Thursday - 1st - Another swelter

Another very hot day where sometimes it was difficult to summon the energy.

I'm sure the third rake team had been doing plenty, Roger (just out of shot on the left holding the trim) was certainly back and forth with bits of window trim, but when I traipsed over to see what they were up to it had clearly all got a bit much and they had sat down, much to their dismay when I got my camera out!

Elsewhere outside Phil continued with the repaint in the guards compartment on the BCK

While Dave got on with blacking the skirting boards.

Also outside but on the shady side Derek continued the patch repairs on the Monster van.

Probably the coolest place in the workshop was next to the heater which also works nicely as a big cooling fan on hot days, Nicole was on a side quest today servicing the through control unit for the lighting, I think this one was from 34929 which was proving troublesome.

On the main job, Richard was finishing off wiring the main control panels on the RBr.

Meanwhile, more varnishing in the saloon as Bob and Jeff were on the case.

Table lags and fasteners were being painted by David.

Out in the barn the main activity was Vacuum cylinder changes for 4790. Ian brings up the newly overhauled North end one.

He and John soon fitted it, Stuart came to check how they were getting on. By the end of the day the South one had also been swapped for a reconditioned one, excellent work chaps.

I spent the day on more filling and sanding, we're definitely getting there now. Almost all of the main body sides are done, so I took a look at the centre door pillars both sides which both had a lot of cracked filler. dug out, and replaced with fibre glass filler which should hopefully be more resilient. All on track for it to enter the paintshop next week with most prep done.

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Part 2 of how many little Welsh Railways can I fit into one holiday!

Next up was a morning at Bala lake. This is a narrow gauge railway on the trackbed of the former standard gauge line that carried on to Corwen and Llangollen. Little Quarry Hunslet 'Alice' was rostered, a sweet little thing. Not much crew protection!

Before that though a gander in their museum/visitor centre, which is really very good. Nice selection of exhibits and information giving a really good overview of narrow gauge in North Wales.

3 different slate wagons made by 3 different railway companies, GWR, LNWR and MR shows there's only so many ways of transport slate by rail!

We grabbed a seat at the front as we trundled past the lake that gives the railway its name. Probably more scenic on a nicer day, thankfully for the crew the Welsh sunshine had ceased.

Talyllyn had been booked for a couple of days' time, but a chance look on social media saw an evening jolly advertised for that day featuring all 3 Corris Railway locos, including visiting No.10. First a lineup of all 3 at Tywyn Wharf was in order.