The sun was shining and the east wind blowing over Wharf Yard as Allan Black, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen met to restart working parties after the Easter break.
Allan and Charles began the process of removing the rust and flaking primer from the FR metal slate wagon basket after John had been round it with the welders hammer knocking off lumps of rust. John then took a lump hammer, spanners and blow torch to the Corris mail waggon to ‘persuade’ the rusted body fixing bolts to loosen off.
The team downed tools for coffee when Max Birchenough turned up and we were joined for our morning caffeine chocolate biscuits carrot cake and chat by Keith Theobald with David and Carolyn Tunstall, who were getting their first taste of being museum attendants. Allan treated us to a viewing of his 4mm scale scratch built GWR, from sides still in production to a substantially finished carriage. Our numbers swelled further with the arrival of Pete Thomas and Mike Green before we returned over the tracks.
Pete assisted John in removing the first pair of fixing bolts from the frame and then with loosening and removing a third bolt, whilst Charles and Allan continued work on the rusty ironwork of the FR wagon.
Photos by Allan Black and John Olsen