Wed/Thurs 15th/16th - A two day round up

I must apologise for the delay in getting this blog finished. I have been away form 5 weeks and came back to a number of welding jobs, however the teams have made incredible progress with 1675 ........

Bryan and Rex have been setting the new side skirts in position.

They have made a simple jig for holding the panels in position, which enables them all to be in a near perfect line. They then use small bolts to hold them prior to welding, this will be the time consuming part. The idea being to get a flat metal surface which requires little or no filler prior to painting, which is some way off.

Meanwhile Gerry was cutting replacement window sections.

Many of the original panels were deemed too corroded to carry on. New 2mm panels are fairly easy to make and much easier to weld into position ..... the result is a much stronger and better looking carriage side.

It looks like a disaster area, but it is coming together nicely.

During winter maintenance, jobs do get thrown up ..... here is the south east roof of BSO 9000. Bob M found a perforated corner during a repaint, fortunately the surrounding structure was intact. Chris removed the offending panel and prepared it for welding, Gerry made the new section and I welded it.

Fully welded, should now prevent any further water ingress .....

.....After a good clean up, and a coat of primer its all looking good.

A birds eye view of Gerry bashing metal.

Of course a mention of Chris, prepping the roof for welding.

That was pretty much Wednesday, I probably missed others and apologise for that.

And so to Thursday, Steve was working away on the mezzanine making regulators for his LED conversions.

Outside it was a main rake Buck eye coupling inspection day, a few of us assist if required but it seems they had enough manpower.

A number of safety checks are made and a bit of TLC applied. All this is towards 'Cheltenham Gold Cup ' week.

We therefore took the opportunity to crack on with 1675, we are approaching the first 12 months into this project and despite some unforeseen problems we are doing well. ( Photo by Gerry B.)

BSO 9000, also had the short piece of guttering re-attached and sealed, just needs paint.