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00:01Here at The Repair Shop,
00:03countless treasures have been brought back to life.
00:07Ka-ching!
00:08That reveal so much about who we are
00:11and where we're from.
00:14It's like it's brand new.
00:15But there's so much more out there
00:18that's not yet made it to the barn.
00:20This is amazing.
00:22So the team are hitting the road.
00:24I just love getting up close and personal with the objects.
00:27And we're going to get a glimpse into some amazing heritage crafts.
00:31I cannot wait.
00:34On a unique adventure.
00:36Oh, yes.
00:37This is terrifying.
00:39To join forces with expert craftspeople.
00:43Whoa!
00:44If we don't point these joints, moisture's going to penetrate.
00:47On their most ambitious restorations yet.
00:50To think every day you come up, this is your office.
00:52Wow! It's big!
00:54Keeping heritage crafts alive.
00:56Keep going.
00:57Keep going.
00:58It's getting hot in there.
01:00On precious restorations around the country.
01:03I can't even imagine what it looks like.
01:06There's a legacy here that needs to be protected.
01:15Today, Dom helps with a celebrated piece of century-old engineering
01:19that's gone off the rails.
01:22It took part in a world record for the fastest pump trolley over a measured distance.
01:27No way.
01:28Yeah.
01:29Really?
01:29Will meets a brother and sister keen to rekindle their musical memories.
01:34He would have been 69 soon.
01:36And it feels like the last present that we can give to him to have this restored and to bring
01:42it back to life.
01:43And Saunas tries an endangered metalwork technique from Japan.
01:55Will and Dom are on the road in the south-east of England.
01:59I was considering getting my earpest the other day.
02:02A hoop?
02:02Or a little diamond, a little stud.
02:04Oh, no, not a stud.
02:05Just a little hoop.
02:06You're joking.
02:07I don't think of it as a cry for help.
02:09I think it could be.
02:10Or a midlife crisis.
02:12Exactly.
02:15Dom's answering the call of some historic railway enthusiasts from Tenterden in Kent.
02:21I'm going to meet Sarah today to talk about a pump trolley.
02:25A pump trolley?
02:26On the railways, like in the cartoons.
02:28That's not an actual thing, is it?
02:30Yes.
02:30And it's not working.
02:31Sadly not.
02:32But hopefully it will be soon.
02:38To find out what stopped the trolley in its tracks, he's meeting Sarah Taggart, a train
02:44conductor and Heritage Railway volunteer.
02:49What an amazing thing.
02:51This is our pump trolley from the Kentonay Sussex Railway.
02:54I love it.
02:55Yeah, it's an amazing part of our history.
02:58How does it work?
02:59So, two to four people stood on a wooden platform, which currently isn't there, pumping these
03:05handles, moving the gears, make the wheels go round.
03:10What would it have been used for?
03:12Building the railway, moving along the railway, to move their equipment, go to their site, do
03:16their maintenance, build their bit of track.
03:18That does make sense, because as you're building the track, you can just pump your way along
03:21and go a bit further.
03:22Exactly.
03:23Do you know how old it is?
03:24This one itself is over 100 years old, but they've been used 200 years ago.
03:29It's incredible that this is still here.
03:32A century old, the trolley has some tales to tell.
03:36So, this one itself was featured in Roy Castle's Record Breakers back in the 80s, where it took
03:42part in a world record for the fastest pump trolley over a measured distance.
03:47No way.
03:48Yeah.
03:48Really?
03:49The long-running show celebrated people across the UK trying to achieve Guinness World Records.
03:55Come on, lads!
03:57Come on, lads!
04:00So, we've got the record.
04:01Well done, lads.
04:03You just did it.
04:04Oh, fantastic.
04:05I love that.
04:06So, this is a world record holder?
04:07It is, yeah.
04:07What an amazing piece of history.
04:10One of the spokes on the cog here, on the gearing.
04:13One of the teeth.
04:14Yeah.
04:14Got broken as part of that record attempt.
04:16Where's it been, then?
04:17It's been sat outside our museum, not on rails.
04:20The moment this got lifted off the tracks and became a museum piece is a bit of a sad day,
04:26isn't it?
04:26It is, yeah.
04:26But I feel like it just wants to be out there on the tracks.
04:31So, why do you want to get this repaired, then?
04:33I had this idea to do 200 miles on this to raise funds for one of our locomotives.
04:39So, 1638, which is one of the engines at the Kentney Sussex Railway, is currently awaiting
04:44overhaul.
04:45And as things got taken apart, more and more the build tottered up, tottered up.
04:49So, now it's sitting in pieces in a workshop, and until we can raise some money, we can't
04:54have that locomotive back.
04:55You're clearly very passionate about this.
04:58Where does that passion come from?
04:59So, I've grown up around Heritage Railways.
05:01My granddad was a mainline steam driver.
05:04My parents met at the Heritage Railway.
05:06Oh, wow.
05:06Okay.
05:07I've met my partner at once.
05:08So, it's kind of grown and grown and grown into this massive part of my life.
05:12With that in mind, I guess this does not really sell that dream of working on the
05:17railway.
05:18Not currently, no.
05:19So, it's full potential, does it?
05:20No, no.
05:21Come on, then.
05:21Give me the shopping list.
05:23So, complete new wooden decking.
05:26Some of the handles, where they've kind of rotted away when you've replaced it.
05:30So, this is all wood?
05:30This is all wood.
05:32It's all wood, yeah.
05:32Okay.
05:33The main thing, like I said before, on the gearing is one of the teeth.
05:37Just to see it not covered in moss and all sorts, actually usable, and being able to
05:43get it out maybe for the kids to have a go on and things like that would be incredible.
05:47Okay, well, leave it with me.
05:49I've got a feeling this job list is going to grow a bit like your other engine.
05:53Thank you so much.
05:55To prepare the trolley for its fundraising mission, Dom has called in an engineer with
06:01a lifetime of mechanical experience, Henry Morforth.
06:05Come on, then.
06:06First impressions.
06:07That timber there is not looking so good, is it?
06:10Might have to replace that one, I would have thought.
06:12That's holding it all together.
06:13Yeah.
06:13And these end ones, by the look of it, we might have to replace those as well.
06:17Okay.
06:18It's obviously had work done over the years.
06:21Yeah, well, it's 100 years old.
06:22What about the mechanical stuff?
06:24How's that looking?
06:25Not great either, I will admit.
06:26Oh, okay.
06:27We haven't even talked about this whole pivot mechanism, which seems to be working to an
06:34extent.
06:34Well, it's all there, isn't it?
06:36Yeah.
06:37Bit of slack.
06:37It's mostly all there, but come and have a look at this.
06:41Okay, let's have a look.
06:42What have you found?
06:43Not good news.
06:44Oh.
06:46Oh, what's that?
06:47Oh, a broken tooth.
06:48It's broken.
06:49Oh, right, okay.
06:50I know, and I don't think that's the only one.
06:51If the bearings are worn, yeah, it might have moved, hence the broken tooth, yeah.
06:56Well, we'll have to strip it down and get a look at it, won't we?
06:58I hope we can save it.
07:00Yeah, I'll answer you why not.
07:01Bit of mechanical magic and we'll be there.
07:04Okay, well, should we get it to your workshop?
07:08Let's get it down the middle of the trailer.
07:11That's it, that'll do it.
07:13Go down, there's a lashing point down here.
07:18Shut the back up.
07:23What do I have to say?
07:23That's not going anywhere.
07:24That's not going anywhere.
07:26Let's go.
07:28While the duo are heading to Henry's workshop nearby...
07:37Will is meeting Becky and James,
07:40a brother and sister from Birmingham,
07:42who need help restoring a prized instrument.
07:46So this is the guitar that my dad had when he was a child,
07:51and he was a really keen musician.
07:54Did he play the guitar professionally, then?
07:56No, he didn't really enjoy playing in front of people at all.
07:59It was just something for him that he enjoyed in his own time.
08:02You speak of him in a past tense.
08:04Has he passed away?
08:06Yeah.
08:07He passed away at the end of 2023, after a battle with cancer.
08:13I'm so sorry to hear that.
08:16What was your dad's name?
08:17Graham.
08:19At the end of his life, when he was asked a decision about, like, where he wanted to be,
08:24he said he wanted to go home because he wanted to play his guitars.
08:28Unfortunately, at the end, his illness progressed quite quickly, so it wasn't possible.
08:33It's awful.
08:35What was your dad like?
08:37I like that chuckle.
08:39Yeah, well, I mean, he was ridiculous in lots of ways, in a really nice way.
08:45There's always a lot of banter and fun and jokes in our household, which was lovely.
08:50There was three of us at home.
08:52There's both of us and our older sister, Vicky.
08:54So it was a busy household, lots going on, and there was always music playing.
08:59So by trade, Dad was a mechanical engineer, and he was a very practical man, because whether
09:05it was a washing machine or a lawnmower, or a car, he knew what he was doing with it.
09:10And it was nice.
09:11I think that music and playing guitars was his creative output.
09:15So we remember this guitar being around the house growing up.
09:18It's never been in very good condition, but he could never part with it, because it
09:23was the start of his guitar playing, which was everything about him for us, really,
09:27wasn't it?
09:28And it was just that, that was like, the noise you'd go to sleep to was him just playing
09:31to himself.
09:32And that's now something that we all love, hearing guitar music.
09:36When I got married, we walked down the aisle to a recording of one of his songs.
09:39That's lovely.
09:40It's all really started with my dad and this guitar.
09:43He would have been 69 soon, and it feels like the last present that we can give to him
09:50to have this restored and to bring it back to life.
09:53It's a way of being able to keep a piece of him alive and being able to restore it and
09:57have it back on display and even being played.
10:00Now, what exactly would you like us to do with this?
10:04I mean, where do you start?
10:06There's so much to do.
10:07I think the thing that's really important with this guitar for us is that it remains
10:11dad's guitar.
10:12And so some of these bigger scratches, I think we'd quite like to keep.
10:16Yeah.
10:16They show how much he used it and how much he played.
10:18Obviously, the bridge needs to be reattached and then we've got some of the heads that
10:25need to be replaced.
10:26There's also some of the damage at the back where it's cracked on the back panel.
10:31So I think there's lots to be done.
10:33Is there a particular song you'd like to hear if we could get this fixed?
10:38Maybe Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton.
10:40Yeah.
10:40That was one of the earliest songs I remember him playing.
10:43But now I think it's one of those songs that has a real meaning to us as well when we're
10:49remembering dad.
10:52It's been lovely to meet you both and hear all about your amazing dad.
10:55This is in safe hands.
10:56I'm going to get it back to the barn and we'll do our very best.
11:00Thank you very much.
11:01As the well-plucked guitar is making its way to the barn in West Sussex, the trolley is
11:10being unloaded at Henry's Woodland Workshop.
11:14The first step is tripping it down to uncover exactly which parts need restored or, in some
11:21cases, replaced.
11:24OK.
11:25Where do you want to start then?
11:26I think we'll start at the top and work our way down.
11:28What do you want to do?
11:29Get these brackets off.
11:30Yeah, I might go for the handle.
11:33Yeah, that looks good.
11:45How long have you been doing this?
11:47This trolley, about ten minutes.
11:49Working on, you know, you've been involved in steam.
11:51I've been doing it all my life.
11:53I was born and brought up by the railway, just up in the houses there.
11:57Both of Henry's parents worked on the railway.
12:00And his mother even took a ride on the very same pump trolley that the pair are stripping
12:05down.
12:07I don't want to say it, but this is coming apart way too easily.
12:10Early days, yeah, though.
12:14You might be able to have a look at undoing the other end.
12:16Now I can get in there.
12:16But not every bolt is so accommodating.
12:19Now they're not spinning.
12:21It is spinning.
12:21Yeah.
12:22Brilliant.
12:28Yes.
12:29You got it?
12:30I've got it.
12:32Let's go and put it around here.
12:33Perfect.
12:33Is that split bearing?
12:35Bottom half's bronze.
12:36Top's made of wood.
12:37Crikey.
12:37Wooden berry.
12:38I wouldn't have expected that.
12:42Well, that'll have to be remade anyway.
12:43It's in two bits now, isn't it?
12:44I feel like that was bronze before.
12:46Yeah, I think that's a little bit bodgy.
12:50I like it, though.
12:51It's a good fix.
12:51Yeah.
12:53So that should be this main drive gear loose.
12:57It is loose, but whether it'll come out or not is another question.
13:00Why not?
13:00Oh, because of these.
13:01It's like one of those puzzles you get in a Christmas cracker.
13:03Yeah.
13:04We may have to go up and at a jaunter angle.
13:07Let's try and go up, then.
13:07Shall I?
13:08Shall we give it a go?
13:09Yeah.
13:11Go round with it till the crank's down.
13:14No, it's not having it.
13:17Come along this side.
13:18There you go.
13:19Yes.
13:20There we go.
13:21There's the license plate.
13:23Keep hold of that.
13:24Lovely.
13:26We're getting there.
13:27We are getting there.
13:28There you go. You got it.
13:29Oh, well done.
13:32This really is the heart of the machine, isn't it?
13:35It is, yeah.
13:36This is what makes it move.
13:38This is what transfers the human power of pumping the handles into the drive to the wheels.
13:44That's right.
13:45Yeah.
13:46Love it.
13:47And here's the teeth.
13:48Well, lack of teeth.
13:51Yeah, yeah.
13:51So there's two broken, actually, then.
13:53So bearing in mind, Sarah's planning on travelling this 200 miles, not in that condition.
13:58No, I think we ought to certainly do something about that.
14:01While Dom and Henry are finishing their disassembly.
14:10Back at the barn, Luthier Julian Wallace is inspecting Graham's first guitar.
14:18Boy, has it been through the walls.
14:20It's quite battered.
14:22I've got a very loose back, which goes all the way around here.
14:30So that will need glue them back.
14:32The main thing is this piece of wood, known as the bridge, has completely come off at some point.
14:39It's caused a couple of cracks.
14:42Each side of the bridge, we have loose finish here.
14:46That will need to be consolidated and filled.
14:50But it's not just the body of the instrument that's showing its age.
14:55The tuners, the button's fallen off this one, and this is also bent and twisted.
15:02They're also very rusty.
15:04And I think the best course of action with these is just to replace them with a better set, really.
15:12One important thing, when a player is playing, they don't want any sharp edges.
15:17And I can feel that these preps are very sharp on the end.
15:22And that's basically because the wood has actually shrunk back.
15:27So we need to file those back flush.
15:30But even though it looks in a real bad state, I'm pretty confident I can get this not only looking
15:38good,
15:38but playing nicely too.
15:40So the first thing I'm going to do is attack this back that's come enough from the sides.
15:45I'm going to use a spatula with a little bit of sandpaper stuck to it.
15:49And that will allow me to go in and sand off the old glue.
15:52So there's a nice flush surface to glue against again.
16:10So that's the old glue removed.
16:12I'm using glue which is better than PVA for guitars.
16:18It's called an aliphatic resin.
16:20Aliphatic resin is a specialist moisture and heat resistant adhesive.
16:26Not applying too much.
16:29It dries crisper than PVA, meaning it can be sanded for a finer finish.
16:38These are violin makers spool clamps and a very simple, humble sort of design.
16:46Just a thread with two cork lined pieces of wood and a protector here, which stops the metal from digging
16:53into the sides.
16:56And I'm just going to put one on.
16:58I'm just going to tighten this up.
17:00We'll see some glue coming out.
17:05So I'm going to go over around here next.
17:14While Julian continues clamping.
17:20Over in Henry's workshop, Detective Dom is searching for remnants of the pump trolley's original paint colour so it can
17:28be appropriately restored.
17:31Components like this, they're quite far into the machine and quite hard to get to.
17:35So these typically are good points of evidence to find those early old layers of paint.
17:40I'm using some paraffin to try and clean this part up.
17:43It just does quite a good job of breaking down the grease that's been built up over it over the
17:47years.
17:48That and a good scrub with a brush.
17:56But this little area here is what has got me excited.
17:59That is the nicest sort of pea green, which is just peeping out below all these other layers of paint.
18:07And that is the first layer of paint next to the bare metal.
18:12It's the oldest layer of paint on here.
18:16I've got my colour charts here, which I can use to try and match that green as best I can.
18:28Oh, I've got one here that is so close.
18:30It is really close, but not quite there.
18:32It needs to be a bit darker, a bit dirtier.
18:35But I quite often tint these colours down anyway and just adjust them as needed.
18:39I can definitely work with that, which is brilliant.
18:41It's such a nice green.
18:44I'll get the paint ordered.
18:46As Dom is pondering paintwork,
18:51the repair shop's upholstery expert, Sonners Nooranvari,
18:56is at Historic West Dean College near Chichester.
19:01Dedicated to the preservation and teaching of traditional arts and crafts,
19:06it hosts a workshop of Kate Jennings, a tutor in conservation studies who specialises in metalwork.
19:15What are you up to, Kate?
19:17Well, today we're making some mukumigane.
19:20Mukumigane?
19:21Yes.
19:21What is that?
19:22Quite an ancient Japanese metalworking technique.
19:25Is it?
19:25Where you're using different metals to kind of replicate the effect of woodgrain.
19:32Originally used in the crafting of elaborate suba, the hilt on a samurai sword,
19:39mukumigane was later used for making jewellery and small decorative items.
19:46So what are we making today?
19:47The end goal today is to make your rings on us.
19:51Yes, I love your ring.
19:52We're going to make a billet of metal first.
19:55What's a billet?
19:56So a billet is just a stack of metal.
19:58OK, so where do we start?
19:59We have these beautiful, lovely, cut pieces of metal.
20:04To start the intensive process, Kate has already sanded and scrubbed several sheets of copper alloy.
20:10So even before you get to making, you've got all that effort to even prep the material.
20:17Oh yes, there are many hours of preparation represented here in this tray.
20:21What's the next step?
20:22We're going to stack them here in this little thing, which is called a torque plate.
20:26It applies torque forces to our billet of metal.
20:30And torque is pressure.
20:32Exactly.
20:36Once stacked, the layers are tightened in a vise to press the sheets as close together as possible.
20:43So we've got the pressure part of our equation here.
20:47OK.
20:47So next you have to introduce the heat part of the equation.
20:50But before the metal can go into the kiln, Kate will seal it inside a container she's made from a
20:57thin sheet of stainless steel.
20:59When metals get hot, they form a film of corrosion products or oxides on the surface.
21:05OK.
21:05And those can stop our metal from sticking together well.
21:09Right.
21:09So inside this bag, we're also going to pop some activated charcoal.
21:13It absorbs all of the oxygen inside this little atmosphere.
21:18Then the bag is sealed and it's ready to go into the kiln.
21:22So how long does it need to be in there for?
21:24Anywhere between two and five hours, depending on the metals.
21:28It has so many processes with so much potential for things to go wrong.
21:34It's no surprise this challenging technique has been described as the Mount Everest of metalworking.
21:44All right.
21:45So we'll open it up and we'll have a look.
21:50Oh, my God.
21:51It's glowing.
21:52Yeah.
21:53Just like an extreme popcorn bag.
21:55It is a little bit.
21:55Yeah.
21:58Wow.
21:58Oh, my word.
22:00That is so amazing.
22:03Once cooled, the metal will be filed back, removing any poorly bonded sections and areas of oxidisation, leaving Kate and
22:13Sonna's with a workable billet.
22:15The angle really matters when we're filing Makume because we have to look after those layers that we've just built.
22:21So all of the filing, we're going to go a slight upward direction and only into the centre line because
22:28that's, we're pushing the layers in up to there.
22:31So have a go, Sonna's.
22:40Is that OK?
22:41That looks great.
22:42Yeah.
22:42Yeah.
22:43So how long have you been practising Makume?
22:46I've actually only been learning it for about six months now.
22:49OK.
22:49But I've been working with metals for 10 years.
22:51Oh, wow.
22:52And this is something I'm really keen to do with my students.
22:59Are we there?
23:00I think we're there.
23:03Next, the metal billet needs forged to become a longer, thinner bar.
23:08Grab that hammer from next to you and you're going to use the round face.
23:13And the first place you're going to hit it is on this end because we want to push the ends
23:20together.
23:27So we're at about 12 millimetres.
23:30OK.
23:30At the moment.
23:31Yeah.
23:32What does it need to get down to?
23:34So for a ring, you can imagine we're aiming for sort of three millimetres.
23:38Wow.
23:38Something in that kind of ballpark.
23:40With several rounds of long and complicated process ahead, Sonners is leaving Kate to transform the billet into a unique
23:49piece of jewellery.
23:52First, it must be forged again, cut in two, rolled out on a milling machine and cut again before being
24:06forged and rolled once more.
24:12Twisted, etched, and submerged in acid to selectively remove layers and create texture.
24:21Only then can the metals be shaped into a ring.
24:29A few weeks later, Sonners is back to see the result of Kate's hard work.
24:35I'm so excited.
24:37Can I take a look?
24:38Yeah, of course you can.
24:45God, that is amazing.
24:47Yeah.
24:48Amazing.
24:49The amount of processes you've had to go through to get to this stage is just mind-blowing.
24:55What's even better is that you're passing these skills on.
24:57It is, and that is absolutely the point of being here.
25:06Back at the barn, Julian is turning his attention to the troublesome frets.
25:13I have my fret guard.
25:15It's just a piece of acrylic that I've cut, which goes around the fingerboard and just protects the front of
25:23the guitar.
25:24We don't want to damage it and take any finish off.
25:27So I take my file and I'm just resting it on the side of the fingerboard.
25:33And I just go until I feel that I'm touching the wood.
25:41And I can also hear the change in sound because after they are trimmed flush, it goes quiet.
25:58Every luthier has their own little tips and tricks and stuff.
26:02And this is the tumbling block game everyone knows, where you stack them and you pull one out and you
26:08try not to knock it over.
26:09And I found the smaller ones are brilliant for wrapping sandpaper around.
26:12So I've got these tiny little sanding blocks.
26:16And 120 grit is rougher.
26:19The higher the number, basically the smoother the grit.
26:24So I'm going to work after the file on the fret ends to the 120, the 220 and the 320
26:29grit.
26:29And when I've done that, I know everything's nice and nice and flush on the end.
26:57So they're nice and flush now, but there's still some little sharp edges.
27:01Next, Julian is using a tidy fret dressing file to smooth out any remaining rough metal.
27:09And that's one lovely smooth fret end.
27:12So it's around 80 to do.
27:15Better crack on.
27:2230 miles east.
27:24Henry is turning his attention to the trolley's long serving wheels.
27:30I'm now just going to try and get this wheel off by heating the hub up here.
27:35It should hopefully expand the hub and get the wheel off this axle.
27:39I don't know how long these wheels have been on these axles.
27:43So it's about time they came off.
27:46So I can get to this bearing on the back.
27:50Hopefully a good bit of heat should release it from the axle.
27:55Now we'll just give it a good smack on the end.
27:59Hopefully it'll come off.
28:03Freeing up the bearing, which allows the trolley wheel to rotate smoothly,
28:07lets Henry inspect this crucial component for the first time.
28:12Oh dear.
28:15Well, as you can see, this here has worn, should be, that side diameter, and it's worn down to a
28:25taper.
28:26By nearly half an inch there, up to its original size, which is here.
28:32So let's have a look in the bearing.
28:34Oh, it's a roller bearing, but as you can see, it hasn't been rolling for a while.
28:40Can you see the flats in there?
28:42They should be round, but they're now just flat.
28:46So that's what caused this wear on this shaft, and it's chewed all this metal out of it.
28:51So this journal here is going to have to be rebuilt somehow, probably with welding.
28:56Let's hope the others are not so bad.
29:01In the barn, Julian is making sure James and Becky's dad's guitar not only sounds, but also looks its best.
29:11So the front ends are now nice and flush and smooth.
29:15And I can now look at these really deep gouges here on the front of the guitar.
29:21I can see that the lacquer or the polish is actually loose from the wood underneath.
29:25First of all, I need to clean it with some naphtha.
29:34That will now evaporate and go back to how it looked before.
29:38So I've got to wait for that to disappear until I can apply the glue.
29:42I'm going to use a low-viscosity cyanoacquillic glue, which will penetrate and secure the finish to the wood,
29:53but it'll also hopefully bring the original colour back.
29:56This runny adhesive, a type of superglue, is ideal for surface repairs on wooden instruments,
30:03as it can be polished to a lacquer-like finish.
30:08Lovely, look at that.
30:10That's doing what I wanted it to do.
30:22This glue is always best used with an activator, which is a spray.
30:28So I don't want the activator to go onto these bits I haven't yet put glue onto.
30:33I just want to dry the glue I've done.
30:39You should see that crystallise. There it goes.
30:44So that is pretty much dry straight away.
30:49And that has left me with a filled crack.
30:52And now the glue is higher than the surrounding lacquer.
30:56So I need to scrape that back and get it flush.
31:03After Julian has levelled the surface of the guitar...
31:08So this is ready to go on.
31:10..he is gluing, then clamping the bridge back on, ready to restring.
31:18Over in his workshop, Henry is repairing the damaged bearing he found when removing the wheel.
31:25A journal bearing is a simple but effective construct.
31:29A lubricated shaft within a sleeve.
31:32And common in railway wagons.
31:35So I'm now about to weld up the damaged journal on one of the axles from the Pomp Trolley
31:40to bring it back to a diameter where I can then machine it down to accept the sleeve for the
31:46new bearings.
31:57So now I've got that welded axle in the lathe behind me.
32:02Henry is turning the axle on the lathe until it's back at the right diameter
32:07before boring out a new sleeve.
32:10I'm now going to heat up this sleeve with the gas so it expands so we can shrink it onto
32:16the journal.
32:19So we're now going to hopefully put the hot sleeve onto the shaft.
32:27As the hot metal cools, it will shrink for a snug fit.
32:34The sleeve has now cooled down and it's now one with the journal.
32:38So that is the worst axle end repaired.
32:41What I've got to do is repeat this process three more times for the other three
32:46and then the axles will be finished.
32:50Now his structural work is complete,
32:54Henry is putting Dom's meticulously matched paint to good use.
32:59So let's get the green on, see what it looks like.
33:02Every part needs proper treatment to protect it from exposure to the outside elements.
33:08It's going on lovely.
33:09Makes it all nice and tidy.
33:13As Henry continues coating the trolley.
33:20Back at the barn,
33:22Graham's first guitar,
33:24last seen after he'd played it to pieces,
33:26is ready to collect.
33:29As James can't be here today,
33:32Becky is joined by that elder sister, Vicky.
33:37Hi, welcome to the barn.
33:39Thank you very much.
33:41Excited?
33:41Yes.
33:42Nervous and excited.
33:43This is Jules.
33:44Jules has been working on the guitar.
33:45How are you?
33:46Nice to meet you.
33:47Jules, was it quite a tricky fix?
33:49It was quite challenging.
33:51There was lots and lots of things I had to do,
33:54but it was an enjoyable experience.
33:56What are you hoping for today?
33:58To see it in the condition that he played it in,
34:01and that would be amazing to see it as he saw it.
34:05I don't think we ever expected it to be perfect,
34:08and as it would have been, you know, originally,
34:10but just to have it in a condition where it can be played,
34:13which is, yeah.
34:15Yeah.
34:16When we were little,
34:18we'd sit on the floor around him just listening to him play.
34:21He wasn't often without it, was he?
34:23No.
34:24The background sound in our house.
34:25Same track of Growing Up.
34:27Yeah.
34:27Out of all of the guitars,
34:29why is this one so important?
34:31I think because it was his first one.
34:33It obviously meant enough to him to keep for so many years.
34:37If he'd never found guitars and found his love for it,
34:40how different our whole childhood would have been.
34:42It's the start of it all, really.
34:45Would you like to see what George has done?
34:47Yeah.
34:48You ready?
34:48Yeah.
34:49Okay, go on, George.
34:53Oh, my God.
34:57It looks so good.
34:58It looks amazing.
34:59And still his guitar.
35:01Yeah, it still looks the same.
35:03It's amazing.
35:04Thank you so much.
35:05More than welcome.
35:08I just want to see all over it.
35:11We can pick it up.
35:12Can we have a look?
35:13Have a look.
35:18Yeah.
35:18So this was all off, wasn't it?
35:21Yeah, and the back.
35:23Yeah, wow.
35:24That's so different.
35:26It's amazing.
35:27Wow.
35:27I don't know how you do it.
35:28It's incredible.
35:30It's just got so much life on it as well.
35:32Yeah.
35:33Which we love.
35:35Yeah, a lot of battle scars.
35:37A lot of battle scars.
35:38Yeah.
35:38It just means when you see a guitar like that,
35:40they've been used, they've been loved.
35:42Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful.
35:43Thank you so much.
35:44How are you feeling?
35:47Thrilled.
35:48Maybe well.
35:49Thrilled.
35:50It's incredible.
35:51I used to love watching him play it.
35:52And I remember as a child sitting and just watching his fingers
35:55and just being fascinated by the things he could do.
35:57How does he do that?
35:59Yeah.
35:59Yeah.
35:59Thank you so much.
36:00You're welcome.
36:01What do you think your dad would make more of this?
36:03He'd love to see it fixed up.
36:05Yeah, he would have loved it.
36:07Yeah.
36:07But what I really like is the fact that you've kept those battle scars
36:10and it's retained that character.
36:11Yeah.
36:12It's seen a lot of life.
36:13And now it can see a bit more which is incredible.
36:16Yeah.
36:17So if you're happy with what I've done,
36:19I can always let you know what it sounds like as well.
36:21Yeah.
36:22That would be amazing.
36:24Okay.
36:26Thanks.
36:56Good job.
36:59It's like Dad playing.
37:00Yeah.
37:01It's all yours.
37:03Particularly that song.
37:04That was one of the big ones.
37:06That one, yeah.
37:07Yeah, so it's quite emotional to hear it played on his guitar again.
37:10Yeah, yeah.
37:11It's been a pleasure to work on.
37:12Thanks for bringing it in.
37:13I hope your whole family have many airs of enjoyment.
37:17Thank you so much.
37:17Thank you for doing all the hard work on it.
37:19It's going to be very special to treasure.
37:20Not at all.
37:21Thanks.
37:22Bye-bye.
37:23Bye-bye.
37:23See you.
37:26Guitars symbolise Dad.
37:29So to have his first one back is really special.
37:34Hearing a song that important to us played on his guitar
37:38is the closest we'll get to having Dad play it again.
37:4680 miles east, Dom's on his way to Tenterton in Kent.
37:53Everybody at the Heritage Railway loves what they do,
37:57the passion there.
37:58You can just feel it.
38:00I'm looking forward to seeing how hard it actually is to use the pump trolley
38:05because I know they've got a long way to go for that fundraising event.
38:16I'm so excited just to see the final results,
38:18see the pump trolley restored to its former glory
38:21and be able to share it with our railway family here
38:24at Kent and New Sussex Railway.
38:26My husband and I joined as soon as we moved here
38:29because we're both mad about steam trains.
38:32I'm very excited to see what's been done for the pump trolley.
38:36I'm hoping that we'll be able to use it again on the lines.
38:39Hello everyone. Hello.
38:41Are you all excited?
38:42Yeah.
38:43Good, I'm glad to hear it.
38:44I just want to introduce you first of all to Henry.
38:47He has worked so hard on this pump trolley.
38:49I can't wait for you to all see it.
38:51It's been a job, hasn't it?
38:52It's been a job, yeah.
38:53But hopefully you'll like it.
38:56Sarah, how are you feeling?
38:57I'm so excited to see the final project.
39:00It's, oh, just buzzing.
39:02This whole thing has come from an idea of yours.
39:05It has, yes.
39:06And being able to kind of see the final result
39:08and get moving is going to be amazing.
39:10What does the railway mean to you?
39:12It's very lovely to come here with good friends
39:14and get involved with heritage pieces of kit
39:16and, you know, operate them and restore them,
39:18such as things like this.
39:19Henry, how does it feel knowing that you've been working on this
39:22and after now seeing how much it means to people?
39:25It's good.
39:26It's good that my work's not gone unnoticed.
39:28I haven't been slaving away in the dark for hours.
39:31You really have.
39:31Yeah, yeah, I have.
39:32Yeah, yeah.
39:33So I know it's really good to bring something back to life.
39:36Yeah.
39:36That's what I like doing anyway.
39:37So it's great.
39:38I mean, a lot of people can enjoy it.
39:40Yeah.
39:40And not only these lovely people,
39:42I'm sure there's going to be hundreds more people in the future.
39:44Right.
39:45With that in mind, is everybody ready to take a look?
39:47Yes.
39:48You sure?
39:49Yes.
39:50Are you ready?
39:51Yeah, why not?
39:51That's what we're here for.
39:52Let's do it.
39:53Come on then.
39:55Ready?
40:10It's incredible, isn't it?
40:12It certainly is, yeah.
40:15Sarah, did you ever think you'd see it like that again?
40:17No.
40:17Never.
40:18No?
40:19Such a massive difference from when I handed it over of four planks of wood to...
40:25Wow!
40:27Yeah.
40:28Henry, well done.
40:28I mean, it looks the part, but it's so much more than that.
40:31I'll let you explain, please.
40:33All the bearings have been done of the deck.
40:35Half of the timber work for the chassis has been rebuilt.
40:38The gear had two broken teeth in it, in the middle.
40:41So that got welded up.
40:43I had to have castings made.
40:45So these bearings here, it's back to the machine and make them fit.
40:49Those bearings are lots of those where I remember taking it apart with you
40:51and there were bits of wood.
40:53Oh, one of them, half of it was a bit of wood.
40:55Yeah.
40:56Yeah.
40:56So I'll replace that bit.
40:58Sarah, you seem quite taken back by this.
41:01Yeah.
41:02On a personal level for you, I feel like there's more to it than just a pump trolley.
41:08It's a lot of pride of seeing a project just happen and something so gorgeous come back.
41:17Something so different, something that I've looked at for years and thought that we could just do something with and
41:24now we can.
41:25Yeah.
41:26And that ambition that you have, that dream to raise the funds, this surely is going to be a huge
41:31help.
41:32Exactly.
41:32But first of all, I think I really want to have a go on the pump trolley.
41:35On this?
41:36Yes!
41:37Well, I've just seen a train trundle past.
41:39I don't really know the rules.
41:40Are we allowed to just trundle up there?
41:42Oh, I reckon we might be able to.
41:43Henry, what do you think?
41:44Don't you why not?
41:45We've got Matt here as another driver, so we can go.
41:47Yeah?
41:48All four of us?
41:48Yeah.
41:49Let's give it a go.
41:49Perfect.
41:50Okay.
41:59Let's go in.
42:00Oh, it's quick.
42:02How far are we going?
42:03I don't know.
42:03All the way.
42:07I've never actually seen that move before, so it's a really exciting moment.
42:11The railway is a huge part of the community and we're all doing our little bits, so to
42:15see it moving is quite special.
42:18This is awesome.
42:22I am so proud of what started as such a silly idea.
42:28Come to life and be able to kind of move on with the next steps.
42:32Yeah.
42:35Brilliant.
42:36I have had such an amazing time here, hanging out with these guys, looking around some huge
42:42trains and what a talented, enthusiastic, passionate bunch of people.
42:47It's been incredible.
42:54If you'd like to see more fantastic fixes and restorations, search BBC iPlayer for the
43:01repair shop on the road.
43:03Look out.
43:03I know.
43:17I know.
43:19I know.
43:21I know.
43:23I know.
43:27I know.
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