The big shunt.

 

Monday in the yard.

This was the day scheduled for moving the loaded Warflat to Hayles, but unfortunately our driver had to cancel at the last minute.

Three of us had come down to do something, so it was agreed we would make ourselves useful by creating space for the movement of the mess coach to a new and better location, just short of the Usk hut. There's power and water there.

Earlier, on Friday, some goods wagons were moved into the Usk siding by the C&W shunter. Paul took these two pictures, which are rather nice.

 

A little branch line freight train.

 A TOAD, a MACAW and a LNWR goods van now stand in the Usk bay platform. The vans belong to the friends of Winchcombe station, who paid for the materials to build the platform. They needed somewhere to put their vehicles, hence the platform, and the Usk hut on top of it.

Unfortunately the TOAD now rather obscures any view of the Usk hut from P1 of the station. The low MACAW was intended for the stop block end, but on the day it worked out differently.

 

At the moment the Usk hut can still be seen across the MACAW from the side, from a passing train for example. But these are moveable vehicles, so perhaps another order could be negotiated, if all parties agree. (it subsequently was, so we should be OK, watch this space.)

As the Telehandler was out Walt very kindly agreed to move our half empty dumpy bags of sand and ballast over to the Heras fence line. We need to vacate the space in the foreground for some soil that is coming.

 

A half bag of white Cotswold stone chippings was the biggest load. These chippings could be useful to add to the Hayles platform surface, where a bit of consolidation has taken place.

 

There goes our bag of sharp sand.

We still have some weak mix to make for the diamond pattern paviour path.

Here is the cleared area, a few moments later.

We heard a nice suggestion today - how about a circular bench around the old oak tree? We could do that...

 

 

 

Then on to the actual work on Monday, in lieu of unloading concrete sleepers. We need to rationalise the site, and clear an area for the mess coach and its new access. The PWay mess coach is due to move to just short of the LNWR box van on the Usk siding. This will be a more reliable position than where it is now, where it is subject to repeated moves this way and that, which affect the water, electrics and stairway connections. By the Usk platform there is both water and power, and a negligible chance of random movement.

The first thing we tidied up was a pile of ex CRC platform slabs. These do not belong in the PWAY yard. Other piles of the same slabs are on the Winchcombe side of the yard, so we took these to join them. They may well be used when we lengthen P1 at Toddington.

 

We also moved a pile of rotten sleepers out of the way, then took a close look at a pile of concrete sleepers that looked life expired.

Here Walt has dug into the pile, and extracted from an awkward angle, a pair fitted with PAN base plates. These are rarely used.

Walt and Bob lift on rotten sleepers.

Next to the rotten sleepers piled up here, we also removed several pallets of large S1 chairs, which we took to where the other chairs are being stored.

At the end of the day, with the rain pretty much stopped, we had cleared this area.

This is not where the mess coach will stand, but the cleared area will allow us to relocate stuff that will be in the way of the mess coach and its steps.

This is the future site of the mess coach. You can just about see a corner of the LNWR box van in the top LH corner. What has to go now is that jumbled pile of rails. We have already started a neat pile elsewhere on the site, but as these here are all mixed up, we preferred to have more professional minds to guide us.

Tuesday on steels.

Just two of us today, but enough for two jobs. One was to start cutting steel to make up the purlins, the other was to give a second coat of primer to pairs of angles that had been tack welded together.

 

 

Last Friday Neal and John laid out 8 pairs of angles. These were then tack welded together.

The pairs will form the tops and bottoms of the purlins under the canopy. So assembly for the Broadway P2 canopy has definitively started.

Bacck in the loco shed Neal was cutting strip into short lengths.

These trips will run in a zig-zag pattern inside each purlin.

Here are some of the strips cut by Neal, near the end of the day.

He also cut similar pieces of angle. These have very particular angled cuts at each end, and if you get those wrong, they don't fit. We caught Neal with an angle under his arm, walking up to the Toddington canopy just to check he was doing it right... (of course he was)

 

 

At the end of the day, Neal could be spotted talking to 2807's smokebox. We didn't hear the conversation....

 

 

 

As the end of day diesel (the blue class 47) departed with the last Cheltenham train, 35006 could be seen manoeuvering its way backwards and forwards until it had reached the pit road on the left. Here it would be re-supplied with coal, always an interesting spectacle for our visitors, who can stand quite close really to watch the goings on.

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Three of us today, sans Paul. It was very quiet! You get accustomed to his strong points of view, and miss them when they are not there (this week only, luckily). You're allowed to say what you think, if you are in your 70s.

 

Dave and yours truly back filled a couple of sections of our grassy verge that were not yet straight.

When we unveil the enamel sign (at the end of August?) we need people to be able to stand on grass, so this pile needs filling, and seeding.

 

Elsewhere on site, behind the oak tree, grass sods and soil were being brought from behind  P2 where a childrens' playground was being dug out.

This digging generated quite a bit of spare soil and turves, which we accepted for around the Usk area.

At first it was brought by wheelbarrow, but then the Cotton Sturdy was started up! Way to go!

The Cotton Sturdy was the ideal tool for the job. It was brought to the railway by Steve, our long standing volunteer, whose employer had one he didn't want anymore. We painted it in fake GWR (late style) livery.

 

 

Others then levelled the ground with the diggings of soil and turves.

Unfortunately they went a bit too far and levelled off what we had put as a backing for the diamond paver path to be.

Not unusual for a preserved railway.

 

Later, 78019 steamed past with one of two steam trains that were out today. Also out - three trains out and about! - was the DMU.  Quite well patronised too.

Standard 78019 steams past the Usk hut. Grass looking good.

A little later the earth and turves brought from the diggings a few 10s of yards away looked like this.

And round the front, the triangular patch of lawn had been completed by Dave and Yours Truly. It was later seeded, and the weather Gods kindly supplied some gentle rain to kickstart the germination process.

This area is now primed for the ceremony pencilled in to unveil the sign that we have for the end. (on the two battens that you can see)

Looking right a bit, you can see what it looks like with the goods wagons stabled in the new bay siding.

The picket fencing put on our site is sadly not very GWR.

We lent our barrow to the group digging out the new play area, and got it back bent. Is there insurance for this sort of thing....?

Dave has a go at bodywork. It involves a big hammer...

 

Back next week with a full complement.

A journey up north.

Friday on the steels.

Dreadful weather - rain, and high winds.

We thought we were OK under the old greenhouse canopy, but the high wind had other ideas.

 

 

All the primered angle stored near the edges of the canopy was wet. That was not good.

Neal got the little forklift and we moved it all to higher ground, spreading it out a bit too, as it was soaked in between.

 

Here it is in its new storage location. That took half the morning, after which we resumed stripping off the mill scale and rust.

At the end of the day we had done all the angles, with about 10 plain strips left to do. The wind was now so strong that the rain was being blown in parallel to the ground, and everything under the canopy was getting wet. It's clearly not an ideal location for indoor steelwork, but it's all we have.

Sunday, a trip to the far north.

Clitheroe in fact. We went to pick up 6 replica platform lamp tops for Broadway. These are destined for that half of P2 that was recently tarmacced. The other half will be a building site for a while yet, so we're not yet putting any lamp tops there.

In Clitheroe there is a traditional coppersmith craftsman, Laurie Harrison. He can make you anything out of copper, he's got all the tools for that and more. Most people go to him for lamp tops, but he can do you a weather vane for example. He also makes the frogs that go under the tops, and hoop shaped corner brackets etc. Our loco dept went to him for the lovely replica lamp tops along the unloading road, and along the new goods shed mess room.

We liked his fast service, quality construction, good prices and warm Lancashire welcome.

Laurie Harrison's workshop.

Laurie's workshop is in Clitheroe, a little town overlooked by the looming peat covered Pendle hill, with the river Ribble below.

Due to the blogger's estate car being part demolished a month ago, we took a hire car, and accepted the risk that all six lamp tops might not be accommodated once we arrived.

But we got there. Three in the boot, and three on the back seat. As you can see there wasn't much room left over.

No, we can't shoe horn another one in there!

There was even a small risk that Mrs. Blogger might have to hold one on her lap on the way back, but she escaped and we smoothed things over with a nice lunch at a local hostelry.

Here are some lamp tops that Laurie made earlier. These are basic 16 inch Windsor tops, but he could make any shape you wanted really.

The correct size for a platform lamp is 16 inches, but smaller versions can be made for people's gates for example.

Some people bring in their cheap Chinese copies in for repair  - 'it fell apart a few months after fitting'...

Laurie has all the tools, and even made a plate folding machine all by himself - if you can't buy it big enough, then you have to build your own.

This is an antique example.

The dozens of mallets on the left each have their own special purpose, Laurie explained.

 

 

Going back, there was a lovely sign on the M6 motorway: MANCHESTER and THE SOUTH.

Of course, us former Londoners had HATFIELD and THE NORTH !

Three hours and a bit later we were back in the Vale of Evesham, and here are Broadway's 6 tops on arrival. They now need to be painted black, reassembled, and we will change the plain bolts for SS examples, as mild steel does tend to rust over time, even if painted.

The glass for the correct side opening doors also needs fitting. Laurie supplies that, so all you have to do is slide each of the panes into its frame and bend back the copper lugs. He felt that the use of silicone sealant was unnecessary.

We have also ordered a dozen 'BROADWAY' stickers, enough for the whole run along P2.

Laurie doesn't have a website, but he does have a Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LaurieHarrisonCoppersmith/?locale=en_GB 

If you need something made of copper, give him a call - his wife Carol does front of house.

The last of the steels - Tuesday

Well, until we get access to the MACAW with the other half of it. It been put back into the Toddington North headshunt, so now no way to get at it.

We spent Tuesday on the last of the 44 angles, and then about a dozen strips. These will go on the purlins, in short pieces.

Here you can see several cleaned already, two in progress, and just three more to go.

 

 

 

At the end of Tuesday we had done the lot, and primered it too.

Phew!

Now what?

A little video from Walt from Monday.

STEVIE had his second outing, with Walt at the controls.

This time it was to the other end of the line. We have quite a bit of scrap along the line at the moment, mostly lengths of rail that were replaced following our ultrasonic scan. There are also 3 crossings to pick up.

On Monday STEVIE ventured to CRC, where the cube and some rail off cuts were recovered on the trolley.

That cube has been there for several years, for want of transport. At last we could go and get it.

Here is Walt's stop frame film of the journey back to Winchcombe:

It makes our line look so short. But it's actually one of the longer ones in the country.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Getting ready for site reinstatement! We spent a lot of the day making tough decisions about what we really need, and what we don't.

 

 

Scaffolding planks are no longer required. We looked through them, gave some back to our C&M dept, and gave some away to John for firewood.

Behind are some of the timbers we recovered from the garden centre to make trusses with. These are the rejects left. Two were saved, others passed on for firewood.

 

 

Our Welsh Usk contact Mike asked for an overall view of the building today, for a presentation to the chap who gave it to us.

So here is the building today, with a decent clump of grass appearing in front, thanks to our typical summer weather (sunshine and showers!). The grass just loved it.

We still need to complete the lawn. There's a bit missing on the left. Probably next time then. We want it all green for an unveiling of the enamel sign last week in August.

Back inside. Yours truly went on a buying spree for electrical goods for the interior. They need to look old. No white goods here.

 

We managed to find this superb enamel 'Coolie' type lamp, as well as a braided electrical connection. Now to find a 60W bulb for it. One that looks like an Edison bulb, but is LED.

Others erected a length of picket fence part way along our platform.

A GWR type cast iron post and some spearhead fencing would be more convincing for this 'railway museum'.

Looking towards Winchcombe P2 we can see some digging in the greenery behind the platform. This is for a childrens' play area. The idea is to tempt people along and up to the Usk hut.

Today the PWay gang dug out the shape of the play area, and the rest will be done by a visiting gang of railway professionals who are on a volunteer day out, for which of course we are very grateful.

 

 

Behind the Usk hut others were removing weeds and adding a small amount of earth provided by a volunteer.

 

As we had to psition the building part way under the oak tree it is likely to receive a large amout of leaves and acorns, even in the summer (OK, so not the acorns) and these could clog up our guttering and downpipes. We are testing something to prevent this, which could also be useful for Broadway.

It's a system of gutter netting, held in place by clips that attach to the Ogee cast iron gutters. Here is one side in place. Will it work? Will it stay in place during high winds? It is worth the financial punt to see, but we are optimistic.

Broadway is certainly plagued by large volumes of pine needles.

This is the stuff. So far we like it.

And here is that enamel lamp in place. Doesn't it look great! With a braided cord and brass fittings.

 

 

Finally a picture of ourselves, sadly without Jules. This at the request of Mike, our Welsh correspondent. 

We had the building inspector round today (we passed...) and he was kind enough to agree to take the picture of the team for us. So here we are, in the hut we built.

We're now thinking about an interior.