Keeping RECRUITS busy.

Ian and Richard S take a breather

We all had a bit of a rest over Christmas and the new year but in January, work got going again with a vengeance and we've been joined by new volunteers Richard Dean and Richard Seager.

Lifting Woolwich's boiler is imminent and Richard Seager has conducted an initial ultrasonic test. The results are heartening for now but show that operating pressure may have to be reduced unless heavy platework repairs are conducted. Reduced pressure is no problem, and the boiler's remarkable considering that it started life 96 ago!

Richard D and the offending cab roof

Richard Dean spent a sweaty day chiselling the bitumastic paint off Woolwich's cab roof, his first day's work at Crossness. It was originally painted gloss black and it will be again. The two circular plates on the roof are for filling the fuel tanks from above. They were never used but we'll ensure they're kept intact. There's still a lot of the horrible bitumastic to strip, a filthy job.


John Mitchell has been soldiering away at the seemingly endless task of cleaning the encrustation from the cleading.  This requires immense patience, which John seems to have plenty of.  Scraping paint by hand is time consuming but ultimately rewarding.    

Incognito John with project in hand