With only a few weeks of the Winter maintenance period to go, loose ends are being tied up to get our locomotives fit for April and the start of the 2023 running season. Most of the work has centred around D6948 after the completion of the repair to the main reservoir air pipe and the maintenance on the bogies. A historic leak in one of the brake cylinders has also been repaired with the removal and replacement of the offending cylinder coupled with some remedial work on the timing chain, which had shown signs of stretching. Finally, the B Exam has been completed and, after an absence of nearly 3 years, the ‘Green Machine’ has been declared fit for traffic (pending a test run). For its return, D6948 has been allocated the first three turns in April on the 1st (Purple TT, last round trip), 2nd (Pink TT, whole day) and 4th (Purple TT, last round trip). There are also additional turns throughout April – please check on the group and GWSR social pages for more information. We look forward to seeing some of you at the GWSR to welcome D6948 back into traffic – usual caveats apply. click to continue reading