July and August 2024 have been unusually busy in the workshop.
Bredgar sprung a water leak. A radiator hose was found to be rubbing on part of the frame. This sounded really bad until we realised it had last been repaired by the MOD around 20 years ago so it lasted pretty well all things considered.
Katie has been continuing it’s progress to a new 10 year boiler certificate with much of the running gear and cold tank work now completed. The Boiler has it’s hydraulic test on Tuesday 10th September. It should pass so we will then be getting it back on it’s chassis.
Bicknor has had a service ready for the Gala and we are hoping to have Lyne ready for this event also.
Petbow Generator Last year we acquired a 90 KVA 3 phase generator that cam out of a closed London Police station. We go it to ensure last years Christmas lights weren’t going to be “interrupted” by power cuts we had experienced at the end of last year. During this year we have had a more detailed inspection which resulted in the head coming off the Perkins engine, the cooling system being flushed of rust, core plugs being 
replaced and thermostats being tested. The permanent standby switch gear has been designed, acquired and built by a new ex Petbow engineer (thanks Alan). Our engineers and volunteers have rebuilt the generator room and we are on track for this to be ready for this Christmas event.
Carriages Our main wheelchair accessible carriage suffered a seriously work brake linkage spotted by a volunteer during an inspection and required some work and redesign to resolve the issue. The roof of another carriage has started to show signs of deterioration so we now have the required hessian to fully restore the roof in a traditional manner this winter.
The Fowler VII that visited last year will be returning in September. It is expected to run during the Gala and Christmas before having work done on it’s timing during the winter.