Below: Quarts into pint pots! Three engines carefully arranged – reckon we could fit three more in now!!!

Below: Fitting the new side panels to Blackpool 31. The red light is the infra-red heat lamp that makes the working environment vaguely tolerable!

Below: A fitted panel, prior to beading and painting.

Below: We also ran the first trial session of ‘Steam School’ – for a group of GCSE students from All Saints College. They received instruction in how steam engines work and a practical session on the science behind them before embarking on journey around the museum, taking it in turns to steer… As Rambler (the engine which we Will use for such activities as it is gentle and kindly!) is undergoing its boiler inspection, Michael Davison kindly allowed me to use his Marshall – a big brutal and totally manly engine! We learned a lot from the day and I would also like to thank Mike Holden for his support (and engine preparation) today. Here is the group photo – a rare view of this blog’s author on the footplate…

Below: How to move a shed! The somewhat nomadic colliery hut has been on its travels again! It is going to form the basis for a new activity where visitors can have tokens stamped as a souvenir of their colliery visit. Here it is seen en route to its new plinth, which is in the background underneath the fork-lift arm – see pics of the Tinsley winch works for a better idea of the final location… Thanks to David Young for this picture of the unusual cortege (carnival?!) passing by whilst he was fitting period signs to the water tower.