Work at Pentrefelin workshops this week has been centred round the requirement to clean up all the sets after their use at the Thomas event last weekend.
Members set to work with mops, brushes, Hoovers and window cleaners until the three sets were fit for normal use again.
Also investigated was a heater fault with 50454. One heater was reported as giving out a lot of smoke, the problem was found to be mainly a hole in the heat exchanger but also that the excess fuel drain hole was blocked. Unfortunately to fix these required a complete strip down of the heater under the gaze of one of the depot cats.
Over at Butterley welding repairs are complete on the solebar of the centre section of the secondman's side of Gloucester 51118. Most of the body uprights in this section have also been repaired and work continues on the box sections which run between them.
At the rear the first coat of paint has gone on to protect the newly-finished guard's section.
Operationally at Llangollen last week we ran two days of Thomas using three two-car sets and five days of midweeks using one set - these carried a total of 1,477 people on return journeys over the seven days.
At Butterley the 141 worked services Monday to Friday and carried 1,375 people over the five days meaning that 2,852 people were able to enjoy one or other of our units during the week, which is possibly a new record.
At Llangollen we have had a busy two days running a 6 car set for the railways Day Out With Thomas event. 51618 is shown leading the set back onto shed at the end of the weekend.
Considerable progress is being made with the repainting of the Wickham unit at Pentrefelin. One side and the fronts of both cars are now in undercoat. One of the route indicator glasses has been removed so that it can have new rubber fitted while some of the seats and trim panels have now been sent away for repair.
Over at Butterley the rear section of the bodywork on the secondman's side of on Gloucester Power Car 51118 is now completed. A first fill and priming is under way.
Work has now started on the middle part of the same side. All the panelling and windows have been removed, along with some of the cross members and some of the lower box section covering. Repairs are ongoing to the bottom box section and new 2x1 tube sections are cut ready to weld into the uprights, which will also need repair. A trial fit has been carried out of the new wooden door pillars, the first of which is proving fiddly to get right.
Trailer 56097 also progresses. The long job of fitting wooden trim around the windows and along where the luggage racks will go is now well advanced. This has been a time-consuming job but is now well advanced.
Arriving on site have been some rather smart new jumper boxes which will replace the broken cast ones on the trailer. These have been laser-cut out of flat plate and then welded together.
The retrimming of Class 141 vehicle 55533 is now completed, except for the driver's cab and work has started on the other vehicle. The new seating certainly lifts the vehicle and makes it look much brighter and welcoming.
Slow but steady progress this week on the M-Exam of the Wickham, the restoration of the Cravens and with preparations for next week's 'Thomas' event.
The three sets that will operate for 'Thomas' were marshalled together in the correct order and the 108 and the 127 were refuelled.
Sanding and priming of the front end of Wickham power car 50416 continued and this is now to first coat level. The jumper cables were removed from the set, stripped down and checked over and a repair was made to one where the outer cover had come away from the plug. Some other electrical jobs were also finished off.
Inside the Cravens there was work removing and then restoring the aluminium trims which go round the windows, with this week attention being paid to the toilet area windows.
Finally at Llangollen one of the members cut back the undergrowth at the depot exit area as this was encroaching on the track.
Over at Butterley the exterior panels have now been welded on to the rear secondman's side of the Gloucester Power Car and work is in hand to strip down the centre section, which at first sight appears to be in quite poor order.
Trimming of the seats in the 141 continues and one coach (55533) is now almost complete.
Work progresses at Pentrefelin on the repaint and major exam of the Wickham unit, with rubbing down, preparation and undercoating now reaching the front of the power car. As usual a large number of loose rivets have had to be dealt with before the painting and filling could commence.
At Butterley all the new panels for the secondman's side of the Gloucester Power car have arrived and one of our youngest members has set too to prime them so that they are ready for fitting.
The recently-completed front secondman's side has been filled and first-coated and gives a better idea of what the finished coach will look like.
And finally work to retrim the seats in Class 141 vehicle 55533 has reached an advanced stage. The new moquette lifts the interior considerably. This is the first time we have retrimmed this vehicle despite it being in the collection for the last 17 years.
The overhaul of the Wickham has progressed over the weekend, there has been more sanding of the bodywork on the power car, the exhausts have been removed to make the painting easier and also some of the seating that has been damaged has been removed and taken for repair. A couple of jobs from the 'M-Exam' have been knocked off, including a defective door lock.
Some work was also done to the plumbing of Class 104 DMS 50528. The toilet flush tank was removed and a new washed fitted in the flush valve to stop it leaking. The leaking tap has also been dismantled but this needs parts which we didn't have in stock.
At Butterley there has been more work to the steelwork of the Gloucester Power Car and the framing on the secondman's side of the power car is now completed and awaits its body panels. It was necessary to use some violence to break the door lock on the rearmost passenger door as it hadn't been open for more than 20 years and wasn't for giving in.
Finally there has been some more work to insert the new trim inside trailer 56097, which has a lot of decorative sections around the windows, particularly at the rear.
