Wednesday 15th - 'Seats and things'

 To start a little something different, you may remember previous news about our Upholstery team  carrying out work for ' The Dean Forest Railway'.

Last Saturday Eve and myself visited ' The Dean Forest .....' and we travelled on the very coach they had re-furbished the seats for.

......... and here she is proudly displaying their hard work

...... Where it all started, John is making templates for the seats in 4798.

I realised the Steam Gala is nearly here, we have been waiting for a window in the weather to get the Winchcombe water tank repaired. It will be used for watering the thirsty engines during the w/end. Steve is posing with the welder, and rightly so ..... it's a very difficult position to get it in, and fortunately we had a power supply next to the tank.

Steve had made the new plates, so as I welded them into position Chris followed me painting anything that stood still long enough.

The MIG welder is much faster, it was a race against the fairly stiff breeze which blows the gas away. Steve on occasion stood to shield the work from the breeze, it worked well and the job was done before 3.00pm.

Back in the workshop, John set to improving the welding screens which surround the benches. If you are visiting the Gala come and have a look at what we do.

1675 is coming along nicely, Dave is doing a bit of touching up.

In the saloon, Geoff is fitting more panelling, its beginning to look as though we will finish this vehicle.

...... Colin is doing something similar.

Rex is putting the finishing touches to the battery cage, next week it will be fully welded and made ready for painting.

Bob is painting the gas locker doors, next week we will be repairing a couple of minor fixings and that will be another job done.

Finally Ken is drilling parts for the corridor end on 13326, again this is coming along well with just door 5 to sort out next week. The water tank took priority this week, we will soon catch up.

Many thanks to Eve and Gerry for the photos.