One side of the first section of Esso tank No.1914 was wire brushed and painted with green primer today. 
Still a very long way to go! I need to get undercoat on top of the primer as soon as possible, as the primer is porous and doesn't offer much weather protection. Better than nothing however!
LMS Brake Composite Corridor (BCK) No.18017 has received LMS corridor gangway connections. I believe that these originally came from some ex-LMS Irish coaches. This coach is undergoing conversion to volunteer sleeping accommodation, which is a much-needed facility on the railway.
Some mysterious yellow lines have appeared across the tracks by the Carriage and Wagon shed. Presumeably these are marking out the location for a new crossing to serve the shed, which again will be very useful.
D9529 (numbered in preservation as "14029") is now looking resplendent after its repaint and should be staying on the railway for a while once up and running. These locomotives are ideal for preserved line use, originally designed in the early 1960s as a diesel-powered equivalent of a GWR pannier tank for shunting and branch line work.
"14029"s previous 'industrial' appearance, this time last year.
IRPS member Chris has been busy continuing the sprucing up of static 'gate guardian' Swedish 'B' Class 4-6-0 No.101. He has wire-brushed, primed and undercoated the left-hand cylinder cladding. Over the past few weeks or so, the missing cab windows have had their glass replaced and have now been reinstalled on the cab. The adjacent Wagon-Lits Restaurant Car has also seen a good clean externally.
The wheels for Danish Class F 0-6-0T No.656 'Tinkerbell' were moved into the old shed, in order for them to be temporarily fitted to the frames and the whole lot moved into the Heavy Overhaul Workshop for overhaul to continue.
Quite a lot going on at the moment on the carriage and wagon front. I spent my day needle-gunning more of the first section of the Esso tank. The platform side of this section is now ready for wire brushing and green primer, as is the top, and I am well on the way with stripping the yard side as can be seen here. It doesn't look much, but the area stripped so far represents many hours of work.
Peter was working on the Southern brake van No.55550 further along the platform. The second verandah end has been removed and will be replaced with new timber, matching the excellent job already completed on the other end. He is also planning on replacing the timber panelling in the sides at some point.
Peter has also burned out the bolts holding the steel deck at the same end in order to undertake repairs/refurbishment.
Tim's standard 20-ton BR van has received its top coats of BR 'freight brown' and templates for the lettering were also taped in place by the time of my visit.
And now to carriages... the spare bogies for temporarily withdrawn Mk1 E25639 are undergoing overhaul in the workshop. In the foreground, the wheelsets from the first bogie are undergoing servicing and painting. Behind can be seen the second bogie awaiting attention, in the condition in which they were recovered from outdoor storage.
The first bogie frame has also been cleaned and painted. Very surprisingly, the various Mk1 carriage bogie types (B1, B4, Commonwealth) are not as interchangeable as you might expect. So much for standardisation!
View of the cafe extension (taken a week ago), which is coming on nicely. It will be interesting to see how it has progressed on my next visit.
The NVR 'Friends' organisation is trying to raise funds for the purchase and rescue of the building but a lot of money is required - an appeal leaflet mentioned £160,000 just for the purchase of the building although this figure may well now be out of date. If the whole yard could be purchased there would be possibilities for also saving the brick-built ex-LNWR goods shed opposite the station building, and with a little imagination the empty land to the west could potentially accommodate a carriage shed, saving huge amounts of time and money on carriage overhauls. Perhaps we need to consider converting it into a railway pub or some other commercial venture to gain more income?!