Reassembly, and return of the GWR bench.

Friday at Winchcombe in the yard.

Just a quickie on Friday, sorting the yard , and a pile of timbers into those maybe re-usable, and those probably not: 

 

 

 

 

Three of us on the job, starting with a big jumbly pile of mixed second hand sleepers and timbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least one had already been sorted for us: This one !

 

Normally they just put a cross on it.... 

 

 

 

At the end of the day we were left with about 30 or so timbers and sleepers of mixed quality that might be useful for someone, but we can't put them in the main line any more. 

If you are interested, get in touch with the blog.  

 

 

Over by the crossing our RRV operators were readying STEVIE for a trip to CRC with a large cable drum. This is on behalf of S&T, who need to replace the cable between there and Gotherington, which has become faulty.

Also loaded was a new crossing for the Gotherington South turnout, which is currently being resleepered on Wednesdays.

 

 
So two birds with one stone for ever useful STEVIE.

The first picture shows the crossing unloaded, and the cable drum ready to roll.

The second picture shows the cable being unrolled into its trench, in the curve between CRC RDA and Bishops Cleeve. We have buried cables before, but with the little Drewry (that we sold) and a small trailer, without a boom, and that was rather more labour intensive, heaving the stiff cable into the trench. 

Pictures by Walt, with thanks. 

 

 

Out with the gang at CRC South.

Fourteen of us on Saturday - a record in recent times. But it's interesting refurbishing a turnout in its entirety, so we like doing that.

 

 

 

We all went to CRC directly, to find our contractor Kev trundle up the 6 foot with his digger. Access via the cutting by Hunting Butts was abandoned, as the field was extremely muddy, and the slope too steep for the circumstances.

 

 

 

 

 

The trundling went fine, until it got a bit more difficult by the remains of the turnout, where the rails started to merge.

Kev stuck his boom out, and sort of hopped along on one leg, with a crutch. 

 

 

 

Once on site, Kev scooped up the old timbers and put them in a pile at the rail head. STEVIE was waiting, bottom right.

This is the view from Kev's end. It was all very well thought out and co-ordinated, things were running smoothly. 

 

Loading on to the trailer was supervised by a very stern looking Pete, our safety representative. 

Loading completed, Kev scraped off the old ballast (which was surprisingly good still), leaving a nice level bed for the replacement timbers. 

 

 

 

 

The level bed did not, however, pass inspection by Nick 'The Rake', who leaped into the formation to give it that last little polish.

 

 

 

 

With an important stage achieved - complete clerance of the old installation - we ventured upstairs for a picnic in the winter sun.

CRC stalwart Dave amazed us with his mouse catching abilities, and paraded (a dead) one by its tail around in front of us, before depositing it in front of the microwave. Strange appetites there, those southerners.

 

 

 

The mouse catching skill became clearer when we saw these attractively advertised boxes.

'The Big Cheese' clearly worked... 

 

 

 

 

The CRC narrow gauge starts here.

 

 

 

 

Back down in the cutting after lunch, and STEVIE with an assistant returned to Winchcombe to unload the old timbers.

The others then moved one of the rails nearest to the 6 foot, so that Kev could return later in the day, unimpeded.

Looks like the start of a new 2ft gauge railway here. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Kev was then able to shuttle back and forth from the Elk nearer the tunnel with those parts of the replacement turnout nearest to the bridge (and within Stevie's reach).

 

 

 

With stock rails and check rails left and right ready to lift into place, we laid out the timbers in reverse order, starting with No.41.

These babies were heavy! Two turned to to be at the wrong end (they were longer for the point motor to sit on) and it took 8 of us on nips to move one of them. The second went by digger.... 

Once 13 timbers of decreasing length had been laid out (Nos 29 to 41) we had enough area for the first rail installation - the crossing.

That needed a change of lifting tackle, so the two cranes met nose to nose, to allow the heavy chains to be lifted across. 

 

Here is the crossing just being lifted. This unit determines the position of all the other rails, so has to go in first. 

During the heavy lifting by digger/STEVIE most of the volunteers stepped aside to stay out of the way and watch, but when the crossing was down there was an immediate inspection. 

This was the state of play at the end of the day. The crossing is down, roughly. The next items are already in place left and right, showing our good planning.

Next time we will jack up the crossing, and move the timbers underneath into their exact positions, so that the bolts can go back into the holes we drilled at Winchcombe. 

 

 

 

Tuesday at Broadway.

The bench is coming back from the upholsterer's! A great day.

The prized possession is taken back to the station.

 

 

 

On a damp Tuesday the reupholstered bench was brought back to Broadway. Now it is finished, woodwork and upholstery completely refurbished, and the original beading put back as well.

 

 

 

We paused the bench by the end of the building, where those colourful 1900s posterboards are.

Isn't it magnificent ! It will be the star of the new waiting room. 

 

 

 

The upholsterer (Mike) brought with him a piece of the original fabric, which he discovered was marked 'BR' on the underside of the Rexine.

That would explain why there was no beading, as BR hadn't thought it necessary. But it does add that touch of luxury. 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was spent digging a hole, and then filling it again, with concrete. 

 

 

With the weather a tad milder, Neal had decided to go ahead with the concrete foundation block for the third canopy support in the corner of the circulating area.

This meant digging out the hole dug some months ago with the mini digger. It had partially collapsed, and filled with water.

The first job was to drain that. 

 

 

 

 

 

Neal had a pump (Neal has two pumps...), and it worked surprisingly well.

 

Here you can see the water cascading into the stormwater drain that we built. 

 

 

 

Not all of the water could be sucked out, and what was left was a bit of a nightmare. Neal was in wellies, and got stuck with both feet at once. The clay was glutinous and very hard to shovel. Bit by bit he managed to lift chunks of it into the barrow, which was emptied round the back of the building on the south side, where there was a suitable hole to be filled.

Once he had one layer out, Neal dug a trench, deep enough for the first piece of shuttering. Three other trenches then followed, leaving a higher bit in the middle.

This shuttering had to go in smartly, as the unstable sides of the hole were pushing and trying to slip down back into the hole.

Here Neal is fitting the fourth side. 

This view from half way up the staircase shows the completed shuttering, with the middle further deepened out. We took away about 20 wheelbarrow loads of clay. Two scaffolding planks end over the hole, ready for dropping in concrete.

That took us to lunch time, surprisingly fast progress we thought, and leading us to consider mixing concrete the same day. Not a given, when we first started digging the hole. Next week looks much colder and wetter, not so suitable for us. 

 

 

 

Also on site today was John, who can be seen fitting concrete blocks to the (former toilet) workshop area.

From the vast pile in the middle of the room you can guess that there is still some way to go, but it is getting smaller. 

 

 

 

 

 

This was what he had achieved by the end of the day, the wet mortar revealing what he managed to lay. There was quite a bit of cutting to size involved today, for example under the window.

 

 

 

After lunch we got down to the serious job of mixing 0.6 of a cu m of concrete, by hand. Earlier in the week Neal had arranged for a bag of ballast to be dropped off by the main gate, and he then split this into two dumpy bags, which he was able to take round to the site on a pallet with a pump truck.

It's not easy getting materials to the site across the tracks, but we are getting there. 

Here is one of the first barrow loads going in.

We had ordered enough bags of cement, but found ourselves a bit short of ballast, so we lengthened what we had with a bag of track ballast that happened to be floating around the site. In the end we just about made it, with a sigh of relief.  

We worked on making and pouring concrete all afternoon. Slowly the shuttering filled, to produce the necessary concrete block.

There will be a second concrete block on top of it, Neal advised.  

And here we are, one concrete block ! One of the three fabricated uprights will be bolted down on top of this.

 

 

Usketeers on Wednesday

Unfortunately cancelled, due to two absences, and a poor weather outlook. 

 

 

 

Plate layer's hut sleeper appeal - update.

We are delighted to report that the target of £1332 has now been met, or nearly so. So now we can afford to buy the right number of good quality second hand sleepers for it. Smaller items are being bought by the Usketeer participants out of their own pockets, as we go along. If we overshoot (just in case) then Paul has currently unfunded plans for two 40ft containers, to get us some proper storage, as well as a reserve of two more Robels.

The team is very grateful, and thanks our kind sponsors for making it possible. Together we are strong, we reached the total ! 

Wednesday on the PWay.

Very wet, and stormy too. 

On this dismal stormy day we can see STEVIE about to set off for the Gotherington South relay job, with the Cube and our mini digger on board.

On site, things very pretty grim. Many were considering taking up needlework instead....

Incredibly, the gang managed to change a further 8 of the timbers on this turnout, after only 5 last week (some organisational issues, we learned). They are starting at the heel end, where the shortest timbers are. As you work up, the timbers get longer and heavier, and you have to dig out more ballast each time.

So, hats off to the gang, you did well today! 

Additionally, two members worked at Gotherington, filling up dumpy bags with ballast. We have just bought a special 4 armed frame from which to hang the dumpy bags, but it's not in use yet.

It is likely that these bags of ballast will be used to pack the two turnouts that we are refurbishing this winter. 

Pictures by Pete L and Walt S, with thanks.