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!

Much courtesy at the Rocks By rail Museum!

Another day at the Rocks By rail Museum see the previously empty new flower containers filled with soil and ready for planting out courtesy of Sue.

The ladies toilets are getting a freshening up courtesy of Pam and Pete.

Barrington steam loco had a green buffer beam when I arrived.

However, by the end of the day courtesy of Alex, it was in red undercoat awaiting its final top coat next week.

For my morning magic and vegetational butchery I turned this...

...into this courtesy of Sammy Strimmer!

I even found that we have a buffer stop at the end of the siding having removed the undergrowth!

The afternoon saw Morris Mower out on duty cutting the front lawns! Not so sure about lawn but it does look a lot better when cut and gives the Museum that 'someone cares' look!

All of this information courtesy of WMD!

Now it is not very often that Woody gets invited to a party or indeed any event - ask Mrs. Woody!

Now it is not very often that Woody gets invited to a party or indeed any event - ask Mrs. Woody! My usual situation is that if I do get invited anywhere I only ever go twice and the second time is to apologise! However, Mrs. W and me were invited to a Birthday Party and not just a run of the mill party. It was a 95th birthday party! You don't see many of those in a lifetime! In this case it was Rocks By Rail hero volunteer Ray's 95th and what a great party it was! And where did he decide to hold it? Well at the Rocks By Rail Museum - his favourite place!

With a family of children, grand children, great grand children and a few great great grand children there were probably more people at the Museum then we see in a normal open day!

It was nice that it was a sunny day and people could overspill outside the cafe enjoying the food and cake that was in abundance!

And how many birthday parties do you go to where you get to have a ride in the cab of a locomotive? Well if you are at the Museum that can happen and it did! 

Nice one Ray and a real privilege to be at your party! I don't even have to go back and apologise - Mrs. W made sure of that ai8ded by loyal blog reader Mrs. B who was also there!

This time though, productivity on the destruction front would be double!

 There has ben a bit of tidying going on at the rocks By rail Museum!

The Restoration Shed was particularly tidy with all the stuff that has found its way onto the rolling stock removed although I am not sure where it has ended up!

 Even the platform planters are being spruced up with new wooden planting boxes replacing the tired plastic ones.

White paint is being applied to various things too!

Even this buffer head got the treatment presumably so that guests see it and don't bump into it!

Continuing with this theme of tidying, it was time to do some more vegetational butchery! This time though, productivity on the destruction front would be double as loyal blog reader Mrs. B was at the Museum looking for something to do. Well, that looking was soon sorted as a quick tutorial on the controls of Morris Mower saw Mrs. B head off into the jungle of vegetation with Morris leaving me to do some much needed strimming with Sammy Strimmer!

So this....

Became this...

It may not look much but there were brambles, ivy and grass engorging the track side and wheels of the rolling stock so it at least looks neater.

More work with Sammy saw this....

become this...

I know that vegetation has not been dealt with for at least five years! Looks neater now though!

You always find odd things when wandering around the site such as this old birds nest made on the chassis of one of the wagons.

I also got a chance to take a look at some of the rolling stock I never normally get to see cloose up such as this bogie flat.

It may not have moved in a few years but it will be needed to move rail and sleepers once the passing loop is started at the end of the line.

Something that probably has no likely future service is this coach which unfortunately was vandalised some years ago.

Something I would like to see come back into service is this rather unique rake of side tipping wagons.

As a rake of 6 wagons they would look stunning restored and running behind one of the locos. The chassis are fine on the wagons but the bodies would need a lot of work to bring them back to life.

Whilst I imagined the fully restored wagons running Mrs. B had run out of petrol for mowing but had done a great job in keeping the place looking tidy. At this rate we may run out of jobs to do!