Hot, Hot, Hot At Shackerstone...

Hi all. Well, this weekend was supposed to be one of those very boring "weekend off the railway" ones! However, out of the blue, due to the extremely nice weather, the family decided to go along to Bosworth Water Park for the afternoon. Therefore, I was asked the question; "Shall we drop you off at Shack on the way?". Answer?; "Alright mum, I'll go, you've twisted my arm!". Arriving at Shack at 1:30pm, the main train was out on the line, hauled by the Class 25. I signed on and headed off down to the shed where Aveiling & Porter "The Blue Circle" was found in the yard. The little 2-2-0, having returned from her starring role at the Nuneaton Carnival two weeks prior (see seperate post), had undergone some minor repairs and was due to be lit for a steam test at around 2:30pm. Inside the shed was the huge bulk of LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower", already freshly polished and shining, awaiting her weekend out at the railway's "Rails and Ales" event next week; I'm crewing her next Sunday! Behind the beautiful No1306 was Mountain Ash's finest; the slowly progressing Peckett; "Sir Gomer". With a little more cladding added, the loco looks well but is still awaiting a new asphan, a washout and refitting of the tank and cab as well as some general piping up. Then, STEAMING!! We've done a vast amount of work on "Sir G" over the past 18 months and it will be fantastic to see her in steam once again...soon! As it was simply, "too hot" to work, we decided to just "relax" away the afternoon; occasionally getting up and showing people around the shed, and even the North End, in our usual "tour guide" fashion! I left for home at around 5pm after a nice few hours out of the house. See you next week 1306! Thanks for reading folks, Good Evening...