Today, at long last, sees the end of the third lock down “stay at home” message that commenced almost three months ago on the 5th January. We are therefore looking forward to being able to welcome back this week all those working members who feel able to return to working parties in the FRT shed, although of course all the safety measures, including sanitising and social distancing, remain in place.
As previously reported, it has been possible to make some progress over the past three months on the priority project of returning Furness Railway No. 20 to steam this summer. It is hoped to start mounting pipework and fittings over the next few weeks and Alan has made a start on making new steam joints for the injectors.
John has continued his work in making up formers to enable a new brick arch to be fitted.
There was a successful effort on Friday morning to lift the lower part of FR 20’s vacuum cylinder back into position after it had been serviced. The lifting table that was purchased last year has certainly proved its worth and Stewart Waugh is seen here fitting the retaining nuts on to the vacuum cylinder.
Tim has again been busy with the paintbrush and the paintwork on the dome cover has been refreshed. We are now ready to lift the cab spectacle plate and the dome cover into place using the Ribble Rail hi-ab when a date can be arranged.
Elsewhere, Ade has again been busy drilling out rivets in Caliban‘s smokebox and Keith has been continuing his work on Wootton Hall.
Ed has been sanding down the interior of FR 20’s cab sides but, with plans for visitors to return to the RSR site in May, he also took to his shears to trim the garden near the FRT shed.
The results of the post winter tidy up can be seen here.
John Dixon has been preparing the wooden formwork required to construct a brick arch in FR 20’s firebox.
One of the new formers can be seen here.
Alan made a new joint for FR 20’s main manifold valve last Wednesday.
Once Tim had removed the firebars from FR 20’s firebox, Alan fitted two new fusible plugs. He smiled for the camera but asked that we didn’t show the “after” photo to Alison! 
(However, we guess that she might have got a clue when she went to her washing basket….)
Tim also had to take his overalls home for a wash after rolling in spent ash underneath the firebox!
There has been a recent delivery of rolled steel sheet for Wootton Hall’s cylinder cladding. Keith was busy painting one of the smaller items.
This larger piece, once fitted, fitted transforms the look of one of the cylinders.
Friday saw Stewart Waugh make his FRT working party debut to assist in the removal of FR 20’s tender vacuum cylinder for servicing, using the lifting table. The cylinder has now been stripped down, cleaned and reassembled. We just need to lift it back into position on the tender when people are feeling strong!
The main thrust of lockdown work has been on the ongoing ten year overhaul of Furness Railway No. 20, which is scheduled to steam again this summer. The aim is to complete its statutory in-frames steam test as soon possible and the very small gang involved on this project has been making steady progress. Fortunately, the current workload has enabled individual tasks to be carried out with members suitably socially distanced. With a full repaint of the locomotive under way, much of the work has involved rubbing down components and building up the new paint finish. Ed is seen here sanding the cab spectacle plate.
The boiler bands have been re-painted and lined ready for fitting.
Meanwhile John Dixon has been refurbishing some of the vacuum pipework.
Adrian has been continuing his work on Caliban‘s axlebox lubrication to a point where he says that he is satisfied. He has also re-started the task of drilling out the smokebox rivets. 
He is seen here setting up a magnetic drill for the job.