Nothing spectacular but another day of steady progress. During the week I had picked up most of the remaining machined timber for the upper deck seats and also the stays to go between the legs.  On the way today I collected the shouldered bolts for the seat back pivots from Elliott Engineering.  All these were unloaded and Jim and I laid all the seat parts out in the back room to get an idea of how they will all go together.  Ian then spent the day putting primer on the stays and Cuprinol on all the seat timbers.  I carried on with the upper deck latts and finished the central ones as well as marking out for the side latts that go between the seats.  in the afternoon I spent the time cutting all the remaining latts to length and tying them in bundles.

Five bundles which will do the platforms and the rest of the upper deck. 88 for the upper deck and 48 for the platforms. The platform ones will be individually cut to final length to cope with the taper of the platforms.  Jim spent the day rubbing down the first coat of gloss and then started masking off ready for the white undercoat.  All steady and unspectaculr progress.  Later on Malcolm arrived with the block and tackle that we will use to lower the running gear down the drive when we move it in August.

Just Three of us today in another mainly dry day apart from a couple of showers.  Ian carried on rubbing and flatting down the second layer of undercoat and did some filling and minor touching up on the seat frames.  Paul was present and he and I spent the mroning sorting out the timber for the upper deck floor latts.  I spent most of the time marking out and Paul selected the best pieces for the long timbers that go down the centre of the top deck.   After lunch he started cropping them to length whilst I drilled and countersunk the 11 long ones.  I then manged to get seven of them fixed and this is the final result.

Not the best place for photography but things will make more sense when the other latts are added.

Another day of steady progress with Ian, Jim, Paul and myself all in attendance.  Paul spent some time working on patterns for the strip that will hold the canvas down above the canopies.  Ian carried on painting seat frames in primer and then started flatting down and filling the areas that had been undercoated last week.   In the afternoon he was able to put a second coat on.  Jim spent the day trimming the seat frames to length and fitting the end plates which can be seen in this photo.

Here the end plates can be seen and all the seat parts now made. and fitted.  By the end of the day we had fitted themn several times and the process was starting to get easier.  A couple of purpose made wedges made the job a lot easier to hold the seat backs up whilst we put the bases in.  The panels are a lot heavier than the ones on Chesterfield 8 at Crich with their newer timber.  

I spent most of the day on the roof marking out the position of the seat frames and working out where the latts will go.  Hopefully next week I will be able to get the long latts fitted.  I made another little jig to work out the spacing of the crossways latts between the seats but forgot to take a photo.  Away from the tram the brake columns are nearly finished in Cleckheaton and the nosing for the upper deck seats have been machined. The artwork for the garter on the side of the tram has been mocked up and just needs a few alterations. All good progress. However this isn't the only project that the team has been working on. Over the winter Jim has supervised the construction of a park around the bandstand at Crich. This now looks very nice with cast iron railings all round that used to belong to Stockport gasworks.  Over the past two months working parties from the LTHS have worked under Jim's supervision to repaint the bandstand.

Here the completed bandstand is passed rather appropriately by Leeds 180.

Crich are holding an Edwardian weekend on the 14th and 15th of July and on the 14th the bandstand is to be rededicated by the Mayor of Trafford.  (It originally came from Stretford.)  A band will be playing and the Crich Horse trams will be operating.

A nice sunny Wednesday apart from the odd shower but much got done.  I arrived late having spent time at Middleton sorting out the move there in August.  Jim completed the filling and rubbing down in the morning and Ian carried on painting the upper deck seat frames.  I brought the last 5 frames from Downs' and so the complete set are now delivered.

In the morning the door frame was jacked up and we are now able to get the tram out of the garage. I then ground off some of the bolts that secure the landing ready for painting. 

Richard Syms turned up in the afternoon and helped me to finish fitting the latts to the C side seat back which looked rather nice in the afternoon sun.

However the best bit of the day was saved till last when Jim finished putting the first undercoat of the Primrose colour on the body.  The transformation is amazing.

At last the tram is starting to look how it will eventually end up.  All in all a good day.

Well after a week away it's back to the grindstone. However last week Jim and Ian spent the day rubbing down and applying primer to the exterior especially all the trim on the ends.  Downs foundry at Huddersfield were busy casting seat frames and J R England's at Cleckheaton have started making and assembling the brake columns. Yesterday I picked up the first 17 seat frames.  A friend saw them in the car and commented on the quality of the casting and fettling saying "All you need to do is paint them."

Today I spent the morning marking out the position of the seat frames on the roof.  I then did a rough trial assembly with G cramps and this was the result.

A highly scientific design conference was held with Ian and Jim and I moved the frames in and out slightly till we all agreed that the combination of seat length and aisle width looked about right. The TLAR principle in action.  I was then able to finalise the sizes for the seat latts and nosings.  Michael spent the day finishing the other dash for B end and Ian spent the day doing a little bit of filling and filing on the seat frames before starting to paint them in primer.

Jim spent the day filling and priming on the sides and ends with a view to undercoating next week.  After lunch with the design work out of the way Michael and I spent the day putting latts onto the final seat back for C side.  By the time we finished we were able to trial fit it.

This still has the marking out latt in the 3rd position up from the joint.  This is screwed on from the front and will be replaced by a proper latt screwed from the back in due course.

Here the marking latt which has been used for all 4 sections of seat can be seen.  Also you can see the natural colour variation in the pitch pine. The ends will be properly trimmed later.

All in all a very good day's progress.