Tuesday 20th - Another milestone

The day began with very heavy much-needed rain, so plenty of fun-and-games driving in through the many "lakes" across half the road. Any outside jobs were out of the question, but we had plenty to do inside. The planned grit-blasting of the Creosote Tanker is now Thursday/Friday.

Another milestone was achieved in the long saga of 1675's rebuild when Ben, with help from Ian, hung the second of the two emergency doors. Ben checks the clearances along the edges.

Certainly some anglegrinding needed on the left side, but good to see yet another door in place.

The battery boxes now look externally complete with all the fittings in place. Think they will need another overall coat of paint. 

 Following on from Saturday's post, the south end of FK 13326 now with the buckeye coupler removed.

The north end with the coupler back in place. 

Dave was in the process of moving spare SO seats from the Monster Van to other storage. 

No work could be done on Tool Van 4, although the side against the Paintshop wall had kept dry. Some priming of the sanded wood was done later in the day once the weather had improved. However the removed grab rails, which had previously been sanded and primed, could now be undercoated by Maurice.

 There was now time to get back to the lamps.

Nice to see components from TK 24006 once again being worked on. Alan sands down some beading before moving on to the compartment door being previously sanded by Dave.

Keith undercoats the back of the new sandwich board, that Robert had made for Alex. Having remembered to ask Alex where this was destined, he replied, "The Broadway Shed", otherwise known as the new shop.

And the man himself, now applying yellow to the top line on the Cotswold side of the Santa Coach.

Following on from George's work on Saturday, Ian packs the long dug out section in the south end corridor connection, before applying filler. A smaller area in the roof of the connection was also filled. Later on Ian, with help from Alex, managed to bolt down the warped chequer plate. This connection is blanked off and so not used, but it's nice to see that plate sorted out at last.
 

Pam added a second coat of Crimson paint to the gutter panel along the entire length of the Malvern side of the coach.

On the north bogie on the same side, Keith initially painted the coil springs, followed by White undercoat on the axleboxes in preparation for Yellow top coat.

He then moved on to the south bogie to complete the Gloss Black painting. 

A later photo of Alex, now on the way to completing the top line yellow band. The festoon of used tape, his lining out trademark, is taking shape.

Besides all the usual chasing about, I managed to sort out the floor in the north vestibule entrance. It ended up with the filler sanded and floor painted. I also trialled some black emulsion on the new ceiling in this vestible - need to check it on Thursday, but I think it will be ok.

 Yep, there's an Alex about!

Ben doesn't normally do Tuesdays. What brought him in was the planned visit to the Railway by a group of friends, who enjoyed their tour of the Carriage & Wagon.