A slightly late update on last Sundays activities with the running rake at Wansford…

Tim got in early to fix a leak on the roof of his Brake Van prior to public running. With the leak fixed he was joined by Mark, Jason, Colin, and new recruit Annika, to get a few jobs done on the running rake. A massive welcome to Annika 👋

Jason and Mark set to work on the long overdue job of having a tidy up inside some of the vans, whilst Colin got on with putting some experimental weathering on the hoppers in preparation for our NCB photo charter on 1st November. The top lip of the hoppers was painted with black poster paint in the hope it would run down the sides over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, looking the next day, the rain had washed it off! We have another plan for weathering though, so no harm done.

Meanwhile, Tim finished off the lettering on Medfit M470944.

Whilst all this was going on, Annika got the freight brown out and first painted a small bit of Tim’s Brake Van that was missed when it was repainted last year. She then headed down to the Medfit to paint all the bits that were still showing signs of grey after the recent repaint. These were mainly bits on the inside of the side doors.

During the lunch break the group took a walk to collect boxes from Annika’s car. Cardboard boxes are constantly being collected by the group as wagon loads and will later be wrapped in brown paper and string to look like parcels.

At the close of play several jobs were ticked off the list. Three vans were tidied, Tim’s Brake Van was watertight again, several bits were painted, and the Medfit only needs the metal capping strips fitted to the top edge of the body sides to finish it off.

Don’t forget that we have two events coming up…

Firstly, the House Coal Concentration Photographic Charter on Friday 1st November, now at a slightly reduced price and also featuring J94 No 68070 in Wansford Yard shots.

Secondly, our Before the Snows of Winter Goods Weekend and Driving Experience over the weekend of Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd November. This event will feature plenty of freight action, with limited places left to drive Class 45 No 45041 and ‘Driver for a Fiver’ with Sentinel Shunter DL83 in Wansford Yard on Saturday only.

For more info, visit :

https://nvr.org.uk/section.php/2/1/special-events/a009d75762f34ea596e6e28deef06838