We've been painting a lot of stuff white recently. Firstly there was an ex-McAlpines U skip we painted up for the Gala. More recently, we've had a go at the Pickrose battery electric loco. We got this going a couple of months ago following repairs to one of its traction motors. Now the costmetic work is coming along a treat. The following picture shows Cynthia proudly finishing off the new paintwork, although it seems that Cynthia has got as much paint on her coat as the loco. It has to be said that the loco, if not the coat, is a great improvement.
Perhaps the next to enter the paint shop could be "Lady Anne" (CE B0922A/1975). This locomotive was obtained from Hunslet Loco Hire (HLHL) in 2003 and has been resident in the Apedale Heritage Centre since July 2004 as part of the static loco display. However, recently it was moved out to make way for new displays, so our attention turned to one slight problem... the Lady is the wrong gauge. Thankfully, those thoughtful people at
Clayton Engineering built her as gauge-convertable, so her modification from 18in gauge to 24in should be straightforward. And indeed it was, on one axle anyway. Lady Anne also has a bit of an identity crisis in more than gauge. Above the rear axle flies a Union flag, above the front a Scottish flag. Quite how this came to be is unknown. However, what did become clear was that they make axles quite a lot more stubborn North of the Border. Fortunately they make people stubboner, in the shape of our resident sledgehammer-wielding Alex (illustrated below).
Anyway, a bit of percussive maintenance soon had that uncooperative axle beaten, and we could drop the loco onto the track and into the workshop. Here, the CME attempted to entice the batteries back into life. In the final photo we see the CME surrounded by his battery-enticing equipment. The more observant amongst you can also play "
spot the meerkat" with this photo. Anyway, with a bit of luck we'll lave Lady Anne back in fine form and perhaps ready for a new coat of paint, but that probably depends on how fed up Cynth is with painting stuff white. Benevolent white paint suppliers can contact us
here.
