We spent most of the morning at Ruddington this Saturday, recovering parts from second-hand location cases, and exchanging some equipment from our stores for others that will be more useful. We then loaded the southern Crittall door from HH, now with lock and upper panel, into the van. This freed-up some valuable space!
Down at HH, we set ourselves three tasks. The first was to stow that door in the locking room, ready to hang on a future occasion. If weight is anything to go by, it should hold up very well!
We then split into two groups. One took on the job of clearing the battery room, on the north side of the building. This has been home to a small mountain of rubbish we've cleared over the past year or so. Rust, rubble, plastic bottles and bags. Sorted into buckets for burning, recycling and landfill, this was loaded into the van for disposal at Ruddington.
On the south side of the box, we set about removing the wooden doorframe from the entrance to the locking room. This was modern, and in good condition. In fact it had never been used! With that in mind, we had hoped to save it, perhaps for reuse elsewhere. After ruining multiple torx drivers trying to unscrew the fastenings however, we decided to break it out. There'll be a new steel door to fit soon, with your help, so it had to go.
In the above endeavour, we gained some unexpected and welcome assistance from the line's pest-control contractors. As ever, they had some interesting stories to tell. We returned to base and ended the day by depositing our rubbish in the appropriate skips and bins.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the purchase of new security doors so far. Not just for donating, but for showing faith in this project, when there are so many others in railway preservation and beyond. "We're getting there!"
