A bright sunny morning was the perfect weather for Andy Sheffield, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen to complete the refresh of the splayside (no. 213) and incline (no. 117) wagons by applying the second coat of bitumenous paint to the floors.
John progressed the new part for the Corris mail wagon dumb buffer while Andy and Charles wielded the paintbrushes. The TR wagon inspector Tim Wilkinson did the rounds as we worked, passing all the wagons fit for running on the line except the Corris mail wagon due to the rot in the frame.
Our morning coffee was in the company of David and Mandy Broadbent, Ann McCanna and Mike Green, out on the platform with the sun beaming down.
Post coffee chat and chocolate biscuits the painting team moved on to touching up the covered wagon (no. 146) corner plates, as these had suffered some scuffs during storage, and the nuts and bolts, which needed to have the topcoat applied.
John completed the shaping of the new piece for the dumb buffer and left it in place pending anti rot treatment and then repainting of the headstock and both buffers.
The two slate wagons (no.s 164 & 101) have been shunted on to the Wharf Edge siding to join the covered wagon (no. 146) and we await one final shunt to release the two TR wagons and line up the heritage fleet in full view of the museum as part of our World Heritage interpretation display.
Photos by John Olsen