Another bright crisp winters morning in Tywyn saw the team assemble inside the museum to continue our winter works programme. Andy Sheffield, Allan Black, Pete Thomas, Charles Benedetto and John Olsen were downstairs while Keith Theobald had the large format scanner set up upstairs.
Allan and Pete were tasked with the preparation of a false floor piece to fit within the new safety triangle, behind George Henry, from some of the dwindling supply of recycled MDF from the ‘Great Wall’. Andy and Charles finished making the slate support frame for the Host Wagon slate display while Max and John found a devious route for a new extension lead to restore power to William Finlay’s firebox lights that did not involve cutting holes in the fabric of the cab access ramp and then installing conduit to guide and hide the cable.
Coffee time was called when Ann McCanna arrived with boxes full of mince pies and fairy cakes for our consumption and we downed tools to go into the warmth of the cafe. We were joined by Ray Brooks and Tom Place for our morning chatter over caffeine and cakes, while outside a pair of 97’s idled at either end of the ballast train for the Tywyn station relaying job.
Refreshed we returned to the museum to install the freshly assembled frame, which was a perfect fit needing no additional packing to to hold the single layer of slates at the front of the wagon safely in position. It is intended to make a fake slate top for the frame so that it cannot be seen by the public from the stairs. Allan and Pete fabricated a lean to stand arrangement for the FR triangular slate ‘milepost’ to be displayed atop the new false floor and secured the sign with a cup hook at the top and batten at the bottom. The false floor will be decorated with slate chippings to complete the new display. Max and John secured the conduit in position and then powered up the firebox lights for the first time in a couple of years, ready for our young engine drivers at the weekend.
Everyone then went around the museum to tidy away the tools and clean the floors ready for our next opening day on Saturday.
Pictures by John Olsen