The new bricks arrive.

Saturday, out with the gang at CRC south.

And it was a big gang this time, 16 of us. 

 

The first thing was to load a new soleplate on the RRV, which was waiting at Winchcombe.

Then 4 of us grabbed the black Ranger, and headed for original CRC booking office, where Nick was waiting with tea for all of us.

Also plenty of sweet goodies.... 

 

Here we would like to apologise for the misty appearance of the photographs in this blogpost. It seems that the phone camera lens was badly affected by cement dust that had crept into our jacket pocket, while making up the mixes at the platelayer's hut last Wednesday. Cleaning the lens didn't help, it looks like a gonner. Rather than buy a whole new phone, we're going to try a pocket camera again, something dustproof that doesn't mind the dusty, oily and full of shocks and knocks sort of activity that we do.

At CRC, Kev had to climb back over the pointwork that was largely laid in last week. L and R are the check rail lengths that still need to go in.

 

On his way to the heel of the turnout Kev stopped to to some tweaking. It need pulling towards the Malvern side by an inch or two. No longer possible by men on bars, now that all that weight is on it.

 

Half of the gang then continued screwing down the central section of the steelwork, while the other half was at the heel end, where the new soleplate was being fitted.

Why a brand new soleplate? It turns out that the old one was short, and did not continue under the point motor.

From the empty ferrules you can see that this end also still needs screwing down. 

During the week there was an unwelcome arrival at our worksite - this party helium ballon. There are entire shops dedicated to selling these things, and people buy them without thinking through the disposal consequences. Once you let them go, the rise into the air - and come down again, to become plastic litter. They end up in cattle fields, under hedgerows, in other people's gardens and - on our Cotswolds railway line.

Please don't buy them. 

With Kev at the southern end of the site, STEVIE could lift in the check rail lengths. The loop rail that we turned to one side was then clipped back into place.

Here's an interim shot of progress, as thoughts turned to lunch time.

Looks pretty complete, doesn't it? 

Lunch was taken inside the original booking office, now downgraded to a paint shop and volunteer tea room.

There was a brief ray of sunshine, but those black clouds over Cleeve Hill tell you why we sat indoors. 

At the Tunnel end we put back the single rail that we took out to let Kev trundle back and forth, retrieving components from the two flat wagons waiting beyond.

The pair of rails that we also took out was now too long, as we had installed a longer (less sharply curved) turnout. In the picture David and Peter are measuring what length of rail is required to fill the now shorter gap. 

David then cut both rails to size, watched by Tony from a distance. The day remained gloomy...

Picture by David

The single rail that we removed had a duff concrete sleeper under it. It was quite surprising how bad it was. One end was halved in thickness, leaving just an island underneath the rail.

Or, as one correspondent put it, 'it's holding gauge at one end, that should be enough' !

We swapped that one out, with the 360 being nearby. 

Picture by David

Here it is, fully extracted. You can see that weird 'island' bump at one end. Could it have been put in like that, 26 years ago? 

Kev laid in the last two lengths of plain rail, which David had cut to length. Then he extracted himself from the site, now rahter more difficult, with all those rails in the way.

At least the new turnout is now all in. There's a bit more drilling to do, then it's ballasting and packing next week. 

As an extra treat this week, here are a couple of drone shots of the work site, taken by Paul:

 

You can also see how close to the road the original GWR booking office now is.

We could see little evidence of further work on the new cycle path, in the 4 weeks that we have been here. The 4 pilaster caps are still oustanding, and the scaffolding round the bridge is still there. 

This view was taken mid afternoon, as Kev was about to put back the two lengths of plan rail.

At the other end is STEVIE, having just put back the check rail lengths.
 

 

Monday at Broadway.

A damp day, but with block laying possibilities, so we gave it a go.

The good news is that the specials we ordered from Ibstock in Bristol have at last arrived, pretty much in the 8 - 12 week time frame that they said. It's been too cold to lay any bricks anyway.

The label says it all: HEAVY - 1000Kg. So we have ordered the classic tonne of bricks.

Investigation under the plastic revealed that there is a small issue, in that 20 of the specials that we ordered single handed have arrived as 10 pairs. So we are 10 short, and have 10 over. John will negotiate with the company to see what can be done.

The others look fine. They look very new, especially when against one of the existing ones that we have, which have spent at least 10 years out in the open, and now have blemishes. But the colour is what we ordered, we'll have to see the effect on the day. It would be a miracle if they were exactly the same, we would expect a slight variation in the colour. But we noticed that the ones we already have do also vary between themselves slightly in the colour.

We won't be using them straight away (before you ask...) as our current objective is to finish the store room (ex Gents) so that we have a roof over our heads, somewhere to stand in the dry, and somewhere to keep our kit. 

 

In other news Peter K has made and fitted a nice set of handrails down to the SB locker room. This is at the request of one of our safety officers.

They look plausible. We had a little debate amonst ourselves as to what would look acceptable, and we think we did OK. The curve over the blue plinth was an issue, and we think that Peter handled that admirably.

Interestingly, the catch for the gate, attached to the box, has had to be moved down a couple of inches. This is because the gate post is on made up ground (the platform) and the box is on piles.

 

During the day John laid concrete blocks, with a mix-and-a-half.

That gave three courses of blocks, bringing the total laid to eight so far. Twelve courses takes us up as far as we need - then there will be joists for the roof. The 'Gents' was not covered by the canopy but was originally open. At Toddington, and now at Broadway, the Gents will have an internal (not visible) slightly sloping flat roof. The roof will be slightly lower than the rest of the building. (see below)

 

 

 

For comparison, we have included this colourised crop of a very early Broadway picture, possibly from 1904, the opening year. It's certainly early, because in the background you can see a small wooden building with a pitched roof beyond the end of the platform. That was the first signal box. It only lasted a few months, until the final one by the road bridge was opened.

Behind the lamp post you can see a white lintel over a door. Above it a white stripe - that indicates the height of the open toilet at the time. 

In the foreground is the P2 running in board and a cast iron post on its side. They have not yet been fitted, we think because they wanted the made up ground to settle. It is still settling today, our replacement board and lamp posts are also leaning backwards a bit.

Under the canopy, outside the waiting room, is an all wooden bench. We have that - currently in store on P1.

The WAY OUT sign is also made up and ready to go - currently in the blogger garage. 

The platform surface is only partly paved, that is how they did it in those days. Our platforms however are fully tarmacced, except under the canopy, where we will have paving. Not authentic, but we get way more people on a platform.

 

Lastly, a shot from inside. The wall separating Gents from the main room has concrete blocks on one side, and lightweight blocks on the inside (as well as insulation between them).

This was what it looked like as it began to get dark. 

 

Blogger camera. 

A new, dustproof camera is on order, BTW. It has to last as long as my phone (2 years old), so we didn't spend too much and bought Chinese.

See if it works, later in the week. It says 'Water and dust proof', so we will certainly test that. But is it cement proof?

 

With the Usketeers.

Dave is back ! Feeling better, thank goodness. We did miss him. He knows how to handle Maxie! We pulled and pulled and pulled last week, but couldn't get her to start (we hadn't actually switched her on...)

 

 

No problems with starting this week then. Except that petrol was low, and Dave had taken the can home, and forgot to bring it back full. So we would start Maxie, run her for 1 minute, then shut her down again. In this frugal way we got three mixes out of her, and a drum cleaning run. Phew!

 

It was an excellent day today: the weather was good, the company was pleasant, and Paul started on the arch over the fireplace. Here he is, testing the layout of the blues.

 

STEVIE passed us, early on, on his way to Gotherington. Two grinning faces at the window; we waved back cheerfully.

 

While Dave and Paul built up the fireplace, Yours Truly took the opportunity of laying second hand blocks (scavenged from Winchcombe yard) on the concrete base laid last week.

This was the result - pretty good, huh? Nice and straight. Just a broken block on the left to repair, and filling in the holes with concrete.

These blocks, rebuilt as they were, hold back the terrain behind, into which the concrete base was laid by BR in the 1950s. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit later, and Paul and Dave had completed the arch, and were laying a row of reds over the top.

 

Tailored with a builder's trowel to fit. 

 

Lunch was held back at the base (the Winchcombe weighbridge), and on the way back we stopped to collect some more concrete blocks from the yard.

A pause for breath.

They were jolly heavy, having been used by someone else before, and filled with concrete. We only managed two this time; there are two more back in the yard.

 

The thought here is that we would like to build up some steps leading to the new hut's concrete base. At the moment the 'veranda' ends in a rather slippery slope, with broken concrete bits on it.

 

 

A bit later Paul had built another two courses over the arch. Thoughts were turning towards corbelling back, and starting to form the chimney.

 

 

 

Another view of the fireplace, now towards the end of the day.

Our pile of reds on the right is looking rather empty. What happened to all those bricks? We will need to get some more. 

 

The last shot of the day is a little overview of the site as were were about to leave it. It's getting dark, and with it there is a sharp drop in the temperature.

 

The blogger camera continues to take pictures with an aura round it, but Chinese help arrived at the close of play. We shall play with the new toy, and report next week. 

 

 

Barnstaple news.

Saturday at CRC

Our third day on site, and fantastic progress made (if we have to say so ourselves).

Last week we had timbers 41 to 29 laid out, and the crossing roughly laid in. This time that crossing was jacked up, and the long timbers underneath barred exactly into place, so that fixing holes matched up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave then came in with the Milwaukee pistol sized impact wrench and put in the chair bolts one by one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a bit more oomph (but also weight) Dave changed to the heavy duty impact wrench.

With this crossing now in, we could determine the position of all the other rails. 

 

 

Some measuring was necessary, mind. We had a 50ft tape measure, but only needed 2ft of it.

PWay work seems to eat tape measures, a strange fact. 

 

 

 

Kev our digger driver then bought another bundle of  timbers, now getting a bit shorter.

But where was No.28?

Underneath, of course. 

 

 

 

 Here is the next lot of timbers laid out, enough to lay out the central closure rails.

Now with two closure rails roughly laid in. The straight road is bolted down first, then the curve (on the right) which will follow the holes drilled at Winchcombe.

12 timbers to go.... 

Lunch time saw us go topside, where it was very windy. No actual rain, but threatening skies. The race course had a race day, and we were encouraged to leave at 4pm, before the last race, otherwise we would be at the wrong end of a massive queue.

 

We were surprised to find as well that our white Ranger was suddenly completely surrounded by other cars, race goers that were using the railway car park. There were cars everywhere, while in the background loudspeakers blared increasingly shrill as a race progressed, only to slow down as the winner breached the finish line. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch saw both closure rails bolted down - can you see what it is yet? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final timbers were laid out, and Kev was able to lay in the switches, which we had positioned ready for this last week.

Excellent organisation ! 

 

 

 

All very interesting....

 

 

 

 

 

While the lifting of the switches was going on the rest of the gang stood to one side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the switches laid in (connected to the closure rails, themselves attached to the crossing) we could lift in the stock rails, those along the outside.

Then that was it for Saturday, our third day at CRC. We had to break a tiny bit early, due to the likely congestion after the last race. All the timbers are in, including the (unnumbered here) extra long ones that will seat the point motors.

The switches still need bolting down, and then the last pair of rails can go in, those holding the check rails (at the far end).

  

Oh, and a last request, can we have a new (solid) tyre for our PWay wheelbarrow, as it is now likely to fail its MOT test.
 

 

 

Monday on the canopy at Toddington. 

There was a small weather window on Monday, so we went for it and worked under the greenhouse. 

 

 

 As we will most likely only get a small window to have scafolding on the Broadway loop trackbed, we are trying to prepare as much as possible while still on the ground.

Neal spent Monday on painting the daggerboards for the fascia board. 

 

 

Yours Truly spent Monday on cleaning two of the three canopy support posts, so that they can be sent for galvanising. After a year under the greenhouse roof, they are now quite rusty.

Mid afternoon two of the three posts were ready for transfer to the loco shed. There Neal will weld on base plates and tops to the hollow posts.

This was the result of his painting at the end of the day. A vast expanse of daggerboards in undercoat.

Neal moved everything as close to the centre of the 'greenhouse' to limit exposure to rain. But Tuesday for example will see rain and strong winds, so our stuff will get wet again. 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers

Two Usketeers today, as Dave had a bout of flu and stayed at home, very kindly offering not to pass it on to us.

The day started in the PWay mess coach.

 

 

 

There was a large crowd, gearing up to swap out the timbers at the Gotherington South turnout. Newbie Adrian joined us, previously a builder with brick laying skills - very interesting!

We were there to discuss our modus operandi for the platelayer's hut with Paul.

 

 

After left over and out of date mince pies (anybody else want a mince pie? Please?), and tea, we set off for the tunnel mouth, passing Walt with STEVIE in the platforms. We have bought a set of double nips for use by a crane. These are destined to allow STEVIE or a hired in 360 to lift heavy timbers for pointwork.

 

 

On site at the base for the platelayer's hut we made ourselves a barrow of muck, enough to keep Paul going all day.

 

Yours Truly made a second barrow load, this time of concrete, for filling in the bases of the broken concrete block wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the barrow of concrete mix exhausted, this was the result. A small gap remained in the middle, but we were able to fill that with some muck left over by Paul at the end of the day.

Now we can put back the concrete blocks next week. 

 

 

 

Today was the day we could start on the arch over the fireplace. In the picture above Paul has built up two temporary brick towers to support the former that he made. 

 

 Once the former was in place Paul cut two bricks with an angle, to give a jumping off point for the arch.

Paul then carried on laying around the cut bricks, until, at the end of the day, he had laid five courses.

As he was having a rest, STEVIE reappeared out of the tunnel with a load of worn out timbers from the Gotherington turnout relay.

Sorry for the slightly hazy image. This was caused by cement dust in the pocket where we keep the camera. Making mortar is not a very clean business...

Walt in STEVIE paused briefly by us, to see if we wanted anything taking back, but we were OK really, thanks.

The pile of timbers on the trolley repesents five days of timber replacement work at Gotherington. Pretty good going, especially considering one day was a complete washout. 

 

 

Wednesday at Gotherington South. 

A large crowd of about 15 PWay volunteers set off for Gotherington, under a lovely warm spring sun. A great day for progress with the resleepering, and replacement of the central crossing section. 

 

STEVIE was soon at work with the new sleeper grab, as the rest of the gang started digging out, removing timbers, and inserting new ones.

A muttered complaint later in the day was that it was easy enough at the heel end where the timbers were short, but the work got harder and harder as they advanced towards the other end, where the long timbers were. Well, that's a turnout for you. 

 

Dragging the shorter timbers. Not so hard - for the moment.

In the picture you can see half the gang digging out in the background, and in the foreground the other half is inserting a new timber.

 

 

 

 

There is an awful lot of digging to be done, and we are under time pressure, as we are not allocated very many days to do this, before some services start again.

 

 

 

 

 A break was held under darkening skies, as clouds moved in momentarily during the middle of the day.

Brighter times were seen at lunch time, when the whole gang sat on discarded timbers to eat from their lunch boxes.

Gotherington station is in the distance - the loop was put out here at the request of the private owners of the station.

 

Another job was to recover the point motor with STEVIE, for overhaul back at the S&T base in Winchcombe.

 

At the end of the day, an excellent 10 timbers had been replaced. After 5 on the first day, and 8 on the second, the pace is clearly accelerating - well done that gang! 

 

A look over the fence - Barnstaple.

First, some admin news: The shareholders of Exmoor Associates, not having charitable status, voted almost unanimously to transfer its assets to its associate charity, the Yeo Valley Trust. The latter then changed its name to the Barnstaple and Yeo Valley Trust. Got that? The people involved are basically still the same, but EA's Ltd company structure wasn't fit for purpose any more, as no gift aid could be claimed on donations or share purchases, for example. 

 

The other news is brilliant, as over two year long negotioations have at last concluded, and the section through the North Devon Scouts camp has been purchased (without the scouts giving up their camp, and still able to continue their full range of activities).

The map below shows not only the location of the new 718m stretch (in yellow) but also how its fits in with (green) sections of trackbed that the BYVT already owns.

 

Source: BYVT newsletter

At point A on the above map the line crossed the river Yeo, coming from Snapper Halt. It then continued along the other side until point B, where it crossed the river again, entering the Collard bridge site, and the start of the long climb to the top of the moor. That is the section purchased.

Negotiations and the actual conclusion of the sale took a long time, and it's been 18 months since EA shareholders were first allowed a glimpse of what had then been agreed in principle. The photographs below are from that September 2024 EA shareholders' walk.
 

Source: BYVT Newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This map, from the BYVT newsletter, shows a part of the continuously evolving trackbed situation in the southern half of the L&B. It is updated with every successful purchase. Note that the sections are not of equal length, but merely denote the different ownerships along the trackbed. The Scout camp section was No.9, between the two river crossings (both now gone of course). The scout camp remains in place, but there is now a route through it. Five more sections remain at the Barnstaple end, but from section 7 through to section 13 is now one continuous ownership run, if you exclude the two river bridges and a skew bridge (19) under the road.

The two yellow sections are also in 'L&B group' ownership, but technically owned by the L&B CIC (Woody Bay).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The layout within the scout camp is a long, drawn out site with an access road at one end, and a self seeded wood at the other. The access road from Collard bridge (no access for the general public) follows the river downstream for a short stretch, as the trackbed from Collard bridge nears from the other side.

 

 

 

Here the EA shareholder party, with members of the BYVT, have just set off into the camp.

 

The pictures show a mixture of the down, and the return journeys, so may have opposite orientations.  This was September 2024, remember.

 

 

 

 

 

A little further along, now on the return journey, the river joins alongside. The field opposite was bought by EA some time ago, and leads to Collard Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

This weir is just short of the former bridge, at point B on the map. You can just make out the low embankment of the trackbed curving dowards the camera.

We were delighted to see an otter here ! 

 

 

 

 

 

The dark area on the opposite bank here represents the former abutments of the railway bridge. It wasn't a very large structure.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back towards point B, there is a kink in the road where the trackbed, having crossed the river, is today taken over by the approach road to the camp.

Under the land purchase deal, this road will stay in place, and a new trackbed will run alongside, on the right. 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking a few steps back, still looking north towards point B. The new trackbed will be on the right of the road.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Now looking south, towards point A, further towards the centre of the camp, the new trackbed will be built up against the roadway, just to the left of the cones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking north again, a bit further along the old trackbed, now the approach road.

Scout camp buildings appear on the left. All the buildings are on the same (western) side of the road. On the other side of the road are playing fields.

Out in the open, approximately in the middle of the section. Playing fields on the right, looking upstream. The Yeo is out of sight on the right.

 

 A few yards further south, Scout camp buildings on the left, and car park. The hardened road ends here.

 

Another few yards to the south, still looking north towards the entrance, there is more car parking, and the trackbed becomes a rough track again. From somewhere in this area the trackbed purchased will revert to its former route, as the overgrown area behind the camera is largely unused by the scouts.

A forest path begins, curving towards the river. But here seen in the opposite direction, look north. This is the original trackbed.

EA shareholders venture down the path - what might lie beyond? By this time, in September 2024, a rough deal had been agreed, but it took another 18 months to get it signed. Deeds seem to be a recurring problem with buying bits of L&B trackbed. 

The river can be seen here, looking south. It meanders with several curves, but eventually returns to bisect the trackbed at point A

 

Finally the well beaten path stops, and turns down into the playing fields, and an archery practice area. The original trackbed continues on the right.

A temporary chain barred further exploration southwards. 

The grass gets deeper, as we pass southwards alongside the last playing field activity area. 

People start to disappear in the undergrowth, yet there is a shallow embankment along here, curving gently to the left.

The undergrowth, and self seeded trees since the 1930s, start to prohibit any rapid progress, and we bunch up as obstacles are negotiated.

Yes, this is the trackbed today, as we near point A and the missing bridge back over the river. Where is the abutment then?

 
Ah, finally, there is the abutment, and the river Yeo ! Not much to see here, but it's the end of the 718m new section. A single span steel bridge is likely to be built here. On the other bank is the section leading to Snaper Halt, already owned by the BYVT.

Detailed surveys and design work will now begin.

It remains without saying that the staff of the BYVT are on the hunt for other sections of trackbed, all the beige areas in the map above for example (there are two more sections of the map, with lots of beige areas). Several more are currently in various stages of negotiations. The BYVT does not have enough funds to carry out all of its ambitions at the moment, so if you find this sort of thing exciting, do make a contribution, with gift aid, using the details below:

The next meeting, with a trackbed walk, is on May 16th at the Chelfham GrowForward centre, and it is open to all. Might see you there?