As usual here is a round up of some of the goings on around the workshops.  Its half-term here and you can find wider coverage on the main Museum website and facebook pages.  Blackpool trams 167, 280 and 703 (our 101) were in operation throughout the day.

Below: In the Machine Shop Dave Young has started work on Samson’s connecting rod.  It has been profiled to shape and is now being machined to create a tapered circular section along its length.  The flattened end that mates to the big end is in the chuck, with the little end nearest the camera and centred in the tailstock.  It is seen here after the first cuts were made, the edges having been milled away to reduce the ‘knock’ and work for the lathe.

Below: A few hours later and much more metal has been removed and the rod is starting to bely its intended purpose…

Below: The crosshead itself has been cast, seen here before machining.  Two slippers will fit over this, which sandwich it between the sildebars.

Below: The open pocket of the crosshead is seen clearly here, into which the little end seen earlier locates and is centred by the two ‘bumps’ that are evident.  All of this is still to be machined and bushed for the little end pin.

Below: David Mahan is seen here painting the new swing boat top rail and brackets.  This was NDTd (Non Destructively Tested) last week to prove the welds, and having passed the paintwork is being completed ready for it to be refitted to the frame.  The boats are also to receive some attention and probably a lick of paint before the season starts.

Below: We’ve seen some bits of this tractor on the blog previously, and it is now more or less completed, taking up a static role at the farm for visitors to pose on, as seen below.  The brightness will weather off in time!

Below: Darren and Mark placed the WW2 pillbox (a genuine item, from Durham, and clearly made from an egg-ended boiler) onto its pad after the team working on the farm had painted it.  It was previously just across the road adjacent to the duck pond where its role as a defensive object was not readily obvious.  How effective such an installation would have been against an advancing armoured army once can only speculate!