Walls getting higher

Monday at Broadway

 A dull, misty November day. The air was heavy with moisture.

We came to Broadway, to find that two more of the original Scots Pines had been taken down. It seems that they are life expired. More trees were cut down at Toddington, we saw.

 

Up on the footbridge, in our 'workshop' as it were, everything was covered in millions of tiny droplets. Impossible to resume painting therefore.

We decided to drink a mug of tea over this. Afterwards a going over with a towel helped, and in the afternoon we managed to do some painting of dagger boards (far end) and timbers for the final part of the P1 canopy (foreground).

 

 

Although trains have stopped now, we still had quite a few spectators who wandered up to have a look.

 

 

Neal has taken all the boarding off the forecourt side of the P2 steps, and this received a coat of primer along the cut edges, left behind after his fitting work.

Here is Neal making up some pieces that will fill in gaps in the upper timber frame holding the boarding, where the timbers change direction.

 

 

We had to break up at 4pm, as it was getting dark, but at least we had made more progress, and left lots of boarding scattered about, with paint going off.

Tuesday on the PWay

Just three of us reported for duty! What happened? 

We are preparing for the work at Dixton to change a number of rails with squats, and for this a welfare unit and a 'cube' site safe have been arranged.

Before we went to Dixton to receive the above, we stopped at Didbrook to change a reported broken fishplate.

As you can see from the foreground, it was indeed well and truly broken, so it was easily replaced with a new one, and this time with a 1/16th lift to ease the passage of the trains.

We met the Walt with the Telehandler at Gotherington Skew bridge, where we set out two Permaquip trucks, our solution to getting the 7.5m lifting beam down to the work site. That beam is not easy to move around, as it is carried at right angles to the Telehandler.

Once the beam was on the trolleys the 'cube' arrived, all the way from Wales. Our previous site safe, used on the Broadway extension, is admittedly rather small, so there is a lot more room in here. It can be carried around by a forklift, so it will be used at CRC too, when we go there to replace a turnout, as part of our winter works.

 

 

The beam then set off for the work site, about half way down the cutting. (it is rather a long cutting, it's true)

Remaining safely in the Landie cab to receive the welfare unit due imminently, we observed the beam being pushed a few hundred yards, and then stop under three arch bridge. Reason: Tiredness, we ascertained.

The beam then set off again, only to stop a few hundred yards further along.

Was there a connection with the absence of doughnuts this morning? The beam was abandoned about 3/4 way to its destination near the Prescott Road.

The welfare unit was now 2 hrs late, so we decided to take the 'cube' down to the work site as well.

Crossing the line made the Telehandler wobble a bit, but we got there, where Walt turned it round through 180 degrees, and planted it by the trackside.

 

 

We then got a phone call to say that the welfare unit had finally arrived, so we hastened back to Skew Bridge.

And there it was. Now just to receive instructions in how to use it.

We have to move with the times, it seems.

Previous arrangements: (under which the Broadway extension was built)

Bring your own food

Wrap up well. Flask of coffee, waterproof gear

Toilet requirements: Walk a few paces away, turn back towards gang.

Larger toilet requirements: find a tree to lean against ( this happened once, to your blogger, in 50 years of volunteering!).

Modern, with the times arrangements: The Welfare unit.

Hot water, kettle, lights, microwave, clothes hooks to dry out kit, chemical toilet. The whole thing driven by a diesel engine with a 55 litre fuel tank. It emits exhaust fumes as you sit in comfort.

In your blogger's view, the pollution we cause is not worth the marginal increase in comfort, it's too high a price. There must be a better way.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

One down, one up - Paul had a day off, and Jules was able to put in a day, which was very welcome.

Jules is our chief 'backer upper' and there was plenty for him to do. Every one of the four walls was built up with dressed stone from the front, with nothing behind.

Jules first attacked the wall in the foreground, which you can see evidenced by the wet mortar there.

Dave finished off a short stretch of front wall on the station side, while John fetched more or less rectangular stones for him for the inside, from a vast pile of undressed stone.

To the right of the Malvern side window you can see here how Jules backed up the inside at this point to the height of the outside wall.

When Dave had finished the short stretch mentioned above, he moved round to the south facade, where we had laid out some large blocks the week before.

In the picture he has tipped them back, so that he can put a bed of mortar underneath. Shorter, 5 inch blocks complete the run to the nearest corner, at a constant level. This will permit us to put the next quoin in here.

 

 

The 1 + 2 + 1 stones here constitute the short run Dave did first thing, now ready for your viewing.

When they have gone off next week, we can also put a quoin on this corner.

 

 

After topping up the two spot boards, we had a quick wander up on to the road bridge, to see how far the contractors got with the cutting slip repair. Now that trains have stopped running they can get on with it at last.

S&T have removed the point motor from the south turnout, so that a roadway can be laid over the track. In the picture you can see the Terram spread out over our track, and two diggers and a dumper spreading out material. Work in the actual slip itself has not yet started.

 

Now that there are no more trains running (until the Santa season) there is not much going past the platform, with the exception of our 03 carriage shunter, drawing out a long rake of Mk1s.

 

 

 

Whatever, having temporarily run out of mortar and it being round lunch time, we decided to pull the chairs into the thin sun that we had, and share out some cake left over from last week. It was packet cake and wasn't of the highest quality, but it was still cake!

Here you see John, Dave and Jules enjoying the sun. It was nearly warm! The empty seat is yours truly's, with the packaging from the overly sweet packet cake abandoned on the ground.

Looking back over our shoulders, we could see the big blocks, tipped back by Dave in an earlier picture, now in place on the far side of the window.

That's another 9 inches higher. A quoin has been picked out to go on the end, but that'll be for next week, when the mortar is hard.

After lunch Jules moved from the bit behind him to the bit of backing up by the door frame.

In anticipation of next week, the next 9 inch block has been placed by the window on the left.

One needs to be careful not to disturb recently laid stones while the mortar is 'still green'.

Here's a shot through the doorway into the interior. The new 9 inch blocks stand out in front of the corrugated iron hut. Dave has manoeuvered a barrow of 'muck' through the doorway and round to the left, so that he can back up the corner at the back.

It looks a bit dark inside now, principally because of the green tarp - not really big enough, but it's all we've got - trying to keep the triple window dry. The other reason of course is that the walls keep getting higher...

Having polished off the other corner by the door, Jules moved over to the nearer corner, where you can see some loose stones trial laid into a big void. If we want to raise the wall next week we need to fill voids such as these.

The last thing Dave did today was use up the mortar still remaining on this corner here, the one nearest to the station. The days end quite suddenly now, as the dark comes early and earlier and the light disappears quite quickly. So three mixes, as we did today, can be considered quite good.

Here is our end of the day shot. Standing on those boards, Dave makes the wall look a little lower than it really is, but he's a foot off the ground there, and certainly at the back, the wall is now as high as yours truly (6ft 1 inch when last measured.)

Once again we had numerous visitors, but today, sadly, no further donations. At least they are showing interest, and looking is free, which is attractive.

Note also the nearest pallet of dressed stone, which is the 10+ inch pile. It's looking quite empty, and this is because we have prioritised the heaviest blocks as far as possible.