Maintenance Update

Mon 1 July
Roy Gamlin came down wearing his FLA cap, and sorted through bric-a-brac.  Mostly this was pricing up books, but also included throwing out unsaleable items.
Meanwhile, I pressed on with painting rail chairs.

Tues 2 July
I spent a couple more hours on rail chairs.

Weds 3 July
Bruce came and assisted during the morning, with John Mayell relieving him for the afternoon session!  We prepared 10 or more chairs, and I did some painting.  However, I had run out of painted brushes, so couldn't proceed much further.
F&W had only 2 left, so I restocked with the remaining 4 completed ones off the shelf.

Thurs 4 July
Painted brushes had dried, so I was able to fit 4 boot scrapers ... before running out of wedges.

Fri 5 July
Colin & I arrived at Winchcombe - independently, coincidentally, and with the same thought: to cart a few more chairs to Todders!  Back at Todders, we spent a couple of hours painting chairs that had been prepared, or were in various stages of completion.  I couldn't finish any off, because of the lack of wedges.

Sat 6 July
Called in at Winchcombe Carriage & Wagon to encourage Eddie to make some wedges!  I felt a bit mean standing over him while to knocked off two dozen :-))
Back at Todders, John was cleaning even more; David was welding up some fixing plates for a pair of wheels for one of the trolleys.  These wheels materialised by magic, next to the skip.  I monitored their progress for a couple of weeks, and having decided that they were not going anywhere, I decided to take action!  Anyway, David did the cutting and welding of metal, and made them fit the trolley!  Brill.

I completed 5 boot scrapers (including one ordered by Bruce*) before lunch and retiring to the training room for a CSPL Board Meeting.

Not much of excitement came out of the meeting - our finances are looking quite good; 10-year overhaul is looking feasible cost-wise; No progress on most items except for the siphon restoration, which is progressing well under Fred's management;  We (i.e. mainly the cafes) sold 272 boot scrapers during the Financial Year July 2012 to June 2013, at £30 each;

I noticed a group of young chaps lighting up 2807 during the afternoon.  She's in service Sunday, then Tuesday to Thursday, and the weekend of 13/14th.

All for now.

Roger

* On Wednesday, Bruce asked me if we have any of the very old GWR chairs. I said that I hadn't seen one for ages and thought that we did not. Then, as if by magic, five minutes later, as I was tidying up and sorting chairs into piles, what should I discover? One GWR dating from 1901.