Whilst we have the radiators removed from 50030, attention has turned to the radiator compartment inside the bodyshell with the aim being to refurbish it as quickly as possible. The reason for this is that we have the refurbished radiators back in our care, but we quickly decided that the best place to store them was where they came out from - namely inside the body of 50030!
Last week volunteer Carl Looker and his daughter Sofy started cleaning the roof of the radiator compartment, and undercoated the one end. Today Mick Wilson and I undercoated those areas in red oxide inside the rad compartment. Dave had turned the radiator compartment roof upside down to allow cleaning, repairs and painting. We aim to minimise the length of time that the roof panel is off 50030 as we are aware other Class 50 owners had problems with roof panels distorting if left "on the deck" for extended periods of time.