Summer fun.

Friday in the greenhouse.

Another day drilling holes to fabricate the intermediate trusses for Broadway, and grinding millscale off the strips that form a part of them.

It's a somewhat repetitive job, and as it was hot, we decided to drop into the Cotswolds Halt for a coffee, where we met some visitors (on a non-running day, except for a diesel driving day experience) who were interested to see what we were making.

Neal explained everything to them... 

It was good to see that people came to the station to visit our catering outlet, even when trains weren't running. For example, it was seen as a good place to park and have a coffee for several motorcyclists during the day. 

 

 

While the main parts of the canopy are now complete, smaller supplementary jobs keep popping up.

Here Neal is drilling holes for rivets to attach a gusset plate to the end of a truss.

While we finished off the second 20 strips for the intermediate trusses, it seems we were not yet completely finished, as Neal arrived with a whole wheelbarrow of bits that he had manufactured in the loco shed, and that needed stripping of millscale and putting in primer. 

 

 

While passing through the side gate in the fence erected by the Usketeers last year, we noticed that the overlapping boards were coming loose, as if someone had kicked them from behind. This was apparent over  two or three yards, including an older part of the fence.

What was going on?

Neal diagnosed that the gate was being left open and unattached, and that the wind was banging it shut repeatedly, and shaking all the boards off. 

So if you are a user of this gate, please keep it closed, or else attached to its post. Don't just leave it ajar.

We will buy a 'Please shut the Gate' sign for it. 

 

 

 

 

Saturday out with the gang.

Seven of us, on a warm, cloudy day, ideal for working on the track.

 

Saturday's job was to jack & pack two rail lengths at the southern end of the Winchcombe loop.

Transport was a poser - we could walk there from the mess coach, or load up the Ranger and take it down the new ramp to the trackbed, a bit beyond where we wanted to be. 

Those that walked met this modern recreation of the famous Coffeepot service - a coach, and a loco. What was it doing in the platform? 

 

 

 

 

A few minutes later the shunter, now without carriage, reversed past the bracket signal, just as the Ranger was reversing down the new access slope. 

 

 

 

This was the work site on Saturday. The dip in the Malvern side rail had already been measured, and the drops chalked on the sleeper ends. We lugged the heavy panjacks to the site and slipped them under the track. The we pumped until the bubble in the gauge said that the track was level.

The first few yards had been packed when P&O trundled into the loop. That meant letting the track down again, so as not to damage the jacks.

 

 

 

Once the train with P&O came to a halt, the shunter picked up its coach and placed it on the end of the train, raising the consist from 6 coaches to seven.

 

 

 

The proceedings were of great interest to our neighbours, who peered over the fence to watch all the comings and goings, steam or diesel. We even got a wave.

 

 

 

 

Then we had to stand back again to let the next train leave, this time headed by 2807.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a video of 2807 accelerating up the hill and into Greet tunnel, marked by a brief whistle:

https://youtu.be/zbkrDM5DLhM 

 

Then it was back to work, all the way down one side of the track, over two lengths, or 52 sleepers. The Robels do the consolidating of the ballast now, but it's still hard work.

 Once an hour we could have a break, as two trains came, and crossed at Winchcombe.

2807 came a second time. It's a great feeling to watch it from your place of work, you really feel part of the railway like this.

After lifting and packing the two lengths, we switched to a dipped joint on the Cotswolds side, and then, mid afternoon, the siren call of the nearby Coffeepot was too strong. We packed up, and had tea. 

Outside was a wonderful 1926 MG, owned by Tim from the catering staff. Although it's not fast, driving it is every bit as exhilerating as a modern, much more powerful sports car, we heard. The MG has been slightly modernised, with hydraulic brakes and an electric starter.
 

 

 

 

To compare, we parked a modern 4x4 600 HP Audi RS6 next to it, but it was the little MG that got all the looks.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday on bridges.

A day with Neal and Ian, spent on a bridge at Stanley Pontlarge. Here, the latticework parapets have suffered corrosion at the base, and our solution is to repair these in-house, at little cost to the railway.

On Monday, 156 rivets were removed. These were part replaced with nuts & bolts, ready for a speedy removal in early August, for repair.

 

The full story will be on the Infrastructure blog, with pictures.

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Back to full strength (er, three) as Dave returns. A merry time was had by all. 

It does help when you come back and bear gifts, to wit, one box of coffee & walnut cake. That went so well with our mid morning break. 

 

 

We have received the two downpipe reducers that we ordered, all the way from Taiwan, and the good news is that they work, and are practically invisible.

That confirmation allowed us to make a start on fitting the gutters again, and later the front downpipe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the Hammerite paint had gone off we got the gun out with the gutter sealant. This time it's not going to leak, we made sure of that. Not only will there be pleanty of sticky sealant, but a nut and bolt to hold the two halves together. (previously absent) 

 

Then we fitted the RH gutter....

 

.... with the LH close behind. On checking the levels, we discovered that there was a sharp drop in the underlying brickwork on this corner. This is the corner that had started to lean outwards, and was underpinned at the start of this project. 

 

Round the elevenses we wandered over to the station, where there is always a lovely business when the two trains cross. We chatted to a couple from Monaco ('We say we are from France, because people don't know where Monaco is'), and outside there was a very large bus from Germany, waiting to pick up a Cotswolds 'Gardens and Culture' tour group. Later, at Broadway, there was a bus from The Netherlands, so we do seem to be on coach companies' radar, which can't be bad.

 

 

 

 

Once the gutters had been screwed on to the board behind, we had a go at fitting the new cast iron downpipes (previously plastic).

In the picture the reducer from 4 inch to 3 inch is already fitted. You can't see it, which is just how we wanted it.

The downpipe is fitted with 'ears' (the plastic wasn't) so we had to trim one brick to make them fit. The cast iron pipe is quite heavy, so we wanted that secured before we measured up for the next bit below. 

 

 

At the bottom of the 6ft downpipe we fitted a sleeve with ears, which will stop the end from moving. Below that comes a short straight piece, and then the swan neck, to take it around the plinth.

 

 

At the end of the day the downpipe, short extension and swan neck were all fitted and secure. Something else still has to go onto the end, which will lead to a soakaway in front of the building. There is no stormwater drainage from the building, due to the fact that the ground has been built up around it after the new, large weighing table was fitted in 1945.

 
We had a couple of errands to run at the end of the day - taking two enamel tobacco advertising signs to the RATs shop in Toddington, and this curious machine:

It's an aluminium tape lettering machine, certainly not a very common item. You used to see these sort of things at carnivals and beach side piers, but we didn't see a slot for money on this one.

If you are interested, the RATs will almost certainly sell it to you.  

 

 

GWRS newsletter - July 1981

- The society has existed for 5 years now, and it's been 4 months since the occupation of Toddington yard under a temporary lease.

- A plc is formed, to raise capital to buy the line. It needs a minimum of £50.000 by September 16th.

-  2807 arrives on 20th June; also 7821, 7828 from Barry.

Picture by John Lees, in 1981.

 

- 1942 Hunslett 0-6-0 King George, arrives, ex National Coal Board.

- 1939 Peckett 1976 arrives, ex Thoresby colliery.

- A scheme to share the trackbed with a cyclepath now looks unlikely to go ahead, as the GWRS intends to buy the whole of the trackbed, and the promoters of the cyclepath look unlikely to raise funds themselves.

- A catering section is set up at Toddington to support the increased activities there with light refreshments from a table. 

- A sponsored 24 hour track laying event is planned for August 29th, starting at 2pm. This is described as a major fundraising event.

Picture by John Lees, in 1981.

 

- Toddington signal box, vandalised and with the lever frame sold to another railway, is being reglazed. 

 

 

 

Wednesday on the PWay.

A day with a difference, as we hosted a party of 12 volunteers from Network Rail.

What could they do for a day? They were not averse to digging, which was good news, so we assembled on Monday a pile of sleepers and track materials at Gotherington for them to work on.

This was good, old fashioned PWay work for them, no electronic machines involved.

There was an added wrinkle at Gotherington, in that the sleepers were spiked, and therefore not so easy to remove. 

But the day went well, as you can see. Here they are, inserting a new (second hand) sleepers already.

Then the next one had to be dug out, a bit further along. To the right you can see a big pile of replacement sleepers, the 'to do' pile.

 

The NR gang also had a go on the Robels. In the picture you can see a spiked sleeper on the right, and in the centre the replacement uses baseplates and standard Pandrol clips.

 

All the time trains rumbled through, so it was always a good excuse to pause and watch the train go by. The heavy mob was out today - 35006, and the blue Growler.

 

Bryan and Savita from Gotherington station were very helpful and supportive.

Savita very kindly provided refreshments on this rather warm day, while Bryan offered trips up and down the branch line on the pump trolley, or his little Wickham rail car. 

At the end of a very successful exchange day, the whole gang assembled on the platform for a souvenir photo.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we hope that the exchange can be repeated. 

 

 

 

That hot week.

Thursday at Broadway.

Our last day on the build for 10 days, we're going to skip Broadway for a week. Train services roll on of course, and we will probably find something else to do.

 On Thursday the green Growler brought the first train in.

 

 

 

 

This picture though was taken later in the day, when P&O was in charge.

Passing the Gents, we heard a gurgle, and had a look inside. There was 1/4 inch of soapy water all over the floor! Someone had opened the cold tap fully, and put the plug in the basin. The flow of water was so strong that the overflow couldn't cope, and for what looks like several minutes soapy water gushed out everywhere. This seemed to complete escape their attention.

While the P&O hauled train was in the station, a passenger gesticulated at us from a window.

The steamer had set the pine needles on fire by the signal box. We ran there with a big bucket of water, and were met by a member of the station staff bearing two smaller buckets coming the other way.

No harm done though. 

 

 

Thursday at Broadway saw continued progress on the internal blockwork. 

The fireplace itself is complete, up to six blocks. That's both ends the same now.

 

 

After doing the fireplace, John switched to the store room.

Here you can see that he laid a second course, all the way round.

At the end of another hot day we were pretty puffed, especially John, who lifted every concrete block.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, out with the gang.

Eight of us on Saturday, which was handy, as Paul gave us a large strawberry and cream sponge cake, which cut neatly into 8 equal pieces. Nine would have been much more difficult.

 

Before starting off, we had to wait for the return train from Cheltenham. It came tender first, but it still made for a nice shot from the back of the truck.

The brown patch bottom right is part of the spoil brought here from Broadway. There is room for plenty more. 

We also waited for the next down train, which at this location is just a few minutes away. Then we get about an hour before it comes back. Plenty of time to sort out a cracked fishplate reported here.

 

 

 

 

And there was indeed a crack, on one side.

Here it is. The loose bit on the right is part of a shim for lifting a straight plate. So we swapped this one for a 1/8th lifter, which should give smoother results. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did the plate, and after watching a train pass over it and seeing considerable movement, we also packed and robelled the joint.

Job done! On to Toddington for the next one 

 

 

 

 

A funny little story here: There was a couple wearing just bathing suits sitting in deck chairs outside their shepherd's hut.

Once we started up - we make quite a bit of noise - they hastily got dressed and vanished.

It's not as isolated as you think, out here. 

 

 

 

 

 It was at this location that we also tried out the larger of our two new Milwaukee impact wrenches.

How do we get out of here? Is there a Ranger in this picture?

 

We then jumped back in the truck, and followed the Ranger through the jungle. 

 

 

 

Toddington car park seemed reasonably full, although there is a school of thought which says people don't travel when it's very hot.

This beautifully presented 'GWR' van was quite a draw. 

 

 

 

 

 We went to the south end of the platform, where a rotten sleeper and poor spacing were indicated.

 

 

This meant digging out the old sleeper (in 29 degrees C), inserting a replacement, and then a second, after moving a third sleeper along a bit (around which further digging was needed).

It was also the opportunity to try out the smaller Milwaukee impact wrench 'gun', seen here being used by Dave to remove chair bolts. 

 

 

In this video Dave used the gun to tighten bolts. It's a bit slower than the much heavier, petrol powered impact wrench, but it did work OK, and the battery did last all day, there was no need to change.

 

Here we are pulling in the second sleeper, having replaced the first. AS1 (wider) chairs were placed on the first one, under the fishplate, to spread the load better. 

 

Foremarke Hall was decorated with a very bright poppy during the day.

We had also intended to replace a throughbolter on the adjacent track, but only got as far as dropping the replacement sleeper next to it, before the heat got to us. 

We cleared away some tools, the noticed that the rest of the gang had vanished. Where were they? 

 

They were sitting on the branches of a nearby shady tree. One gentleman preferred to remain anonymous, it seems.

 

 

Tuesday in the greenhouse

That's where you want to be, on a really hot day. Not. 

 

In the absence of brick laying at Broadway, Neal and Yours Truly went to Toddington to work on the canopy. In the greenhouse, at 29C. Luckily there was a gentle breeze, so it was just about tolerable, although at the end of the day we had to crash down outside the cafe with an ice-coffee.

These are the strips Neal has cut to size for the intermediate trusses.

The one on the left is with millscale and rust, the pile above has been cleaned. 

 

 

 

It took most of the day, but at the end of the afternoon we had cleaned and primered 20 strips, just exactly half of the total. A second day should see them all done.

 

 

 

 

Neal was cutting strips, then continuing with cutting and building the 4 intermediate trusses. The bits we cleaned zig-zag in between the pairs of long angles just about visible here.

 

Passing the 2807 and PWay sales stands in the Cotswolds Halt we noted what was on offer, all ex-PWay:

- Boot scrapers (for 2807 funds)

- Telegraph insulators

- Polished rail ends - £25 each, other lengths on application.

 

 

 

Two Usketeers.

 Dave is off somewhere, back next week.

The 3 inch downpipes, manufactured in 2025, do not quite fit the 3 inch exits to the Ogee gutters, manufactured in 1905. There are just 2 or 3mm in it. We have a solution, a 'reducer' which seems to come directly from Taiwan, so there is a 2 week wait for delivery. It is designed to marry a 3 inch pipe with a 4 inch one, so that should sort us out.

 

 

 

Getting ourselves ready to fit the downpipes (with their reducer) we took the gutters off and cleaned them.

It was at this point that the beginning of our whole weighbridge repair project became apparent. The two gutters were never bolted together, thus allowing them to move apart and settle at different rates. Water could therefore trickle out, and so permitted a fern to grow underneath. It was that fern which first drew our attention, indicating that there was some sort of an issue there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul then picked off the old mortar. Looking down the line of bricks, we could see that they undulated, with the far end (behind Paul) dropping off quite sharply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the joints, it did seem that the corner of the building was tilting, but this is one of the first things that were addressed, when we took this job on. It should no longer deteriorate now, but we are left with the legacy of an undulating base for the gutters.

 

 

 

 

We went over to the cafe to fetch a mug of tea, and were unfortunately tempted into buying two slices of cake as well.

 On offer was a new item - orange and poppyseed cake. Well, we had to try that !

 

 

After tea and cake Paul did a trial assembly of the cleaned up gutters. We were pleased to find them still in good condition, with all the fixing holes intact.

To get a reasonably straight and level fitting, Paul used pieces of slate to support one end of the gutter.

Then, suddenly, we heard an approaching roar, and were surprised to see this A400, banking over the station in the opposite direction from where it usually comes (over Sudely castle)

This looks pretty low, and such passes are always thrilling.

 

 

 

At the end of the session we also cut an extension into the trench for the ACO drain. We can't fit this yet, as we need to see exactly where the re-routed downpipe comes round the corner, and where it meets the new drain. Fitting the rear downpipe also depends on that delivery from Taiwan, so more fun next time.

 

 

 

Now we come to our puzzle question of the week: 

This is a narrow gauge trackbed, within walking distance of Toddington.

Where is it, and what was it for? 

 

 

PWay on Wednesday.

A good turnout (if you see what we mean...), with a full day spent at Winchcombe, not far from the mess coach and Coffeepot.

Eight crossing timbers need changing at the north end of the platform 

These get a lot of use, so need to be in tip-top condition. Seen here is the hardest bit - the digging out stage. Not that many poeple in view here now, it's early in the morning but....

 

 

 

 

...by lunch time the sun was out and more volunteers emerged for digging.

Here one of the heavy timbers has already been extracted, and now the bed has to be made a little lower, otherwise the replacement won't go in. 

 

 

 

 

This picture shows the same area at the end of the day. It's a neat site, with a clear, new timber in the foreground. Three of the 8 timbers were changed during the day, a good start.

 

 

As some of the timbers were observed to be moving when a train passed, these were robelled thoroughly, so as to fill the voids underneath.

A smaller team worked with the guys from C&M to locate a water pipe, and dig/connect a spur to lead to the mess coach. At the moment, every time we want to put the kettle on, we have to get the water in a Jerry can

 

The combined team dug the trench to the mess coach, and the new pipe connection is a hair's breadth from being ready. So maybe next week for the ceremonial opening of the tap to fill the kettle?

We should celebrate that.