A day with a Standard

Thursday at Loughborough

As readers will recall we are supporters to and volunteers on Standard 76077, which is currently with LMS at Loughborough.

COVID and indeed Brexit have slowed progress a little, inasmuch that the loco was due to be re-wheeled at the beginning of the year, and that has been delayed. 

 

 

 

The good news is that volunteers may now work on the loco again, so 4 of us went to LMS last Thursday for a day of rubbing down and painting, as well as catching up with the news from the friendly team there.

 

The wheels have now been brought round to stand in front of the frames.

The re-wheeling is not far away now, and we have been promised a sneak preview of the actual date, so that we can 'help'. One of the privileges of being a volunteer on your project.

 

 

All the axleboxes have been machined now, and are as now good as new. Our component sponsorship scheme has made good progress, and in particular we have had quite a few take ups of the reverser gearbox shares. These are £140 and we need 75 of them. At the last count we stood at 33 parts sponsored, so we are about half way there. We would really appreciate a few more. If you want to help, here is the link to the support page:

https://standard76077.com/support-76077

There is a downloadable list of parts we still need for sponsoring, and an application form.

Saturday at Winchcombe

It was a quiet day on the PWay. There were two trains out, so there is not much we can do.

One outstanding item was a pair of insulated block fishplates, which we were asked to move a rail length south, to a point nearer the ground signal.

This is on a siding, and it was built out of the rejects in the 1980s. Consequently, the straight swap of plain for IBJ fishplates wasn't quite as easy as we first thought. One rail end had been fly-fished and needed holes drilling, one set of plates consisted of non-matching fishplates (hence a rummage round our stocks) and one bolt was seized and needed cutting off.

 

We got there in the end, also packing one of the joints with a noticeable dip. So we left that site much improved.

Dinmore Manor was out, on this day of heavy showers. The sky was dark and the rails were wet. At least we've got some precipitation, after a whole month of drought.

The second loco out was 4270, seen here drifting round Chicken Curve. The clouds give you an idea of the wet weather that was around.

On the way home we stopped at Toddington to see the Broadway canopy columns, which have been returned by the galvanising company.

They need a dose of T Wash, primer and dark stone undercoat, and then they are ready for placing at Broadway.

 

The galvanising company is called Joseph Ash, and is located in Birmingham.

Where had we seen that name before? That's right, on the door of the lamp hut in Winchcombe yard! Is it the same company?

Goodbye 73 129 'CITY OF WINCHESTER'

While working at Broadway on Monday we had a surprise visitor - a 7 coach train, hauled by our class 73. The 7th coach was one of the strawberry and cream SKs that are with us for a while and have returned from the NYMR.

73 129, formerly CITY of WINCHESTER, hauled the train on a test run of ecs. The loco is privately owned, and in recent years was the almost exclusive motive power for our PWay and extension trains, being the first loco over Stanway viaduct when that was relaid. Now the loco will leave our railway, to make room for a second class 20 of the same owner.

After an entrance into Broadway with this classic scene we learned that this was actually its last ever train with us, so we have filmed the subsequent departure from Broadway, which you can watch here:

https://youtu.be/rGDENddllGI

After the train left again, and with a slight tear in our eye, we resumed work on the steps of the footbridge.

 

 

Neal secured the last woodwork near the top of the steps, then cut the damp proof membrane to shape, so that it wrapped round the steelwork supporting the treads. This will help to protect it from standing water.

 

 

Yours truly spent the day fixing extension pieces to the treads - the are slightly narrower than we would wish, and these extensions allow the risers to be secured in the correct place.

The strips were cut out of spare treads that we had (HIA footbridge consisting of two spans originally)

The wood is an extremely durable African hardwood that we have simply re-used, with very little extra work. When fitted at HIA plain steel screws were used, and these have broken off or rusted through, lasting far less than the underlying wood. When fitting the strips we opted for woodscrews made of stainless steel, for longevity.

An unusual jet engine noise made us stop and look up.

Recognise this? Does the name Gary Powers mean anything to you?

Strange to see these still in use, with all the satellite imagery that we have nowadays.

Tuesday at Toddington

We had a morning testing the proposed lifting of the two columns that will support the last part of the Broadway canopy, over the bottom of the footsteps.

Our methodology proved to be workable and safe, so the lift will take place in the next few weeks, once we have made one or two last preparations.

 

Here are the two posts on trestles outside the loco shed.

They have been galvanised, and today we applied T Wash solution to take the shine off, so that we can apply a coat of primer, then dark stone undercoat.

Lunch was taken in the new mess room. It was sunshine and showers during the day, and during a sunny spell we took this picture looking out over the new terrace at the southern end of the goods shed extension. Two very well made picnic tables have been acquired. What a perfect cafe terrace for the summer this will be!

In the distance above the green 03 shunter you can see a plume of steam. That is 4270 with a now 7 coach train heading south. From the 18th you are able to join the train at both Broadway and Cheltenham, and pay on the spot, providing there is room on board (currently yes....). And we saw our first coach party! Just the one, but a sign of a slow return to normality.

Outside the diesel shed was one of the last picture opportunities to photograph the class 73, which has been sold by its private owner. It has been replaced in our fleet by a second class 20.

Back in the loco shed, John and Neal were fabricating again. We need a couple of corner brackets for the last section of canopy, so they are being assembled here, with their ends bent at 45 degrees.

We were told that you can do this by bending them across your knees - if you are strong....

Wednesday on the Usk hut

Our second day of actual stone laying. Last week we put the bottom corners on, this week we would continue with infilling in between. But what with? All the stones were jumbled up, and most of the numbers now illegible.

 

 

 

Paul explains to a sceptical Jules what size fish you can catch in the Avon

We decided to lay out 5 or 6 pallets, and put on them the stones from the pallets brought by the Telehandler according to their size.

That way we can use similarly sized stones for each course. Or pairs thereof.

More pallets of stones were dropped in the middle of the hut-to-be.

These were the stones without much of a dressed surface, which were originally used on the inside. Many were recognisable as from the interior  by traces of white lime wash.

Then it was train waving time. Foremarke Hall and Dinmore Manor were out today, with 7 coaches each. As from yesterday, people were able to book from CRC and Broadway as well. From our untrained eyes there seemed to be more passengers, but not many more yet.

Once we had some stones sorted into sizes, we were able to start on the first course, which was 8 inches high. That could be one block of 8 inches, or two of 4 inches. We thought; in practice it turned out to be one of 4 inches and one of three, as we hadn't made allowance for the extra layer of mortar.

During lunch Dinmore Manor trundled through Winchcombe station. During the existence of COVID measures the up trains use the up platform and don't stop, so that is rather interesting to see. They just slow down a bit for the token exchange. The first coach is the strawberry and cream NYMR one, which makes a nice change.

It was a day of sunshine and showers today, so here is a picture of a showery bit. It's gone dark, as Dave and Jules point up their work.

You can see one face here which has had its first course laid, from corner to corner. 

We haven't done the inside yet. The walls are thick, and there is a rough inside course still to come.

And then it was sunny again... we decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream from the Coffeepot cafe, which is open to visitors (a group of motorcyclists made use of that, for example)

For some reason (which the Foremarke Hall fireman couldn't explain either) the trains suddenly crossed at Winchcombe. Oh well, all part of the fun.

We took a picture of the token exchange, as it shows our work on the Usk hut in the background, and you get an idea of what the public will look upon, once it's finished. So it will all be visible from the platform. We're thinking it would be nice to give it an enamel sign advertising a coal trader, or a general merchant, or something like that. Put some barrels outside, and some barrows, to make it look as if something is happening.

Does anyone have any experience with firms that make enamel signs? It would have to be several feet long. Any tips / suggestions would be welcome.

Mid afternoon we got an inspection from the PWay team, who had returned early from Toddington. There were more watchers than builders - isn't it always like that?

Near the end of the day we added a few stones to beyond both ends of this face.

This one is a large quoin to raise the corner. Dave and yours truly struggled a bit but we got it on. We also put three on the side facing the platform.

It feels really great to see that old stone building rising again slowly from the mess of stones that has been in the yard for two years now. We will keep our promise!

At the end of the day we covered our work in hessian and plastic, which is good practice. This is the view from the platform, and you can see where we placed the last three stones along this second face.

A final shot for you here of the first course we laid today, covered in hessian and plastic sheets. In the foreground are the pallets with 8 inch and 9 inch blocks, on call for the bricklayers to say 'give me a 12 inch 8 inch high block, and then we scramble around to find just that from the piles we have assembled.

All great fun.

Derek's 1965 railway pictures in colour.

Still on the Oxford University Railway Society Tour of the West Country, all these photographs were taken on 18^th March 1965.

The first at Yeoford is of a Warship on the 10:55am Plymouth to Brighton train. [A09.19]

Unfortunately we can't make out the number, or the name plate.

Next is another Warship, arriving at Portsmouth Arms with the 11:50am departure from Ilfracombe crossing with our train, the 11:47am from Exeter. [A09.20]

Entering a tunnel on the outskirts of Ilfracombe. [A09.21]

..and now on the approach to Ilfracombe. [A09.22]

Passing RAF Chivenor on our return from Ilfracombe, I captured the scene with several Hunters and Meteors on view. [A09.23]

Lastly, two pictures taken from a Barnstable to Taunton train. The first shows the train crossing Filleigh Viaduct. [A09.24]

..and the second with the train approaching Newcross Tunnel. [A09.25]

Remember that you can buy full sized scans (5Mb) of these slides through breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk

See you next week !