Saturday 29th - We're back in steam

Another day with a good spell of rain. Great to see and that means, like many of our fellow railways, we are back to steam running again with both the 2-8-0s in action.

We had another well attended day with about 23 signing in, which now appears to be a regular occurrence for a Saturday and with all the different aspects taking place.

Maurice and Paul were busy cleaning the underside of the Mink D van.

This included the wheels.

[Photo : Paul E.]

The cleaned up valves now top coated.

We had a good team working on SK 25451 today, beginning with Martin finishing off the preparation on the Cotswold side south door.

Graham continued with some fairly hefty filling, gradually working along the south half of the same side. It's amazing how much still needs to be done.

The Malvern side isn't anything like as intensive. Bob cleans up some of the window frames.

Further along Ian was working his way towards the centre and checking that any filled areas have been thoroughly sanded.

Finally, the beginnings of some greying up with Martin painting the door and frame edges. I need to give this side a thorough check on Tuesday to see if we can start base coating.

Andy is replacing more corroded underwindow panelling on TSO 4867.

Moving back to take in all the windows that have now been removed and cleaned up, and underlying panelling repaired where needed.

Andy has now welded in the new metal and is cleaning up the welds.

Dave has been driven in from his work on TSO 3961 by the weather, so has moved on to digging out 4867's Cotswold side rivet line. This is all useful work removing the old cracking filler.

Underneath 4867 John is working on the vacuum system DA valve.

James is back on the extensive north end repairs.

Half of the corroded baseplate and the bases of the associated connection support pillars have been replaced.

Andy, Clive and Tony in discussion while waiting for Stu to fire up the 03.

TSO 4406 is being brought back into the Barn, but not for continuing work. 

Bogies were being brought round from the Works siding and into the Barn jack road.

I believe a wheelset on one of them is being replaced to remove a flat.

Phil cleans up part of an electrical connection.

Jenny said she wasn't bothered about having her photo taken, but I said that her cleaning is just as important as anything else going on.

It was just Laura today in Upholstery, making more of the very good quality bags. These have become very popular and sell well.

Alongside all this is the ongoing refurbishment of some of the bench seats from BSK 35308, which a while ago had been in the Workshop undergoing metalwork repairs. Pressure of other work has meant 35308 is back outside, but it is destined to be brought back in and is probably going to replace BSO 9000 in Rake 1.

Alex finishes his signwritten sandwich boards, this one in Dark Stone for Toddington. Out of sight behind him is the other in Dark Brown for Broadway.

Finally, thank you Malcolm in Ontario for your very detailed comment on electric train heating. As I run the Painting & Prep team, I am afraid I am not into coach electrics, so when doing the blog all I can do is report the information I am given. Gerry took those particular photos so I wasn't there to be able to gather more information.