Work in Progress: 5th June

The Thursday Gang press on despite the weather...

The Thursday Gang was in a state of shock today - not because of the depleted numbers - nor because they realised Nigel T. was still on holiday - but because Woody Bay was blessed with sunshine and blue skies all day!

1. ISAAC approaching Woody Bay today under blue skies.

However, the Gang did not just sit and enjoy the weather - well not all the time. The torrential rain of the previous day had yet again confirmed the need to improve the drainage arrangements where the transfer siding entered the car park. A group, Dave Evans (on saw and shuttering), Martyn Budd (on crowbar), Dave Drayson (on shovel and spirit level), Mike Corner (on shovel and barrow), Roger Bye (on trowel and camera) and Martin Williams (on float) constructed a new drain sump and fitted a heavy duty grate.

2. Digging the sump - hole digging being one of the Thursday Gang specialities! ...

3. ... concreting around the shuttering ...

4. ... fitting the grating ...

5. not just a drain - more a work of art!

Meanwhile, Jim Pounds was, yet again, painting PILTON - the diesel not the village!

6. Final coats in the cab.

7. Undercoat around the new couplings prior to repainting the buffer beam.

8. Jim Price, normally engaged on making things, spent the day in the sunshine reclaiming timber from the now redundant boxes he built many years ago to hide the additional under seat ballast in the Thorpe Park coaches. This was yet another reminder of the progress being made.

9. Progress has also been made with fitting new couplings on AXE.

10. Andy Foster and Graham Varney (note the pose!) together with newcomer Eddie were the train crew today. Here ISAAC pauses for water and coal between trips.

11. The rather unsightly heap of debris from the removal of old fencing and storm damage to the shelter can be seen in the foreground as ISAAC is about to depart from Killington Lane. Tidying this and some gorse cuttings was the next task.

12. The reclaimed and reject posts and timber was sorted and stacked as seen in the background here as ISAAC runs round at KIllington Lane under the watchful eye of guard Bob Ayres. The reclaimed posts will be used at the recently acquired Rowley Farm - another sign of progress!

Words and pictures by Roger Bye