I got as far as riveting in the friction material and red-oxiding the new fan when i was struck down with a mystery illness around the 25th November and so far it has escaped diagnosis. In between I injured my left forefinger so work stopped for a couple of weeks then . Work restarted when my finger was partially recovered with the spraying of silver paint on the chassis and works under the cab floor.
Then I got ill, so all work has stopped for now.
My finger took several weeks to fully heal but apart from a small bit of scar tissue it is now fine. The illness I contracted in Bristol led to complications that kept me away from restoration work until the last week of February 2023. Very cold weather during this period would have made work difficult anyway so I probably haven’t lost that much progress but it has been very frustrating.