Saturday 22nd - Welcome Back

Firstly it was brilliant to see Paul and Dennis back after so long, things are slowly beginning to feel like normal. They wasted no time at all in getting to grips with the state of the carriages in the third rake siding that had been sat there for so long:

Of course the big question now that Paul is back is; When can we go back in the mess room!? Hopefully soon. But we did have doughnuts, so some sense of normality resuming :)

There was a fair amount going on outside managing to dodge the occasional shower, Jenny and John were putting back the seats they'd re-upholstered into TSO 5042:

While Andy and John were busy investigating the 2 dogfish that had been brought down to see what was what:

John hooked up the test pump to see if anything happened on the first one:

And lo! the brakes did come on when vacuum was created and destroyed! and then swiftly came off again, as the vac cylinder didn't fancy holding anything in for more than 10 seconds. Oh well, not bad considering. The second one was then hooked up, but that really was pushing their luck as the big hiss of air suggested the vac hose might as well have been a pair of tights for all the good it was...

Back inside, and Phil was cleaning up some more wooden trim for the BSK:

Meanwhile on the Mink, Paul touched in the last few bits of undercoat:

While I cracked open the tin of topcoat and made a start on that. Hopefully the storage container will arrive next week, then we can order the timber for this, then it should all start coming together pretty quickly.

George was nearby, this time working on the end of the CK with the filler and sandpaper:

We're slowly ticking sections off ready for grey undercoat, this does then reveal further body work required, but that's the whole point of it.

On the paintshop tables Pam got stuck in to the collection of bits and bobs accumulated on Thursday, aided by Dave:

On the double doors for the BSK, Ainsley and Robert continued to puzzle over the exact way forward, but good progress was made:

I noticed the draught excluders had all been put in on this side by the end of the day which makes things look a lot more "finished".

A few regulars missing today so that's all, but it was definitely cheering to see the trains noticeably busier today since allowing passengers to board at Cheltenham and Broadway, The seats allocated for the Cheltenham boarders in particular looked very sold out. Foremarke Hall and Dinmore Manor on duty, both looking rather good adjacent to the crimson and cream: