Llangollen has seen the Class 104 covering Sunday and Monday duties. It is seen here making its way to and from Llangollen Station at the start and end of service on Sunday.
Gloucester Power Car 51118 is progressing well at Butterley. The entire driver's side has now had all its old paint removed and has had a light first fill prior to receiving primer. The floor of the first saloon has now been removed and thankfully has been found to be in good condition.
Work has started to refit and to 'gap' the doors, with the van doors being the first to be dealt with. The new bodywork will be cut to fit the doors and eventually new wooden door pillars will be fitted behind. In some cases new hinges are having to be used as the originals had been out of use for so long that they had seized solid.
Gloucester Trailer 56097's ceiling supports are now virtually complete with the exception of the removal of a large number of old screws and nails. Work continues on the wiring in the cab area, particularly between the driving position and the main junction box under the desk.
On the Class 141 one of the steps had become dangerous due to the wooden covering having broken up. This has now been removed and the section has been replaced with purpose-made glass fibre step material with an anti-slip surface. This is coloured yellow as an aid to those who have reduced sight. A new sealing ring has been made for one of the hydrostatic tanks which had a habit of dumping its contents when under pressure, this has now been fitted.
As might be expected it has been a quiet week as we all tried to rest following the gala. The Class 104 was out on public services at Llangollen on Sunday and Monday without any issues and there has been modest progress on the restoration front.
The Railbus was despatched back to the Ribble Steam Railway following its successful appearance at the weekend.
Inside Class 105 trailer 56456 the PA trunking and wiring has now been completed and some work has been done under the secondman's desk. All in all a very quiet week!
While most of the work this week has been concentrated on delivering another very successful railcar gala we have also managed to process some of our ordinary work.
The day before the gala we had a team down at Pentrefelin to wash and fuel all the units and to check them over prior to the event.
In the evening we took the visiting railbus out for a photographic charter and, despite the poor light, managed to get some really nice photos in locations that are not usually accessible.
At Pentrefelin there has been more progress on the Cravens 105 56456. The rest of the wiring in the light boxes has been connected up and new wires run to the toilet light. As can be seen from the photo a start has also been made on the wiring under the driver's desk. More of the roof trunking has been fitted.
Another team is working on installing the recently-manufactured wooden window surrounds.
Over at Butterley the welding work on the driver's side of Gloucester Power Car 51118 is now complete and the new body skin has been fitted. We have welded in new jacking plates inside the body and have installed the closing panels at the edges of the floor. An investigation is under way to find out why the driver's door is a completely different shape to the hole it is supposed to fit in - we suspect that there is something amiss with the front pillar which will be rebuilt at the same time as the front end.
Trailer 56097 has also had some attention. More of the ceiling struts have been repaired and the woodwork under the toilet tank has been removed so that we can remove the very pronounced curve in it which is due to bending of the tank.
With preparations for the Gala in full swing the bulk of the jobs have been centred round the long-term restorations this week.
At Llangollen there has been some more progress with installing the new woodwork round the windows in Cravens trailer 56456 while at Butterley the wiring of Gloucester trailer 56097 has been proceeding. The remaining trunking for the PA system has been installed and this is now ready for a start to be made on the actual wiring.
Gloucester Power Car 51118 progresses daily. The body framing on the driver's side between the cab and the first vestibule has now been completed and there has been some work done to the driver's door pillar.
We've not been running at Llangollen during half term week but the Class 141 was active at Butterley from Wednesday to Friday. Today (Monday) the Wickham is in service at Llangollen.