Very Wet Shunting at Shackerstone...

Hi everyone. Today I went over to Shackerstone as a 'general help'. I had originally been asked to crew LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower", but, worries about not being fit to get up for work on Monday morning encouraged me to turn it down. (Yes; turn it down!). I got to Shackerstone at about 7:30am and discovered "Thomas" and "Mayflower" already in steam. "Fergus" was just about to be lit. The rain was pouring down and the skies were dark above. Behind "Thomas" was a beautiful machine; just arrived...Pannier Tank No5786 in BR Black! (Yes!). The day before, "Thomas" had failed with a boiler fault and had been replaced in service by the Pannier; thank goodness she was with us! Luckily, today, "Thomas" was back in steam after several checks by experienced persons. This then left No5786 jobless again and she had to go back indoors, out of the rain. Our main job today would be to shunt the shed; allowing room for "Sir Gomer", "Thomas", 5786, "Fergus" and "Mayflower" all in a row. All shunting would be done with the Class 02 shunter "Diane" and would have to be done in between the intensive 'Thomas Day' workings. The rain poured all day but we did manage to get the shunting done with much cleaning and tidying in between. When the engines came to bed, they had plenty of room and "Mayflower" even made it to the deepest darkest depths! (She's never been that far down before; ever!). Everything fit perfectly; what a worthwhile day's work! Thanks for reading folks. Next week I'm on the Pannier!! Evening all...