Tuesday Sept 17th
MW away in the sunshine and has left us a long list of jobs to do. Problem is that whilst He may be away on a beach, We are in the pouring rain!

So basically we try to pick the dry jobs. Andy P and his Dad John start to reassemble the ground signal castings that have been rebuilt and are now repainted in shiny Gloss Black. I decided to see if I could get a bit further with the cable problem that lurks on the inter Box circuit between Cheltenham Raccecourse and Winchcombe signal boxes. I have long thought that it was in the section betwen Gotherington and Winchcombe but that was what we wanted to prove, ready for Neil to take further, opening up lineside cabinets etc.
As I said, it was pouring with rain and we ( John Collier and I) were looking for an indoor job. By about 2.00 we were wet through having marched up and down Gotherington Platform, its a wet walk to the Signal Box. But we did it and I can now say its a 30v battery contact on the B leg and its probably nearer to Winch than Goth, also slightly worrying the contact is not coming from a phone line, possibly something more critical so we need to keep an eye on it. Wrote up our work  report to update the fault report sheet, watch this space.

Need to try to do some work on the rear of our beloved Strowger Exchanges. Unfortunately they were placed against a wall and we need access to the rear. Especially at Toddington where the fault is the reason why some extensions will receive calls but can't get  dial tone. Thinking of some sort of platform frame  on big castors that will enable them to be rolled out and then put back when  the work is done.
 Question:  has anyone got any knocking around ? The exchange units weigh 3cwt each so it will be substantial, is this a new answer to mobile phones!!

Mike S