A cooler day on site, with a steady breeze and bursts of heavy rain, set the tone for a mostly under‑cover Wednesday. With the usual mid‑week team assembled, we focused on jobs that kept us out of the worst of the weather.
The morning began with shifting a large stack of timber floorboards which were recently acquired free of charge and delivered to site out of the PW yard and into the storage container. While that was happening, a steady rhythm of nail‑pulling prepared the boards for future use. Inside shed 83C, undercoating continued on the internal walls, while over in 83A various locomotives and stock were shuffled around to make space for the Baguley to be positioned in front of the vehicle lifts for attention to a hydraulic leak. Once in place, work could begin on that repair.
Elsewhere, chassis B10 was brought out of shed 83E and moved into the main workshop for its final clean‑down and a fresh coat of red oxide. A test of the seized brakes on the tower wagon followed, using the Gilbert to couple up to the two green open carriages and the tower wagon. The initial attempt showed promise with some movement at last however, the brake rigging will still need a generous dose of lubrication before it behaves properly.
With the Gilbert also needed for passenger trains next Saturday, it was coupled to the service set (brakevan and coaches) for a driving practice run along the line. The timing couldn’t have been more dramatic: heavy rain, wet rail, and 4.5 tons of locomotive trying to haul 10.25 tons of train up the gradients made for a lively introduction. Careful handling and liberal use of the sanders kept everything moving.
After lunch, attention returned to the dough wagon wheelsets. It was a stubborn job but, eventually everything went back together, ready for painting and reinstallation. Meanwhile, workshop tasks continued steadily, including a couple of hours of finishing touches on the motorised trolley project.
Despite the weather, it was a productive day all round, with several projects nudged forward and a good sense of progress across the site.
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