In the heat on Saturday we had a good turnout to try and get some stuff achieved and welcomed a new potential member, John, to the team.

The main task was to start repainting Paul’s Brake Van, Southern S55550. However, in order to get it to a safe location for access on both sides it required a bit of hand shunting. Overton Yard is currently on a slight gradient, which will hopefully be corrected with the future yard plans, so the first move was easy, from the running rake siding down into the headshunt. The next move was slightly more of a struggle, uphill onto the back siding. After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, the Brake Van was in a safe place for painting, but by now it was an early lunch for the team!

After lunch, the group split off into versions tasks. Steve went back to working on ‘Frank’ the little shunter and Tim went off to paint a point lever, whilst John, Gareth, Paul, and Mark started to sand down the Brake Van.

As previously mentioned, Tim was requested this week by the S&T manager to paint a point lever at Overton the next time he had the tin of Freight Brown paint open. This request was particularly amusing given the S&T manager’s constant leg pulling about everything wagon related being brown!

Tim then went to measure up for some upcoming track work in the headshunt, whilst the rest of the group managed to paint one side of the Brake Van.

Places are still available for our next driving course on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th August. This is a rare opportunity to drive our freight train on a weekend around the service train.

For more details and to book, visit –

https://nvr.org.uk/product.php/553/peak-of-summer-freight-driving-experience