Todays visit was all about clearing a path so that work can begin on removing the roof and splitting the sides. There was a large chestnut tree sheltering No.31 for all of sixty years at Markfield, however since the tree’s demise last summer when a combination of rot, foul weather, lightening and high winds finally brought it to it’s knees, the trunk now lays firmly over the floor of No.95 which was stationed alongside No.31.
Removing a section of the fallen trunk allowed us to be able to walk nearly all the way around the lower saloon and it certainly gave us a clear path to recover the parts we had gathered last summer from the top deck roof. (These had been tagged and gathered for safe keeping on the far side of the trunk but since last summer the vegetation had grown back with a vengence and we couldn’t get near to recover them!) With that all safely packed and towed away – next on the list is to get ready for the roof removal.
First things first - With expert direction from Paul, a clear path is made for us! Euan makes light work of the trunk and provides John with some extra wood for his log burner. Note the safety gear, an absolute must when tackling this kind of thing! With the hidden parts loaded on to the trailer we can concentrate on disassembling more of the lower saloon. The bulkhead sliding door cover is the first to come out.Proving we really are at one with nature - we set free a stray Peacock butterfly. This caused us to take nearly as many pictures of the butterfly as we did the tram! It made a change from the spiders we have been used to finding in the past!Sliding door cover out of the way reveals the full message painted on to the sliding door. Once photogrphed, this too is taken away for safe storage.Revealing... the skeletal framework of the bulkhead corner. You can see an addition to the floor which would have supported one end of a concrete feeder, this would have also been the reason for the hole in the bulkhead. We suspect the hole was made by the larger (more unpleasant) version of mice; trying to get at the food in the feeder. Fortunatley for us, the chickens, the food, the feeder and the rats are long gone! Thank goodness!!
The only other thing I forgot to mention was that it rained all day…!!!
Thanks to Barrie, Paul and his Son, Euan, we stuck at it and enjoyed a productive day with a full trailer and a van load of goodies to take back to the storage site.
One Reply to “Trunk Roots”
Really great website guys. I’ll keep coming back to see how you are getting on – what a great project!
Really great website guys. I’ll keep coming back to see how you are getting on – what a great project!