Saturday 29th and a couple of Wednesday evenings

Not many pics from Saturday for reasons that will become obvious.

But first of all, Maurice is nearly there painting the insides of the Mogo doors.

John was bending metal, forming more brackets for ceiling joists in the RBr.

Simon discusses with Ian the next phase of construction.

I was just in time in upholstery to see Glyn and Julia from the shop discussing a new venture with upholstery. To make use of various moquette designs we have in stock that we no longer use for various reasons, Jenny and Laura have been making cushions!

These will shortly be available in our shop and online, so do support this new venture!

My excuse for not taking many pictures today was the huge amount of 'stuff' that appeared in the works during the week, acquired from a couple of works closing down or having a major clearout. These opportunities don't come often so you have to take them when you can. Even if it means being a bit overwhelmed initially! Stu sorts through just some of the components.

I'm guessing by Kev's smile he's only seen the tables "Oh good, we needed a set of those" and not the huge pile of stuff that all needs sorting and storing behind him!

Andy and I had a rather unsuccessful morning trying to adjust the brakes on the Fruit C. Annoyingly we couldn't get it quite right as the holes on the adjustment were too far apart.

So no picture of that, but one of Foremarke passing by instead on what was a very warm day.

Mid afternoon I disappeared off to do some guarding, going right through to the evening Fish and Chip train.

75014 waits to come on, complete with headboard, as Foremarke loads up with coal ready for the next day behind.

Sunset at Cheltenham with satisfied customers.

Seeing as we're a little short of C&W pics, a Wednesday evening update. It's been a little while since our evening activities have featured on these pages - the rubbish weather has been partially to blame as a cold wet evening is not very enticing to venture out, especially outside. But the last couple of evenings have been good and we've made some good progress.

The week before last we were at Toddington working on the Chaired Sleeper wagon. Mark assumed a supervisory role as Dan undid the nuts on the eyebolts. Some of the threads were pretty stripped so we need to sort out a replacement.

On the deck Greg carried on the cleaning up process.

After a bit of finishing off the North end was ready for some undercoat and already it's looking much better.

The lighter evenings are excellent but we still work well into darkness. Luckily the shed lights are quite good here so a good deal more priming got done.

A week later and as it became apparent that the chaired sleeper wouldn't be fit for the gala, we switched to Winchcombe, to tick off some jobs on the Fruit C which we definitely want to run.

Although this wagon has been restored several times on the railway, it's rarely run, so Dan struggled to open the axleboxes up - too much paint on the threads!

Once we got in though everything looked quite reasonable all things considered, as Rich looks inside.

Meanwhile Mark and I had the drawhook out. Clive had given it a squirt of WD40 earlier in the week and it all came apart quite nicely.

Once cleaned up, no cause for concern so good to go back in.

Once again, after a break for dinner and to let the pads soak, it got dark. We have ways and means though! A couple of lamps and we were well away, and Dan captured the Fruit C nicely lit from below.

"Can you see what you're doing under there Mark?"
"Nope!"

After a productive evening with all axleboxes and drawgear examined, a final shot from the barn as we were bringing all the tools back, the Mink A and 03 lit by the light at the end of the barn.