The big lift

Monday at Toddington, and Broadway.

Tuesday's the big lift, right? Er, no, Vic Haynes stood outside the gates of Toddington at 9am this Monday morning, and we scratched our heads about the date, as he had one, and we had the other! No matter, we are quick thinkers, and we decided to press ahead anyway.

So here is the kit of parts, parked under the old garden centre glazing since we finished making it all two years ago. It is still in pretty good nick, thanks to the roof over it.

In P2 is now the PWay train with mess coach, ready for the turnout repairs that are due here before reopening. Members of the Friends of Toddington were taking down a post closure partition wall in the booking office (which is not in its original place) and we are one step nearer to recreating the unique (on our line) first class waiting room that the station once had. What was it like? None of the other stations have one, so it is definitely worth preserving as part of our railway museum mission.

We loaded the steelwork onto the Vic Haynes truck, and set off for Broadway.

The Vic Haynes truck reversing up our drive.

Once there, we decided on the order in which we wanted to lift the pieces in, so put the ridge purlin to one side, with the truss just below. That's the bit we want first.

Straight away, this was the best part of the day - the truss going in. It gives the project another dimension altogether.

The scaffolding is built as a platform around the tops of the posts we installed a few months back. Neal has taken rubbings of the bolt holes on top, and cut the same holes into the bottom of the truss.

Did it fit? Of course it did.

The important first few bolts go in.

Here is the truss firmly bolted into place. It now sits over the lower half of the steps, the roof of which has been removed for the work.

 

Next was the Malvern side fascia board.

The fascia board was not bolted on straight away, but laid on its side in approximately the right position. It needs to be cut to size, and have its bolt holes drilled. Not something we could do beforehand.

Then came the Malvern side purlin, which was a bit tricky as it is longer than the space between the two trusses. Final extension pieces will be bolted to its end, so that the cladding on the end will be about 18ins beyond the truss.

 

 

This view shows the rest of the canopy steelwork, and Neal preparing the jumping off point for the ridge purlin.

This will be held in place by the gusset plate that Neal is loosening for the fit.

Then the arched ridge purlin was lifted into place. This is the most striking piece, as its arches typefy the structure of Broadway's canopy, the subject of so much debate as the rest of the building went up.

The next piece to go in was the forecourt side purlin, which got lifted in with little trouble at all. It was soon bolted down. More bolt holes need to be drilled though, and then the bolts extracted again, and replaced by hot rivets.

The last piece of the day was the forecourt side fascia board. This too was laid on its side, ready for cutting to size and having its bolt holes drilled.

Once the steelwork was up and the lorry empty, and the canopy space was full. This is the view from the footbridge at lunch time (yes, in only half a day!), with the fascia boards not yet fitted.

 

From the other platform you could see this.

Still a bit indistinct, due to all the scaffolding around it.

The best view is from over the tracks. The boarding which we used to roll back into place at the end of the day is now trapped at the near end, which is pretty much the place where it will be in the future. It will be used again.

This shot is from the flower bed across the road. It gives a better idea of the length of the last arch - it's 6 metres long, plus the short extension pieces. You can guess the full length from the bit of ridge purlin that is sticking out.

After Vic Haynes left, it was time to insert some bolts.

We should mention what a professional service we got from the lorry driver. He knew his job well, and admitted that he really enjoyed the one-off sort of job he had today - building a 1904 steel canopy.

Neal here is fitting brackets to the end of the ridge purlin, which needed some levering around to fit.

We then lifted the Malvern side fascia board onto some trestles, measured up, and found that there were 45mm to cut off. This was easily done on the spot.

We then turned the board on its end, wriggled it up to the previous, existing fascia board, clamped it on, and drilled holes for bolts. These also went in, so that the board is now secure, although it still needs more holes. Then the other fascia board needs to follow.

We worked on until it became too dark, a bit after 16.00 hrs. We were very lucky with the weather, as it was relatively warm at 9 degrees, with little rain and no wind. Perfect really.

The last picture, above, shows the final part of the canopy steelwork pretty much up, with the fascia board in place, but one more, out of sight, to go. That fascia board supports the dagger boards that mark the edges, as well as the guttering.

We'll be back on Tuesday. It looks as we have won one extra day, so riveting on Friday looks quite possible (as penciled in).