A day at the Welland steam festival.

Saturday at Welland.

The GWRT had a stand there over the three day festival, and we volunteered for the Saturday, being one of three there. 

 

 

 

 

Here we are, sheltering from the rays of the sun. The grass was tinder dry, and had been trampled by tens of thousands of people into a fine dust, which the wind blew into every crevice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the view from the inside, a procession not only of people but of many, many half or quarter scale vehicles, including a mighty Foden with a lawnmower engine. That would make some people cry...

 

 

 

 

The purpose of the stand was to raise the GWSR's pofile, answer questions, and perhaps take one or two memberships, or even potential volunteers. You never know what might come up - one potential visitor came with news that a large ballast regulator was up for disposal, and that made a few hearts gallop in our PWay department.

 

 

Our stand was in a good location, not far from the entrance, so that almost everyone would pass by at some point. This was the view towards the main arena (one of several), with the fun fair in the background and a little light smoke drifting by. It gives you a good impression of just how many visitors attended the event, and this was just one of the three days.

Three volunteers manning the stand is just right. Two deal with the questions, while the third gets coffee and refreshments, and gets a chance to take a quick look at the goings on. 

We managed a quick half hour, to scout out what food was on offer, and check out the arena, where the veteran tractor parade was taking place. Many of these looked like steam rollers, but with primitive combustion engines on the frames.

There was a large contingent of Field Marshalls, right opposite our stand.  

This single German visitor, in a similar Lanz Bulldog (it has an extraordinary 10.3L single cylinder engine) hopped around the field with a large 'JUST MARRIED' sign on the back. Basically a tractor with hot bulb starting, there was a luxury model called the 'Eil-Bulldog' (Speed-Bulldog) which had upholstered seats and a convertible roof cover.

 

Of all the amzing agricultural contraptions that puffed around the field, this one was our favourite:

It's the American Rumley Oil Pull from La Porte, Indiana. The notice under the rather flamboyant name on the radiator says:  Guaranteed to burn all grades of kerosene ( Paraffin) under all conditions at all loads up to its rated Horse power.

There were two; we caught its slightly larger brother on video here:

https://youtu.be/C1BYFA4lQuY

The engine layout is very strange, and it seems to be going along while pushing a large stove out in front of it. Puffs of smoke emerge from it periodically. The video captures the strange sound rather well, and you can see the driver pulling the lever (also in the picture above) which disengages the clutch, while the engine continues to huff and puff.

The arena had a regular parade and line up of different types of vehicles. In this picture it's steam; traction engines, rollers, and we can also see a Sentinel water carrier.

 

 

 

The site had several ice cream vans, which always had a small queue. Most popular was the 99 cone, but sadly not for the price promised by Count Binface. In general, prices at the different stands seemed higher than in a normal shop, which was surprising. We bought a can of coke from a food stall for £2 ; in the Broadway garage these are £1.15, and so marked on the can itself.

 

 

The steam wagon is also visible in the shot, as Burrell PRIDE OF THE WEST trundles past. Many engines had trailers, some for rides like this one, or with large, symbolic loads like giant tanks or diesel engines on them.

 

The other arena had some quite heavy stoff goung round it, raising a huge dust and smoke cloud, and many fascinated stares.

 

Sometimes it became hard to see through the gloom what was going on.....

 

This large J&H McLaren traction engine was hooked up to some sort of dynamo (off camera) which had a variable load, making the engine strain, with loud, fighting exhaust beats.

To one side was this huge Fowler ploughing engine. The mechanical setup was amazingly simple - a crankshaft behind the flywheel, with a shaft on two crown wheels bringing the power down to the big steel cable drum underneath. Two of these would pull multiple ploughs backwards and forwards across a field, much faster than a horse.

Another general view of the site, a flat bottomed valley between two rises, shows the enormous exhibitors' caravan camp. Car parking was of a similar size, i.e. pretty large. The event was clearly a big success.

Although with a three day event, including the funfair running in the dark hours, it could be tiring for some, who fell by the wayside.

At 4 o'clock the long awaited event for the Field Marshalls took place. Several dozen of these fired up at once (hand cranked, after a glowing fuse was inserted into the cylinder head) and slowly but noisily wound their way through the parked up fellows to the arena. After several circles they lined up in the middle, and, after a signal from the announcer, all opened their throttles at once. A tractor to remember...

The GWRT stand had a good day, and answered lots of questions. Not always about the railway. For some reason our little stand, green between two long exhibition tents, caused many people to ask us completely random things. We must have looked somehow official. No fewer than six wanted to know from us where the toilets were. One lady came to ask us for a taxi to Worcester. Good luck with that, in the middle of the exhibition fields. One chap demanded to know why the internet reception was so poor, as he had lost his son. Please handle, GWRT. Another wanted to know the location of the stand that serviced broken mobility scooters.

 

That said, we did also have a lot of requests for information about the GWSR. They're just not quite so memorable as the random ones. Several volunteers called in to say hello, and a number of vintage afficionados wanted to know why we had stopped having car, bus and motorcycle events. They clearly missed these. 

The consumption of much food and drink during these hot days left a lot of waste. It's got to go somewhere. While the bins overflowed, looking on the positive side it was good to see the litter here, and not around the site, which was remarkably clean.

 

 

Monday at Toddington.

We had 4 Dogfish with left over material from the Bishops Cleeve landslip. Readers may recall that they were taken to Broadway, where Neal did his best with the hired in digger to empty them from above.

 

 

This left a couple of cubic yards in the bottom of each, and the Dogfish were taken back to Toddington for the rest to be extracted via the bottom shutes.

On Monday we did the third and fourth, the first two having been done a few days earlier.

There was also a diesel photo shoot out and about.

 

 

 

This took a little while to start (the platforms were blocked by two rakes) and in the meantime the photographers milled around the Dogfish and 03 yard shunter, which also qualified as a diesel.

An extra, free of charge !

 

 

 

The MO was rather crude. With the bottom doors open, Chris climbed inside and paddled the stuff down. It wasn't easy, the fill type was chosen as it was 'sticky' and stick it did. Copious use of the iron bar had to be made to get it to run, even though the stuff was dry as a bone.

Down below Neal and Yours Truly shoveled and scraped the stuff into the bucket of the coal loading Telehandler.

 

 

 

In amongst the material we found this vape - the second find in as many weeks. The other was left on a bench at Broadway.

 

Our first inclination was to throw it in the bin, but on checking with Google we learned that you can't do this - they start fires, hundreds of times a year. The only thing you can do is take it to a recognised recycling place, often a retailer where they are sold. 

 

 

 

 

 

It took almost the whole day, with the three of us.

 

At the end the unloading road was covered in ballast, despite 8 or so bucket fulls taken away by Neal. As the little mini digger was on site, we swept the stuff into a pile, and Neal pushed it into the bucket. 

 

 

With the hot weather, the shoveling and tramping was very tiring, but we got there - all the Dogfish are empty again - phew ! 

 

As the photo shoot special pulled out of Toddington just a few yards away, we had a sneaky shot of the Hymek. What a civilised sound it makes, not at all like the Growlers and Sulzers that we know on the GWSR.

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Which reminds us - don't forget that the road bridge by Winchcombe station is closed ! The bridge deck is being replaced by Gloucestershire Highways. For a whole month (!) cables are being re-routed, prior to the actual bridge works next year.

More detail about the work can be read here:

https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/major-projects-list/geotechnical-and-structural/winchcombe-bridge/

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday morning all the road closure signs were up, and digging work had started immediately.

 

 

 

 

Looking at the depth of this access shaft, the BT cables must be pretty close to the deck of the bridge. Laying those cables years ago could explain why the deck is now in such a state that it needs replacing.

Prior to setting off for the lineside hut the Uksteers joined the main PWay gang (we are a sort of subdivision) for a cup of tea and a nibble. The purpose was to have a chat about possibly building a garage for the 'buggy' recently acquired. As we didn't know too much about it, we also wanted to see how big it was, and could it be lifted by 4 men?

 

 

This is it. It's got a Honda engine, and 4 seats. It was surprisingly heavy to lift, and for that purpose it was fitted with an eye for a lifting hook.

If this is to go in a garage at right angles to a siding, it would be difficult to turn by 90 degrees. It is also a bit longer than it seems, due to various bits sticking out, front and back.

 

 

 

The question of buggy hut, and if so where, were not really answered today. As our railway is one of the very few to be formerly double track, and with a haul road all the way along it, we can get anywhere we want by simple trip in a Ranger, or a Transit. No special 'tickets' or line blocks required. 

So can we use it, or should we put it up for sale?  No doubt you could always make us an offer...

Due to the drought we are running diesels only. Not too many passengers on board we noted, except for a party here and there. Thank heaven for coach parties!

 

Jules was with us today, but not Dave.

Jules applied a second coat of black to the hut, to make it really black, and hide the yellow numbers that sometimes shone through. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When sitting inside in the shade, we noticed a bit of light at the back here, so Paul fitted some spare lengths of timber. This will make sure no south westerly rain (our principal type) can blow in and rot the tops of the sleepers.

Jules painted those black too. 

 

 

... and also the front, while Paul was sawing those strips of timber to length.

The second diesel loco out today was 26 043, here emerging from the tunnel.

We noticed that the photographer's special on Monday had paused here, to take shots with the new hut on it.

Result ! And this is why we built it. 

 

Inside Paul was fixing the legs of the bench to the sleeper wall, and also a bit more forward, which was felt to be more comfortable.

The other sleeper (-bench) is still outside. 

Now that the job is near to completion, we have a pile of building materials to go back. Ideally that would be STEVIE with the trailer, but not on Wednesdays, a running day.

Today we also completed the little stepped path from the trackside to the concrete raft on which the hut is built. All done with odds and ends found in the yard, at no cost to the railway. The whole hut in fact is at no cost to the railway.

 

With the pile of pallets at the back removed, Jules could complete the painting there.

 

Finally we adjusted the end of the downpipe, so that it could be fixed to something, and not move about in the wind, or get kicked by someone. This is what we want it to look like, but some glueing of the pipes is required, and cementing in the block through which we have fed it.

On the way back some very large and juicy blackberries drew us to a halt. We're only human.

 

In the latter half of the afternoon we stopped at Broadway, where we found Neal and John, back from being away, laying in the shortened blocks that we sawed to size a few weeks back. 

 

The platform side had already been done.

We also need to corbel the back of the building, before the steels go on later in August. 

A second reason for stopping at Broadway was to drop off this GWR boundary marker.

It was surplus to requirements in the S&T department, so they offered it to us. It was very heavy.... three of us managed to manhandle it into the blogger car, and with some difficulty it was dragged out on arrival by Yours Truly, alone.

This will be its future location, a rather bare area of the station approach.

The 'No Parking' sign isn't really working though. This is because other people are using the station forecourt to park their cars, despite the signs.

An expedition.

Thursday at Broadway.

Two of us again. Neal put the last staircase panel back on; and Yours Truly painted window frames, raked the platform and had a go at clearing out the construction container.

 

 

 

 

The third of the three roof panels needed a slot cut for the stanchion, with the edges turned up for the flashing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fitting the last panel was tricky to get right. It ended up one corrugation out, a very difficult thing to rectify, as all the other panels are holding the one you want to move into its place.

A lot of levering, and a sharp tap from the outside finally persuaded the panel to hop along one row. 

 

 

 

Betton Grange was out today, twinned with a diesel on the green timetable. 

 

 

 

 

Some of the stone ballast from the 4 Dogfish had been dumped further along the platform, but in a bit of a hurry.

Together we shovelled and raked the easiest part (it was 28 degrees on Thursday) so that it was +/- level. The bigger pile in the distance will have to be shifted with a mini digger, or several volunteers on a colder day. 

 

 

 

The Sulzer engined diesel ran round mid afternoon, with a plop-plop-plop that, if you closed your eyes, could have come from a tramp steamer.

 

 

 

At the far end of P2 we were surprised to find this bicycle, cut in half.

 

What could it be doing there? 

 

 

 

 

 

Having spent some time in the construction container we decided to explore further into it, as there seemed to be several items in it that made no sense ( - any more).

We extracted a goodly pile of stuff. Some is for the skip, and some might be turned into cash by the RATs trust shop at Toddington.

Here is the wooden, temporary signal box name plate, now replaced by a proper metal one. If it is of interest to you, it'll be in the RATs shop. The box in the foreground is empty except for some shelving. It is marked BR AMBULANCE but inside the lid it says 'LMS'.

It will also be in the RATs shop.  Let's turn it into cash to support the railway!

 

 

 

Saturday - an expedition.

This was with 4 members of the RATs trust (which supports GWSR railway heritage) to a field near Pewsey. The field used to be part of Pewsey GWR goods yard, and has two huts in it with could be of interest to our railway.

The field is under threat of redevelopment for housing, so the owner would prefer to pass the huts on to a sympathetic museum. The expedition was to determine what it was that needed to be done to move the two huts, and whether they were suitable candidates on the GWSR. 

In summary, these are the two huts involved, after clearing of undergrowth. This one is a classic lamp hut, currently in use as a chicken shed. It is from Pewsey station itself, and was moved into the field several years ago.

 

The other is a concrete panel PWay yard hut. Pewsey was the local centre for the area's track gang. It was built in the early 1950s, so is now 70 odd years old.

 

 

 

This is how we found the lamp hut. It was covered in chicken wire, a chicken coop kept by a boat resident on the nearby Kennet & Avon canal.

 

 

 

 

 

The hut is not exactly immaculate, a bit as one might expect. Some sheets are moth eaten such as here at the corner.

The door & window are intact and not bad.  

The roof has been replaced by sheets at right angles to the usual direction, and the ventilator is gone (possibly found in the weeds nearby) 

 

 

 

 

The interior was very chickeny... this was all turfed out. The hut had a raised floor, which (like one at Broadway) is not authentic.

Under the floor was....well, what did you expect? 

 

Found under the floor, a previous resident. Now wash your hands, please.

 

Keith and Mike from the RATs trust bring out the false floor.

In the background is the concrete panel hut. 

 

 

The false floor was laid on bits of S&T troughing.

The area around the hut was cleared of brushwood, some agricultural equipment and more bits of S&T troughing.

After an exploratory dig in one corner we determined that it should be an easy lift on to a HIAB lorry parked next to it, after a short journey across a field. 

The concrete shed was carefully examined, so that we could agree on how it was put together. In this more distant shot you can see that the roof consists of 5 concrete panels each side. Each panel has a downward facing rim around it, and this hooks into the 6 trusses in such a way that any rain in between the panels is guided down the roof and away by a central groove in each truss. The ridge is hollow, and covers two upturned grooves at the top of the panels. The bottom end is loose. So it's a sort of self locking construction kit. There were no leaks inside. The size is 12' x 15'.

The sides consist of panels which fit between the uprights, and are locked in by wooden frames.

The uprights stand on a ring of shaped concrete plinths. The three windows are Crittall type, with brass furniture. 

This is a truss, seen from the end. The hole in it was used during assembly. A crane would be needed to disassemble the hut, as many parts will be quite heavy. Not all the concrete is in good condition, with evidence of spalling and some cracks found.

 

 

 

 

We observed very few nuts and bolts, the hut was mostly held together by gravity and interlocking.

The roof area under the ridge did have fixing straps, which held the ridge down from inside. 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the 3 Crittall windows.

The floor was tiled - possibly an afterthought?

There was a substantial stove inside, but with some missing pieces (door, coal hole cover etc). It was marked 'The Nelson'.

We found the picture on the right in a 2024 Facebook post  - so this is what it would look like, if restored. The asking price at the time was £120, and it was described as the type used in Signal Boxes.

 

Our information is that, on the GWR at least, Romesse stoves were used. So the railway origin is not definite, although it did come from a railway hut. 

 

 

After a very hot day digging in the bramble covered corner of a field we treated ourselves to a pint at the local hostelry on the Kennet & Avon. 

 

Bliss ! 

We are now going to debate the next move on the concrete hut - it has concrete issues, and a move/re-erection will require cranes at both ends, plus the cost of the transport.

Monday at Broadway.

 

Another hot day. Yours truly on brambles elimination and some painting; Neal on fine tuning the stanchions, and making sure that everything is going to fit when the big lift comes. It's pencilled in for sometime in August. Scaffolding, crane hire, a lorry for the steelwork waiting at Toddington, it all has to coincide.

 

Measuring up for the big lift meant that Neal had to dig up the bottom of the middle stanchion again, for that final tweak with the bolts.

Luckily he was in the shadows - just about.

Later he measured the height of the stanchions again, with a laser level on the building, and the exact distance of the stanchions from the building.

Although we are not aware of any problem, when we put the roof on the P1 building we noticed that the building was not only out of square, but that the support beams along the front had a tendency to zig-zag. To a degree this can be compensated while drilling the fixing holes. But we recall when on the roof placement job for the P1 building how off putting the zig-zag along the front was, because you didn't know where to place the first truss. Which one was right - the zig, or the zag?

Lets hope that the waiting room (built by a different team) comes out straight. 

Just a reminder at this point of our diesel gala on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There's a big poster for it at the bottom of the Broadway drive. Featuring Broadway station, of course.

Note also that we have finally cracked, and are running diesel hauled trains this week, due to the very dry trackside. Another lineside fire on Saturday was the clincher.

 

 

 

 

 

PWay on Saturday

... saw the team dropping ballast at Toddington North (amongst other jobs)

Picture: Pete Lightfoot, with thanks.

It looks like double track here (you wish...) but the actual running line is on the right, while the RRV is on our North Carriage Siding.

Extra ballast was dropped in the cess, to make it easier for guards to climb into the brake carriage. 

Usketeers today.

 

Three out of four today. We started the day with a slice of sugar tart from Paul, then walked up the trackbed to the new hut. It is basically finished now; we are in the snagging phase at the moment.

 

 

Dave spent the day fitting a gutter and downpipe. The material is plastic, OK, but it's second hand and black, so not too noticeable. We have no funds for this project, so are doing what we can. The idea of the gutter is to collect the rainwater from the undulations of the wriggly tin, and guide it sideways on to the trackbed, not in front of the door.

 

Paul made himself a small mix and plugged the holes in the back, as well as some pointing of the chimney brickwork that was still outstanding.

 

 

Due to the dry trackside we are now running diesels.This first train from CRC looked pretty thinly sold, but things improved later as the day went on. There seemed to be some group travel, as one carriage had tables laid.

 

Isn't it just easier photographing diesels? If this train was steam hauled, you would be able to see that the driver has shut off steam and is trundling along to see if the inner home was pulled clear.

 

With the class 37 it might be doing 100mph, you just can't tell. 

 

So enjoy the picture, and see for yourself this weekend. It's our diesel gala.

 

 

 

 

 

The crossing train was pulled by the Sulzer, putt-puttering along. They make sure the back of the train is clear of the Winchcombe South points, and then give it the beanz once it's in the tunnel.

 

 

 

Having fitted the gutter, and testing it with some water to check in flowed in the right direction, Dave started on the downpipe.That was a bit more complicated. How would it run, was the puzzle. Also, what second hand pieces did we have in our arsenal?

 

 

 

Paul stood right back, and gave Dave his opinion on whether the downpipe was straight, or not.

 

 

 

Then we got the class 37 out of the tunnel again, but this time looking in the opposite direction. How fast was it going? Hard to tell here....

 

 

 

 

The next visitor was 24 081. In fact all the trains trundle by slowly here, as they can see that the inner home is on. 

 

Our little hut is looking quite smart here, don't you think? Freshly painted, chimney pointed, locks on the doors operational. But there are still minor issues to address. That'll keep us going for a while yet. 

 

We need to find that next project in the meantime.

 

 

 

The last picture shows Dave with the gutter fitted, and the downpipe in place. We're debating what exactly to do with the end. We want the stormwater dropped as far away as possible, but not have the pipe too long, and therefore vulnerable to a kick or an attack with a strimmer.

 

We're giving it some thought until next week.

 

Notice also the foreground. A small change,  but it took Yours Truly all day to get this far. We dug out the compacted ground by the damaged footpath, and placed two second hand blocks to make it wider. The blocks, being second hand, were scavenged from Winchcombe yard and were half filled with concrete. That made them hard to make fit due to excess concrete, and hard to manipulate, as only one hole to hold onto was available.

 

Next week: More concrete blocks on the path.

After our usual cup of tea in the Coffeepot we went to finish off the tarmaccing around the GWR lamp post that we planted a few weeks back. We wanted to let the ground settle first.

The FoWS have de-rusted the post, and applied a coat of primer. Today we finished off the infilling, by topping it off with instant tarmac. Hard work again, but luckily in the shade.

The post still needs its top coat, and the lantern fitting. This is in store. 

There was a slightly unusual manoeuvre at Winchcombe, as the yard shunter came out, ahead of the southbound train, and waited for the northbound train to come in.

The shunter then ran round the back, and drew off the first class coach on the end (ABIGAIL-CHARLOTTE) . Reason not known to Yours Truly, but interesting to watch.

Then on to Toddington, to deliver some more second hand sales items to the RATs hut. They are very happy to receive them, as they need the stock for the diesel gala this weekend.

In the yard, on the unloading (or is that loading?) road was Manston's tender, going home.

 

Then a quick peek at the P2 platform extension job. It's been steady progress, with a planned completion date before the gala.

It's all back in place now,  just the tarmaccing to come.

PWay today.

 

STEVIE was out at Toddington, clearing the lineside at Gretton took place, and a group at CRC was packing dipped joints. 

 

 

Picture by Simon.

A van load of expired sleepers was collected from the lineside in the Gretton area, and taken to Working Lane for LT storage.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Walt on STEVIE assisted the Construction & Maintenance gang with clearing up after near completing the platform extension works.

 

 

Pictures by Walt.

 

Some fine infill was brought in the pink bags, while at the end of the job all the remaining excess materials were taken away.

 

 This included the PWay's blue cube, our mobile site safe. It's now back in our yard at Winchcombe.

 

 

 

Finally for today, Walt took a picture for us of the Hymek that arrived for ther weekend's diesel gala.

 

Hope you enjoy it, hope to see you there!