Saturday 5th - Welders back and buffers on

 Another day with plenty going on. After several weekends with at best just a morning in the workshops for me, it was good to have the whole day, although with all the catching up required I still failed to cover everything going on.

After a dearth of weekend welders recently we were back up to full strength, James was pleased to be back on 4798's end!

While Alan was back on the RMB end...

Along with Vic, here taking out some internal panelling for further welding.

Our mission in the wagon gang today was to refit the 3 good buffers onto the Open C, which with a bit of heaving, Maurice Paul and I managed. Phil probably offering some sort of moral support there...

The other bit of excitement on the wagon front was the cast plates for the Mica and Open C arrived. No matter how many times I double triple check the order, it's always a relief to find they have the right numbers on!

There was a remarkable excess of doughnuts in the messroom today - this was after morning tea break! Deep discussions were had on the relative merits of different brands...

prep work and greying up continues on the TSO in the paintshop, Dave up on the tower and Maurice finishing off the door he was working on on Thursday before joining in with buffers.

Later on Dave had the grey paint out too.

A look in the woodwork shop found a pair of routers, Robert...

And Simon. The latter definitely for 4798, Robert was probably working on bits for the next coach planned in, 4867.

Although Robert was diverted by this mission from Andy for a more substantial stand for the loco department's gauge frame glass changing training stand.

Laura was just finishing off a rather smart looking private commission when I popped in first thing, later on the team had a major cutting session for bits to finish off the DFR contract

And finally, another relatively late return for a mainline steam run through Cheltenham was Bahamas on her way back from Swansea via the Severn Estuary line. This time I plumped to go a little further North at the level crossing near Treddington.