Below: Smiths, old and new – several decades separate these two vans, but both are products of a local firms to us, Smiths Electric Vehicles.  They are still very active in producing a wide range of vans, as is ably illustrated by Jonathan Kindleyside’s photograph of this pair at the weekend.

Below: The first top coats of ‘Saxe Blue’ have been applied to the B-Type bus, and we can now start to get a good idea of what is looking like an impressive livery. Phil is also working on the interior and railings of the top deck, with seats painted and handrails receiving a coat of hard-wearing black paint.

Below: Samson’s frames have been dismantled to enable work to continue in their preparation for riveting.  This also enables more practical matters, such as fitting the cumbersome mag drill into quite a confined space, to be more easily accomplished.  The horn guides will be jigged and drilled for securing to the frames before a fillet weld is added to ensure they remain rigid.  Dave has made a precision jig to ensure centres on both sides, as well as in the coupling rods, are exactly the same – quite a critical matter and one not unfamiliar to those who build model railway locomotive chassis.