New windows for the Usk hut

Saturday out along the line

There was an excellent turnout on Saturday, with 7 dealing with the track, and one back at base, dealing with the Landie's 'disappearing window', which dropped into its slot, and never came out. But job done. We have a working Landie wind up window again, thanks to our stalwart Dave.

Yay! Doughnuts !

Doughnut availability has been a bit hit and miss recently, but with Bert Ferrule's announcement that he would get them on Saturday, we suddenly had a team of 8. Excellent. Is there a connection, we wonder?

Digging, digging.

The flipside of the coin was that we were out jacking and packing again. 

There was a feeling of Ha-Ha, Gotcha, as we realised that after gain came the pain. This time it was a long dip at the Laverton North foot crossing.

 

 

We dug out about a length of beds, and then waited for the first train from CRC to turn up. This turned out to be headed by Foremarke Hall.

From observations of loadings, and talking to cafe people, we see that passenger numbers are now much better than in the first few days when we re-opened in April, and the cafe staff are so busy that they would like some more volunteers. We even heard that some outlets had to remain closed some days due to lack of volunteers. Fancy helping in one of the buffets? You'd be very welcome, and you can volunteer as often (or not) as it suits you. Give it a go!

Foremarke Hall trundles by at reduced speed, thanks to our speed limit boards covering the works site.

After digging out 25 - 30 cribs - a back breaking job, as ballast is designed not to be dug into, but lock together instead - Bert took up the 'Mecca' position further afield, and told the operators of the jacks how much to lift the track in each case.

The sleepers will have lifted, say, an inch off the ground, and then it's another back breaking job of pushing ballast underneath. The ballast of course does not like having that done, it wants to lock up.

When as much ballast as possible has been forced into all the voids, it is followed up by pick axe like beaters to compact it. That is the killer in the whole process, it just sucks all the energy out of you.

If you have any energy left, you can join in by filling the holes in the cribs again. More ballast to do this has to be dug up from somewhere, as much of the original ballast in the cribs is now underneath the sleepers (if we did it right).

Job completed at Laverton North, we repaired back to Winchcombe, where we scored a round of bacon rolls from the grill on the lawn. The bacon baps are excellent, we encourage you to try them, with lots of ketchup of course.

After lunch, more digging....

This time we were back to New Farmers bridge. We knew the site from last week of course, but loco crews still reported a rough ride here, so we packed the other side of the bridge, again over about a length. It is true that the track is not perfectly smooth here, caused partly by a hump where the new (-ish) bridge is, by some crippled joints, and by an old weld in a rail which has caused a humpback. These are all legacy issues, only a relay here will cure them.

Our tired team, after digging, packing, beating and shovelling.

 

We heard today of a new power tool which would take a lot of the agony out of our repeated jacking and packing and shovelling. This is the Robel Vertical Tamper, a motorised tamper for one man which is a step up from the old Kango. Apparently it can be used without digging out, beating or shovelling. It suffices to just lift the track to the right height, and then with a pair of these Robels you can pack a sleeper from two opposite directions at once. 

This is the company's website:

https://www.robel.com/en/machinery-tools/tamping/product/vertical-tamper/

The various models seem to cost between £2000 and £2500 each, but with the drain on our finances from COVID they are luxury items. The chances of acquiring any are low at the moment, unless our finances improve substantially. Patience therefore.

But our esprit de corps remains high! Thanks to passing trains we get a rest every hour or so.

In this case it's Foremarke Hall on its way back, tender first, from Broadway. In the background are our lovely Cotswolds hills.

Don't all rush back to work at once.

With the train disappearing down the 'Defford Straight' we remain, gladly, by the concrete parapets of the new (-ish) bridge, waiting for the crossing train from Winchcombe to come up, and then we have about an hour between trains to complete the job.

Then it's homeward bound. The drag at the end of the day is having to cart all the heavy tools back to the PWay train and haul them up from the trackbed into the vans, at shoulder height.

More tea, anyone?

In our endeavours we are watched.....

The end of the day reward is a short session on a trestle table by the Coffeepot. This was especially busy today we heard - great! So we sat outdoors on a wet trestle table where nobody wanted to sit anyway. Tea and a Magnum went down well.

Diesel of the day was our Peak. We filmed this leaving with a fairly heavy train, which had to be lifted up to Greet tunnel, but that Peak never got out of idling speed, so it wasn't a very exciting video to upload. It appears that this loco is so strong that it doesn't need to make a noise. Shame...

We did post this video though:

https://youtu.be/Czhd8nEKAcU

It's P&O passing us on New Farmer's bridge. Those big wheels hardly need to turn for our 25mph line speed!

Monday on the footbridge

A showery day, and boy, could they be heavy! As the day started wet, we thought we'd let the intermittent sun dry out the steps, as we can't fit the boards onto the wooden framework when it's wet.

 

We're not yet finished with the Cotswolds side steps, but nearing the end, so thoughts are turning to the work we have to do for the other, Malvern, side.

To get ourselves ready, we went up to our 'store room' under the canopy, and brought down the woodwork for the cladding of the Malvern side steps. This was cut to length earlier,  and even put in a coat of primer, so we are off to a good start there.

 

 

We also had a new recruit today - Pat. He brings with him knowledge of IT, and some motor mechanical knowledge as well.

Pat can also wield a paint brush, as is evident here. The woodwork is getting one of its innumerable coats of paint.

 

 

The woodwork for the framing was taken to the other side, and here you see the full kit for a set of steps, T&G boarding not included. Luckily it's all paid for, so there is no need to appeal to the company's COVID depleted finances.

 

 

With John and Pat painting opposite sides of the same boards, Neil explained to visitors ('can we buy tickets here?') that our station is a complete new build, and not a 'nicely restored station' as some have thought. Yes, really!

Just a small tin of paint will suffice, about this big.

After a while the sun had dried out the wooden frames and Neal was able to make a start in placing the boards on the Cotswolds side of the steps.

You take my picture, I take your picture...

Mid afternoon is Magnum time.

Pat offered to pay a round, and that was hastily accepted.

Here we are enjoying our well deserved ice creams. On a GWR bench that we sourced, and that C&W restored. They are the best to sit on.

Towards the end of the afternoon there was another massive downpour, and everything became wet again. Neal had to stop, as the mastic won't stick to wet paint. But you can now get a good idea of what the steps will look like - it feels quite enclosed in there, between those boards. More so, when the end canopy goes on.

Handrails and skirting boards are still on the list, which is getting quite short now, for this side.

Tuesday on the footbridge

A hot day, and 4 of us again. John and Pat were painting the boards we recently put up. The remaining boards for the other side were further painted today, so couldn't be put up yet.

Yours truly found a moment to put some more cleaning work into the varnished GWR bench from  Eynsham.

This is a long, slow job. Not only is there crumbly, sticky old varnish all over it, but while in the shed at Broadway somebody dropped red primer on it, while another parked a chainsaw on it that was leaking oil. That does not help the job along at all! But on Tuesday almost all the old varnish, paint and chainsaw oil had been removed. There's a bit more to do, but next time we might be able to put some fresh varnish on it at last. It should look sparkling clean and shiny then.

Here is the first train of the day, rolling into Broadway station. Lots of people were waiting for it. A van turned up with more food for the cafe, we're getting through it at a rate of knots, thanks to help from our visitors. Again, the catering side of the railway could do with more volunteers, so if this is something you like doing, don't hesitate to give it a try. Our newest recruit is a lady from Broadway itself, and when she saw us open in 2018, she thought, why not?

This is a view our passengers don't get: Us, ensconced in front of the mess hut, visited by Foremarke Hall.

These big locos rumbling past always result in a bit of banter from ground to loco, or back again. A banana peel is on the hand rail, ready to throw, but wasn't used. This time...

Neal spent the day drilling holes. Unable to work with the boarding, he made a (modest) start on the Malvern side with these holes, which serve to attach the outside framing of the sides we will be putting on. There's going to be an interim period when we will be working on both sides at once.

The 15.10 service on Tuesday was hauled by Sulzer engined D5081. We don't see that one at Broadway so often. We took a video of it leaving, but once again it crept out of the station and the video wouldn't be very exciting. We thought with a small loco, and a lumpy steamer on the other end (7903) it would have to exert itself a bit, but sadly no. Maybe next time.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

One and a half volunteers down today, with pressing domestic issues. (they said...)

But we had the big reveal:

Brand new windows, with original fittings.

A pair of new windows, made by Paul! Aren't they great!

Then it was into battle with Maxie, our mixer. Maxie has been unhappy for a little while now, and eventually we gave up fiddling with her, and bought her a new carburettor and air filter. Last week she muttered happily again, but today she sputtered once more. Dang, what is it this time?

After a while we tried a new pedestal, and Maxie suddenly had a different attitude. Now she mixed again - see the muck in the barrow - but 'galloped'. Eventually we were embarrassed to find we had left the choke on. Problem solved, happy mixing resumed.

Then we got to work at last. We had a day of backing up, principally around the Malvern side. This wider base on top then enabled yours truly to select the next row of blocks.

In the picture Dave is fitting a block by the doorway.

On the other side of the door yours truly laid out a loose row of blocks and a quoin on the corner, ready for Dave to lay. Unfortunately Dave could only do a half day, so no outside blocks were laid today.

Paul resumed laying blues around the fireplace. Quite a lot are needed here, as the front of it will go all the way to the top of the wall, although the flue will be directed left, to come out at the top of the gable end.

As Dave and Paul were working next to each other Foremarke Hall emerged out of P2 behind us. All work stops to wave back to people, who all wave at us.

In this lengthways view you can see the backing up that Dave is doing. For this there are no cut blocks, just rough stone, with, if you're lucky, one reasonable face.

The inevitable gap in the middle is filled with smaller stones, known by the unkind as rubble. And lots of mortar. We have baskets full of this stuff, we took everything we could carry from the site in Usk.

John (background) spent most of the day painting and brick cleaning, and took a little break for this picture.

In a deviation from his work on the Malvern side, Dave fitted this very large block of stone next to the fireplace. There happened to be an opening there that was just right to swallow this big chunk. It's not easy accommodating the big blocks; the smaller they are, the easier the blocks are to fit in amongst the others.

John watches him with interest.

Around lunch time Dave to to leave on a personal errand back home, but he left this great piece of backing up on the Malvern side. The top is nice and straight, so ideal to try out the next row of blocks on.

And here it is, that next row. Just laid out, mind, actual laying with mortar will be for next week.

They are 7 inches thick, these blocks, and we chose them to match the 7 inch cill on the right that we laid last time.

A very long 7 inch quoin was found for the corner, and all of the blocks overlap the joints - phew!

During the day we also sorted out more raw blocks, to be cleaned of mortar, and stacked according to size.

On the left are the dressed blocks on a pallet, while the basket on the right holds some of the rubble that is used for the infill. We were very lucky to be able to source these (second hand) baskets at Usk, donated by someone who came to offer help.

In the latter half of the day there were just the two of us. Paul made good progress on the fireplace surround. At some point a little brick arch needs to go in here, and then the flue will come round towards the camera. 

Our end of the day shot shows the build as it is today. Nearest the camera is the loose row of blocks, ready for actual laying, with another smaller row on the left of the door frame.

After taking the picture we covered the work in hessian, dampened it down, and then laid a protective polythene sheet over it, until next time.

Derek Palmer's final group of pictures

All good things come to an end, and after the end of steam on BR there was little material left for Derek to photograph, so here are the last few from his slides.

There is a chance that we might be able to scan in his B&W prints of static locos taken during shed visits, so if that is of interest we'll have a go in a couple of weeks.

In addition to the series on Wokingham station last week, Derek would like to add:

I should have dug out this photo for inclusion last week to show the evolution of Wokingham station. 

 

This is the prefab version on 7th November 2009. More interesting is seeing Tornado on a Pathfinder tour. Also in view is 166201 forming a FirstGreatWestern train bound for Reading. St.Paul's church spire in the background is a reference point referred to last week. That footbridge made out of concrete was not the best. It's gone now. The steps were horrible. By the way the footbridge made out of old rails lives on and has just had a refurbishment completed with new steps and handrails.

Back to 1971.

On 9th October there was a Bulmer's Special seen here near Swindon hauled by King George V. [A22.16] [A22.17] [A22.18]

Typical of the time were the blue and grey BR coaches, and the people standing patiently by the line, waiting for KGV to come by. It's still like that on the Continent, but in the UK we get very excited about it.

On the 23rd February 1973 looking west from Ascot station just prior to the introduction of colour light signalling. A 4-car EMU is approaching from the Camberley line on a Waterloo service. [A25.39] 

 

In the summer of 1976 here is a view of activity at Rheidol station on the Vale of Rheidol Railway. [A29.07] 

The locos are in BR blue, with the corporate logo on the cabside. Nearest to the camera is No.7 OWAIN GLYNDWR, while No.9 is just emerging from under the bridge.

On our return journey to Aberystwyth the crew stopped to put out a lineside fire. [A29.08]

A classic moment!  It happened to yours truly once as well, while driving between Wolsztyn and Poznan Glowny. As we entered Rakoniewice there was a tap on the shoulder from the fireman - please go into reverse (with two carriages on!). This was to use the slackpipe to put out a small lineside fire....

Did you know that there is a car show at Broadway village on Saturday and Sunday? How about combining that with a trip on the railway?

More details are available here:

https://www.broadwaycarshow.co.uk/