The closed season starts

Friday at Broadway.

Cold and damp, a real wintry feel now. Tow of us worked at Broadway. In silence, as there were no trains around, and no people. The cafe was closed, which to yours truly is the greatest loss. There's nothing like mooching with a coffee at a table on the platform, and watching the world go by.

 

 

Here's an opening shot through the canopy that we built.

That orange thing is John's coat, not a scarecrow. John is on the end of the building, where he is putting down a first course of reds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He then pointed that course.

Preparations were also made for him to work along the back, as some time around when you read this the empty wagons are coming back to be loaded a second time.

For that, the front will need to be vacant for the dumper to shuttle up and down.

So during this session quite a bit of time was spent along the front, where the bricks reached the third course. 

We counted the courses on the P1 building - there are 33 of them, before you get to the overhang at the top. Thirty-three !

We have a long way to go....

 

 

This shot shows how John laid round the north end, and made himself a little start at the back. The back will be without windows. That was as it was, but also to avoid any risk of vandalism or intrusion from the field in the future.

We are using the slightly lesser quality bricks along here, where they are out of sight. Many have small chips or other imperfections on them.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a near end of the day shot, before everything gets covered in blue plastic for protection, as the mortar goes off.

Three courses along most of it, two nearest the camera. John has started the slow process each day of pointing his work.

 

On the corner is the first bull nose, on top of the conversion brick from square to round. The rounded corner in the brickwork is a lovely old fashioned feature.

 

Earlier, at Toddington...

One of the power units of the DMU (that the owners have sold to Bo'ness) waits on the unloading road to be collected and taken to Scotland.

The destination board no longer says 'BROADWAY', but 'DAISY'.

Toddington station building has also been defaced with an E-Scooter notice.

You can also see that the brickwork has been drilled into to attach a collection box, which was then moved to the other side of the window, and new holes drilled to attach it a second time.

Toddington is our only original station building. There are no rules to oblige people to respect our original fabric, or liaise with those promoting our 'living museum'. You can make any holes that you like.

The E Scooter sign and the box account for about 20 holes drilled into the Edwardian brickwork over the last 3 months.

On a brighter note, the Usketeers held a mini Christmas dinner in the Pheasant, together with their wives. 

Greetings to all our readers from the Usketeers! We are currently on the lookout for a new project, and as soon as we get something fixed up, we'll let you know.

 

 

Saturday, out with the gang.

It's the fun period now - no more trains, and we do more interesting stuff than packing and spot sleeper changing.

 

 

 

Last Wednesday saw a start on relaying the four panels taken out the Saturday before.

A tricky bit came at the start, as the concrete CS1 sleepers are higher than the wooden ones leading off the turnout.

 

 

Pictures by Paul Fuller

 

 

 

 

The trackbed was levelled with the little mini digger, and then the sleepers in storage in the C&W yard were brought in by Telehandler, and the rail tipped in by men on bars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then came the following Saturday, when a gap representing the fourth panel remained.

The initial store of CS1s was not quite enough, and a few extra wartime economy ones were drafted in from the PWay yard. These are thinner, and that suits the situation well, as the track behind the camera is laid with steel sleepers, which have a very low profile.

 

 

 

 

Initially work started on Saturday with another short relay, this one 3 panels right outside the signal box. It's another very old section, laid with second hand throughbolters in 1987, as the railhead reached Winchcombe for the first time.

 

Although work didn't start, due to a rake of carriages occupying an adjacent track for a generator change. The RV was trapped behind it until 11.30, with a big part of the day already gone.

 

Finally the RRV was released, as a line of gang members watched with interest.

Well, most of them anyway.

STEVIE the RRV lifted out 6 rails, all shorter than full length. There is hope that we can replace them with 4 longer ones, and so save on a couple of joints.

Picture by John Lees

Talking of second hand throughbolters laid in 1987, here is a picture by John Lees of Winchcombe that May. Recognise it? On Saturday we were working by that white caravan. That corrugated iron hut in the bushes on the left is where the Usk hut and platform are today. Hall Green signal box is being rebuilt. We remarked only on Saturday how well established that box looks, but it's a replacement as you can see.

 

 

Back to Saturday in 2024, and here is STEVIE swinging round one of the 60 or so sleepers lifted.

They were stacked on the trolley, and removed from there at the end of the day.

A second trolley load was collected, and then the 3 panels in question were clear of rail and sleepers.

This view was taken from the top of the signal box steps.

This shot down the tracks shows the extent of the works, which are expected to be complete in about two weeks (but no trains are running anyway).

 

On the C&W side the larger team had just completed laying in the last of the sleepers.

Beyond is the end of the new FO, on which the sponsor (as we understand it) was taking conservatory measures.

The sleepers nearest the FO are of the thinner economy type, ex Didbrook relay (part 2 of that is our main winter works project).

They suit the location, as the FO is standing on very low profile steel sleepers, so that track has to meet that level.

The rails were rolled back in by men on bars, in the traditional way.

The last of the 4 rails on the Malvern side didn't fit...

This was caused by over generous gapping in the previous three. Rather than unclip all three of them again and move them along a few mm, it was easier to cut the end off.

 

 

Tony did that, no problem.

 

 

 

Then it was just a question of clipping up (here) and refitting the fishplates.

Some sort of ballast will be needed here, as with several different sleepers types some packing is clearly needed.

 

 

 

It just so happens that we are getting some spent ballast out of the relay by the signal box, where the trackbed was dug out by STEVIE. 

That RRV is proving quite invaluable.

That spent ballast was being piled up by the road crossing, from where it can be loaded for transporting to the siding relay site.

In the meantime Simon is unloading the second pile of sleepers with chairs from the trolley.

All in all, Saturday was a very productive day, albeit a short one. A delayed start, and a rapid loss of daylight after lunch.

Monday by the Usk hut.

A request was made to change the surface of the track that bypasses the Usk hut (intended as some sort of emergency release for PWay vehicles, in case the crossing by the C&W shed is blocked).

Neal and Yours Truly were volunteered to scrape away the surface material. We were joined by Paul and Margaret.

 

The intention was to use the mini digger to scrape away surface material, and the dumper to carry it away.

We found the mini digger absent, reportedly parked up in another yard, and the dumper locked, with no key present. That rather frustrated our intentions, so we made do with what was available - the Telehandler.

 

After scraping the surface as much as we could - the Telehandler was too big for this job really - we did use it however to bring in fresh material, to extend the width of the road over the adjacent toe drain, which we converted to a perforated pipe.

 

Afterwards, the wider road with a refreshed surface was rolled by Neal, after an extensive head scratching session on how to get the vribator on the roller going.

We did eventually get the Good Vibrations... the actuating cable seemed to have seized up.

The road is now ready for a new surface layer, which will be applied by visiting volunteers from Colas, we learned. They enjoyed their last visit to us, and want to come again!

 

 

In an idle hour during the day we applied another pair of corporate GWSR stickers to one of our Transits, this one being the latest arrival.

We used to put these stickers on our carriages, but have now decided not to brand them any more. The small remaining stock has found a new and very suitable purpose though, as you can see.

Tuesday at Broadway.

One of several very dull days in a row, which end in it getting dark. Not much fun to work in.

John completed the third row along the front, and then turned the corner and made a start on the north end, second row.

 

To be honest, there's a bit of chopping and changing, as the mood takes us.

Here is John on the north end, but if you look carefully, you can see that he has also started on the back

Here is evidence of his productivity along the back - a long row of headers, which goes to just beyond the half way point.

Yours Truly was completely covered in pink dust from cutting bricks in half, trying to keep up with John, and also building up a stock for when we are otherwise occupied with the digger and dumper, filling the trucks which are due.

 

At the end of Tuesday John had laid 150 bricks, all headers (i.e. half bricks). 

But also this corner, with the lovely bullnose on top.

 

On Wednesday the now empty goods wagons were brought back, to be filled again with clay during the non-running season.

We still have spoil from the building's foundations to clear from the top of the cutting, and then there is a big hole to be dug at the bottom of the steps for a big concrete block, which will support three posts for the canopy between the building and the bottom of the stairs.  We are likely to start on that some time next week.

 

Meanwhile, a mysterious parcel has arrived in the blogger workshop.

Thursday should see a trip to pick up another mysterious parcel, and we hope to show you both next time.

 

 

Chimney top

Saturday, out with the gang.

Something interesting to do, and a sunny day = Large gang of 12!

First of all, a quick stop on the way at Toddington, to see how the third chimney is getting on:

The answer is: Very well. The brickwork is complete, and here the cap is being cast.

Now to reinstate the fireplace beneath, which we pulled out 12 years ago...

FYI, the two single and one double chimney served the following rooms (going away from the camera):

- Stationmaster's office  (now the shop)

- Booking Office           (now the shop)

- First class waiting room (stripped, and converted to offices/ticket window to the outside)

- General Waiting room. (the only original room left)

 

If we are truly a 'living museum', should we not reinstate these rooms to their original features?

Because it was gala weekend the gang was given a special task, well away from the many trains on the line.

This was to resleeper the C&W siding 4, and also give it a better level.

It was laid way back, say in the late 1980s, with the sort of material that we could not use in the main line, and when we had no money for ballast.

This sort of work is more interesting for us, and we enjoyed a slightly larger than usual gang, being 12 souls present in the mess coach for morning tea.

The first job was to knock out all the keys over 4 panels. Note the steel sleepers in the foreground, which today are not very common.

 

The next job was to remove all the fishplates.

These had rusty bolts, last used nearly 40 years ago, so many were reluctant to yield to the impact wrench.

Bert Ferrule chopped them off easily with the disk cutter.

On the other side of the tracks the gala was going on, so every time we heard a whistle or a toot we went to have a look. We like trains too, you know.

Here is the class 20 (the whistling wardrobe) just entering Winchcombe with a well filled rake of enthusiasts.

 

Back behind the carriages the impact wrench had to give up on two more seized bolts.

Not much the others can do until the rails are free, then it's all hands to the bars.

Unfortunately this was the moment that the blogger smartphone had some sort of a wobble, as it seemed to reboot itself several times, and refused to open the camera app.

So you'll have to imagine how all the rails were jacked up and lifted out.

At last the smartphone eventually sorted itself out, and allowed some more photographs.

How about these two black GWR freight engines pulling out of the station? They looked even better when they came back, now facing forwards again (see below).

 

Once the rails were tipped out and barred to one side we could get the Telehandler in. This then picked up the sleepers, now well past their time, to take them into the yard for temporary storage.

We still need to take off the chairs, then they are for disposal, unless any can be salvaged.

3850 and 2807, currently both in black, came back again with a lovely double header. 3850 developed a hot box last week, but was swiftly lifted and repaired, just in time for the big event.

 

 

Meanwhile Dave in the Telehandler had a tricky time trying to wriggle out through the narrow corridor between two coaches, one of which was the recently bought FO, which was already being worked on.

With the help of a banksman Dave did get in and out without damage, but it was slow work.

Here is the site round about lunch time - many sleepers already out and taken away.

More are waiting in the next pile, which makes a handy bench on which to sit in the sun while you wait.

The class 45 was also out today, substituting for the intended green Growler, which had manning issues. Well, we can't be everywhere at once.

 

While waiting for Dave to wriggle out, and then back in again (and fending off people trying to park their car on his route) the rest of the gang decided to stack up all the remaining sleepers in three piles.

Then the DMU came by, but not to pass us on its way to Toddington. No, it slowly wound its way into the C&W sidings, part of the gala arrangements, to make things more interesting.

But if there were any buffer kissers aboard they would have been disappointed, as the DMU stopped 100 yards short of the siding buffers. Oh well, better luck next time.

Once all the sleepers were out and taken away, Bert Ferrule drove up in the mini digger to make a start on levelling the site.

The ground is very uneven here, and we intend to leave the tracks in better shape than they were before.

This is the view at the end of the day, with all trackwork removed, and a start made on levelling the bed.

On the way to the Coffeepot we called in at the Usk hut, which was open to visitors.

The Friends of Winchcombe Station are making a good job of looking after it.

Very interesting was this original oil lamp, which came from the aunt of one of the FoWS members. This is exactly the sort of lighting that was in use at the turn of the century, where there is no mains gas, or electric.

We think similar lamps would have been in use in the various rooms of our stations, so one like this would look great in say a waiting room or booking office.

 

 

Waiting in the Coffeepot, we saw 35006 blow off again.

 

The incoming diesel service was hauled by one of the two class 20s

A last look at the yard on Saturday - discarded 40 year old second hand sleepers on the right, replacement CS1 concrete sleepers in a pile on the left.

Tuesday at Broadway.

Our last week of running trains this season, and it sure was busy!

The queue of waiting passengers stretched right outside the door, despite both ticket windows being in service. We haven't seen this since the reopening year.

Inside, the queue split into two, neatly controlled by the original cast iron crowd barriers. They really make the room.

We have no pictures or any information about the original inside of the former station building, but from the fact that only two, somewhat chipped crowd barrier posts were found in the buried demolition rubble, it looks like there was only one ticket window in 1904. If we wanted to be quite sure, we could lift the floor covering in the Toddington shop to see the foundations of the original posts there (long ago removed). The shop today occupies the site of the original booking office and ticket hatch. The ticket window to the platform currently in use is not at all historically correct.

Given that we are now a museum railway, with potentially dozens of passengers buying tickets for each train, we recommended at the time (in 2015) that two ticket hatches be fitted in the newly built station. At the same time we commissioned a second set of crowd barrier posts from a foundry. That has now proved to be a sound proposition.

Going fishing for trains?

 

Some of our passengers are now also more modern.

This is the first time we have see a pole in action.

On the other side, John was laying reds as 35006 trundled by on its run round.

35006 then took off in grand style with, we noticed, a rake of carriages in mixed colours. Unusual for us, but probably due to the gala a couple of days ago.

The next train was hauled by 3850, now repaired again after suffering a hot box last week. The '8' in its buffer beam number is also stuck back on, so all is well with this locomotive now.

 

John's task for Tuesday was to prolong the start of the reds all along the front facade.

Here he has made it to the end (the back is still to do, for a first course).

There's no particular reson for doing one part or another, it's just as the fancy takes him, and it all advances the build.

On the corner the first brick is a rather lovely architectural one. This shapes the corner from an angle to a curve, with the next bricks here all bullnoses.

The blue plastic underneath is to protect the plinths from mortar spatter, and will be pulled out at the end.

With this wall in English bond, the next course here will be stretchers. That'll be a lot faster than laying the halves, which all have to be cut (out of sight to the camera, under the footbridge) by yours truly.

When 3850 rolled in for the second time, the platform was already very busy with waiting passengers.

Those numbers sadly do not translate directly into cash for the railway, as the end of the season sees many shareholders cash in their free tickets for a ride. Let's hope they are also hungry, and buy something from one of the cafes.

As 3850 will return to the shed after this trip, a diesel is attached at Toddington for the return from Broadway.

We pounced with our camera to record the 37's bellow on departure, but sadly it just rolled away with the engine at idle speed.

As we were packing up this large hot air balloon drifted downwards over the Broadway bypass. It's often in the area.

We wondered where it would set down - it looks like Leamington Road from here. Hope that went well.

We're still on the lookout for a GWR upholstered bench, that indoor type found in the better waiting rooms. The new waiting / function room will be fairly long and narrow, so some useful furniture inside it is needed for people to sit down, and reduce any potential echo.

This is the sort we have in mind (they come with small variations).

This one is from a live railway station, so not available to us.

Maybe you know of another, or seen one at auction or on Ebay? Let us know if you do. We need 4 or even 6 of them to go down the sides.

 

Blast from the past.

Last week, a PWay picture from the southern end of the line. This week, the other end, as it was on Saturday 21st August 2004. 20 years ago already...

Picture by Paul Fuller.

A very proud PWay gang has assembled at the southern end of Stanway viaduct, after they reached our largest structure with the tracks from Toddington.

These are their names: (L to R)

John Ottwell, Nigel Black, Mike Pember, Charles Martin, Mike Townsend, Ivor Dixon, Pete Regan, Andy Manley, John Lees, Steve Warren.

None are on the gang today, although four made it as far as the Broadway buffer stops, and the famous 2017 Christmas train into the platforms. That was some day !