Getting there...

Excitement this week - filming work for Eastenders was being carried out on the level crossing at Wansford. The crossing gates were removed and replaced with dummy lights and barriers, and the signal box was made to look like a disused example on the national network by being boarded up with weathered and graffitied plywood and corrugated iron. No photos I'm afraid - I wasn't sure if the filming was supposed to be 'secret' - but the news has since come out in local press and online. The episode is expected to air in about six weeks (around November) and I believe will also feature Class 31 31108 with some wagons.

Anyway the activities of the cast and crew provided suitable entertainment as I continued work on the Vanfit at the other end of the station:


The planks on the right-hand side were fixed in place and a plan devised to replace the lowest thin strip - this will be left until last.


I then started to break out the two lower planks on the left-hand side.


Unfortunately the wood behind the metal end piece had rotted. These rotten remains put up a lot of resistance to being removed and slowed progress to the extent that time ran out on me and I had to pack everything away before I could finish. However the replacement planks are cut to length, ready to go in barring minor fettling.