We were lucky to have a fair number of volunteers who felt able to attend in the present circumstances, so managed to tick-off a few long-running jobs this week.
During the week itself, a steel cupboard arrived, accompanied by a marked improvement in the layout of our cabin. We now have a clear, secure bench on which to paint! The space around it is substantially safer and easier to work in, too.
Over at Asher Lane, that refurbished wooden cupboard is now mounted and stocked with such essential items as teabags. It also provides a tidy place to keep the kettle. We can only hope there will be a crossing keeper there to use it sooner, rather than later.
In the relay room at Ruddington, we've made our first foray into Remote Condition Monitoring. Although a little anachronistic for a heritage railway, the data-logger pictured was recovered from a donated location cabinet, and has been generously repaired by the manufacturers, free of charge. It is currently wired to record the operation of points in the station throat, just under the bridge - but that may be reconsidered as more equipment is installed on site.
Not long ago, we planted some ground signals at the buffers-end of the station, looking a bit unfinished in red oxide primer. Given the window of warm weather, these have now been painted gloss black. The painting doesn't stop there, as our kit of parts for the home gantry comes within sight of readiness. The main two-aspect head is now reassembled, and two more of the mounting rails have been cleaned-down and primed.
There's plenty to be done next week, too, but making definite plans at this stage might be tempting fate. We'll see...