Anybody who has ever tried to renovate anything will probably tell you that the task is always bigger than you expect at the beginning. I am not attempting to restore or preserve any of the equipment, but rather to rebuild, repair or modify the equipment but still finish up with something which bears a good resemblance to how similar equipment would have typically looked in the 1960s or 1970s.
Much of the last few years have been spent on the Toyset, during which I have replaced the uprights, gangways, troughs, rounding boards and platform skirts. I have also carried out repairs to the centre bobbin and sleepers as well as making 6 new false pillars and a complete new set of lights for the rounding boards, troughs and paybox. This year I hope to finish the rewiring of the paybox, send the boards away for painting and get the toys repaired or replaced. By the completion date of spring 2008 it will be a nearly new ride and should give years of good service.
Summer 2007 should also be the time when the remains of the Speedway will come out of storage and be assembled in the yard for a feasibility study into a rebuild. I am hoping that if the rest of the parts are in reasonable condition it may be possible to have a new trailer centre made going all the way through the centre from front to back. I may then fit a new slew ring centre and use the hydraulic drive currently fitted to the Ski Jump before making a new set of griders and wooden platforms for the machine. It is unlikely that any of the new construction for the Speedway would commence until 2008.