We start with the news that FR 20’s boiler was successfully lifted out of the frames at Preston on Saturday afternoon. John Dixon, Ade and Tim had spent time on Wednesday clearing the chosen weltrol wagon of springs and other miscellaneous items and then loading old sleepers which would support the boiler when loaded. The threesome returned on Saturday when rail entry to the workshop was easier with the service rake of coaches absent and in use.
Andy Murphy offered to operate the crane and, after fitting the lifting straps a few test lifts were made to adjust the positions after which a perfectly level lift was achieved.
The boiler was turned around to enable easier extraction of the tubes when the weltrol is finally shunted into road two of the FRT shed.
After some re-arrangement of the sleepers, the boiler was finally lowered on to the weltrol. A key milestone in the overhaul of FR 20 had been achieved.
Wednesday saw the start of the removal of the body from the newly acquired PMV. Andy Murphy is seen here preparing to light the gas axe.
Once some of the stanchions had been cut through the JCB was brought in to pull the components apart.
John Dixon and Chris Rycroft achieved some further destruction on Friday with a jig saw and, being the thrifty fellow that he is, John retrieved some of the wooden panelling for further use.
There was no riveting session on Wootton Hall‘s tender on Thursday owing to the indisposition of Matt Gervis. However, there has been good progress on painting the newly riveted front section of the frames. 
Keith is seen here with the rear buffer beam which is now ready for riveting into place.
We had another ‘Dr Who’ invasion on Saturday, but this alien, named George, was happy to be put to productive work removing rivet heads.
There has been some further progress by Ade with the decoration of Caliban‘s frames. 
Fluff has received more attention from Howard, Alan Ogden and Fred, who applied some primer paint to the frames.
Some further progress as made on Friday by Mike and John Davis on removing the cantrails from GER Royal Saloon No. 5.
Finally, Alison and Alan appeared on Friday to set up the FRT sales stand which Alison staffed over the Spooky Trains weekend.
Keith was busy preparing for another riveting session on Thursday. The footsteps shown in last week’s blog have now had the steps riveted into place permanently.
Matt Gervis and Keith are seen here riveting whilst an aerial shot shows Wootton Hall’s tender frames and also Chris Rycroft, who was cutting the rivets to size.
John Dixon is seen here heating up one of the rivets; a total of around 50 were fitted last Thursday.
The main event on Friday was the emptying of the newly acquired PMV in readiness for the body to be removed.
In the main workshop Bill Norton has machined up a cog which will eventually form part of Wootton Hall‘s reverser – it is seen here with the reverser handle.
Ade has once again been prettying Caliban‘s frames with his paint brush whilst Paul Balshaw and John Davis have been making the most of some decent weather by putting more undercoat paint on the cab. 
Roger has continued his work on cleaning and painting the eccentrics.
There has been more work on Wootton Hall including the behind the scenes preparation of drawings by Bob who was present on Friday. The Thursday riveting gang of Keith, John Dixon and Matt Gervis has again convened. This photo taken last Wednesday shows the steps which give access to the cab ready for attention from the rivet gun.
There has been further progress with Fluff – Howard and Keith are seen here discussing the work in hand. John Davis also did some work on cleaning the footplate on Friday.
Work on the L&NWR platform seat from Preston station has also continued and Paul Newton is seen here doing some woodwork.
Finally, we wanted to share a photo from British Railways days of the FRT’s GWR ‘Hall’ Class 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall which has been kindly sent to us today by Richard Greenwood. It shows the locomotive heading south from Eastleigh with what was presumably an inter-regional train, probably heading for Southampton and Bournemouth, on the 3rd November 1961. Thanks, Richard.
Dr Who returned on TV last night, but this photo is not of an invading alien creature but of John Dixon readying himself to remove more stubborn bolts from inside FR 20’s smokebox! We are pleased to be able to record that John won the battle with the bolts and that, subject to the removal of some concrete on Wednesday, the boiler should then be ready for lifting.
With the weather turning inclement, John Davis and Paul Balshaw commenced the task of removing the steel screws that hold the gutter on Royal Saloon GER No. 5 in place. This is to enable the canvas to be removed and replaced. Unfortunately, the screws have probably been in place for some sixty years so they are proving to be extremely stubborn to extract!
Roger has been preparing and painting the eccentrics on Caliban‘s driving wheelset whilst Ade has continued the task of preparing and painting Caliban’s underframes a very bright red.
There has been some welcome movement forward in the overhaul of Fluff. Anthony has been joined by Howard, Alan Preston and Jim Hanmer. Their combined efforts have released the engine mounting bolts which will enable it to be lifted out. 
It is planned that this will take place when FR 20 is shunted into the FRT shed after its boiler lift.
Mike has continued his work to track down electrical faults on the former FRT RMB. He is seen here investigating the regulator box.
Outside, Ted has made good progress with the garden adjacent to the path to the FRT shed and alongside the new playground.
We have a photo of Alison sitting on one of the picnic benches in the children’s playground where the ground works have at last been finished. It looks good!
There was just the small matter of fixing the gate to the path alongside the playground where a total of seven people can be seen either watching or undertaking the job… (well twas ever thus on the big railway, so… )
One final piece of the jigsaw to be fitted is the new mural which will be mounted on the back of the toilet block, which is adjacent to the playground. Bill Croston is seen here putting the finishing touches to the mural on Saturday.
As previously reported, Stephen Middleton’s Hudswell Clark 0-6-0ST No. 1208 of 1916 Illingworth/Mitchell was the guest locomotive.
Another job that was completed this week was a coat of undercoat on Caliban‘s cab. John Davis is seen here with the brush.
Roger has been giving another coat of red oxide to Caliban‘s wheelsets whilst Ade has been trial fitting the axleboxes on Caliban and agreeing clearances with Alan. The latter pair are both seen here, but Alan seems to have shrunk in the wash!
Progress continues on Wootton Hall with yet another riveting session taking place last Thursday, resulting in these footsteps for the tender.
George made an appearance on Saturday and can be seen reaming a hole on the Hall’s tender, which will receive a fitted bolt manufactured by Bill Norcross to secure one of the hornguides.
Progress has also been made on the creation of a screw reverser handle for Wootton Hall; more machining is still required.
Finally, for the record, English Electric built Nederlandse Spoorwegan diesel electric shunter No. 601 left the RSR on Wednesday to be returned to Holland for industrial use.