The four body brackets that have been removed from the apparatus end of the coach are now being painted in the "channel green" colour scheme that was used on the inside of the coach. Here the brackets are seen just after painting.

Two of the four brackets can be seen after being placed back on the coach. These will be temporarily removed soon so that the cross members can be installed along with the wooden planks behind the brackets.

The next few weeks will see each section of wood repaired, with paint being removed, nails and screws removed, holes filled using the "glue and sawdust" formula and finally a sanding down.

First day of the May Work Week saw some of the cross members and end bar installed on the coach as well as the two lengths of bottomside made into one piece.

Second day of the work week. The morning was spent rebuilding the corridor connector end of the coach 'on the ground', as can be seen in the picture. This was undertaken so that we could be sure that all the parts fitted before it is rebuilt on the coach. A few of the replacement (new) sections were found to be slightly out of true, resulting in some minor adjustments.

Once we were happy with how it all fitted together it was then taken apart again in the reverse order of how it will be rebuilt on the coach. This was done to ensure that we don't run into problems when it goes back on the coach, hopefully tomorrow.

By the end of the day all the various sections were placed on the coach to ensure that they all fitted together with no missing bits or misaligned parts. With just a few minor adjustments this was achieved.

Just like the corridor end this has to all come off again to allow other parts to be fitted to the bottomside before it can finally be fixed into position.

Day four of the work week. All the flooring sections are now in place, including the large section where the apparatus equipment goes. This section (shown in lower part of the picture on the left) fitted into place at the first attempt, with no adjustment needed - a great surprise to everyone on the team.

One of the two 'large' pillars from the apparatus area. This one required a major section to be replaced due to rot; this has resulted in five sections of wood being laminated together to achieve the repair.

The pillar is that large that it is a struggle for two men to lift it, we are just thankful that this item has not had to be replaced.

It should also be pointed out that the is a cross member that joins the bottomside at the very point where the mortises for the upright is cut out, making this a weak area of the coach, yet it is an area that takes most of the pounding during an apparatus exchange!

The apparatus area of the coach starts to take shape.

A new door pillar is seen on the right and will replace the old one on the left. The original one will be used as a pattern to ensure that the new one is identical.

The apparatus area after rebuilding on the Monday of the September work week. Note the new cantrail above the apparatus area.

The base of the apparatus area has a "chunk" of wood that is bolted to the bottomside by five 14inch bolts.

A trail fitting of the new net lever took place today. While it did not fit into the net lever pivot (center of picture) it did show that all other dimensions were correct.

The apparatus bedplate in position with the arm that passes through to the inside of the coach to connect with the net lever.

It is hard to believe that at the beginning of the year this whole area was just a painted chassis.