‘You do the hokey cokey... ’

I had been expecting my first few blog posts to be solely reliant on information provided by other sources, not because of the day job, but because I’m spending a lot of time every Saturday getting well acquainted with the inside of the Tim Mitchell building due to various theory classes and AGMs. Thankfully this weekend’s rules and signals session only lasted a couple of hours, meaning I could whizz up to Toddington for the afternoon.

Looks like 4270 is still clinging on to some of that Christmas spirit

Since I started working in the shed back in November, I’ve been spending most of my time working with the P&O group; a source of personal amusement considering I’m a born and bred Swindonian (I promise I’m not trying to sabotage the Southern engine…). This week’s task was replacing the firebox grate fingers. It had been noticed some had gone distinctly banana-like and so were stopping the grate from rocking as it should.

Steve talking to Clive in the firebox

New fingers awaiting installation

Clive was already in the firebox well underway with the task, and upon my arrival I was pressed into action and clambered on in as well. Half of the fingers have been replaced outright with new ones, and the rest were simply trimmed of excess where they have swollen due to heat.

Waiting on the front fingers to be trimmed

As it happened, some of the normally hard to reach stays needed a bit of a cleanup, so time waiting on the fingers to be machined was spent tapping and wire-brushing those until an arm bearing metal gifts appeared through the firebox door.

Interesting trying to find places to put your feet

What then followed was an afternoon spent doing my best wheelbarrow impression clambering in and out of the firebox, feeling a little like I was doing the ‘hokey cokey’. The fact that the person who was asked to do this job just happens to be closer to 5 foot than 6 foot in height is completely coincidental I’m sure. Thankfully I was able to escape and take a wander around every so often under the guise of ‘official blogging duties’.

Quite roomy when you’re 5’3

The upper windows of the welfare building now have sheets covering them to keep out the elements, which I’m judging to mean that progress continues to be made on the roof, despite the recent weather conditions. I don’t think I’m at liberty to share the name of the new building yet, so something to keep your eyes peeled for.

The welfare building is coming along nicely

Across from 35006, I could see 4270 was receiving some tlc from Stuart and Andy B. When I climbed up, I was informed that around 3 shovelfuls of gunk and grime had been cleaned off throughout the course of the day, so it was a job well worth doing. The remaining tinsel was still in place when I left for the day, however.

4270’s footplate is slightly smaller than 35006’s

Work on 3850 continues, however I am woefully devoid of information on that topic because as I wandered past, no one working on it was around to ask what was happening. I've since been told that the group was busy working on her tender. 

3850, complete with Not to Be Moved board

2807 astonishes me every time I see her. This past weekend, ‘Team R’ were kept busy as they had 12 volunteers to keep well fuelled, but with some heat, elbow grease and persuasion she’s slowly coming apart. Our sources tell me that the boiler is now devoid of all but three awkwardly located boiler tubes (which then had to be cut up so they could then fit in the skip), and during my wander round on Saturday I could see needle-guns being used on the boiler barrel itself. Plans may have to be changed regarding work being done on the boiler and foundation ring due to various mitigating factors (one crane lift or two?) but no doubt these will all be resolved in due course.

Slowly turning more orange than green (Image by Roger Molesworth)

Finally, keen-eyed readers will have noticed an interesting element to my photos. My decision not to update the date and time on my camera when I turned it on for the first time in six years has now come back to haunt me as we now seemingly have time-travelled back to 2014. This has now been updated, and rest assured, any further images will be correctly time-stamped (until I figure out how to turn that setting off!).