1st. A great day! Having collected a slightly smaller set of HT bolts from Geoff, I crawl under bus and connect the propshaft. The new bolts are the right width, but a little short, so I am unable to fix washers. But they will suffice for now, and I will order some slightly longer ones.

After 20 minutes dirty dusty work I crawl out and refit the batteries. The engine starts immediately and soon settles down to a healthy tickover with very little exhaust smoke. Time to try to move it!

I cautiously engage first gear and it pulls away!

Progress is a little fraught because:

• the mirrors are pushed right back so I have no rear vision
• the accelerator pedal accelerates freely but does not decelerate, so the only way to slow the revs down is to grab the pedal and pull it up by hand.
• the gear lever hits me a painful blow on the side of the knee each time I come out of reverse into neutral
• drivers of the 1950s must have been contortionists to get into the cab with the handbrake on.

but it's definitely moving under its own power - forward and reverse!! Vacuum gauge shows a (healthy?) 26 (well over towards the maximum).

I had forgotten what a slow-revving engine it is. It requires no acceleration to move slowly away from rest. Revving merely makes it jerky.

1st (continued). After the heady excitement of my first drive, it's back to painting behind the cab with plenty of red oxide.

2nd. I complete the painting of the right-hand side of the bulkhead. Metal has been red-oxided, wood has been primed and undercoated. Two timber sections have been removed and will be replaced with new, currently in primer.

2nd (continued). I take advantage of the lack of panels to crawl underneath bay 2 and clean the chassis ready for silvering.

18th. Lo, the blacksmith cometh!

Just to prove that he does indeed exist, this is a photo of Bob the Blacksmith cutting out rusty steel - (of which there is plenty).

Letting in even more daylight...

Bob has have removed a section of an upright so that I can get a replacement made up. I am hoping that a friend who teaches welding and metalwork at a local technical college may be able to help.

I have dismantled one seat and plan to get quotes for rechroming of the top rail.

28th. Friend-from-technical-college comes good with new steel sections! He has made a trial length, and it looks very promising.

I silver a length of chassis.