Back on line

(Last) Monday at Broadway

A gorgeous sunny day, not too hot, and all 3 of us there. The scaffolders came too (eventually). They came to remove the P1 scaffolding, which we now no longer need, so it can go off hire.

This is where we started from first thing this morning. Scaffolding and Heras fencing up.

We took the fencing down, had a brew, waited.

Eventually they did come, so to stay out of their way we decided to fetch down another (last?) lot of T&G from our store under the canopy.

This all needs lugging down to the painting area, then knotting, then primering.

The longer you leave it, the hotter it gets!

By lunch time the scaffolders had finished, and a beautiful butterfly emerged from the chrysalis. The skeleton of the steps looks quite elegant. We now have to put on the sides, and the treads. Sorting out the treads from a big pile on the other side looks like the next job. They are replacement treads fitted in HIA by BR, but of a very high quality wood, and most are still very serviceable.

You can't leave steps unattended for 5 minutes but some clown will try to go up them.

No Peter, No! Wait until the treads are on. (and the bridge open for business)

This is a trackside view; soon the steps will be veiled again by the Heras fencing panels, but at least it all looks a lot more manageable now. No doubt the missing spearhead fencing panels could be put in place now too.

Wot, no holes in the LH dagger board?

Neal made a start with the mouldings on the 4th and final side. At the end of the day he had all the large pieces on; just the arch over the top and a short bit down the roof of the centre span to go. Then that's another job ticked off.

Yes, you saw that right, one dagger board escaped the strict scrutiny of our assembly team and was made, and painted, without holes.

All the holes are made up out of two half-holes, so it's these that are missing.

Neal has it sorted though. Here he has a pattern for a hole (can you get these?).

The missing two half holes were soon drilled, and the hole counters were satisfied.

This is the 4th moulding run, almost completed as well in the picture.

Broadway seemed a busy village today. First this Chinook scraped itself over the treetops. We heard the CHOP-CHOP-CHOP coming, hence the picture.

Then all afternoon there were emergency vehicles screaming around us. No idea why. Something on Fish Hill perhaps? At the end of the afternoon we saw two patrol cars hurtling down station road, and a fire engine returning to Evesham. Mysterious.

Finally, a pleasant bit of heritage news. Upon opening the booking office was adorned with plastic leaflet holders, as a temporary measure, we heard.

We looked around on the internet for something more suitable for a 1904 station, and found this example after a Google search.

Could someone make us one of these?




Dave of the Broadway gang bravely accepted the challenge.

This is what he built, isn't it splendid! It's made out of scraps of hardwood that he found.

You see it here in the raw, being varnished.

Alex in the C&W workshops has kindly agreed to letter it.

We can't wait to see it with its gold letters on.





Tuesday.

The phone line to the blogger country pile suddenly stopped working. Disaster! It's amazing how dependent we are on the internet today. At first we suspected a router upgrade, and a reboot often cures that. But not this time.

A call to BT resulted in an off site line test, which pronounced that there was nothing wrong with the BT line, so the fault must lie with the house. A visit from a BT technician would cost £86, else a self help video was offered to trace the supposed fault in your house. We had £86 (well, what else can you do?) and the technician duly came on Friday. The Wednesday blog was now 2 days overdue.

The technician found the fault, and - surprise! - it wasn't in the blogger country pile after all, but in BT's line down the lane. No can fix today though, a cherry picker is needed. Monday at the earliest.

Rural Broadband, eh?

So today we are back on air again, after a bit of a trying week. The news updates now follow.



Wednesday at Winchcombe

No action on the Usk hut foundations.

Nearby, timber replacement took place on the yard turnout.

There are a lot of rotten timbers on this particular turnout (not on the main line) and as the bed around the timbers is as hard as concrete, removal and replacement of the timbers is slow.

Here Dave is releasing one of the chairs.

You just get going nicely when the shunter appears, a bit unusually for this side. After the diesel gala the carriage rakes had to be reconstituted. We step aside...

The next timber is a GWR throughbolter one, so we cannot undo it. Of course, why not make it a bit harder still?

The only way to get the old timber out is to split it down the middle. Hence the bars in the picture.

TOOOOT - here comes that shunter again. Hot diggety, is there no peace? We step aside again. We thought we were safe here, in the sidings. Ha!

After digging out the rotten timber, we wriggle in a new one. Or rather, a better one, although one 'good' one promptly split in half when we screwed down the bolts. Out it came a second time.

In between were the ordinary trains, which ran on the adjacent loop. That didn't affect us directly, but we stood aside anyway. This time it was heavy tank 4270, with the fireman just checking that he really has 8 on after leaving the platforms. You never know.

With your blogger's back still fragile after a 'twinge' a few days earlier, we took it carefully today, and decided to rid the site of these enormous rocks. They were scattered about  the tracks, in between the sleepers. There were more by the signal box too. Wonder what brought them here in the 1980s?

They have been dropped behind the Usk hut platform wall as in fill. There were 5 barrows of these boulders!

By the new platform there was a surveying team during the day, and later the area around the stop block was investigated.

The rest of the platform is going to be finished by C&M, and, taking the wall site in hand, they decided to go for a different construction for the return around the stop block.

The second hand sleepers laid in previously were removed again.

The area at the rear was then dug out, ready for a further bit of concrete foundation to be poured.

Meanwhile, a third timber was being manhandled into position at the yard turnout. In the foreground is a pile of debris, the remains of the three timbers dragged out.

Another pause for a passing train, this time Foremarke Hall at its head. With the topping and tailing going on to deal with the Broadway run through, there were also some diesels about.

Tweet! Get this man a bag of bird seed.

Getting the new timbers (this really is a new one) screwed down was quite tricky, with Rob on the left perching on the end of the bar to get the maximum amount of leverage from it.

We always aim to hit the Coffeepot just before closing time (well, after closing time would be pointless wouldn't it, but we did manage that too once) and then you get to see a steamer heading north while you slurp.

The first one who makes it to the Coffeepot gets the order in - 15 volunteer cups of tea please!

Not much profit in that, but you do get our labour for free, and it's a small price.

Martin was 'mother' today and did the honours. John can barely hold himself back, while a really impatient teacup is being proffered from the left, in the hope of an early fill.

Just wait your turn, mate!

This being the last train south of the day, it's a diesel that rumbles in right next to us, today the 'Green Goddess' Growler.

The smell of tea seems to have brought the second man out of his chair, you saw that here first!






Friday at Broadway

Much more painting, it's getting a bit tedious, but at least the weather is on our side, so it's 'make hay while the sun shines'.

Neal has made the round bits for the highest moulding area off site, so when he arrived they were ready to fit.

The P1 scaffolding of course has been removed, and instead the first spearhead fence panels were parked in their approximate positions. The P2 scaffolding is due to go in 10 days or so, not long now. We need to off hire to save costs.

Here's that final and tricky curved stretch of moulding in place, fillered and with a bit of primer on.










Saturday - a day out at Bloxham.

To build a heritage station you can't just go out and buy kit, it isn't there when you want it. You have to strike when it comes up, even if you can't use it straight away. This is how we bought lamp posts, door plates, lanterns, benches, V boards, cast iron letters and many other original GWR fittings for Broadway over the last 8 years.

So we keep an eye on the various auctions as they come up. Bloxham on Saturday was reputed to have a very rare set of GWR cast iron crowd barrier posts for sale.

Of the 4 GWSR stations, only Broadway has a set of these as it should.

The auction had over 100 items, and they were being rattled through at a rate of 140 an hour. Keep up, at the back there!

Bloxham is not the pace for hugely expensive locomotive name plates, it's more for smaller items, or interesting kit. So we had a good mooch around, see what else there is.


This trio of scripted GWR seat ends, originals, appealed. They are of the earlier pattern, with pierced back supports.

They went for £220 for the 3, cheaper than the price of two new ones.

The picture shows them at our favourite shotblaster's premises, where they will get a  good clean and a zinc coating.

A surprise find was this PLATFORM No 1 sign, an original in excellent condition and ready to hang.

Now Broadway didn't have platform numbers, hardly necessary when the trains always stop at the same platforms and there are few passengers.

However, with the large numbers of passengers we have today our station staff expressed a wish for a Platform sign. Where it will be used is still open, but if we don't use it, it can always be sold on. The cost was not outrageous either.






We just tried it out next to that curious box which is appearing on every one of our stations. They are not heritage items though.







Finally, we did bag the crowd barrier columns, phew! They are in the same condition as those found in the debris at Broadway. We took them straight down to the workshop at Toddington to be cleaned up.

Where will they go? It's not been formally decided yet, but an idea being floated is to move the Toddington shop to better and larger premises, and then move the non-authentic ticket hatch in a platform side window back into the area of the shop, which is in fact the old booking office/stationmaster's office, with the middle wall knocked out. So shop, customer and authenticity would benefit. But remember, it's just a good idea at the moment.

And could we resurrect the 1st class waiting room as well? Now that would be fun.

Also by the Toddington workshop, the foundations are being excavated for the long awaited proper loco mess room.



Back at Broadway, we found Stevie starting work with the trench that will run down P2. This will hide the signalling cable that has been laid out here.

Later he decided to work at the northern end, by coincidence just where we were having our tea.

He knocked over a signal cable support, but Neil C forgave him for that (at least in front of us, we don't know about the severe kicking he might have received once out of sight)

While Steve was working the mini digger on the platform, we walked along the track to stay out of harm's way. Just as well, as we found a wristwatch in the P2 4 foot, just opposite where the locos uncouple from their train.

This is now the second time we have found a wrist watch there!

Anyone lost a wrist watch at Broadway? 

Glad to be back! See you again soon.