Bend it, like - Neal

Earlier at Broadway

Heavy rain, family visits - any excuse for a missing blog. But here we are, back again from gone away.

On Friday the weather was very iffy, but luckily we had thought to put sheets indoors - with limited space - so could paint some of them.

Here are three corrugated iron sheets which have already had some etch primer on them, and now they were getting a first coat of bitumen.

They are very tall, so the top edge is done by standing craning on your toes, while the bottom edge is a hands and knees job.

In between showers Neal got the saw bench out and cut some cross members for the P2 roof. Normally they'd be square but we want a slight fall over the intermediate landing roof so that is the bit he is cutting off.

Then, armed with the prepared pieces he went up the scaffolding and cut them to length. Now they are on, ready for some sheets.

Our work was (pleasantly) interrupted by this slow biplane that flew over the station.

Our first thought was a Rapide, but that has two engines and the lower wings are shorter.

Anyone have any ideas what it was then?

Another interruption was this fire and drive trip, headed by P&O.

As you can see it was raining heavily so when we say 'interruption' that is to tea while sheltering in the mess room.

John kept himself busy in one of the containers, this time with dagger boards, which have all had another coat of primer applied by him, along those bits that have been cut to get them to the right shape.

We noted that dagger boards on the LBSCR at HK are just plain boards with a point. Now why couldn't the GWR build like that.

Yes, yes, we had a day on the Bluebell, OK, OK. But it's interesting to look over the fence to see how others solve problems, or look after their own heritage.

We have reproduction lamp tops, but they even have reproduction oil lamps inside, and it is only inside the actual oil lamp that they have a LED light bulb.

Maybe something for us to consider for P2, where there are no lamp tops at all yet.

An actual working gas lamp along the drive.

Down their drive at Sheffield Park and under the canopy they had actual gas lamps, with a pilot light burning. The wooden ceiling under the canopy was quite black from the smoke. The gas, we learned, was LPG and a tank had to be filled at intervals. Not sure if we want to go that far down the road though.

Back at Broadway the rain eased after lunch, and we dared to have a go at placing some roof sheets.

Here is the first one just being pushed into place. We're on P2 now.

This is the view from above, looking down along the first sheet just placed. Its lower edge is resting on the cross member Neal cut earlier in the day.

This is the view from inside, under the first sheet placed at the top.

Cosy, isn't it?

We took this picture while on a rare trip along the centre span. We've put one half painted sheet up there, as it's dry and long - a good place to paint if it's raining.

The station canopy is very impressive we thought. It looks so neat. The clouds above continue to look menacing.

This is the far end of the centre span, seen from inside. Now you know what it looks like.

The inside of the sheets was never painted when originally put up a couple of years ago now, so that's another job on our list. Also the painting scheme is a bit willy-nilly; it should be dark stone for supporting members, and light stone for infill.

A bit later the top three sheets on the P2 steps had been fitted. We can't go any further at the moment because the sheets for the intermediate landing still have to be bent into that 'S' shape.

At the end of Friday the footbridge looked like this. The roof on the P1 steps is done, that on the P2 steps started. One quarter of the dagger boards there still remain to be fitted too.

From the side the painting scheme looks just right - dark stone for the structural pieces, and light stone for the panels.



A few days later we caught Neal and the steam dept. lads in the loco shed with those famous sheets for the intermediate landing

With these two pictures you can see exactly how they bent them to shape, thanks to a number of off cuts from scaffolding tubes welded together in a row.










There's a spare bit of canopy extension (the green length of strip you can just see) and once the sheet is in position over the tubes the press is screwed down and that pushes a fold into the sheet.





The job is done now, but we're keeping the tube former for a future job. You never know, we could always build another footbridge from scratch, we have a pretty good idea now how to do it.


The two yard lamps at Toddington have grown a bit more substantial too.

They have both had their platforms and ladders fitted. The taller post on the left, ex Dumbleton, has an all new ladder and platform, based on the one on the right, which still had the original. That, we learned, is pretty rare these days too. The ladders bars, to which they attach, are new as well.

Now all that remains to do is fit a pair of replica lamp tops. You may have noticed an appeal for this on the steam dept blog for this. We have the design, and a potential supplier ready to go.




Wednesday on the goods platform

A jolly day on the railroad for us all, as it didn't rain. Or hardly. Some went off to Toddington yard to change a fishplate, others went to dig out cribs on the Defford straight in preparation for Saturday, and more still did some track walks.

A few 'Remainers' stayed at Winchcombe and laid blocks.

Here's where we started. While we were drinking tea and eating doughnuts there was a delivery of 4 pallets of blocks, so we felt we really ought to stop talking and get going.

The first pallet is already on the trolley, so now to get Maxie out of bed.

There were complaints that the mortar was late, and that it was all Maxie's fault, and that she had better pull her finger out.

We doubted that Maxie would put her finger anywhere, as it has orange nail varnish on it. In fact, she has orange everywhere.

Two locos today, and they would meet right in front of us, here at Winchcombe. 4270 is waiting on the right, while King Edward II came in somewhat slowly (we thought) and bearing a member of the canopy gang on the footplate. Tsk. It's who you know, apparently. Meanwhile, we were on the mixer shovel, and be quick about it too, there are people waiting.

When Neil eventually brought a barrow of muck to the wall, there was no-one there. Surprise. There had been talk about going to the cafe en masse to get sandwiches for lunch. Is that where they all went?

But no.

They had been to the other side of the yard to score some scaffolding planks, on LT lease as it were.

We will use them here as a base from which to lay the higher rows of blocks, and then use them to build the Usk hut, which will need scaffolding at some point.

All the block laying today was on sections 1 and 2 at the stop block end. Sections 3 and 4, nearest the camera, are done.

Your blogger unexpectedly started a huge argument when he happened to mention which way round the loo roll was usually placed in the Blogger Country Pile. It seems there are two very fervent camps about the way a loo roll faces. It suddenly got very loud, and curtains were seen to twitch next door.

We got through three pallets today, we reckon about 200 blocks. That's probably a daily record for us. It's really handy when you can load them straight on to the Permaquip trolley with the Telehandler, and then from there, lay them straight on to the wall. Hence the rapid progress.

It did mean an awful lot of mortar mixing.

Maxie got thirsty and we had to give her a topping up drink of petrol.

We have two piles of sand to play with, and the first one is looking a bit low by now. All that sand, the best part of a lorry load, has gone through Maxie and then by wheelbarrow (with a wobbly wheel, we saw today) to the block laying site and then spooned out in front of Paul's boots.

Waiting for Godot. Er, Maxie....

Neil did a lot of the barrowing today, as well as the shovelling on to the wall.

Bringing back the empty barrow gave him the opportunity for a quick five, sitting on some spare concrete kerbs while Maxie churned her stuff.

As you can see here, the first two sections are rising quickly. We laid three rows of blocks on each section today, with both merged here to look like one.

4270 was the other steamer out today, and we got admiring glances from the fireman - we think.

This picture was taken near the end of the afternoon, and shows the last of the three rows advancing towards the stop block.

Some kind soul has given that stop block a bit more black paint too. Previously there were still several areas in red oxide, but not any more.

Our last picture shows where we stopped today. Sections 1 and 2 are at rows 6 and 7, out of 11 in total. It looks as if we will complete at least the straight part of the wall within the next two sessions.

Time to think about the foundations of the Usk building!

Just a peek over the fence as it were, but we understand this previously unrestored restaurant vehicle, in army green, is nearing the head of the restoration queue. That would be fun, it's always exciting to see a vehicle that has never been restored before.

It's parked here behind the S&T workshop, where it has stood for a long time.

At the end of the day we all drifted over to the Coffeepot, where the different parts of today's gang came together.

The Usketeers and those that worked at Toddington and Defford are already here, as King Edward II rolls in majestically.

As some of the passengers came off the footbridge, they were headed by one pair of track walkers bearing spanners - and a coffee.

It's Rob and Doug - cheers, guys!

From the other direction came a second pair of track walkers, Robert and Peter. Rob and Doug were quicker off the mark with their coffees, it would seem. Never mind, there's a big pot of tea waiting for them outside the cafe.

The Peak rumbles in behind, as we close another happy day's volunteering on the railroad.