Atlantic Report No4: A Quiet Christmas...

Hi there all. A little report from the last few days of working with two of my model engines, the bigger two anyway. "Maisie" last ran a few weeks ago, as seen in the report known as 'Only The Mad'. Unfortunately one of her boiler bands reacted with something so that was taken off earlier this week for repainting and relining. I'm not going to go mad with marks and dinks as it gets them, but a boiler band almost half stripped of paint I do draw the line at so that'll be redone and refitted over the next few weeks: no rush. The removal of the band did of course require the removal of the cab and both running boards in order to access the underside of the barrel. No matter though, the job was done in less than an hour and the Atlantic is now in 'sick bay' waiting for the band to be done. Otherwise she is in full running condition and is still waiting for another turn out. I do need to do some mods to the tender in order to slightly raise the guard-irons to stop them dragging on the rail but that can be done whenever now. Meanwhile, later this week, though its not enough to justify a full report, "Achilles" was finally cleaned up after its hard working visit to the GEC for their Halloween event five weeks ago. She's now been polished and cleaned up ready for her next outing, though the certificate is nearly up on the boiler so it'll need a steam test in the near future when that expires...

I think you can all guess that this was a quiet week on afternoons at work, giving me time to tidy the workshop and strip down 4436 as well as cleaning the tank engine during the daytime. I am hoping to have the Atlantic out again early in the new year but time will tell. All the best guys, Sam...