Potter

15Oct 2020 by Potter

Work Day 11th October 2020

News

There's no way to dress this up, folks. This is another update almost entirely dedicated to seats. I'm sorry. I promise there will be updates about greasy machinery very soon. But in the meantime it's the unglamorous but needy stuff which is keeping us busy. If there's one thing that 3417 needs at the moment, it's seats.We had a small workforce of three on-site last Sunday, and only one technically-trained Minion, so while he got on with fiddly stuff that involves wires and voltages, Potter and Doug* set their sights on stripping the remainder of the water-damaged tea base of their rotted covers. Rather than bore you with tales of tearing fabric, dust (lots of dust), evicted spiders, staples that would come out, staples that wouldn't come out and staples…

04Oct 2020 by Potter

Workday 3rd October 2020

News

First of all, our stealth Drinkwear salesman Mr Mark Hopwood (also known for being in charge of a railway company or two) continues to do stirling work advertising the magnificence of the Third Rail and the SETG. If he keeps this up there might be another mug of tea & really nice biscuits for him when he next visits Strawberry Hill. Thank you very much, Mr H!Do you want yours? Would you like to drink the hot beverage of your choice like a Managing Director? Then wait no more, dear reader - follow the link below and fulfil all your SETG Merchandising desires! https://www.setg.org.uk/eshop/ Now; enough shameless enterprise - on with the news. The Minions were once again on-site at Strawberry Hill on the 3rd October 2020, busily engaged in…

24Sep 2020 by Potter

Work Day Report: 13th September 2020

News

Greetings from behind a face mask, everyone.This report comes to you from coach U of the 09:43 Avanti West Coast service to Preston; please feel free to appreciate the dedication to keeping you all informed of 3417's progress! We hope you're all well, staying socially distanced and coping with the continuing COVID nonsense. (Is anyone else getting bored with living in a bad apocalyptic science fiction story? I know I am.)The Minions were on-site on Sunday 13th September for a mixed train/non-train day. As much as we want to crack on with sorting the unit out and getting it back into service, there's more to running a depot than just "fix train, play with train, lock-up and go home." Maggie and Lynn, our trim experts, sat down and continued their…

10Sep 2020 by Potter

Update from Minion Towers: 10th September 2020

News

Good afternoon, followers of the 4VEP.We hope this small update finds you all well and coping with the increasingly bizarre ups & downs of 2020.We wanted to bring you this small but important update regarding the re-wire of Trailer Open 70797. We have now assembled the required materials for the work and, more importantly, we have assembled a small dedicated team to carry out this work. The three men who have volunteered are all ex-railway fleet managers and well respected in their field. The job is a big one, but it will be done to a high standard and when finished will mean that coach is ready for many years of use. We hope to see work start in around a fortnight, and we will keep you all updated with…

26Jul 2020 by Potter

Work Days: 26th June, 11th & 23rd July 2020

News

Good afternoon everyone.Important Non-Train Related Announcement: Espresso Martinis are a bad idea and you shouldn't drink them because if you have too many they make your head want to fall off the next day. As I have found myself saying on many many previous occasions, "Never again." Thank heavens for two days off. (Mind you, it was a very good birthday party!)Now, on to matters of a slam door train preservation nature. There are three work days to report - two of them were routine, attended by two SETG Minions.The third and latest workday was well attended and far from routine."Now, read on...." Work Days 26th June/11th July 2020: These two days were focussed on finishing details on 76262 which have been previously missed or were deemed lower priority jobs.The…

24Jun 2020 by Potter

Work Days: 21st & 23rd June 2020

News

WE'RE BACK! We're back at work!! No more H&S inspections, no more worrying about how much work we aren't getting done; we're back and working. At last we can breathe a sigh of relief and get on with bringing 3417 back to running condition. After the agonies of Lockdown, and trying to see the light at the end of what looked like a very long tunnel, we are very very glad to be back on the tools. Unusually, we have managed to squeeze two work days into less than a week. The work we managed to fit in during those two days were by turns the most disheartening and encouraging things we have done on the unit for quite some time. Sunday's task is very simply summarised - to strip…

24May 2020 by Potter

COVID-19 Update Number 2 – 24th May 2020 (with added Monty Python and Dead Moths)

News

Good afternoon, one and all. Well, the lockdown drags on and we wanted to keep you abreast of developments at and any from Strawberry Hill. A minimum provision of minions were on site on Saturday 16th to carry out our scheduled Health and Safety Inspection. Both buildings were checked and found to be in good order. It's fairly agonising for us to be allowed on-site but not to be able to get our hands dirty. There are so many jobs waiting to be progressed - the re-wire of Long Trailer 70797, old seat bases to be stripped and new covers to be made up, trim to be stripped out of 70797 and seat backs and bases to go into Motor Brake 62236, to say nothing of starting work on 76263.…

04May 2020 by Potter

Our Shop Is Now Live!

News

Good evening, everyone. Apologies for the late hour, but all of us here at Minion Towers are very pleased to announce that the SETG Shop, under development for the last few months, is now live and accepting orders!Please follow the link at the top of our webpage to view the items currently available to satiate your 4VEP Retail Desires, or simply CLICK HERE.Well done and thank you to the Web Services and Retail Minion for all his hard work over the past few weeks to get things up and running.

20Apr 2020 by Potter

COVID-19 Update: 20th April 2020

News

Firstly, all of us at the SETG hope that everyone reading this update is safe and well. We are continuing to act on government guidelines* so naturally work is on hiatus at Strawberry Hill for the foreseeable future. As those of you who have been following our progress will know, Non-Driving Trailer 70797 is now ready to begin its train heating re-wire. This will mean stripping the trim from the coach to allow access to the under-seat heaters, so Motor Brake Standard Open 62236 will be receiving a portion of the good trim from 70797. Darren has done his usual superb job of restoring the internal window trims, so 62236 is ready to be re-fitted internally. This work alone will keep us busy for several months at least - the…

19Mar 2020 by Potter

70797 Heating Fault Update

News

Good evening, Followers of Gordon. This is just a brief update to keep you abreast of progress on fixing the coach heating fault on Non-Driving Trailer No.70797. At present we are getting quotes for materials to correct the fault. This will comprise (approximately): 50 meters of new wiring conduit, plus fixings. 200 meters of replacement wiring. We now expect the cost of this will be around £300. Thanks to the kindness of those of you who have pledged towards our #PintForTheVEP appeal, we have sufficient funds in place to cover this outlay; brilliant work, everyone! Buckie (Holder of the Screwdriver of Truth and winner of the 'Mr Greasy Spanner Monkey 2019' competition) believes that at present we are looking at four months work, assuming two work days a month to get…