WELSHPOOL & Llanfair Light Railway (W&LLR) hoped its machine shop would be accessible by the time this issue of The RM was published, although not all equipment was expected to be available.
Returning the main workshop to use will take longer.
The works and machine shop sections of the building were closed at the end of April following the discovery of asbestos in ex-Taiwan Sugar Corporation Diema 6wDH No. 17 while it was undergoing overhaul (RM June).
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All machines from the machine shop are stored in the W&LLR’s Colinette building (bought last year) while specialist contractors clean the building. Not only is the workshop a far bigger space, but the walls and roof comprise asbestos sheets.
The opportunity is also being taken to replace the sheets with new steel cladding despite this not being the cause of the asbestos problem.
A number of the machines will be replaced since cleaning many of them (potentially at a cost of £45,000) to remove any potential hazard is not economically viable.
Read more in the August issue of The RM – on sale now!
