Max Birchenough, Andy Sheffield, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen convened at the Gunpowder Store under sunny skies to continue with the refurbishment of covered wagon no. 146. John had applied further coats of Hammerite paint to the new roof strap during the week so that it was ready to be fitted in place. It required a bit of gentle persuasion for the holes to align, but then the bolts and coach screws could be tightened properly to complete the re-roofing work. The interior ironwork was then masked off with tape prior to a further coat of light grey paint. While this was going on Andy had been applying more primer to the FR steel wagon chassis as the spraying had not been able to get into all the nooks and crannies.
The mornings coffee was taken out on the platform in the company of Malcolm Phillips, Keith Theobald, Mike Green and Ann McCanna, who is still nursing her injured left arm. Jammy Dodgers were on the biscuit menu alongside the more usual chocolate Hobnobs.
After our refreshments we resumed our painting work with Max and Charles in the van and Andy out in the sun. John was engaged in an ongoing construction project to safely and effectively display our ‘fishbelly’ rails in the museum.
Photos by John Olsen