A really cold Wednesday.  Well no snow but there was ice on the car this morning when I set off to Batley to collect the first prototype rubber cone for the suspension system.  It was still cold but just above freezing when we made a start.  The first job was to assemble as many poarts of the suspension as we have got.  The great surprise was that they all fitted together perfectly despite having been drawn out by me and maade by four different firms in duffering materials.

Here is part of one half of a supension unit with a rubber cone with a spring setat on top of it.  Then the coil spring with another seat on top of it with the spreader bar that will tie the whole axlebox assembly together above.  The cone looks like this:

The next step was to mount it in our high tech test jig and measure how much it was compressed with a load of approx 240lbs.  The weight was achieved very simply. I stood on the plank and ian measured the deflection with said high tech device.

We will now have a kuld made for this shapoe and after slight adjustments to the ahrdness of the rubber will have 16 produced.  There are two inside each coil spring.

Meanwhile work continued in other areas.  Jim and Ian installed the door protector plates and I finished drilling the canopy support brackets for B end.  Now that D end canopy bend is in place the end of the tram looks very different.

The temporary landing is seen on the right.  We also wet fixed the moulding to the underside of the first upper deck plank and Ian finished off the waterproofing of the canvas.  Malcolm has worked wonders with the lights and has also put some more very useful power sockets in. 

Away from the tram the patterns for the axleboxes and bearing plus the last of the supension components have been commissioned and an order for a prototype oiler is to be placed shortly.  The other great news is that the proof reading of Volume 5 of Leeds Transport has now been finished and we should be able to start the publication process very soon.