Getting ready for riveting.

Friday at Broadway.

Now that the steelwork is up - with the exception of the rear fascia board along the canopy extension - we have a number of preparatory tasks before us, before we can put the roof sheets and glazing on, and keeping things in the dry.

Friday is a non-running day, but there are many exceptions (chiefly fire&drive) and last Friday was an outing of the Growler group supporters.

Just before noon both GWSR based Growlers arrived, in top and tail formation. As it was almost lunch time, and the train had a working buffet car on board, a strategic phone call earlier that morning arranged for a hot bacon roll to be delivered by the travelling stationmaster on the train. One of the working man's privileges.

 

 

 

Almost all the passengers were concentrated in the first carriage, but as Broadway was the terminus, there was a visible migration to the far end of the train, now the front.

The train was quite busy, with supporters from all over the country. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were not passengers, we were able to chat to the driver, and see the train depart.

 

 

 

 

Walking back, we took this record shot of the station, as it evolves into its final shape. 

There's a lot of S&T activity in and around the signal box, which will definitely enter service in 2027. Nine years after the station, but better late than never. It seemed like 'never' for quite a long time, but thanks to our new chairman, it will now happen. 

Another positive bit of news that we heard is that we will now be buying a set of bollards, to go along the pavement outside the station. 

 

 

Patience has finally run out, after the latest set of cracks on our pavement. Not only the slabs are affected, but at least two drainage covers have been crushed. Although at least one skip lorry was seen offending, the main offenders are 13 ton touring coaches. Instead of using the lay by half way up the drive, they want to deliver their passengers as close to the front door as possible, and then stay there, with 2 wheels on the pavement, because there is no room.

The bollards will be of the 'cannon ball' type and cast iron, so pukka stuff. They weigh 70 kg each. 

 

 

Then it was back to work, with Neal drilling rivet holes for junction plates, and Yours Truly touching up the paintwork damage from loading and final assembly.

Here Neal is bolting on one of the truss support brackets over the staircase. 

 

 

For comparison, here's a picture of Broadway's big sister station, Hall Green. The bit Neal is bolting on is the triangular piece under the truss, to the left of the staircase. He still has to make the brace piece in the middle - not a big job, after all he has done already.

There are also purlin extension pieces to make. These permit the dagger board screen over the end to be fitted. 

The Growler special came to Broadway three times during the day.

 This was the mid-afternoon departure, a double header, with its own headboard.

Monday at Broadway.

A laste arrival for Yours Truly, who started the day hunched over the telephone, argueing with the bank about a renewal debit card that didn't work. Stress ! But all sorted now. They left it right to the wire!

 

 

On our (late) arrival we found Neal on the tower scaffold, firmly planted in the 4ft. He had the section staff in his pocket, Monday being a non-running day.

The scaffolding was meant to be built out on to the run round loop, but we never managed to get permission to do this. So we are 6ft short.  How to drill the neceesary holes? And indeed fit the woodwork, dagger boards, guttering and final painting?

 

 

 

Neal is a practical man, so he organised a tower scaffold and drilled from that. Some holes had to be drilled from the inside, but no problem.

Every now and then we had to get down to the trackbed and hump the tower along to the site of the next truss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In between the trusses were these lattice brackets to secure.

They only had two rivet holes to drill, then move on. 

 

 

 

Here's an overview from the footbridge, with Neal about half way along.

Message to Noel: We've taken the G clamps off, there are secure bolts now (to be themselves replaced by rivets in due course) so no more need to worry! 

 

On getting the canopy steelwork up after three years of assembly in 'The Greenhouse', we've had quite a few messages of congratulation, but little interest from the centre so far. At least the public can now see what we are doing, what it's going to look like.

 

As we were working on the fascia board we got the replica builder's plate out from storage. It's not on yet here, but this is what it will look like. It's a new casting off an original, lent by Brian, a local photographer who saw the station being demolished in 1963.

 

While on the tower scaffold Neal also took the opportunity of disking off the excess from the latticework beams.

They stuck out at the bottom, but no more now.

By mid afternoon Neal arrived at the far, northern end. We reckon he drilled 82 holes during the day, a small part of the several hundred he needs to do before we can start riveting.

Another interesting job facing him is the 20mm adjustment of the second truss from the north end. It is slightly out of place, leading to a wobble in the ridge line and a fascia board with a curve in it.

How will he do it?

Stay tuned to this blog.

That said, there are going to be a few gaps, due to holidays and a working visit to another railway. Back to normal frequency by the end of September.
 

 

Tuesday at Broadway.

Three of us - John was back, so brick laying progressed, hooray ! 

 

 

 

We made John a nice mix (and a second one after lunch) and he was able to make good progress on the 4 rows of corbelling at the back. This is needed before we put the roof on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neal was on drilling again. or 'broaching' as it is, technically speaking.

He was on the ridge purlins today, all awkward holes, he informed us. 

How far has he got? A fair bit, was the answer. So a bit more patience is needed, before we are ready to do any riveting. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you look carefully, you can just make out Neal's yellow hatted head in the distance. 

It was a good day for painting, so we followed up with undercoat all the little bits we had treated with Kurrust, and covered with green steel primer earlier.

There are 6 roof 'boxes' in between the steels if you like. We completed 4 of them today, and those are now waterproof for a while, until a topcoat is applied. 

 

 

It would be even better for the coat of protective paint if we had the roof sheets on, but that is still a while off. Let's hope we have a dry September. No one else has come forward to do any painting, so it looks like a job for Yours Truly, after the hols.

 

It was a Growler haulage day again on Tuesday. Here, it's 37215. Customers seemed fairly numerous, which was good to see, including some groups.  We sat on the platform outside the cafe, enjoying a Cappuccino, and let all the populace mill around us. It was a moment of quiet pride, people enjoying our station, many not realising that it is a replica built by volunteers.

 

 

 

At the end of the day John had laid about 3/4 of the back third row of corbels, using bevelled headers (as we call them).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the toilets to wash our hands, we saw a new notice above the taps. Now, normally we would baulk at such non-heritage notices - there seem to be a lot of them appearing nowadays - but we do get the reason for these. People turn on the taps, then walk away.

Replacing our nice Victorian models with modern self closing taps does not help, because these soon clog up and no longer close, leading to even more loss of water. So what to do to educate people? Hence the notice above all the taps at Broadway. OK then.

 

 

 

 

Next came this one: it's above the toilet bowl. Not exactly Victorian either, but modern people throw all sorts of non-human waste down the toilet, pricipally plastic wet wipes. Don't do it, they're made of plastic, and cause fatbergs! Yes, You !

Alas, also OK then. 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally this one: We had this 'DISABLED' door plate made specially, in GWR style.

An aluminium Baby Changing sign was then glued above it. This was the result of a passenger in the cafe who changed her baby's nappy on top of one of the cafe tables, claiming there was no sign to show her where the baby changing facilities were. 

Not OK - surely this was an isolated incident? How clueless some people are. 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

A full house of 4 volunteers today. We started at Winchcombe, as we needed to talk to people for various supplies we needed, and maybe some tools to borrow.

Paul also wanted to explain his suggested method of lifting the little cabin, so that we can get a sleeper underneath. He did us a little drawing, on the back of the envelope as it were. Or, in this case, a spot from brick laying:

 

 

 

It involved two lifting arms, possibly with some extra stays, if required.

It reminded us of a Sedan chair... 

 

 

 

 

Once on site in Bryan's back garden, a simpler idea evolved. 

 

 

How about using a bar on each corner, using some sleeper offcuts as fulcrums, and see if we can tip the cabin back that way?

If successful, we could then get some temporary bricks underneath to hold it up. 

This idea did indeed work, and in the picture you can see two bricks and a bit of packing , under a part of the side frame that was still sound.

 

 

 

The end of that frame member, as well as the bottom 6 inches of the corner post were rotten, and this was the reason the cabin had tilted. 

The cause of the rot was that the concrete pots on which it stood were too low down, so that much of the cabin's frame stood on ash, which was often wet, especially since the two downpipes did not dispose of the rainwater very well.

 These inside shots of the frame at the front give you an idea of what was going on.

Middle of the front frame, which turned out to be two lengths spliced together.

 

A rotten corner.Not a good jacking point, we found.

 

 

 

Paul can be seen clearing of the concrete pads, which are about a foot below ground level.

The intention is to raise these pads with brick towers, so that the whole cabin will stand above ground. 

 

 

 

 

 

We rather like working at Gotherington. We have our own cabin (albeit a bit wonky at the moment), and we can watch trains rumbling by all day long. And owner Bryan is delighted with us being there, as he can't manage all the maintenance on his own. No doubt he would be grateful for some local help, to keep the place ticking over.

Bryan gave us a little tour of Gotherington station yard, so that we could help ourselves to any useful materials that we might find.

 

In the meantime the green Growler arrived with its train, not so well filled. The first train out of CRC was well occupied though, with at least one party booking, and a full coach of enthusiastic people waving at us. 

 

 

The idea of levering the hut with an iron bar on two corners worked quite well. Here it is almost level now. However, ultimately we would like to see it above, not on, the ground.

 

 

Lunch was taken al fresco, although it wasn't all that fresh. It was hot and muggy today, and we felt exhausted after just a couple of hours work.

 

This signal is operated from the little groundframe cabin - an idea for children, like the ground frame at Toddington. 

 

 

 

As we probed further, we realised that the bottoms of all the boarding at the front was also rotten. It was also obscuring our view of the frame, and of what needed to be done to it.

 

With Bryan's permission we removed the signal box name plate, so that we can remove the boards in due course. In fact the bottoms of the boards all round are badly decayed, again caused by sitting on the ground. 

The Growler was back after lunch, when Yours Truly had to leave early - admin at home. There is another life out there, you know!

Canopy lift completed.

Canopy lift completed.

 

Monday was the big day, a non-running day of course. We had hired an 80 tonne crane in, and our train of loaded canopy parts was due in from Toddington. That train was delayed by an hour - while it was loaded and ready to go on the Parlour Road, both platforms at Toddington were full of carriages, so a big shunt had to be carried out first.

 

 

 

The Elliots crane was already there at 8 o'clock, ready to deploy.

They had a slinger with a Walkie-Talkie on the train, and a driver on board the crane listening for instructions. A bit old fashioned, but it worked perfectly. 

 

 

 

Before we start, here's a quick overview of the P2 building without any steels on it. Check it out with the pictures at the end of the blog post....

 

 

 We waited eagerly for the 03 and its station canopy kit to arrive. Finally it trundled in.

 

 

 

 

The train ran straight into platform 2, from where it was unloaded, piece by piece, by the crane situated out of sight on the forecourt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First came the woodwork. This was stationed on top, in such a way that its height did not interfere with the trusses that would reach across.

 

 

 

 

Then came the first truss. Neal had loaded the MACAW in such a way that unloading was very logical for the slinger. Neal had clearly thought this through, and so it proved for the rest of the day too. Everything went well.

 

 

 

 

We had quite a little crowd, not only from among the volunteers, but some of the neighbours came to look as well.

 

 

 

The jib of the crane was so tall that it was impossible to photograph the whole thing, except perhaps from the south end barrow crossing, which would have made everything look tiny in the distance. 

Remember that the top of this jib was hovering over the middle of the new building, way out of sight. 

 

Here is the second truss going in. This first one went on the three canopy support posts, and was securely bolted down. Much hole drilling still faces Neal, then all the bolts can be fitted, and then they will have to be removed again, to be replaced by proper rivets.

 

 

 

The positioning of the second truss makes it possible to try a ridge purlin in between.

Would the distances work? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes the first of the three ridge purlins. 

Would it fit in between? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It did fit - phew! Neal had not made any mistakes with his measurements.

Now for the next truss. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the second ridge purlin, right in the middle. That too connected with the two trusses without any problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 A shot down and along the canopy, with the second ridge just being dropped in.

 

 

 

Finally the fourth truss was lifted on, with the last of the three ridges left on the MACAW.

It was all so simple, and well thought through!

 

 

 

 

Then it was the turn of the fascia boards, three along the front and one on the back, behind the canopy overhang.

 

It has to be pointed out that we were unable to secure use of the run round loop for the scaffolding needed to fit the fascia boards, and items that need to be attached to them (dagger boards, timbers, guttering, and painting of all those). We attempted a track possession over the winter, but that proved not to be possible as there were commercial requirements overuling us. So we decided to move the lift to the summer, when there is better weather, and do what we can with a smaller amount of scaffolding.

 

 

 

 

The central fascia board was fitted first. Two volunteers worked from ladders to put in the necessary bolts to secure them.

 

 

 

 

 

An overview of the partly assembled canopy, and the 80T crane standing on the forecourt. The end of the jib was too high to fit the picture, even when stood well back.

 

 

 

 

The second fascia board was fitted on the south end, and bolted to the middle one (as well as to the end of the truss).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was the turn of the third one, of the set of four.

The fourth one goes on the rear end of the canopy overhang

 

 

 

 

Here the crane is holding it against the ends of the trusses, as Neal and Ian try to get some bolts in. On Neal's assurance that the heavy board is secure, the chains are released and the slinger gives the next signal to the crane driver. 

 

 

 

 

A close up of Neal and Ian trying to get the bolts in.

It was amazing how everything fitted so well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the chains can be released.

 

 

 

 

 

As we went to get something from the car, we turned round to see the extent of the huge crane, and its fully extended jib.

 

Here the crew are making a start on the purlins themselves. These run lengthways along the middle of the two arms of the trusses.

In the foreground is the fourth fascia board. This is the only item not fitted on Monday, although it was laid on a pair of trestles close to where it will go.

The far end needs to cut into the brickwork, and cutting that could not be done on the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit hard to see, but here another purlin is being lifted in.

We are looking down the ridge of the canopy, which is both platform canopy and station roof. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fitting the second purlin over the site of the canopy overhang, a large area at the foot of the stairs which will be glazed, and carry a large replica gas lamp, that was sponsored by a blog reader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final items that were fitted were latticework supports for the roof sheets.

The one in the foreground is paused, pending rearrangement of the stockpile of timbers in the central section. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All steel items were successfully installed on Monday, a big feather in the cap of Neal, who built the entire structure in pieces so accurately, that everything fitted together on the day without the slightest problem.

This picture shows how the fascia board overhangs the platform edge, and why, ideally, we would have liked to extend the scaffolding into the 4 foot, as was done during the construction of the P1 building.

 

Here then is the entire canopy construction at the end of the day. It's a fantastic achievement, and a reward for the GWRT, who believed in us, and funded the operation so far. We did not let them down.

 

There is lots more work to do. In the immediate future this means drilling many more holes and bolting up, then removing every bolt and replacing it with a hot rivet. During this time the structure needs painting - touching up where it has been exposed to bad weather under the greenhouse, then painting the whole thing in topcoat.

The canopy ends, entirely in wood, need fitting, and all the timbers supporting the glazing bars and corrugated roof sheets need to be placed on top of the structure. We have the now unique corrugated iron sheets (the thicker version no longer on sale in the UK) as well as the glazing bars. The supplier of the glass has unfortunately ceased trading, but we are in discussuions with an alternative.  This is taking far longer than we would like, and it means that the crane was unable on Monday to lift the expected bundles of glass straight up to the roof.

 

 

Tuesday at Broadway.

The first day after the big lift. It was the start of a long list of smaller jobs on site. Neal was drilling holes, John was laying bricks along the back, and Yours Truly cleaned, derusted and primered rivet heads that had been left bare and rusty.

 

 

 

 

Here's an example of a rivet head that was once primered, but had no protective undercoat applied. The primer does not protect against rust, so after a while the rust develops underneath, and comes through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what it would look like, if undercoated right from the start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this picture shows the process - cleaning of the rivet heads with a rotary brush, then the application of Kurrust, as in the picture.

Later in the day we applied primer, and will follow that with undercoat next time. Then the whole lot can receive its top coat. 

 

 

 

 

It was very annoying to be the subject of a power cut on Monday, with only a quick half hour's worth of work possible at the start of the day.

Grrrr - why do we have a power cut??? They seem very common in these parts.

 

We had noticed that our farmer neighbour had been doing stuff to her field, including the construction of two new houses by the main farm. On Tuesday we observed a man in an orange jacket, with a ladder. He was sitting in the grass, later on, even lying in it! It's all go, down there...

One of the S&T gang, working on preparing Broadway box for actual operation, called out to him, and he said that he was waiting for a phone call. So were we! The wait took two hours. It took a large chunk out of our working day. We couldn't even go for a coffee, as the cafe was on the same circuit.

 

 

 

 

Neal was working on steels, mostly drilling holes for junction plates, such as this one here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is drilling holes through a pair of such plates. These are destined for the bottoms of the arched ridge purlins; in fact, just above Neal's mag drill in the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this picture he is just doing a test fitting, at the opposite end of the same ridge. This plate has 5 holes in it, and there are many such plates, so you can imagine the volume of work required. 

 

 

 

 

 

At the back we find John laying plain bricks in a row along the back. This row is one of 4 along the corbels here. Before we put the roof sheets on here we would prefer for this brickwork to be finished.

There are two more courses to go along here, after this one.

Trains are still diesel hauled, and not terribly full as a result. This 15.30 train was busier though, mainly with people returning from the village, after shopping there.

 

We had a chat with our new lady marketing manager. We are not having a brilliant year results wise, due to the landslip shortening services, a steam ban, and even a complete stop on the hottest day this year. We must do more to sell ancillary services, and she took a great interest in the P2 function room that we are building as a result. She is keen for it to start earning money as soon as possible, and sees lots of opportunities for the space, providing that we do not fill it with stuff. For example not long ago we had a request for a venue to hold a wake, and almost had to turn it down. 

 

Wednesday at Broadway.

Overnight rain, but dry on site. We caried on drilling, laying bricks along the back, and painting steel.

Neal spent the day drilling and bolting up junction plates, here at the end of the ridge purlins.

Yours truly has a longish task, after making up the initial load of mortar, and supplying John with bricks, of touching up all the paintwork damage occurred in loading, craneage and assembly. This involves applying Kurrust, then a metal primer, followed by an undercoat. That puts the damaged area back to where the rest is at. 

So far we have done about half of the construction. Then the whole thing has to be top coated, after riveting. 

It's still a LIME coloured timetable, so today we had two Growlers. Very nice, and seemingly also quite popular, as the platforms became very busy at one point.

 

 

 

We need three more courses of bricks along the back, part of a 4 course corbel, three of which are specials. 

John was in excellent form today, and finished the course of plain bricks, and starting the next course of bevelled headers.

Here they are being set out. 

 

 

 

 

 

On this SW corner you can see all 4 of the corbel courses.

John is currently working on the middle two, with a bull nosed top course still to come. 

The crowded platform mid afternoon could be explained by these two coaches - good business for us.

The Growler (the Green Goddess one) is just coupling up. 

PWay on Wednesday

 

Actually pictures/a film from over several days. With thanks to Paul Fuller.

 

 

The current project has been the relay of the C&W headshunt, along the main line outside the C&W shed. This is a 1980s build, and even though it's only a siding the sleepers there really needed replacing

 

So it was a perfect place to put some of the wartime economy sleepers from Didbrook, as they were designed for sidings.

The quality of the ballast here is very poor, but at least it's dry. It contained a lot of broken bricks (station demolition rubble?) and large lumps of stone.  

 

But enough ballast was found to shovel back in and tamp. On Wednesday the team was finally able to sign off the relay, and now some of the wagons occupying STEVIE's siding can be shunted back on to it.

 

 

We also have a video of a recent line inspection, made in view of the heat and the (small) chance that there might be a buckle somewhere.

 

The class 26 was roped in for the job.

 

 

 

 Here it is at Toddington, waiting for the trip northwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 There's also a shorter, second video of the 26 going through the tunnel, and then through Winchcombe.

 

 

 

Finally, here is a picture of the 26 pausing at Winchcombe. The trips revealed that everything was fine, phew. We survived the heat, but it's still only diesel, in view of the dryness of the lineside.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday on the Usketeers.

With Yours Truly committed to supporting the canopy gang this week, there were three Usketeers today. They set off for Gotherington, to make a start on the leaning ground frame hut. 

 

 

The Usketeers quickly made themselves at home in Bryan's garden....

The early morning coffee was held in the usual way - chairs were high in their thoughts before they set off.

From the comfortable vanatge point outside Bryan's ground frame hut the passing Growlers could be observed all day long. It does seem to be leaning a lot in this picture, or is that lens distortion? (RH side)

But eventually they did have to get to work. The first thought was to open up the foundations and see what was going on down there to make it lean. Bryan thought of Badgers or Rabbits (he has a lot of these); our initial thoughts were more along the lines of wood rot and/or a drainage issue.

The hut was built by Bryan to stand on 4 concrete plinths, with a wooden sub frame on top of them. 

The first job therefore was to dig a trench all the way round, to reveal the condition of the structure below ground.

Secondly, it was decided to open up the floor inside, to see what was going on there. Mostly rotten wood was found, together with evidence of voiding, we think by water.

Where might the water have come from, and how did the wood get so damp as to rot? We suspect this downpipe, which ends right next to the wooden subframe.

At the end of the day exploring we had a better idea of what was going on, and a plan has been formulated how to replace and reinforce the sub frame structure. This will need transportation of materials, which would be unlikely on a Wednesday, as our trucks are in heavy demand on that particular day.

 

Lunch time was a good time for reflection, provided you had thought to bring your own chair.

Plans are being formulated right here right now, don't get us wrong!