Saturday 20th - The end is in sight?

 It really is feeling like the end is finally in sight for BSK 34929 after I think the lengthiest Mk1 restoration we've ever undertaken at Winchcombe. It's always an encouraging sign when the lettering and numbers go on, Dave caught me painting the end lettering:

The number and logo was also applied to the Malvern side, the Cotswold side still awaiting its second topcoat. The number still needs its black outline painting:

Other finishing jobs included Dave taking off the masking tape at the end to paint along the other side to finish off the black:

Inside Dave was fitting the brackets for tables in the compartment end:

Doors still not quite finished, but nearly there too! Steve was fitting the last door pillar and door lock, while Robert was fixing some trim above the door on the opposite side:

Working my way out, in the workshop George did a great job undercoating the north end of the CK after all his hard work filling and sanding:

While John was on the grinder making a tool to try and machine the balls for the door hinges into a better fit shape to account for wear:

The barn feels rather empty at the moment, with nothing occupying the through road since the Queen Mary left and just a pair of BR1 bogies on the jack road. The dirty gang were in full force today attacking these, with lots of cleaning, chipping away of crud and dismantling going on:

At the end of the day and one wheelset was out thanks to the large gantry:

Outside, Richard and Paul continued stripping down the toad to allow Nick and his gang to make a start on the metal work repairs:

We opened up the ballast boxes at the end to see what treasures we could find too. The sandboxes were filled with old cast brake blocks, which we thought was a bit odd:

Maybe a bit of life left in one or two of them...?

While in the central box there was all sorts of bits and pieces, bolts, offcuts and the like:

The weights with GWR stamped one side and a date on the other look to be counterweights on tommy bars for Screw-link couplings. The lid with chain we think may be a sand box cover, but we're a bit stuck on the screw clamp contraption, any ideas?

Dave and Robert continued out in the yard on their coach, internally it's beginning to look quite good with some bits going back on. Here, Robert's cleaning up a compartment ceiling ready for it to be painted, probably by Bob:

In fact progress is so good that Pam seemed to be running out of bits of trim to varnish on the trestle tables, and was cleaning up a whole stack of light fittings given to her by Phil instead:

Finally also out in the yard, with the coaches now swapped round round and the open rake in the siding, it was an opportunity to sort out a few niggling things that annoyed as the trains trundled by during the main operating season. So Bob took out a ladder and attacked some flaky paint on the roof of TSO 4763: