The preparation for painting season at Hotchley Hill continued this week, with the southern sliding casement re-hung correctly, and the catches finally removed. For a reason beyond us, these were bolted onto the frame with an inaccessible non-captive nut, where the handles have tapped holes. That dealt with, it should just be a matter of reassembling everything with fresh fasteners as required. The brass fittings will see a little polish in the meantime.
At Rushcliffe Halt, we met colleagues from the Cutting Edge group, and rescued a few items which they've been keeping safe for us since last summer's break-in. We'll need them next week.
Downstairs in the locking room, we had a bit of a clear-out, and you can see the difference it's made! As well as disposing of a few items with no conceivable use (not even for display or reference), this involved removing the rather rickety timbers that must have supported an access platform for the lever frame. These came apart with worryingly little effort!
Finishing a little early, we headed back to Ruddington, and started putting together a steel frame for the signalbox's nameboard. This should help protect the relatively thin sign from being pulled off the wall by miscreants, as the last one was! We even had time for a little tidying-up around the shed.
I should also mention some of the work that's being going on during the week, putting together a kit of parts for the new bracket on platform 1 at Ruddington fields, to release locomotives from the headshunt. More recently, the trailer for the railway's Personnel Carrier has seen some attention. Not strictly our department, but a very useful to have around once serviceable, we hope.
