A one off.

A one off job.

On Thursday Neal and Yours Truly set out to fulfil a request from our Infrastructure Manager to fit some handrails to bridge 41, a cattle creep at Bishops Cleeve that is partially infilled. The bridge is certainly out of use and completely overgrown, but there's a 5ft gap at the top and the concern is that someone might inadvertently stumble into it.

Loading up at Toddington.

 

 

The solution had to be low cost... but at least we were able to give them a heritage tint, as the new handrails (fabricated by Neal) are made out of old GWR Manor Class boiler tubes (to wit, 7820. OK, BR built, but you know what we mean).

As the drainage department was going to the same area, we gratefully made use of their suggestion to put the handrails on the truck that they were using.

 

We clattered off in the direction of Bishops Cleeve, the clattering being made by lots of little lengths of scaffolding tube bouncing around in the back.

Here is where we stopped, half way between Cleeve and Southam lane bridge. The area is getting increasingly built up, and this former cattle creep is long out of use, one side having been converted from agricultural fields to football grounds. The underbridge was then partially filled in, leaving a crawling space near the top.

It's this crawling space, leading to a drop of about 4ft, that we would like to see protected by some handrails. They will also help to identify the site, one side of which had completely disappeared under thick brambles.

 

 

 

Neal was well prepared. The handrails were made at Toddington, and the holes to be drilled in the bridge beams would be done with his replacement mag drill (the previous one having been stolen in a burglary) and that would be powered - by this little generator, for which Neal had converted an old wheelbarrow as a carrier.

 

 

 

 

It all worked rather splendidly, we were finished in a couple of hours.

 

Here's Neal drilling the first hole. The boiler tube handrails were held in place by little G clamps.

 

 

 

 And then we were done !

Neal stands proud by the first of the two new handrails.

 

 Neal also had some self adhesive warning tape, which he wrapped around the ends.

 Job done.

 

 

Friday at Broadway.

 A day of modest progress, at least in terms of brick laying.

This was the view that met us first thing. It was on a Friday, officially a non-running day, but something did in fact run - a diesel driver experience.

Which diesel would it be? We'd have to wait until midday to see.

 

 

Having raised the back to 21 courses (out of 32 in total) John transferred his attentions to the end and front of the future store room (ex Gents).

Due to various circumstances it was a slow day, and only one mix was used. He did get the side to the left of the end door up to the level of the window cill, so that will no doubt go on next time.

 

 

 

We had a representative of our brick supplier round for a discussion, as we are short of several specials for example. On site we are half way through the penultimate pallet of bricks, and and new ones will have to be taken from the wagon stabled in the headshunt. Unfortunately the RRV is currently out of service, with damage to one of its tyres. Not the end of the world, but it all takes time. We are also down to our last dumpy bag of sand.

One thing that we could affect was to order some more bags of cement. These came, and the pallet was dumped unceremoniously on our doorstep. 250Kg, and a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre. Neal had a footpump, but that tyre wouldn't take its air. Luckily we keep an electric one in the car.

And here's the result of a little skip diving. John gratefully took these two castings. The shoe is there to indicate the size.

Do you recognise what they are? They are not everyday items.

Lunchtime revealed the subject of Friday's diesel driver experience - 47 105.
 

Here it is, ready to leave. It's nice to have a bit of business around the station, but even nicer still would be the opening of the cafe. Instead, we sat in the box and munched our sandwiches.

 

 

Saturday, out with the gang.

Seven of us, that's better! A more normal sized gang.

We are not working on completing siding 2 until after the gala, when the stock on the second half will be moved on to the piece that we have just relaid. 

First thing, and on this beautiful sunny spring day, it struck us how nice the Usk hut now looked. It has really matured into the surrounding nature, under the oak tree.  The Usk hut will be open during the gala at the end of this month.

Pending work resuming on siding 2, we were given a list of minor faults to be rectified along the wooden sleepered stretch south of the tunnel.

 

 

 

Item one was some loose fishplate bolts.

 

Easily done. 

 

Item 2 was a report of some pumping near the tunnel mouth..

Before we could start we had to let the northbound train go by (here in the picture) and then the southbound one, which would follow 10 minutes later, after crossing at Winchcombe.

 

 

It didn't really happen that way. With the excellent light, and a view overlooking the tunnel, two photographer members positioned themselves on the sunny side of the track and waited.

And waited.

And waited. 

And waited.

 

 

No southbound train came. Strange. Rather than waste more time waiting, we asked for a line block instead, and packed the section with Robels.

When we gave the line block back, we learned the reason for the non-appearance: P&O had failed at Broadway with a non-working injector.

We moved on to the next site, not before finding a dead snake, apparently crushed by a vehicle. Possibly a grass snake?

 

 

 

 

The train stopped at Broadway was picked up by 45 149, and passed us an hour later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item 3 was a dipped joint, somewhere near where the run round loop once was here, in the early 1990s. This is the spot where Dave, he reported, joined the railway. So Dave helped to relay from Gretton to Cheltenham, and then north from Toddington to Broadway.

Respect ! 

 

 

The next train made a fine sight, coming round the curve and out of the tunnel at full chat.

 

We then pulled into the wider area once occupied by Gretton halt.

Here we noticed a trodden path down the slope to a neighbouring house. 

 

This neighbour not only installed a metal gate on to the railway embankment (bottom left), but also placed a bird trap (foreground) on the embankment. This was occupied by two magpies flapping about inside.

It is illegal to trap birds without a licence.

 

A few yards further along, four new 'exclusive' houses are being built along the foot of the embankment out of Gretton.

 

 

 

We then moved to the bridge over a minor road leading to Stanley Pontlarge, where further packing and a a fishplate replacement (attempt) was made.

 

 

 

 

There was some strange damage to one of the bridge pilasters, something that we found hard to explain. It looked as if it had been hit from trackside, and the top rotated through several degrees.

This is not too hard to rectify, but how could it have occurred?

 We watched 45 149 one more time, and then it was time to put the tools away, and have some tea.

 

Tuesday a Broadway.

Another fine day, and getting too hot to wear the overalls that protect you from all the brick cutting dust. We did it early on, to avoid the noon-day heat. The rest of the day was in a T shirt.

This is the opening shot, seen from the footbridge.

Looking like a building yet? We think so.

 

 

 

 

 

Just the two of us today. John laying bricks, and yours truly in support.

 

 

 

 

The station seemed quite busy today, with two coach parties at least. We also ran a very successful gin tasting train - it was sold out.

The rake pulled by Foremarke Hall was particularly attractive. Almost all the coaches were painted in carmine and cream.

 

We spent quite a bit of time on the upholstered waiting room bench. It is now, finally, stripped of all its crumbling paint. Next time we will do some sanding down, ready for varnish, once it has been re-upholstered. Our C&W upholstery dept has been very kind to offer to do this.

 

 

 

The best bit of the day was when a passenger, blog reader and financial supporter, offered to buy us a coffee and a Magnum.

What a great way to end the working day!

 

 

 As we sat there, with our ice cream and coffee, we admired our work. Hope you do, too.

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

A very successful day - Dave was back too. It was hot and sunny today, we recalled specially pulling our chairs out into the open to benefit from the sun not so long ago, and today we had to escape into the shade, with a licky ice and some tea.

 

After fixing a last slate panel, we finally declared the interior complete today. FoWS want to move their desk and cupboard back in, in order to free up the Usk hut (where these items are in store) for the gala.

Today we started on the outside, i.e. on the bricks around the corner that have spalled due to the higher (wet) ground around them.

Here is Paul trying to prise out the first spalled brick, with a chisel and lump hammer.

 

 

 

 

 

That went rather slowly, so Dave had a go with the SDS drill, and that did the trick.

The idea is to leave the corner in this time, to keep the wall up, in case it is thinking about sagging. 

 

 

 

 

After a while Dave moved around the corner, to take out two or three bricks from by the door, again leaving the corner intact.

In the meantime, Yours Truly went on the prowl around the yard to find matching bricks, from Redbank, Measham. These were used throughout the original station buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then made up a small mix, with lots of black Cementone in it, and started putting back complete bricks.

This is as far as we got on the front. Next time we move to the left, and take out/replace a few more.

The damage to the plinth is where the downpipe was. It's not clear why a chunk was at some time hacked out of the plinth, as at the rear the downpipe goes around it. 

  

This chunk carved out of the plinth gave us the idea to look at the back. That wasn't easy, as the neighbour's property is right up against it. We sought permission to go round and take a look.

Here the downpipe is cast iron (plastic at the front) and there is a rupture half way down.

It is becoming aparent that we will need to buy two new cast iron downpipes, and some fastening rings /a  shoe for the bottom. The drainage system here is u/s -  when the new weighing table was put in, the original stormwater drain was cut off.  We're going to have to have a soakaway at the front now.

FoWS compare their cast iron tresspass notice with the new yellow box.

 

 

Less good news elsewhere on the station. Once again a completely modern item was appended to one of the buildings, again the toilet block. After the gas bottle cage at one end a few weeks ago, we now have a bright yellow defibrilator at the other end. Will our other stations also be disfigured like this? That is the worry.

 

 

 

Then it was time for lunch. The Usketeers know how to look after themselves. Today it was toasted cheese sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch the second hole was part filled. When this has stabilised we will deal with the corner next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trains crossing at Winchcombe is always an occasion worth watching.  Here 3850 did the token exchange with the Winchcombe signalman.

Mid afternoon we packed up, and Yours Truly went to Toddington to find Neal at work on the 4 trusses for Broadway.

Here he is drilling holes for the piece of angle recently bent to shape. Behind him is the second truss (the first is now under the greenhouse) and the piece he is working on is the third. Both have been part riveted already.

 

It was a very pleasant surprise to find 76077 already in the loco shed, in anticipation of display during the gala. Do come and see it, and help our boiler fund if you can. At the moment we are running a special offer - every donation will be doubled by a mystery supporter, up to a maximum of £75.000. We must seize this opportunity!

General overview of the loco thus far assembled, but without the boiler as yet.

 

The cab, from the tender fall plate.

 

Detail of the cab.

Isn't this cab fantastic! A beautiful new seat, brand new floor, and the famous reverser gearbox now assembled, and installed. It's fabulous.

A little cameo of the oil pump, imported from S Africa, we heard.

 

This weekend we are off to Exmoor again, for an update from Exmoor Associates, and their L&B trackbed aquisition efforts. Is there anything in the pipeline? We know they are talking, how is that going?

Unusually, Chelfham viaduct will be open, as well as the little station alongside it.

We will come back with a report - as much as we will be allowed to say.