Today, we painted the railings at Hotchley Hill.
For a few weeks now, there's been a can of Oxford Blue gloss sitting in the shed at Ruddington, waiting for the weather to catch up with the time of year. No longer! We brushed a few cobwebs off the preparatory coat of oxide primer, and got to work. With plenty of direct sunlight and a warm breeze, the paint was touch-dry by early afternoon. The colour is our best guess at box's appearance during BR days, based on the last remaining flakes of the old paint.
If it isn't evident from the photographs, this is not the world's best paint job. It isn't even GCR(N) S&T's best paint job - but that is the result of a concious decision. Without power tools, the time saved by tolerating a slightly uneven finish is substantial - and that time can be better spent on the extensive queue of other repairs to the building. Some of those repairs are certain to damage the paintwork on the handrails, so it would have to be revisited in the future either way.
In the meantime, the repaint will protect them from further decay, not to mention improve the appearance of the building.
Towards the end of the day, we pottered around doing odd jobs: weeding, sorting rubbish, and thinking about getting mains power to the site. We found a rather battered crossbar that had fallen from a pole near Rushcliffe Halt, and added it to the collection in H.H.'s locking room.
Looking ahead, we're still in need of a replacement for the original (long lost) outdoor light fitting. Although I've never seen a colour photograph of it, it seems very likely to have been one of the green/white enameled types that were common in the period. These do occasionally crop up on everybody's favourite online auction website, but are far from cheap, and often on the wrong side of the Atlantic. If you do stumble upon a lamp like the one in the photo attached, and it's looking for a good home, please do get in touch!
