A second cill.

Saturday

No PWay work, due to holidays of key people. They are allowed a few days off, you know.

Monday at Broadway

Another 55 T&G boards were given a topcoat on one side on Monday. All 110 of them are now ready to go on. They can't go on yet, until we have fitted all the risers though.

Fitting second hand risers is slow work. They need stripping of all the rusted screws that held them on before, and some of the treads have also got little bits of left over screw sticking out of them.

The two pictures show a 'during' and an 'after' view on Monday, during which the top half of the steps was done, and a bit more.

The  Monday Broadway Maintenance team has also been busy making the dagger boards for the last part of the canopy, as you can see in this picture. Using the jig illustrated earlier, they have been very productive, and soon it will be their turn to paint everything in 5 coats of paint and one of preservative!

Tuesday at Broadway

One man down on Tuesday, due to personal commitments. Quite a lively day at the station though, apparently it was the first day of the school holidays, and it was busy.

 

We've got an earlier train on the timetable now, it arrives from CRC at Broadway at 10.39, whereas previously the earliest arrival was 11.49.

There was actually a small queue out of the booking office, and more people were coming up the drive. Great!

 

 

When that 10.39 arrival, headed by 4270, trundled in, the platform was pretty crowded, more than we've seen for a long time. There wasn't even a coach party to account for this.

At the moment, this earlier train, which we think was designed to help passengers from CRC, is actually more attractive to those from Broadway. Whatever! As long as it sells tickets.

We asked the station staff how many tickets they had sold, and heard that most people had booked on line and walked straight through the booking office, holding their phones. So those at Broadway couldn't say how many passengers they had, although someone at HQ probably does.

Painting of the T&G panels continues. This is the lot from Monday, which is now (mostly) dry so can be turned over and done, once again, on the other side in topcoat of light stone.

Up on the centre span is effectively our workshop, so where will we go if we start letting Joe Public up here? We still have the other side to do, with all its cutting, and painting.

This is the view you get when painting, 4270 reversing up to you and rumbling by underneath.

In the foreground a tongue & groove board and the relentless paintbrush. The topcoat is nice and shiny though. We have bought the sealant, and as soon as we have finished with the risers, the boards can go on. They will be attached with galvanised nails and sealant, to stop water getting in between the boards and the supporting wooden frames. This outside wooden framework is not ideal from a conservation point of view, but it's what we have inherited.

Neal had a good tidy up On Tuesday, it really made a difference. Here he is clearing the space below the Cotswolds side steps, which was full of tanalised woodwork for an aborted bin storage place.

Here is a shot near the end of the day of the tidied up area under the steps. Neal's principal reason wasn't the looks though, it was that he couldn't get underneath the steps to fit any more risers. At the end of the day we had 5 more to fit.

Another busy train was the 15.06 arrival, here hauled by Foremarke Hall, with, as we discovered, a growling class 37 on the other end. No need to run round then, and the train soon left again, with the Hall being dragged along at the rear.

Why won't he wave his flag?

The Heritage Herald isn't strictly a diesel enthusiast, but if we have to admit to liking one of them, it would be the class 37. The way it bellows, as the engine adjusts to the movements of the controller. Noise we like!

37 215 - one of two class 37s at home with us - bellowed a little bit as it dragged the heavy train out of the station, and if you are patient, you can hear it open up as it accelerates out of the station limits once it reaches the Childswickham Road bridge. We recorded that here:

https://youtu.be/hMkwwuq2_fE

Wednesday on the Usk project.

A day of rain and sunshine, so we were glad of the Oak tree's protection to dive under.

While there was a bit of sun, we gave the big window a coat of undercoat to protect it further.

We put the big window in its future place again, so that we could work out what needed to be done to the blues that we are going to use as the replacement sill (this window being wider than the one that collapsed at Usk). A wedge will be sliced off each brick, to give a level edge on top for the window to sit on.

Why won't you run for us, Maxie?

We had big problems with Maxie today. She would run only for very short periods, then stop. We got the experts round for a diagnosis. We spent a lot of time at the start of the day trying to work out what is going on. Fuel contamination sounds like the most likely cause.

While the experts gathered around Maxie, Dave decided to do a bit of very necessary back filling. If we want to lay another course on this side, the back has to come up first.

Remember, every new outside course needs an inside one first.

To help Dave along, we got him lots of smaller stones, all saved from the Usk demolition.

Jonathan also got some from elsewhere on site, which was very helpful. When back filling, you often need a little stone that is - just so. So it's nice to have some choice.

Near the end of the morning we got some serious rain, so we really couldn't lay any more mortar in that. We decided to have lunch during the rain, to make good use of the time wasted. The nearest dry place was in front of the 40th Anniversary exhibition, where we had to scratch around for some dry seating. We were allowed to borrow one folding chair from inside, which was very kind, as Jonathan complained bitterly about having to sit on a wet trolley.

After lunch there was another dry spell, so it was back to work, but without Maxie. We had to resort to the basics, and prepare our mix on a piece of plywood. Having had a petrol mixer all this time, we had almost forgotten how to do this!

The mixing by hand gave us another hour or so of work, so we had a go at another layer on the western side, the side where we put on a 4 inch layer last week. This time the stones that fitted best were about 4 1/2 inches high, bearing in mind that we had to level off at the 700mm mark along a line drawn between the two quoins on the corners. This will be the level of the sill here. A last course of similar height will achieve that.

In between times John and yours truly were block cleaning. The old mortar has to come off, but not too hard, as it's a softish sandstone that we have. The ideal tool is this 'brickie's hammer', which has a renewable edge on the left.

What is the matter with you, Maxie?

Jonathan could be seen investigating Maxie, and eventually he produced a carburettor that not only oozed a remnant of petrol with impurities in it, but also evidence of a choke that wasn't actually connected to its lever. This allowed the choke to flutter, which wouldn't have helped at all.

Backing up completed, Dave joined John with this next course, which we had spent most of the morning fetching, bit by bit, from the 4 inch pile. It took a long time to get it somewhere near level, with uneven blocks as a raw material. You can see the line we need to reach here - another course to go then. Those dollops of mortar indicate where the cill is going to go.

In this picture Paul and Dave are cheating a bit, as they have started the next course (the one touching the line) only along the bit where the cill will sit. They want that on today. It meant we had to find 5 inch blocks on the hoof to fit, pressure! All while respecting the overlaps between the joints.

Work always stopped when a train went by. Waving is obligatory, it seems to keep the passengers happy, they always wave back. Foremarke Hall and 4270 were doing the honours today.

And here is Foremarke Hall's partner just pulling out of Winchcombe, and you get an overview of the site as it is today. Note the hole on the right, that is where we have used up stone now in the building. On the left is John, block cleaning today. You can also see that two of the walls are waist high now.

During our elevenses we popped over to the joinery shop in C&W with a humble request: Did they have any scraps of wood that we could use to make another copy of the GWR leaflet rack? Plastic leaflet holders don't fit in with the 1904 image we are aiming for at Broadway. The reply was that they probably could help us, but did we have a cutting list? Not really, but we did have the copy made by Dave at Broadway, based on a photograph of an original.

At the end of the day we were called back over to the joinery, and those lovely chaps had made us a sort of flat pack of the leaflet rack! There were little taped up piles marked 'Front', 'back', dividers' etc etc. Now all we have to do is assemble it, it was no trouble for them, but generated a lot of happiness. And by the looks on their faces, they enjoyed doing it too.

Thank you, guys!

Our kit of parts, and two happy 'artistes'.

Here is the row of 5 inch blocks Paul and Dave laid to support the cill.

As you can see, we have a few more of them to lay left and right of them, but that shouldn't take too long next time.

The actual cill is on the ground, it's the long slab with the bottle on it.

We can't show you the cill actually going on, as by that time of day there were only the three of us, and no one to hold the camera. But there it is, it's up. Now John and Dave are pointing their work.

The last deed of the day was the pointing of the backing up inside.

You can just about make out the cill, now in its place.

 

 

 

 

After a bit of discussion, we have ordered a SS time capsule to bury in the stonework. This was paid for by a blog reader, who sent us a link to the relevant website. Thank you, Sir!

What to put in it? There will be a sheet with the names of those who built the hut, a description of where it came from, some 2021 coins, some GWSR tickets, perhaps a COVID mask and perhaps a newspaper. It depends a bit just how big this time capsule is when we get it.

 

 

 Derek's 1967 steam pictures

More 1967 steam pictures from Derek, this time from the North Wales Narrow Gauge, 54 years ago:

These photographs where taken on a visit to the Ffestiniog Railway on 4th August 1967.

  The first is of Prince refuelling at Porthmadog. [A18.01]

 Fuelling completed. [A18.02] 

 

 Earl of Merioneth attaching stock at Porthmadog. [A18.03]

 Prince and Earl of Merioneth double heading the 12:05pm ex Porthmadog. [A18.04]

 

The same train between Penrhyn And Tan-y-Bwlch. [A18.05]

 

Finally, Earl of Merioneth and Prince waiting to depart on the return journey to Porthmadog. [A18.06] 

 

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