A ballast train, and a hole.

Saturday, out with the gang (on Vintage Weekend)

10 of us on Saturday, out beyond the tunnel on changing sleepers along our oldest piece of track. In that location the Vintage Weekend largely passed us by, although a number of us gave credence to the rumour that the rail car was coming to Winchcombe. Something was indeed signalled, we ran out, but it was just the normal 'kettle'. 

'Normal kettle' steaming by, in the form of 2807.

Oh well, might as well go to work then.

 

 

 

After a brief second breakfast of pains chocolats, doughnuts and chocolate biscuits we loaded up the tools outside, and had a brief debate about who was doing what, and placing which where.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours truly and Tim got the job of putting out the advance works site board. It was at MP 13.II, which is right in the middle of the (wider) Gretton Halt site.

It was very windy, so we brought a cast iron chair to hold the support down.

Two mistakes here: one cast iron chair was not enough to hold down the board (it promptly blew over, but only once we had driven back) and the second was putting the wrong board of two up. The green back was the giveaway... 

 

 D'oh ! Back you go with the correct board. Just as well, as it had blown over anyway.

The flail has been along here, very efficiently, but it has exposed the extreme height of the embankment in the Greet area. It's a bit daunting, especially when driving in reverse. 

 

Then it was off to work with the others. We had a digging team, and a sleeper replacement team, as you can see on the picture.

The challenge of 15 sleepers done on Wednesday hung over us, even though this team is less than half the size.

We did have a new recruit, Mark. Very welcome he was, too.

 

 

With BETTON GRANGE facing north, we had the opportunity of shots from both directions. 

Unfortunately the orientation of our railway, along the Cotswolds Edge, is such that we are always pointing at the shadow side of the train, pretty much into the sun. 

2807 made a fine sight heading south with its train. Looked quite well filled too.

Under the driving wheels you can see the new Robel obstruction free jacks. We need to drop them down when the train approaches - a quick kick with the heel suffices - but they can remain in place. 

 

 

When lunch time came everyone hopped into a vehicle to munch their sarnies and cake, except one....

BETTON GRANGE's second pass of the day. A bit more into the sun, as that moves further south.

It was a day of showers and high wind - we even had a brief hailstorm. Where that comes from you can see on the horizon. 

We're back at the Gretton halt site here (MP 13.II), picking up the site boards, ready to return to base before the Coffeepot closes.

 

On the way back we dropped off the 'garden quality' sleepers that we extracted - by a garden. It's a supporter of the railway, and it saves us having to take them home for disposal.

We also passed this small pub.... couldn't find any printable on-line reviews, must be very private.

Back at Winchcombe there was more of a carnival atmosphere. There was a live musician on the platform, children were having enormous fun with a room full of railway related toys in the visitor centre, and this 3 coach shuttle train rolled in from Toddington.

It was hauled by 24081, one of those very slow running Sulzer diesels. The idea was to connect our two most active sites on Vintage Weekend, Toddington and Winchcombe. It also added extra interest, together with the class 20 we spotted running through Hayles later in the afternoon.

On the way home we stopped at Hayles, to see if the rail car came in.

The class 24 did, there was even a passenger.

It suddenly struck us that the corrugated iron shelter now had a poster on it.

What's this?

 

 

 

 

It's not really authentic for the hut here, but it does look realistic, admittedly. A member of the RATs did it - we share the same drive for a genuine Heritage Railway. OK, quite well done, even.

Waiting a bit longer saw that class 20 with a train (no photograph) and then after another few minutes, 2807 returning, tender first.

Our beautiful Cotswolds edge countryside, with a 1907 locomotive and a perfect copy of a 1928 GWR halt.

 

 

 

Monday, on a ballast train.

Two of us, plus two loco crew. We had 4 Dogfish filled with ballast, and they had to be used to supplement where the tamper had raised the track, so that when empty they could be used by our infrastructure team.

 

On arrival at Toddington we paused in the loco shed, where the overhaul of 35006 was well under way.

Here was our first glimpse of No.22, tucked safely away in the shed.

These rail cars are quite vulnerable to deterioration from the weather. It has taken the K&ESR a long time to get the bodywork of their No.20 repaired. (But it will be ready this year) 

 

 

Our train of 4 Dogfish and a Shark was hauled by 24081 for the day. As we are all enthusiasts, and had a posession for Toddington - Gretton for the day, we did not attempt to resist a couple of photo stops on our way to the two dropping sites.

 

 

 

The first dropping site was Chicken Curve, where lifting & tamping recently exposed the sleepers.

We stopped just short, to allow Paul a last minute inspection of the site, to determine the best dropping zone. 

 

 

 

We stopped by this signal, where the loco crew and Yours Truly profited from a rare Cotswolds side shot (PWay usually being confined to the shadow side of the track).

 

Here's a nice portrait. The weather played its part too, being mostly sunny. What you can't hear is the old Sulzer churning away to itself slowly, at idling speed.

 

 

Once on Chicken Curve we dropped three of the 4 Dogfish. The current source of ballast is not as good as the last one (Dean Forest) and contains a lot more dust.

There was also some contamination. One Dogfish wouldn't empty, and we found black matter mixed (soil?) in with the dusty ballast, leading to a blockage. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the result of the drop. Ballast levels restored, but too much in the middle now.

A job for the regulator! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We moved on, through Winchcombe, and took another 'selfie' by the tunnel entrance. Clouds a bit thicker here.

If only the platelayers' hut was finished... 

 

 

 

 

The second ballast drop took place at Gretton halt. No picture of that, but we did take a picture of what one of our neighbours there has done:

 

He not only has a 5 bar gate on to our property, he uses it to access our embankment, and dump his garden rubbish there.

 

He also dumped these strange slabs on us. We went down there for a closer look, and established that these are slabs of house insulation, covered with grass clippings to disguise them.

 

We then returned to the train, and propelled back to Winchcombe. 

.... stopping for a while at the Greet tunnel southern portal, for a rather nice picture of the now empty ballast train.

We took this snapshot of the half built platelayer's hut as we passed.

The Dogfish were dropped off in the C&W yard, and the light engine returned to Toddington. 

This is Phil - does he remind you of the Grim Reaper?

During our absence there was some serious cleaning work going on - they also serve. Most people probably don't realise the dirt and the dust that remain, once the jolly old steam engine has chuffed along the line.

 

Volunteering at its best! 

On the way home we called in at Broadway. Here work has gone on at the end of the building, with a lot of cutting and jiggling to get the arches in. All three end arches are now in place, built over, and the first row of corbelling on top too.

End on view of the P2 waiting room, site of the former Gents toilet and workshop to be.

 

 

 

 

 

We took this picture for you, of the third completed arch.

 

All the brickwork at this end is now complete, except for the final three rows of corbelling. 

 

 

 

 

 

A full view of the new waiting room, with completed end brickwork

 

We are now waiting for the roofer to put on the (gently sloping) flat roof here. It'll be hidden, below and behind the corbelling.

The rivetted canopy covers the actual waiting room itself, starting from where the building becomes slightly wider, and has windows at the front.

Note how the corner has bull noses up to about head height, after which it reverts to rectangular bricks again.  It's a lovely detail, which is very rewarding to reproduce.

 

 

Tuesday with the Usketeers.

Our usual day was switched to Tuesday, which suited one of us better this time, and it was also forecast to be drier, important when painting corrugated iron. Gotta be flexible, ya know.

Yours truly spent most of the day in front of the weighbridge, grinding away at two of the six corrugated iron sheets. It's tiring, and a bit disspiriting, but at the end of the day - with a lunch break by the tunnel mouth - we had two more cleaned of rust and powdery zinc. Two were painted, and one left in primer, as it began to mizzle and the others went home. It's almost impossible to manipulate those corrugated iron sheets on your own, so we left them in a pile (with bearers in between) and with a heavy rubber wheel on top to stop the wind blowing them away. 

 

This is the pile at the end of the day - looking much better. However, some sheets are also rusty on the underside, shall we do those too? A question for next week.

 

We paid a social call on Paul and Julian, in their new home. As we approached, only their legs were visible, but at the last minute we were spotted, so they turned round to face the camera.

 

Julian has been busy fitting the slats over the sleeper gaps. They look a bit bright now, but the whole shebang will be painted with black decking paint, to make it look like creosote (which we can't buy any more, unless in the name of the plc).

In this picture he is fitting the last of the sleepers, No.5 at the front. The remaining gap is for the door, which Paul will make. So, basically, that is all the walls erected now.

 

Paul drives in chunky nails to hold things together to start with. The end product is a kind of frame inside, running round the top, and another round the bottom. The bottom one was fitted on Tuesday. 

 

While we were on site, we took a snapshot of the Bubble Car coming out of the tunnel. In truth we were an all diesel railway on Tuesday, as a kettle had failed and there was a class 37 substitute. So you could choose between a scenic rail car, or a 7 coach main line train, with a roaring monster at the front (the class 37...). Not so bad after all. As you can see, the Bubble Car was quite well filled. We also had 2 coach loads of kids. They were told by farmer Giles what a rotten old time WW2 was, but what they really liked, those damned kids, was a go on the stirrup pumps. Water everywhere...

 

 

 

 

Julian provided this end of the day picture.. He's got the strips along the front, and most of the way down the back too.

 

It's nice sitting in there, quite windstill now. Still need a roof, as there were showers about on Tuesday. Those rafters are only temporary, before you write in. We'll straighten them up, and level them, for the corrugated iron sheets to sit on. 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the afternoon we had our mug of tea in the Coffeepot, and some biscuits left over from the morning. The Bubble car, well filled, was waiting to leave as one passenger ran into the cafe for that extra snack. It left, very sedately, once the class 37 was in.

 

 

A hole has appeared....

Hot off the press: 

Due to the heavy rain that we had this winter we've suffered a minor landslip between Manor Lane and Bishops Cleeve. The news was made public on Tuesday, but it's been ongoing for a while, as we determined the size of the slip, its activity, and the possible measures to counter it.

We noticed last September that a crack had appeared in the roadway on the up line. During the winter we had heavy rain, and that water went down the crack and eventually lubricated a layer of about 3ft, which slid down the slope and curled up at the bottom.

 

Our infrastructure people check out the slip, and its monitoring equipment.

  

Detail of the slip at the top, with monitoring equipment.

Looking at the nature of the soil here, it appears to be mostly ash and spent ballast. It is similar in nature to another that occurred in the cutting at Toddington. Luckily the running line is not directly affected; trains can pass at 5mph.

We have no further detail of the proposed solution, except the press release on the GWSR website:

https://gwsr.com/news/landslip-at-gotherington/

...posted on Tuesday. That indicates that we now know exactly what is going on, and what we are going to do about it.

As so often our Trust has been asked to provide funds for this. It means that valuable reserves are going on maintenance issues, instead of new heritage projects, such as the proposed museum and visitor centre at Toddington.

 So if you'd like to help, please do so:

 https://www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/how-to-donate

 The Trust would certainly be very grateful.

 

 

A roof for the platelayer's hut.

Good Friday, on the road.

A trip to Broadway with Paul, then on to the builder's merchant in Tewkesbury, to get supplies for the platelayer's hut.

 

 

 

On a slow day, with a full vehicle compound (good Friday), we took the opportunity of an available Transit to go to Broadway to pick up the 6 corrugated iron sheets that we will use on the platelayer's hut.

 

 

 

 

 

On the return trip we stopped at the builder's merchant to pick up 16x 6 inch gravel boards. We will cut these down the middle, to make 32x 3 inch strips, which will be nailed over the gaps between the sleepers. 

That was how it was done in the day, unless, if there were no gravel boards available, the gangers used old newspapers to plug the gaps. We won't go that far. 

 

 

The goodies were dropped off outside the weighbridge, our current base in Winchcombe. Here we will cut the gravel boards down the middle, and remove the surface rust from the corrugated iron sheets. Then we'll have to think of a way of getting all this down to the tunnel mouth site.

To finish off the half day we treated ourselves to a Cappuccino in the Coffeepot. It's nice to sit there and soak up the atmosphere - there's always something happening.

 

 

 

 

There were two steamers about, plus an unexpected diesel with three carriages. 

 

Class 24  24081 basked briefly in the lunchtime sun, before running round, on its Toddington - Winchcombe shuttle.

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

No Dave, tummy trouble - we had to struggle on without. Get well soon, Dave !

Wednesday was the day we dealt with the 16 pieces of gravel board, and the 6 rusty corrugated iron sheets. 

 

 

 

Here is Paul, cutting the 6 inch gravel boards into three inch strips.

These will be nailed to the sleepers to cover the gaps in between. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We suddenly had a lot of material to take to the tunnel mouth site, so with the kind permission of the FoWS we borrowed their 4 wheeled truck and pushed our stuff uphill.

That was quite hard work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On arrival, Jules collapsed panting on to the little wall outside our patio area.

So that's what it is for. 

 

 

 

 

We hadn't got started yet when Simon appeared in the Telehandler with a large load of sleepers.

Checking his track possession, he vanished in the tunnel, his rear lights getting dimmer and dimmer. 

Yours truly then walked back to the weighbridge, forming 'team stripping the corrugated iron'

 

 

Here is the task. Step forward, those other volunteers...

We stripped and primered two of the six sheets (it's very slow) then walked back up to the tunnel mouth for lunch. 

 

 

Here we found that Julian had already got going with the strips, which he was nailing across the sleeper gaps.

This is the way it was done (if you didn't have wooden strips, old newspapers pushed into the gaps was OK as well).

The whole thing will be creosoted when we are done, for a uniform black appearance. 

 

 

 

 

 

Trains, some pleasingly full, came by and we all waved to the occupants.

The Easter weekend was deemed a success, with passenger numbers up on the previous year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul brought more pavers, and completed the run across the front, leaving a gap for the door.

When they have gone off, we can stand the last 5 sleepers on them, to complete the circle around the hut. 

 

 

 

This was the situation as we saw it, immediately after lunch. Quite a few strips nailed on, down one side.

We in turn went back to the weighbridge, to give the sheets prepared in the morning a coat of bitumen black, to preserve them. 

 

 

That was it for the Usketeers on Wednesday. Now to pick up Mrs. Blogger from Broadway, where she was working in the cafe. She reported good business there ! 

 

At Broadway we took the opportunity of checking out the progress that John and Neal had made. Unfortunately we were unable to join them these last 10 days, due to a nasty cold. 

As you can see, the RH side window has had an arch fitted. It looks great.

We need this end finished, as the roofer is due to come, to do the store room (flat) roof. 

 

 While the cafe was closing, the trains hadn't finished running yet. Here is jet black 3850 running round.

 

 

We also took this close up for you, of the first arch, that went over the RH window.

Note the absence of the white paste in the joints, used by our builder on the other side.

A PWayer remarked at the time that it made the place look like a French boudoir. 

We'll leave you to judge if that is right. Anyway, no boudoir on P2.

 

 

Here is 3850, just putting itself back in front of the train.

Unfortunately we were unable to witness the main event of the day (we say), which was the test outing of GWR rail car W22.

 

 But someone else did see it... (thank you Chris!)

 

Here it is, about to set off from Toddington yard. The interior is splendidly Art Deco.

 

 

The driver has a central position. From a fairly restricted position at Didcot, W22 should be able to stretch its legs a bit on the 14 mile GWSR.

The test trip was scheduled for Toddington - Winchcombe, but how could they resist a stop at the lovely Hayles Abbey Halt, rebuilt by the Heritage Group.

Here's a little cabside video for you. Thanks to Chris, who was PWay representative on board.

And here it is, arrived at Winchcombe. The public can travel on this. First it's short trips to Hayles Abbey halt, then longer ones to CRC, on reservation. Check our website for the exact details, but don't miss the GWR railcar on the GWSR !

PWay out on Wednesday.

Pictures by Paul, with thanks.

 

 

Here is Simon in the Telehandler, at the end of his mission through Greet tunnel, with a large pile of sleepers for changing.

 The team did extremely well, they changed 15 of them. That must be some sort of a reccord?

 

 

 

This is where they were working, in brilliant sunshine. Just outside the southern end of Greet tunnel, one of our favourite photo sites.

 

 

 

The gang spread out across the site, so that several sleepers could be worked on at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

Another lovely shot from Paul. Shame that it was so hot today, with 21 degrees air temperature, but an amazing 37 degrees rail temperature. This is always higher than the air. So there wasn't much steam to be seen.

 

 

 

At the end of the day we all sat on the Coffeepot verandah, including two Usketeers, who are, after all, also members of the PWay gang (when they aren't building stuff).

The season is launched, and the cafes are open again. Yay ! 

 

 

 

 

 

A look over the fence - GCR Mountsorrell branch at Nunckley Hill

A swapmeet at Quorn in the morning took us to the old granite quarry at Nunckley Hill, which has been redeveloped as a rail based community centre, with its own branch line.

There was a bit of confusion on our part on arrival. Google maps took us to a field with nothing there, which it said was the rail centre. Luckily we saw the gleam of parked cars in the distance, and soon found the real location. Once in the right location, there was a bit of further confusion on our part, as what we took to be the entrance was in fact a cafe and museum. The cafe had an excellent range of cakes and we hesitated - deciding to stop there on the way out (by then it was chokka...) 

Going out of the cafe's back door we found a lady sitting by a table selling tickets. £3 seemed very reasonable for access to the former quarry, and its mix of NG and SG sidings.. 

 

 

We found a little 0-4-0 shunter going up and down with various wagons. 'Extras' could be purchased for a cab ride - £5 - and £10 for a go at the actual controls.

This quarry and its short branch from Swithland Sidings were used by the GCR to source granite for ballasting the line to London.

We got the impression that the centre's particular focus group was families with children. It has very good on line reviews for that.

 

 

Of course as a quarry the site is rather limited in size. Nonetheless a small circular (2ft) gauge railway has been squeezed in, and this was very popular.

 

 

 

Motive power of the day was Kerr Stuart ROGER, which we had seen going round the garden at Statfold Barn, and at the Welland Rally. For a 200yd circle and 3 wagons, it has had supplementary airbrakes fitted, with a tank on board, and a compressor on the platform. Seemed a bit OTT to us.

 

 

 

 

As it was lunch time, the driver treated himself to sausages on a shovel.

Probably less chance of frazzling your food in a little firebox like that, than in a Hall on the GWSR. 

 

 

 

 

Everything was very neat, with abundant signage - a bit too much for our liking. It was substantially a fairground ride. I sincerely hope we don't start putting up signs in our 1904 stations, asking parents to keep their children away from the platform edge.

 

 

The steam shunting on the other hand was quite convincing. There was also a museum, with a unique steam loco (a Brush, if we remember correctly, the only one they made) and a carriage that is well restored from an empty shell.

 

 

 

 

The SG shunter of the day was a 1911 Barclay, from the Caledonia works. There was all sorts of industrial stuff to see and marvel at.

Behind the Barclay was the rebuilt 1834 Stephenson lift bridge. This once went over the Grand Union canal in Leicester, and by use of chains and counterweights raised the tracks enough for a horse to pass under it on the towpath. This is a great piece of engineering. It's basically an oak frame with 4 corner posts, and a pulley wheel on each corner. It's just been completely rebuilt. It's sad that it has to remain outside (indeed, where else?) but leaving wood in the open air is not a LT solution.

Near the exit we found this enormous bucket. Something for STEVIE, the RRV? We think not, much as it would speed up ballast loading.

What few people realise perhaps is that Mountsorrel granite quarry is still going today, and is now what looks like the deepest hole in the UK. It's gigantic!

 https://mountsorrel.tarmac.com/about-us/

 It's just around the corner - who knew?

 

Earlier, in the Quorn swapmeet, we unexpectedly found something that relates to our railway. We went there to accompany a friend, and to browse. No to spend any money. But in the end, we did:

It's the 1905 works plate on the right. E. Finch & Co of Chepstow, made all the ironworks on the Honeybourne line, even running in board posts. Now we have three with successive years, illustrating the progressive opening of our railway southwards, starting with Broadway 1903. 1904 was from the aqueduct at Stanton; the seller didn't know the provenance of the 1905 one.

We hope these will be accepted into our museum, when we eventually get one. In truth, there is little to go into it, other than generic GWR stuff. Very little remains of our original line, where you can say, yes, that's from Bishop's Cleeve, or Weston Sub Edge. We had no totems. We suggested that the Trust bid at an auction for a Malvern Road totem, but it was not of interest to them. The former Winchcombe museum has a BROADWAY enamel sign, one of 4 that were placed on each of our stations in later days. It's the only one known today. If only we could look after it, and show it to the public.