Slack posting

My God! It's been over a year since I posted a blog to Collecting QR! Not that I haven't been doing anything but I have had some major changes in my life and work on Clarabelle has taken a back seat. So, let's bring it all up to date.

Chester and I spent last Xmas and New Year in England and France so, when we returned in February, Clarabelle needed a good clean.

Later in the year I rearranged the far end of the carriage in preparation of finishing off the lounge area and building the bulkhead that will separate the 2nd bedroom.

While rearranging the end of the carriage, I exposed this section of wall where you can see the steel reinforcing installed by QR to stop the carriage body from wobbling. This will soon be panelled over.

Next visit to the carriage I decided to investigate some rot in one corner of a droplight, seen here from both the inside and the outside. You can see daylight through that hole!

Chasing the rot into the framework revealed that it was more extensive than I imagined. This was not going to be a simple patch-up job!

Continuing work on the inside, I put up a replacement light fitting and scraped the old paint away from some of the ceiling mouldings. I hate working on the ceilings; a sore neck and covered in flecks of paint.

Back to that rot problem. I had to cut back, clear out and square off the damage then fit a couple of pieces of Maranti to make good the damaged timbers. I took these home for final shaping.

So far I've managed to fit the replacement lintel, surrounds around the toplight and replaced the toplight temporarily with a piece of 12mm ply, the whole lot liberally covered in 3-in-1 for protection.

The replacement post proved more problematic so it's back home for some more adjusting before I can install that bit.

While at home I build three draw carcasses for under the left hand bench in the kitchen. 

These are constructed from 12mm ply with reinforced corners. Now to make up the fronts for them!

A little tinkering

The plan was to spend the night on Clarabelle but more impending storms put the kybosh on that idea. We did go out to Clarabelle to check on how she had weathered the previous storms and we managed to get a little bit of work done on her while we were there.

Chester's recent fascination with exotic teas made him the obvious candidate for Clarabelle's Official Tea Maker!

And he did some great work scraping more paint off some windows

Meanwhile I finally installed a shelf for cutting boards under the new bench

A wider view puts the new shelf into perspective

Chester at work

It has been sometime since I've been out to Clarabelle but this last weekend, not only did I get out there, I finally put Chester to work!

Here's Chester, hard at work, scraping paint off the glass of the windows

TV Star!

It has been a while and I have not done much to Clarabelle over the Winter months but she did feature in a segment on Building Ideas! Enjoy!

Building Ideas 

Odd Jobs

A casual trip up to Clarabelle last Sunday to do a few little fiddly bits.

Firstly, sorting out my collection of authentic QRR crockery. I'm building up quite a haul! There are a variety of styles reflecting different periods and manufacturers.

I finished the draw under the dishwasher at home and took it up to Clarabelle for installation. The handles are actually window lifts I found in a second hand shop.

Then a test fit of the tiles for the hearth.

An overview of the hearth/LHS kitchen bench as they are developing.

ANZAC Day Long Weekend

A public holiday and a chance to kick on with some more work on Clarabelle. Pallave and I actually stayed on board over the Saturday night so our time there was very productive.

I pulled the kitchen bench apart in preparation for fixing the top. I also attached the draw front to the carcass under the dishwasher.

Half way through adding the top. Note the temporary spacer keeping the walls the correct distance apart while the top is added.

Top on and edged in Silky Oak

At the other end of the bench is this recess where a wood heater will eventually be installed so I lined this area with fiber cement.

Meanwhile Pallave continued her earlier work on the window surrounds adding a second coat.

Isn't she looking fabulous? And Clarabelle is looking good too!

Morning Tea and Trimmings

This weekend we had some visitors from out of town so one item on the agenda was morning tea on Clarabelle. And, while you have a captive workforce, may as well put them to work!

Frith and Alan are Abbie's Aunt and Uncle. Their farm near Wellington NSW was Clarabelle's last home from 2005-2012.

Alan helped me to put up a luggage rack over the kitchen where I can store crockery.

I also put up a glass holder (which is NSWR in origin but neatly holds this original QR glass)

The luggage rack and glass holder in context

Adding Numbers

A small detail but a satisfying bit of work. This weekend I reinstalled the original numbering on the northern side.

First I chalked it all out based on the numbering seen on 1074 at the Ipswich Carriage Works

Working from photos I selected a sample pot of Gold Rush yellow which seems a bit brighter than the Kings Gold I've been using on the interior.

But I reverted to Kings Gold which has a more muted effect. After several coats and cleanup around the margins, I was quite happy with my first attempt at sign writing!

In context against the side of the carriage. This is the earlier style of livery, simple and elegant.

Resurrection at Easter

The Easter long weekend has often been a good opportunity to work on the outside of Clarabelle. This year I thought I'd tackle a complete paint job of the three sides that are close to finished.

The start of day one, around midday. After mucking about setting up and various other bits and pieces, time to get to work. First up to mask the toplights and drop lights ahead of spraying.

It took me most of the rest of the day to paint just the northern side.

Problems of over-spray around the droplights and toplights but the spray gun does give a good sealing topcoat.

End of day two and I had sprayed the western end and the whole of the southern side. Pallave spent the afternoon fixing up the over-spray around the droplights and toplights.

The northern side and western end at the end of day two.

I haven't previously shown much of the eastern end of the southern side because I have done very little with it since arriving in St Kilda. Prior to this weekends coat of paint it was beginning to look ratty and untidy in a variety of colours.

And, in contrast to the northern side which is in very good nick, working on the southern side revealed a number of spots of rot that had to be attended to.

Early on day three and Pallave gets to work on the droplights and toplights on the northern side.

She made good progress and had finished this job by lunchtime.

Meanwhile Chester and I set about with the spray gun and painted the whole under carriage black. So at the end of three days work Clarabelle was looking better than ever!

Another view of the northern side.

We still need to finish off the eastern end of the southern side but the patches of rot have been sorted out and that leaves us something to do next weekend!

And what better reward after three days of hard labour than beer and blue vein cheese in the bath!

Odd Jobs

A relatively short visit this weekend. Test fitting a new draw and prepping for a new coat of paint on the outside. Speaking of which, if you are in the Adelaide area over the Easter break and fancy lending a hand, please get in contact!

Test fitting the draw built at home for under the dishwasher

It's a great fit!

I also spent some time brushing away spiders and their webs from the outside. This is in preparation for a new coat of paint over the Easter break.