Slow but sure...progress report 16/11/14

And as we move ever closer to 2599's one year anniversary in the hands of the 2599 Group, progress had tailed off a little with Gary having numerous commitments including raising money for the Poppy Appeal and performing tours of WW1 battlefields, and Tim galavanting around the world chasing Diesel-Electric locomotives when not attending the day job or getting his hands dirty with other projects he is involved with. Meanwhile, our leader Paul was still pounding the tarmac of Britain's motorways week in, week out, Calum would occasionally pause for breath while freelancing for several coach companies, and your blogmaster was in the process of changing jobs again to work in a phone-based Customer Service role for a major communications company. Oh dear, it appears I have digressed...

Enough of my rambling, back to the star of our show - 2599! Our last visit in late-October had seen Paul and Gary between them tidy the battery box up a little more, and today's visit saw even further progress in this department. After much discussion, it had been decided to make a small change to the design of the compartment to reduce time and make access quicker and easier, rather than having to dismantle half of the interior every time! Gary and Robin set about cutting away the heavily corroded central divider, no longer required as part of the design change, and eventually it is planned to build a small jockey box next to the new battery position to house a jack and a wheel brace.

The next task was to drill holes into the new steelwork for the seat mounting holes, and rivet the top of the battery box to the new steelwork, before Gary and Robin finally set about screwing the aisle floorboard to the new stiffening plates, and coating the new and existing steelwork in rust-proofing silver paint. All that remains now is to fit a new section of floorboard, which will conceal the work beneath to the average person.

With our technical experts working hard, we set Paul to work mashing the brews (Gary's minibus comes equipped for every scenario, including a kettle and a grille) before we sat down in the caravan not to relax and supervise progress, but to catalogue and archive every item of sales stock we had accumulated, including much of the stock donated by retired Trent driver John Murfin a few weeks previously. With a thorough list of descriptions, clothing sizes and other such necessities recorded in writing, your blogmaster will one day eventually get round to posting photographs and advertising said items for sale in a bid to raise much needed funds to put back into the pot for 2599's restoration. A full post of what is available will be made available here, on the group's facebook page, and maybe even my own personal facebook page in due course...