Wednesday   31st December a minus 3.5C start but clear blue sky when out of the fog.

After a day off for Christmas Eve last week we are onto the final day of 2025. being New Years Eve the railway was operating and the engines were been prepared as I pulled in.

                                

The view from the workshop told the tale of a cold night but promised a nice day.

                                    

The first job was outside as the 1920's fuel pump was leaning to the right so we straightened it up as it is bolted to the blue bricks this meant a bigger gap opened up so we dropped a packing piece in by way of an 8mm nut the filled the gap with dry sand that had been standing in front of the electric fire to dry it out.

                  

        

We have had a Victorian coffee grinder that was half done a long time ago but it has sat outside on the ground so today it got worked on as Greg had found a suitable hand cranking wheel for it.

                                                                The starting point

                                            

                            After a full strip and shot blast the tape as to protect the brass work.

                                    

                                     A  bare dry assembly to see how it all went together.

                                                 

After warming it up in front of the heater it was then primed and top coated in red and black and the brass parts were polished up..

The oil dispensing can has had a major derusting with a rotary wire brush and looks a lot better  it now needs the pump seal doing then we can use it for old engine oil storage

Two blades off  a rotary planer that were used in the original construction of Toddington station and were unearthed in the gardens of station cottages have had a light shot blast that removed the rust and uncovered  so stamped writing  all that is legible is LEEK but the corrosion has obscured the rest.  

And with that we ran out of time.