A look over the fence in Scotland.

Tuesday at Toddington.

A follow up job on the new yard lamp. Due to a weekend away in Devon we missed the gala, which was a great success, we heard.

 

 

Tuesday saw a lot of tired volunteers around Toddington, and this lovely little Pug being winched back onto its low loader.

Other guest locos were still around, with one, the U boat, actually in service.

While the yard lamp is up now, an issue remained in that the kit of 6 window panes didn't all fit properly. Four glass panes were 1/4 inch too long, and at the blunt end too. This little short bit is rather difficult to trim, but our hero was Paul from the Usk gang, who nibbled off the 1/4 inch for us, so that Neal was able to start fitting the rest.

We then ran into another snag - we had two tubes of clear silicone with us. With 5 of the 6 panes fitted we needed to open up the second tube, but it was found to be solid inside. This was strange, as we had bought them together and they came from the same batch. The piston inside had moved up an inch or so, while the business end was still sealed. How odd.... possibly a manufacturing defect and an air bubble inside?

We'll have to have a final fitting session with a new tube of silicone.

The 'U Boat' was out on a service train, the other being hauled by P&O. Two Southern locos providing our services!

Here is 31806 leaving Toddington, seen from the platform of the yard lamp, where we were touching up some paintwork.

Behind the shed was Pendennis Castle. Not an ideal photographic position, with a lot of servicing paraphenalia standing around.

Itr's amazing to reflect on how this locomotive has seen the deserts of Western Australia.

Later we tried the U Boat from below, which actually gives a better picture.

 

 

Trains always leave Toddington heading south very carefully, as they soon have to slow down again to pick up the token from the box.

Hovering nearby was the green Growler, ready to attach to the rear of the up train.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

A lovely warm day today, and it felt very pleasant sitting in the little hut, with the door open and the birds chirping.

After an early coffee and chewing the cud, we set about our various tasks.

Jules can be seen here cleaning up the pointing around the door.

 

 

We have now at last found a suitable locking plate for the second sash lock, so our big sliding window is finally secure. The Railway Archiving Trust (based at Toddington) dug into its vast reserves of spare bits and, after several failed examples, finally found a locking plate that fitted perfectly.

You can buy these new still, but they are all slightly smaller models, and of a slightly different design. This locking plate even had the initials GWR stamped into it, and you can't get better than that.

 

 

The lock and locking plate fitted perfectly. Even the holes were the same.

What sort of screw should we use? Brass, obviously. Crosshead or slotted screw? Slotted of course!

Our door is original and probably 150 years old, as is the hut. So it's not surprising that there is evidence of several locks, with a hole for the key of each one.

Paul decided that the best way to deal with the holes would be to cut out the affected area, and insert a new piece of joinery grade wood. He found that in our C&W workshops, so thanks for your help, lads!.

Our gala is now over, and it was a great success, both operationally, but also in terms of customer satisfaction, and last but not least, it was positive for the bottom line. That does matter these days.

John spent the day painting topcoat on the windows, after undercoat last week.

The planks on the side help guide away the rainwater from the incomplete guttering. As it stands now, we got a large part of it second hand from the RAT, but to finish the job we had to order some new, which is expected at the end of the week. So we hope to be able to complete the guttering with downpipes, joints, stop ends and additional fixing ears and a spare bracket next week.

 

 

Paul too was caught painting, as the job he had intended needed the tower scaffold, and that was in use until lunch time.

 

 

Today was a Southern day for the train service, with P&O and the U class providing the haulage.

The U class drifted out of the tunnel and into Winchcombe under a big plume of surplus steam. This was caused by the type of coal we are using (for now) which (we ascertained) burns very hot and very suddenly, making the keeping of a steady pressure somewhat tricky.

The lads from Construction & Maintenance were on our site again today. Good progress was made with the row of slabs along the platform edge.

 

 

At lunch time we got the signal that the tower scaffold was free, and it got delivered to our door too. That is indeed good service.

Placing the tower scaffold at the gable end.

Once the scaffold was secure Jules was up there completing the infill with mortar of the ends of the slates. That was started but not finished when we called the scaffolding off hire. We also took the opportunity of the tower to paint the gable end boards with an additional coat.

During a very quiet lunch period we took this snapshot of the site, to show the progress with the row of slabs. Here it has reached the corner of the building, from where it will become two rows.

 

Then the U boat came by again. Our valiant footplate crews worked record hours during the gala, and here they are again, covering the regular services.

Hope you all appreciate that. They are of course all volunteers.

Southern U class 31806 chugs into Winchcombe after the bracket signal was cleared.

 

 

Our last picture shows the site looking north. This road will be maintained and hardened with spent ballast, while the C&M lads plan a fence and a gate across the bottom to fence off the PWay yard from the public.

A look over the fence: Brechin

This is the Caledonian railway at Brechin, in Scotland, not so far from Dundee. It was visited as part of the excursion programme of the 'Spring Highlander' Pathfinder tour to Glasgow. You could board it at Cheltenham, which is certainly convenient for our railway, and then you ate and drank all the way to Scotland! What a nice way to travel, and it earned your blogger brownie points from Mrs. Blogger. Lots of them in fact, although they are just as easily lost...

Brechin is a small town near the east coast, and it has its own railway terminus.

Here it is, nestled in between Victorian housing and a park. It's a little jewel. The passenger service stopped way back in the 1950s, but freight sort of rumbled on, until the line was completely closed in 1981.

The short line to Montrose (and the main Edinburgh - Aberdeen line) was built by the Aberdeen Railway in 1840, and was later operated by the Caldonian Railway, as is proudly displayed over the entrance.

What is so charming about this railway is that, unlike the GWSR, the line was mothballed virtually complete, and what the preservationists took over was virtually a time capsule.

Just look at this ticket office! Lovely cast iron crowd barriers, original hatches and clock, with a bit of luggage to one side. No modern notices or plastic snap frames here.

 

 

Inside there is a horseshoe shaped platform, with cast iron railings and a fully glazed canopy overhead..

On the sunny day that we had it felt like a warm, comfy place to be. You could lean on the railings and contemplate the goings on.

The vintage car parked in the corner looked just like the sort of thing that might have been put there when cars were few in number on our roads.

 

There are two platforms. One is for the service trains, operated in push- pull mode to the other station, Bridge of Dun, four miles away.

The other platform is for stock storage.

During the station's 30 year slumber without passengers the canopy was taken down, and some of the columns removed. Much of the canopy has been replaced however, and at the time of the visit the replacement work was still going on. The posts in red primer in the distance for example are all new.

 

 

The toilets were also a time capsule. They were to be found behind a sliding door, as for a cattle truck. The logic for that was not clear to yours truly, but what a charming arrangement.

Inside the slate urinals were still there, including the magnificent dividers. The arrangement has been strangely modified with the inclusion of suspended urinal bowls, which as far as we can see though add nothing to the hygene.

When we took over our line in 1981 ours at Toddington were also intact, but we ripped them out to create storage.You don't do that if your stated aim is to 'create and maintain a railway museum'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This impressive modesty screen was inside (the GWR has theirs outside) and was made up out of decorated cast iron uprights, and what looked like sheets of slate in between.

 Surely not - could you have sheets of slate that big?

 

In the main building was a small museum. One of the artifacts was this one. Something for the signalman to read on the back of the train? It must be quite old.

At the end of the platform was this old building, unfortunately just outside the boundary of the present operation. Interestingly, it figures on this old photograph that we saw in the tea room:

The words, now no longer visible, on a black strip across the facade, used to read 'THE BRECHIN AGRICULTURAL AND TRADING...' and a shute leads down to a rake of wagons. It was clearly once part of a whole, but the building is now in private ownership, we ascertained.

The few passengers in the picture, and the large volume of goods and several cranes attest to the importance of freight for this station.

Just visible on the left is one of those curious very narrow Scottish towers, next to a church. Just a like a minaret.

A bit further along the platform was a small storage building which now functions as a tea room for the staff. Outside in the sun is what the Scots would call a 'sitootery', and busy it was too.

Within the station buildings along platform 1 was the cafe. A photograph on the wall showed how this too was once a storage room, with a heavily soiled floor when first found by the preservationists. It was cosy inside, with a working fireplace. The tall ceiling height was brought down by the use of tea towels, which was a good solution, we felt. The cafe was not volunteer run but a franchise, operated by 3 ladies.

Outside was a charming advertisment for rodent control, perhaps a dire necesssity once with all that agricultural produce around. Note the countersunk, square cast iron downpipe, the same as at Toddington, but not at Broadway P1.

Outside our train was being made ready. Principal traction was by D5314, with a class 20 at the other end. Rolling stock was 2 Mk1s and a full brake.

It suddenly dawned on us that the BG was in chocolate and cream, and had a GWSR sticker on the side. What the...?

We chatted with the crew, who advised that they had indeed bought the coach from us, not so long ago.

They also took over our half scrapped Ashford turntable, which was still one of their projects at the time of our visit.

The columns still in primer are all reproductions put up to replace the full canopy as it once was. What was interesting about that was the fact that they are not made of cast iron, but cut from steel.

That was so well done that you could not tell the difference. It was done at the suggestion of the fabricators, a local company.

The Brechin railway is 100% volunteer operated, so the progress with completing the canopy will depend on the speed with which funds are raised.

Our ticket to bridge of Dun was very authentic looking, in the right colours.

By the way, our (Scottish) guide bristled at some of the attempts to pronounce the name of the town, and so we warn you: It rhymes with 'creakin'...

Two Mk1s struggled a bit to handle two coach loads of tourists, but we all settled down and trundled off to the other end eventually.

This is the view from the end of the Brechin departure platform. On the right is a stack of rail panels; ideally the society would like to reach Montrose one day, with two further stops along the way (Dubton and Broomfield Junction halt). 

 

We arrived at bridge of Dun. It's very rural out there, with an intact original station building, but quite isolated.

The line to Montrose continues into the distance.

From the road side the station building was quite intact, although it was hard to judge whether, being privately owned (as per Google) it is actually occupied or not. Certainly the original passenger area was disused, but the stationmaster's accommodation may well be inhabited.

The platform side was quite impressive. Just look at those cast iron canopy supports, and the rivetted purlins on top.

The downpipes from the guttering feed into the canopy support columns. As we have seen at Broadway, that was not such a good idea as the constant water and dirt weakened parts of the structure (our downpipes now go along the outside).

 

Behind the platform seat is a big poster which explains how the footbridge got there. It's not the original, it came from Dunblane.

It's a Caledonian Railway footbridge from 1895, and is unusual with its segmental arch and covered walkway. Network Rail were looking for an alternative place for it and in 2012 they approached the Brechin Railway to see if they were interested in having it re-erected in the place of the former footbridge at Bridge of Dun.

The Caledonian footbridge was cleaned and re-erected in its new location, and opened to the public in 2017. It's a lovely old structure, but with its numerous joints, rivets and angles and its latticework parapets it is vulnerable to rust, which has visibly already started in many places. Broadway footbridge too is vulnerable to rust, but fortunately it is of a simpler construction and has many flat surfaces instead of joints.

We'll close this 'Over the fence' report with a picture of the complete bridge and D5314 underneath. We liked the Caledonian Railway at Brechin, with its unspoilt station and time capsule feel.