Tuesday 29th - Winter arrives

With the arrival of winter we wondered who would be coming in and no surprise that there were missing faces. Driving conditions were fine here, but not for everyone.

The snow returned during the day and added more to the scene.

It was also good to have the power back after the day long outage on Saturday. The break was found to be under the station yard. Stu, our Works Manager, and his wife Helen stayed on until the power was restored so that the Works could be checked. They eventually left after 10 pm. 

We noticed that the barriers are still in place around the hole so the remedial action has still to be completed.

Stu made a cracking start in 1675, giving the remaining corridor ceiling a second top coat.

He next taped up the corridor skirting and coated that Gloss Black ..........

........ before moving into the south vestibule.

Meanwhile Martin and Richard took on the varnishing in the saloon, giving it all a second coat and leaving just the pelmets as there were still some adjustments needed with these.

A lot of progress was made on the MICA van, beginning with Ainsley sanding down the filler on the south end planking.

Almost all the remaining work for the day was focussed on the removal of the north end planking. Maurice needed anglegrinding assistance to remove the bolts holding this step.

The bracket holding the vacuum pipe was no better.

Paul meanwhile was investigating the internal metal sheeting on the north end wall.

Lunchtime and it was snowing again.

The next job was the removal of the remaining planking. Maurice uses a jigsaw to cut through his end of each plank.

Paul and Maurice could then begin levering off each of the planks.

With TSO 4772 still in the Paintshop, the chance to do a few minor jobs. Some of the lower lining out needed repairing on one of the doors and its frame and the back of the door was given a further coat of the Exec Light Grey.

A final look outside before the late afternoon closes in. Another 30 minutes and it would be dark.

As for the next few days, the forecast was for frost and bright sunny days, and then true to form, gusty winds and heavy rain on Saturday. Wednesday where I live started off cloudy and more light snow fell.