I returned to the Racecourse Station today – after 3 weekends absence and guess what? Looked just the same as ever – pine needles all over the track, pine cones littering the platforms etc. Seriously though I think there is a little more light breaking through from the Platform 2 side but otherwise it looks just the same as it did before we had our trees trimmed. So, well done to those who thought that one through.
It was another delightfully sunny day – cool to start but by 1000 it was a very pleasant working temperature of 20C. And, although there are still some absences on leave, there was reasonable turnout of Steve, Andy, Ben, Wylie, Colin, Mike, John & Bill.
Mike swept up, John sorted the late season vegetable crop and Colin – amazingly – had to do some watering (almost in October). Steve as ever, moved around fixing everything that the rest of us had broken! Wylie was trained to use the billy-goat and spent a happy hour trundling up and down Platform 2 removing the latest debris. Sadly I was preoccupied during this period and by the time I snapped him he was phoning his agent…
There wasn’t much new on the task list so a strong team deployed down to the Signal Box end of P2 and got some serious shed progress underway. Most notably, Andy proved equal to the task of stripping the multiple layers of external paint:
The last few corrugations are down to bare metal; the base black layer being the most intractable. Only another few months and we’ll have it ready for the new stuff!
A few feet away Bill, Ben (and later Wylie) were fitting some more skirt and, at last, connecting up the water supply:
So we now have a useable tap inside the shed; electricity next week. Here’s the proud ‘owner’ admiring his handiwork:
While Ben is tasked with divining for a lost rivet…..
Anyway, all the trains seemed to be running to time and looked suitably splendid in the autumn sunshine:
So, another good morning’s work – thanks to all.
Tim