of sweeping, gardening, washing (buses, signs and other things) and sorting out has gone on. Special thanks are due - in no particular order - to the following who have not been mentioned already in this report, Mick Green (car park sweeping and window cleaning), Phil Hoole (bus interiors and rubbish shifting), Mike Jordan (cleaning), Paul Gray (EV hall cleaning), John Brogan (gardening), Dave Potts (sorting out shop), Geoff Hodkinson (Harper’s PD2 and National) and, of course, Dennis Herbert of EMES (grass cutting) with apologies to anyone I’ve missed out!
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
