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70013 is on holiday at the moment as are many of our volunteers – but before you think that this means that neither she nor they are doing any work, think again, Cromwell is busy on the Scarborough Spa Expresses and our elite support crew are manning the fort. This is the second week that Oliver Cromwell has been on the ‘Scarboroughs’ and the team have a hard act to follow as last week’s crew proved that with a bit of organisation and forward planning they were able to make light work of what can be a long and tiring week. The engine is based at York for the duration of the SSEs which means that she is in and out of the NRM’s servicing bay each day and visitors to the museum have a chance to catch a glimpse of a National Collection engine working on the National Network.
The Silvertown lubricators for 45305 are having a bit of a holiday as well: Tom wanted to generally overhaul them as part of the maintenance plan while the boiler is away, so Alison took the opportunity to get them both down off the running boards and onto the work bench for them to be overhauled. While they are accessible she decided to give them a complete facelift, by picking out the excess paint from the lettering, giving them a thorough clean, flat down and fresh paint. So far they have both had a couple of coats of paint, but there are a few to go before the lubricators are up to the finish we are aiming for. She is also taking the opportunity to give their space on the running boards a really deep clean so that by the time they go back up the lubricators and their surroundings will be a focal point. We knew that the plan to give them a face-lift was working when Bob and Allistair Meanley visited Loughborough earlier today and immediately gravitated towards the workbench where the Silvertowns were sitting. Luckily Alison was on hand to call out “Wet Paint” before any fingerprints were applied, but it was close!
During their visit, Bob & Allistair gave us an update on the Five’s boiler: The stays are finished, the small tubes are in, but need expanding. The flues are at Tyeseley and are shortly going to be swaged at the smokebox end ready for fitting, and we have a ‘shopping list’ of fittings and blanking plates to be sent over to Tyseley as soon as they are ready for them.