A full team turnout today and quite a bit of work done as well as preparing for the Leeds Model Railway Show. The highlight was showing the team the pattern for the tram wheel which has been produced for the foundry by Heritage Patterns ltd at Lockwood. The general opinion was that the pattern was superb.  All being well the wheels will be cast next week.  The pattern will be on show at the Leeds MRS on the LTHS stand this coming weekend.

The Wheel pattern showing the ribs on the rear and the two cores. The larger one is for the 'loose wheel' that is free to rotate on each axle.  We will have 2 wheels of each type cast.

As well as that very clear sign of progress we removed 2 monitor ribs for repair and took all the protective pads off A side. This means that the pannelling is now complete.  Jim spent the rest of the day filling nail holes and rubbing down.  The panels appear to be very smooth but the acid test will be what they look like when they get painted.  Hopefully next week we can get some primer on once we've warmed the panels up to get the moisture out.  I spent time cutting wedges for assembling the roof and Stephen put more triangular fillets behind the panels on A side.  The basic saloon structure is really coming on.

Today Stephen Jim and I managed to get a lot done.  The main work was putting the final layer of pannelling on A side.  5 pieces of ply and 280 pins and 280 small pieces of ply to protect the surface.  Hard work but it was worth it.  Hopefully next weel we can get some paint on it to stop the damp.  The car looks different and on C side where the plywood patches have now come off it looks good.  Stephen sarted putting the triangular fillets on to C side holding the ribs to the back of the panelling.  By the end of the day he had fixed 320 of them.  Next week we can trim them, grind off the few nail points that have come through and then paint the inside.    All very good progress.

Away from the car there has also been progress.  The pattern for the wheels has been finished and is ready for inspection.  All  being well it will be on display at the Leeds Model railway show 31/10 and 1/11, held at Leeds Grammar school.  There will be adisplay about 107 on the LTHS stand.  Copies of Leeds transport will be on sale.  Hopefully we will get the wheels cast in early November.

Today was a strange day with not much work done on the car but another milestone achieved.   Yesterday we went to Crich to get some machining done on our new draw gear and also research the interiors of Dundee 21 and Chesterfield 8 which were also built by Milnes.  This is to help with the design of the missing parts of the saloon of 107. 

When we got to the tramshed we felt that our main priority had to be the door as it was nearly falling off on one side.  We thus spent all day repairing it but when Stephen arrived I was able to get on with the pannelling.  We got the last part of C Side's rocker panel fixed and took off the protective pads revealing the rest of the complete pannelling.  Jim Soper is seen here checking it for bumps.  It looks and feels very nice.  Just the top layer on A side to do now.

The door now has 12 new screws holding it on to a reinforced door jamb rather than 5 rusty screws holding it to a rotten jamb.

Today we carried on pannelling the sides and got the top layer of the waist panels onto C side.  This now looks rather odd as it is covered in small bits of ply that protected the surface when we pinned it on.  However the best prt of the day was when Charlie Wilson, who with his wife Stella, had originally donated the tram to the society came and saw the car for the first time in 32 years.   he was very pleased to see it and commented on the way back home 'I'm glad your'e making a proper job of it.' This is prasie indeed from a man who was a trained coachbuuilder and panel beater who used to restore vintage Rolls Royce's.  He and his wife want to be kept in touch with progress on the car.

Her you can see Charlie staning in the car.

Another Wednesday's work done and a nice day warm enough to eat lunch outside. Good progress made with the pannelling.  Jim and I spent all day cutting, glueing and then nailing on the second layer of 3mm ply on C side.  This was finished just before we stopped for the day and now there are 2 layers on all round.  The tram does look a lot more complete with all the pannelling on.  Hopefully next week we will be able to put some of the final layer on. Meanwhile Steve carried on fettling seat supports.