Buffer stop - go.

What a superb day today! Auntie Beeb said it would be 'unseasonably hot', a slight exaggeration, but it drew 18 volunteers and we worked out under a balmy sky.

We had 3 teams out today.

- Team 1 spent the day at Laverton , working south on track defects such as missing clips or pads on the extension,
- Team 2 spent the day in the yard at Winchcombe with the Telehandler, moving stored material to one side so that the siding to be moved could be accessed by our contractor Stevie
- Team 3 continued work on moving the siding, and in particular the stop block, buried deep in mud at the end.

Now this is what you want to do, see?

Even before we arrived, Steve had already put some time in and dug out the stop block, as well as a space next to it, to where it could be moved.




Here is the stop block, dug out and part moved across.
We had to go across the road to C&M dept to borrow a long piece of string - a line in their parlance, a long piece of string in ours - to work out the location and attitude of the stop block in its new location.

Steve then moved it some more, but there were worrying creaks and cracks from within it (it turned out that two chairs had snapped) and there were doubts about its height.

The answer to how high was this level. We only had an optical one, not the nice new, self levelling laser model. Unfortunately you can only set it up either for a short person, or a very tall one....

With this level we sorted out the height of the stop block. By digging out a few inches more, it was level with the stub of rail where the slew was going to start. For information, we ascertained that the adjoining pile of clay and rubble where the new platform will be is almost the correct height already, just 4 ins out. That's handy.

At the end of the morning, after much debate and a final ruling by the people who will build the new wall, the stop block was in position, facing the right way, and level.

Steve could only give us the morning, but he did find the time to lift out this third panel. It was made up out of scrap rail laid about 30 years ago.

One rail clearly came from an old turnout, as it still had some cast iron pieces attached to it.

Once the rail  as out, Steve scraped together all the sleepers underneath, which were almost all rotten. One was still sound; we earmarked that one for later.

Here he is with the backhoe, scooping up the rotten sleepers.

The site then had 3 panels (of odd rails) out, and a fourth one will stay in situ but will be 'tweaked' across by Steve in the next few days.

He will also dig out the trackbed, and spread out a layer of spent ballast. The renewed siding can then be laid on it, which is an improvement on the previous foundation of clay.

In the afternoon the gang returned. The Telehandler was used to clear the trackbed of the remaining debris of the lifted third panel.

Looking over the area of the siding from the brake van we pulled forward last week, you can see how the original siding curved right and bit into the area where the platform wall will be built.

You can just make out the stop block in its new position, approximately in front of the lamp hut in the distance. The transition to the new siding location will start where the shovel has been put into the ground, and go in a straight line from there.

You can see how this small move gives the area by the big yellow shed so much more space. Would  the Usk building fit in there now?

With a bit of time to spare in the afternoon, we also decided to overhaul the bottom of the stop block, where 3 chairs had snapped, a number of Mills keys were found out of place, and one sleeper was rotten.

Here Martin is using the nut runner to release the chair screws from the failed sleeper, located a bit awkwardly right under the cross beam.

After digging out the loose clay remaining from the shove from the JCB, we slipped in a good second hand sleeper from the lifted third panel. That went very smoothly, and soon Martin was tightening the chair screws again.

We also scraped all the clay off the stop block, which is a rather nice example and in pretty good condition. It could do with a coat of red oxide now... and some black to finish.

In this view you can see the location of the hole with the stop block in it, and a train just pulling out of Winchcombe. 2807 was doing the honours today, together with the DMU, and we were pleased to see plenty of noses pressed against windows. What are they up to down there???

The last sleeper in question had a broken cast iron chair with a very old break in it. We took a replacement from the scrap pile.

At the end of the day the stop block was relatively clean, and in much better condition. It has been successfully moved across, points in the correct direction and sits at the right height. Success!
(or Big Success! as Borat would say)

The hot day made us thirsty, so why not patronise your own cafe at the other end of the platform?

Tea and a licky ice made a great end to a satisfying day. We get to watch trains too, as 2807 rumbled in for a final trip down south.

To finish with, here is a last view of the slewed stop block, and the cleared siding area where we will effect the relay next week, once Steve has prepared the ground for us. Simples!

Post Scriptum:


A couple of early morning pictures have come in, taken by Jonathan while the others were munching their doughnuts and drinking tea for Britain:

Steve has started digging out the stop block here. You can see how deep it sat in the clay.

The stop block first thing this morning, with quite a bit of clay dug out, but still plenty more to come.

Thanks, Jonathan !