Shackerstone By Morn, Statfold By Eve...

This morning I was over at Shackerstone from around 8am to help with gala prep as well as working on 3803. The engine is fast approaching her deadline of tomorrow morning and work is pretty much complete. Having completed a couple of small jobs on the 38', we boarded the Class 04 shunter and proceeded to Market Bosworth to gather wagons for the weekends freight train. Once collected, the wagons had to be oiled which involves syringing the water out first. Wagon boxes are quite susceptible to water as they aren't very well protected. With the water removed, the boxes can be filled with oil until they overflow; they are then fit for the weekend running. Having oiled the wagons, time was getting on for around 1pm and it was time to head off to the next destination: Statfold...

Upon my arrival at Statfold at around 1:30pm, the sun was shining and the air was warm. Engines were sat eagerly on the shed frontage as volunteers busied themselves with their prep. Our engine for tomorrow's Open Day: "Isibutu": had been lit up in readiness. Being a big engine, she needs a good warming fire to get her going, even as far as bringing her into steam. Whilst "Isi" warmed through, I was busy cleaning. The 4-4-0 was still dirty from her last outing and so I set to with the polish and the Peek. I cleaned everything I could find and the engine began to shine up lovely. I left at around 5pm with the engine sitting pretty at around 70psi, lovely & clean outside the shed. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow! All the best, Sam...