New heights for the Usk building

Saturday out along the line

A drizzley day on Saturday, but quite warm, and it tempted 5 volunteers on the track, plus Dave to do his track walk to Gotherington.

On the agenda were some twists and dipped joints, so we needed the kit from our tool van and GUV. Taking the kit to the Landie is currently awkward, as we have to file through this narrow passage with jacks, bars, beaters etc, with about an 18 inch space by the steps.

 

 

The first of two jobs on Saturday was at Laverton on the bridge.

This bridge was replaced about 10 years ago with a concrete deck. This is good, but it is higher, meaning that more ballast is needed at the ends, and on the north end we have the ballast slowly slipping down the slope, due to the greater height than before. It leads to dips at this point.

 

Before we started we let the first service of the day through, on its way to Broadway. This had gone ECS to CRC, and was now returning with the first passengers from there.

Anyone got a spare GWR style buffer for this picture?

Foremarke Hall was in charge of this train, and although the loco slowed down for our work site, the camera hesitated when we pressed the button, and the result was that when it did finally decide to go 'click', one of the buffers was already out of shot. Dang!

With the first train gone, we could get to work. The dip was over a fair length of about one panel. Because it had happened before, there was already a dearth of ballast in the section of interest, it had previously already been packed under the sleepers.

Nick worked the jack, while Pete checked the level and told Nick how far he could go.

 

 

We didn't have quite enough jacks to do the whole length at once, so we did about half of it, and then...

....watched Foremarke Hall come back again from Broadway, now quite well filled with the passengers from there.

While we were on site, we thought we'd do something about the scarcity of ballast there, so Nick and Tony (Welcome back, Tony!) started filling some baskets with spare ballast from the roadway.

This was then tipped into the several empty cribs along the bit we jacked up.

While we were on top of the bridge, this huge farm tractor rumbled through underneath. It completely dominated the little car that wanted to go through the other way.

This giant tractor will shortly cross the weakened B4632 bridge, another vehicle that wasn't in the bridge designers' minds in 1904.

 

 

 

That was our morning job. We then went back to Winchcombe, to find a dry place in which to have our picnic lunch.

The Coffeepot was rather busy (we don't want to use any chairs that customers might want to occupy) so we paused by the 40th Anniversary exhibition, and found some chairs to borrow.

Foremarke Hall came in again, this time to cross with P&O.

 

 

 

 

The weather was very showery on Saturday, and to take the token exchange shot we had to stand (briefly) in very wet, pouring rain!

You can see streaks of rain on the greener areas of the picture. Signalman and fireman didn't have much choice though. The token has to be handed over, and the coal has to be shovelled forwards. We PWayers retreated hastily back under the canopy though.

The second (afternoon) job was a New Farmers bridge. Already back in the sun again.

Love the names of some of the sites on our railway. What new farmer? It turns out that this refers to a cattle creep type bridge which was replaced at some point with a concrete one. One of the few concrete decked bridges on our line, and hence the word 'New'.

And this stretch of the line is called the 'Defford straight'. Is it near Defford? Not any more. It was once (about 1982) relaid in 75lb lightweight military panels from Defford RAF base, but these panels proved to be unsuitable, and were lifted soon afterwards and replaced with normal rail. But the name Defford is now attached to this straight, which ends at Chicken Curve.

A number of dipped joints were reported in this area, so we measured up, and started digging out the affected cribs.

With trains crossing at Winchcombe we had some quite lengthy opportunities to work here, interrupted only by Foremarke Hall with its train heading south, and shortly afterwards with P&O and its train, which crossed at Winchcombe.

After dealing with these dips we went to the Coffeepot for a refreshing mug of tea, and to take some pictures of the train movements. 

Here we have Foremarke Hall running into Platform 2, to await the diesel hauled train to CRC.

As some of us are interested in modern traction, we allowed ourselves the slightly unusual picture of Freightliner 47 376 setting off towards the tunnel.

There's also a video of that here: https://youtu.be/JEEj3SNSNmg

Monday at Broadway

Fist, a picture left over from last week:

Things are almost back to normal, just look at all those people getting off the train and heading off to Broadway down the station approach.

And two anecdotes:

One, from a retired builder, who was so impressed by the quality of the station that he gave it 10 out of 10. Such flattery...

The other happened on Monday, a non running day. It's a working day for Broadway maintenance, and the canopy gang, so we unlock the gents for our own use. Occasionally visitors come in and wander around, and today we had some ladies with two small children, who tried the Ladies but found it (still) locked. What to do? We offered the use of the Gents, we promised not to come near. They approached the Gents cautiously, and one lady peered in.

She then turned round and said to her friend: 'It's alright...!'

What a dreadful reputation Gents' toilets must have, and once again our toilets, with their Victorian sanitary fittings, have impressed our visitors. Going for quality was worth it.

Monday saw more painting of T&G boards (we won't bore you with another picture, it's the same as last time) but progress was made with the risers on the P1 steps. At the beginning of the day 5 more remained to be fitted, and each one done meant that the next one would be at an ever more extreme angle.

Neal and John fitting the last few risers.

The risers we are using are to a certain degree still attached to items from the Henley in Arden bridge, so they have to be disassembled first. They are held on with rusty screws, embedded in very tough African hardwood. In the picture Neal has set up shop on the platform and is doing his best to prise the pieces apart.

Can you see Neal and John's legs here?

But their effort was worth it, as at the end of Monday all the P1 risers had been fitted.

In principle that opens the door, as it were, to fitting the boarding, which has all had its top coat of light stone applied. So, maybe on Tuesday?

Tuesday at Broadway

Ah, yes, this was indeed the day the T&G boarding started to be fitted!

With a 'Henry' vacuum cleaner we cleaned out all the sawdust and shavings from the gap between the ends of the treads and the stringers, and suddenly there was a shout of 'bring your camera, the first board is going on.'

So here you are, the first of 110 T&G boards, painted a multitude of times, was attached on Tuesday morning, using galvanised nails and a special sealant, for waterproofing purposes.

From the outside you can see that the boards sit inside the frame. This is very attractive, but less good for weather proofing. But it's what we have inherited, so we are making it as waterproof as we can.

It was the Malvern side that went on first, so from the forecourt you can only see a dark shadow creeping down the stairs. Neal and John (and your blogger of course) are just off for a cup of coffee from the cafe. We wait until the train is pulling away, then it's less busy for the catering guys.

Mid morning the second panel was almost done. Starting to look really good now!

Towards lunch time, this was the view from the top. It gives you a good idea of what the finished effect will be, in the two shades of stone.

Still to go are skirting boards and the handrails.

Wednesday on the Usk hut.

A lovely warm day, ideal for laying stone blocks. But first - Maxie got a carburettor transplant, a delicate operation undertaken by Dave and Jonathan.

Afterwards she started straight away - good - but then stopped abruptly at various intervals. But we did get our mixes done. We suspect the fuel, which has been in store for a while (COVID forcing a stop on 'non essential' work) so we are going to use up this tankful, then go for a fresh supply. The change in the composition of petrol nowadays means that its shelf life is greatly reduced.

A new carburettor and air filter for Maxie

The early train for CRC then trundled by, headed by big pacific P&O, as we surveyed the scene left last Wednesday, in particular the cill on the left on its little pedestal.

The opening situation today

 

 

Paul then started on the fireplace front, having secured himself a nice supply of blues to be getting on with.

John gave one side of the big window a topcoat of off-white. We have chosen this colour specially, so that it does not look too modern, like a refrigerator would.

 

 

 

During a quiet moment we went over to C&W, where the two kind gentlemen in the woodworking shop had kept their promise to give us a complete self assembly kit for a new GWR style leaflet rack. Just like IKEA, but then in hardwood.

A kit for a new leaflet rack for Broadway.

Everything was beautifully labelled - 'front' - 'back' - 'dividers' etc, you couldn't go wrong assembling this. IKEA is harder.

The ticket office at Winchcombe was also very supportive of our little project, and let us have a selection of tickets for the time capsule that we have ordered.

We had to have them date stamped at Broadway, as the ink ribbon on the Winchcombe one was dry and no one seemed to know how to refresh the ink on it. How do you do that?

 

 

Dave's first job was to back up the area where he is working in this picture, and with the support from the inside, he was able to start on the front, using the blocks laid out by Yours Truly earlier in the day.

Having put some topcoat on one side of the big window - now going off under the nice warm sun - John resumed cleaning the blocks by removing the old mortar. A laborious job, but you get through it with a little bit more each day.

 

 

Just before lunch time Dave was finishing off the LH side of the cill we placed last week. It's a slow job, getting these blocks all the same height, with an undulating course underneath, all with irregular material. On top of that all the joints must overlap.

This made us hungry, and although we had our sandwiches, we were tempted by some smells wafting over from P1 where a new grill was being tried out. Volunteers were encouraged to participate, to get the scheme going.

Three bacon butties please!

We then scurried back to the oak tree with our prizes.

 

After lunch it was back into the sun, and we find Paul here working on a rather higher fireplace. There's a brick arch to go on top of that now.

On the block laying side we gave ourselves a new challenge: we need to get the heaviest quoins on to the lowest courses, so deal with this one!

We got it on OK though. Many hands make light work. With this one mortared in we had reached our highest point so far - 3ft 4 ins above DPC. Of course the brick layers are standing lower than that, on the foundation slab, so it seems higher for them.

Having raised the fireplace level, we made up a weak mix and back filled the corner with left over material.

At the end of the day the shape of the hut could be seen to rise out from the greenery across the platforms.

A quick stop at Broadway on the way home revealed that the Malvern side of the P1 steps had been fully fitted with boards. What a change from Tuesday, they've gone all the way down!

A look from under the platform canopy gives this view:

The sides of the steps look absolutely brilliant with that lovely crossed framework.

Derek Palmer's 1968 pictures

Getting towards the end of Derek's pictures, and concurrently, the end of steam.

I was getting a bit sketchy with the notes that I was taking by this stage in my life, hence the lack of much detail.

 Here are two photographs from a visit to Bressingham on 27th August 1967. [A18.28] [A18.29]

Moving forward five months, this USA tank 30072 was too much for its road trailer. The loco was stranded overnight in the Montague Road bus stop layby on the Oxford southern bypass (now part of the A34). It was left here overnight and is seen here the next morning 15th January 1968, commanding the attention of those waiting for the bus. [A18.36][A18.37]. 

 

On the smokebox are chalked messages to following cars: 'Sorry, to fragile for rail' and 'Haworth, Yorks'. You can also just make out the word 'INGROW' on the buffer beam.

The trailer looks a bit 'too fragile' by road itself! Just look at those wheels.

Viaduct on disused Gwinear Road to Helston branch on 10th July 1969. [A19.37]  

This would be the six arch Cober viaduct over the river Cober, near the now preserved Truthall Halt on the Helston Railway. Maybe trains will go over it again yet.

On the Ffestiniog Railway a train for Ddualt is arriving at Tan-y-Blwych in the summer of 1970. [A20.35] 

 

The scenes below at Wokingham are from March 1971, when trains from Waterloo and Guildford were terminating at Wokingham because of engineering works between there and Reading.

 The view from the footbridge (made out of old rails) looking south with a Southern Electric 4-COR approaching. [A21.02]

 

Then from the same footbridge looking north. The 4-COR is now using the crossover to change platforms prior to forming the return service to Waterloo. This crossover has since been removed, because the platforms have been extended twice, once to accommodate eight coach trains and then more recently for ten coach trains. The station buildings seen here were subsequently replaced by an inferior pre-fab type structure, and then more recently by something far more fitting for modern times. [A21.03]

 

A view of the station and footbridge looking north from the level crossing. The 4-COR is still in the Waterloo bound platform. Meanwhile a 'tadpole' (Hampshire power car plus two conventional width coached including driving trailer) has arrived from Guildford. [A21.04]

 

Looking north from a footbridge over the Reading – Guildford line and the 4-COR is seen taking the junction onto the line to Waterloo. [A21.05] 

This station featured in the 1971 film 'See No Evil' also known as 'Blind Terror' staring Mia Farrow. I turned up at the station one Sunday evening in my battered A30 van to buy my season ticket and there were all these floodlights illuminating the scene. I was asked to move my car, and then I walked into the booking hall and was at the ticket office window when Mia Farrow on the arm of some man (I believe Mia Farrow was supposed to be blind) walked through. I don't think I was in shot!  

 And here is the new Wokingham station March 2015:

Note the bi-directional arrangement from the Reading bound platform which wasn't always there. After the crossover at the north end of the station seen in the earlier picture was removed, trains reversing at Wokingham had to use the crossover south of the station which was not interlocked. So rather than take up time running empty over this crossing and reversing into the London bound platform what would invariably happen would be that the affected trains would reverse at Wokingham and run empty to Bracknell and continue as a passenger service from there. You can imagine the mood of the affected passengers waiting at Wokingham. On one occasion in the 1990s the station staff gave in and allowed us all to travel on the returning train over the non-interlocked crossover – without incident, I hasten to add.

Common to all but one of the pictures at Wokingham is the spire from St. Paul's church. It was built in 1864, and is now Grade II listed. Everything else is now unrecognisable, and these are not even steam era pictures! 

Wait - one thing is still there, and that is the curved footbridge, and the level crossing in front of it. Check it out on Google Street view.

Remember that you can buy a full sized copy of any of these pictures from breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk.

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