I should really be worried with the amount of these murder programmes she watches!

One of the few jobs that I completely leave to Mrs. Woody is ironing. Anything else I will do but ironing just is not my thing. Mrs. W on the other hand finds it somewhat therapeutic and usually irons whilst watching another murder mystery TV series - I should really be worried with the amount of these murder programmes she watches! Anyway, yesterday saw the demise of the iron that decided after about 10 years of use it was no longer going to heat up. Whilst with most such items I would have opened it up to have a look and repair if possible I am somewhat dubious about repairing an iron that is held in the hand and has electricity and water! At this point I should point out that I do not watch murder mysteries! So, Mrs. W ordered a new one of her choice from Argos for pick up today.

She did get a bargain as the iron should have been £82 (cough, cough!) but it was on sale at half price and then she got a discount code that brought the final price down to a much more reasonable £31!

Whilst she was collecting said iron, I perused the display shelf which had those items that Argos believe that no one can live without and this was there!

Now as a kid I was aware of various play sets such as a carpenters, or kitchen but never a dentists! Those things in the picture look very realistic too! I think I will just stick to playing trains with my oversized trainset!

Talking of which. unfortunately not a lot of time to do anything to it as not only have I been shopping with Mrs. W but also putting banners out for the Rocks By rail Museum's next events.

Next is a Driver 4 a Fiver that should have been on Fathers Day which this year is on the 21st June. Due to a slight misunderstanding it got advertised on the Museum leaflet as the 14th June. rather than confuse everyone more by moving the already advertised date the event remains on the 14th but I have amended the banner with a "PRE" to the Fathers Day. Not sure what people will make of that but it may make them, look more closely at what the event is! 

Those banners are now four years old and I amend them each year with a bit of work and a few cheap materials which saves about £2,000 for each year they get reused.  Not sure how much longer they can go on but they have paid for themselves!

The end of the line which you can now at least get to!

It was a case of, what is missing from this loco, as I arrived at the Rocks By Rail Museum. 

Usually I walk past such situations without noticing anything but I did notice that the cab of Uppingham has been removed as part of its on-going cosmetic restoration.

As with all such work, the true extent of the required work is only fully revealed once parts are removed. The amount of rot in the footplate is frightening. That is quarter inch steel that has rotted through!

Meanwhile 1931 is slowly being put back together with John inside the frames preparing to paint.

Outside, Andy and Martyn were on the mechanised vegetational butchery machine AKA the weedkilling train and there has been a sudden growth of the pesky vegetation so there work is much needed.

Not the greatest of jobs to do on a hot day as Andy has to put on protective clothing making him look a little like a beekeeper!

My vegetational butchery was much less demanding of protection for me with Morris Mower and myself disappearing down the nature trail where nature was rampantly taking off but that was soon taken care of!

The end of the line which you can now at least get to!

What has amazed me is given the lack of rain during May and the both very cold and very hot temperature is just how much vegetational growth there has been!

That's not cool!

A bit of an unusual Bank Holiday Weekend at the Rocks By Rail Museum with the Sunday being a quite day whereas the Monday was full on mayhem! What was common to both days though was the weather. Wall to wall sunshine and heat! However, that was good with the Museum, and our guests did come and they did enjoy and we all had a great time which is what it is all about!

For some. like Pam on Gate Keeper duties, it was hotter.

But the new hut was a good place to take shelter and keep cool and those refreshments to hand!

For others such as John and Dave hats were the call of the day to keep cool as they fettled the brakes on Mr. D.

Only thing is that those of a certain age may see a resemblance to those two looking like Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men! That's not cool!

From the drivers seat I had a few surprises!

 From the drivers seat I had a few surprises. First there was the low flying aircraft on my way to the Rocks By Rail Museum.

The photo doesn't really show just how low this, what I am informed, A400M is. I saw it circling in the distance and then it came in low following the road at what must have been only a few hundred feet in altitude. The noise was incredible! I did wonder if it was in problems but there are no reports so I guess it was all part of what ever operation it was on!

That was surprise number one and number two came as I pulled into the Museum.

Had the A400M dropped a marquee into the Museum? 

Well, the answer was a first for the Museum in that there is a wedding reception! Given the event I did get Morris Mower out and cut the grass in the vicinity so at least any photos of the bride and groom along with guests will show a well, Ok reasonably, manicured grass area!

I did notice on my way out that a play area had been set up for the younger wedding guests and noticed the push along mower. I did wonder if I should have put Morris Mower in there in the hope of encouraging a younger person to cut some grass but I don't think that would have gone down too well!

With the possibility of a TV programme wanting to restore something from the Museum as part of their show, David was removing the chimney from steam loco Uppingham. There are several other possible items but I am guessing the chimney may have a certain appeal!

Meanwhile, back in the restoration shed John is continuing work on the Southern brake van with the veranda floor taking shape. Due to the age and distortion of the underlying metal work there is a need for a lot of packing pieces to get a level floor.

John has also made progress with the inside stripping paintwork ready for the repaint. Must be hot work as he has the fan out!

Also in the restoration shed, Alex has been busy painting the inside of the cab. Not the easiest of areas to work in and the cab roof is always a difficult area to do but Alex is experienced from his work on Ketton No1. so no surprises for him!

It is certainly quicker to see results grass cutting then cosmetically restoring a loco!

What do you do when a local school offers some pupils for a day of 'Giving Back'? Well at the Rocks BY Rail Museum there is always plenty to do and that included wire brushing and painting anti-rust paint onto the footplate of steam loco Uppingham which begins its major cosmetic restoration this year.

The pupils also cleaned and painted some of the fencing which makes the place look smarter.

Talking of looking smarter, the new platform flower planters are beginning to come to life.

And also looking smarter was the grass after taking Morris Mower out for the day!

I do get a sense of satisfaction as unruly grass grass turns from this to this over a comparatively short time.

It is certainly quicker to see results grass cutting then cosmetically restoring a loco! I just need to cut round the wheelsets but that is a job for Sammy Strimmer once he is better and out of the Strimmer Hospital which is hopefully next week!

Sammy therefore was ambulanced to a local Strimmer Hospital!

 Only seems like a few days ago I was at the Rocks By rail Museum but of course it was! However today was more about doing things rather than providing a show although there is a good show of plants in the platform planters.

In the Restoration Shed work continues on the Southern Region brake van where what was going to be a cosmetic restoration is turning into something much deeper with a lot of wooden and metal parts needing replacing. Work has started on one of the rear verandas. 

I'm not sure. with the obvious nature of missing timber, that notes like this are needed though!

On the missing wood front, it was good to see Andy and Martyn replacing this gate post that had been missing for a while.

The Museum also has been given this wrought Iron panel from the estate of a deceased member.

You cannot see it very well nut it is an industrial loco and two wagons. It needs to be set in the open once repainted where it should look good.

My day saw Sammy Strimmer and me turn this...

into this...

Not bad but then Sammy started to play up. He would run for a minute and then cut out. Back to the Restoration Shed and my thoughts were fuel filter, air filter or a ballast resistor in the magneto. The fuel filter was dirty but I cleaned it out. However the air filter was filthy and wet as was the housing for it.! 

The best way to clean the air filter was to blast it with compressed air. Luckily the Museum has such facilities in the form of this 1939 compressor!

The only problem is that it has such a big tank that it takes about 10 minutes to get to a good pressure!

However, once pressured up an air gun cleaned and dried the air filter which when refitted saw Sammy running smoothly again. However, after 30 minutes Sammy was back to his old tricks! I knew when I was beaten as the problem was probably related to the carburettor which was something that I was not going to start fiddling with! Step away when you know it makes sense. Sammy therefore was ambulanced to a local Strimmer Hospital where it is hoped he will be well in 7 to 10 days! 

Another Bank Holiday Quarry Day at the Rocks By Rail Museum!"

 Another Bank Holiday Quarry Day at the Rocks By Rail Museum. I'm not going to say a lot as I am shattered from shunting all day but happy but it was a great day for attendance and takings which was surprising given the weather was dull. However, talking to guests they all seemed really impressed and entertained which is what it is all about after all!

For me the highlight was seeing Museum Legend Ray get back behind the controls of the drag line excavator. Only Ray can do that at 95! And he still makes it look easy!

Woody attends another birthday party!

Yet another Birthday Party at the Rocks By Rail Museum and amazingly I was again invited with Mrs. W accompanying me just to make sure I behaved! 

This time it was Mick (on the left) who turned 80 today and had decided that just like Ray a few weeks ago, the Museum was the perfect place to celebrate!

He had a fantastic cake in the shape of the Janus locomotive that he painted some years ago as a first project with the Museum.

It was a shame to cut it up but it was and delicious it was! There were plenty of people about celebrating Mick's milestone birthday to consume the cake! as well.

And no birthday party should happen without train rides and this was no exception!

What a great day! Thanks Mick and wishing you many more to come!

Thanks to Sammy Strimmer it is at least visible now!

As I arrived at the Rocks By rail Museum, there were loco movements going on with Mr. D hauling the brake van and Sentinel loco Graham out of the shed. An usual movement as Graham is in running order or so I thought! 

However. as I discovered when making enquiries Graham had no brake shoes fitted as the old ones had been removed to allow new ones to be fitted. Now with any job at the Museum it was not a like for like replacement so new fittings have had to be machined but the new shoes are supposed to have a better braking material meaning that Graham will stop quicker!

Getting those three pieces of rolling stock out of the Exhibition Centre really opens it up for a view not normally seen!

Meanwhile I took my usual job on of vegetational butchery with Sammy Strimmer continuing from where I left off last week so this ....

Turned into this.

Whilst I was at t I also removed this fallen tree from the viewing area.

Which has restored the view!

This obscured sign warning of the overhead power lines was really too obscured!

Thanks to Sammy Strimmer it is at least visible now!

I did find some treasure  junk along the way including this operating lever which no one knows what it was for!

Talking of treasure junk, I did look in on the bone yard that I had vegetationally destructed over the Winter.

The problem is that no matter how much vegetation you cut back it grows back so I need to get back in there with Sammty before too long!