Volunteer Liaison Update | 14th June

​This week work has continued in our coaches with additional wood panelling being fitted. More railings and fence posts have been painted white, when it has not been raining!
The rain and sun makes good growing conditions, so there has been a lot of weeding and general tidying up in the station gardens at Spring Village and Horsehay and Dawley. It's a lot of hard work but it has really paid off with some lovely flower displays this year. 

On Thursday, a working party was back at Lawley, bolting down more chairs on the run round loop/siding.

With lots of sleeper replacements having taken place on the running line, we have many sleepers that are of no use to the railway. We sell most of these to the public, but there are some in such a poor condition that they cannot be sold. These will be taken off site for recycling so on Saturday, volunteers began the task of stacking and binding them into small piles which can then be loaded onto a lorry. They worked hard, and about half were left by the end of the day. On Sunday (after breakfast of course!) we continued with this, but we're slowed by the hot weather so didn't get as much completed as we hoped. We also had a tidy up in the yard which was a job well done.

Ruston Hornsby 0-4-0 diesel hydraulic No. 525947 'Rusty' was hauling service trains. Our steam engine 'Rocket' was having a rest this week after working the four-day Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday.

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"IN THE WORKS" UPDATE

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North British 0-4-0 diesel hydraulic No 27414 'Tom'

A new coupling was being machined on Sunday that will connect the loco to the    gearbox. The next jobs on the list will be to make a prop shaft with a slip joint, and to swap the compressor and vacuum exhauster.

Ruston Hornsby 0-4-0 diesel mechanical No 382824 'Hector'

A new spring for the chain tensioner in the engine has been made together with a new rerailing bar for the back of the loco, to match the one current fitted to the front.

The next jobs is to replace the road spring on the rear axle, and to touch up her paint.

Sentinel Steam engine Works No 9366

The cracked gauge glass has been replaced. The boiler water feed pump has been worked on and will be checked during a steam test which is planned to take place this week.

Our next planned running day and event is on Sunday 19 June with our Peckett steam engine No 1722 'Rocket'. We are also offering our 'Father's Day Flyer' experience. Please see the events page on our website for full details and booking.

Thanks to Paul, Martin, AJ, and Ian for the additional information provided for this update.