Has it gone off yet?

Monday at Broadway.

A fine day, but cold and windy. Condensation under the roof sheets, so need to wait for the sun to burn it off.

That wait is a chance to put together another replica GWR poster board.

Those boards have to be sawn to length perfectly, otherwise you can't close the special moulding round the edges (from bitter experience - although glued, one sprang open again after a few days).

Some of the new boards will replace non-heritage items on P1. Others will be for the P2 building, for which discussions are ongoing. There's a feeling it's going to happen.

Neal of course is in the shelter of the side sheets, so doesn't feel the icy wind (although he says that he does!)

He's getting another tread ready here, now on the top landing. As the boards are second hand, ex HIA, they are not all of uniform size, so each needs prepping specially for its own little place.

Once a board is ready to be laid in, Neal has to drill the holes in the bottom angles.

There are no old holes to use, as the towers are all new, the HIA ones having rusted through.

Here is the second to last one being prepared. Once the landing is done, Neal will start on the centre span treads. They are all laid in, but not yet bolted down, so wobble as you walk over them.

Children of the former station employees recalled that they used to stand up here and watch the steam come up through the gaps in the treads, a special thrill for them.

A bit further along the painters - John and yours truly - are now on the last two of the 7 roof panel sections. We're just applying the second undercoat here, the sheets having finally dried off.

Over John's head is still one of the roof hoops in light stone, which is the wrong colour. There's also a row of rust spots along the bottom edge of the angles. This was rubbed off and a rust fixer applied. The angles along the top look new, and the paint on them looks thin, probably the reason they are rusting, as the other, original angles are fine.




Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Has the concrete gone off? Yes, but it can cure a while longer, and get harder still. The process goes on for a long time.

Paul started off by prising away at the shuttering, which proved to be very resistant to pulling away. Who on earth put all those nails in?

We embraced a request to get some Heras fencing round the site, so went across to the other side of the yard to find some.

The contractors working on the river Isbourne were filling sandbags there as well. Note the neat little funnel, apparently made up out of an old traffic cone.

This is the site where the contractors are reinforcing the river banks.

Note the life belt! Nothing can go wrong here, they even had a little boat, leaning against the hedge. Next stop down the river, Dumbleton.

This is the other, Winchcombe side of the river, as it passes under the Chicken Curve embankment in two sharp meanders.

Dinmore Manor then entered the station, with the first down train, and when it returned an hour later from CRC we saw it well filled, even this late in the season. Just a few more days to go. We heard from station staff that the trains might be well filled, but not much cash was being handed over in fares, as these are the last days you can use your 2019 shareholder's vouchers.

The balancing train was the DMU, also quite well occupied.

We put some of the Heras fencing up on each side of our little site.

Upppppp !

We then set about removing the concrete sleepers that we had put in to support the shuttering. Neil is giving directions to Dave in the Telehandler.

No, dooooown!

Out at last.

The sleepers were not so easy to get at, particularly these two along the platform edge here. We dragged it, rather than lift it. They then went on a pile, ready for returning to their place of origin - the pile of scrap concrete sleepers in the yard.

Where are you off to then?

The Telehandler once again proved its versatility, particularly after having a slow puncture re-inflated.

Our very own driver Dave was back from hols in Greece, and the British weather proved itself for everything for which it was reputed - cold and wet. But not today.

These mini Mars bars make you very dreamy.

Paul always surprises us with little treats. First it was doughnuts - a tradition started by him on the Hayles Abbey project - and today we were offered mini mars bars. 'Go on - HAVE ONE', we were encouraged. We accepted one, so as not to cause offence.

By noon time the weather was quite fine - after an icy, window scraping start - and this allowed Dinmore Manor to make a lively start with plenty of steam.

Rods down and lots of steam - a photographer's dream on the GWSR.

Shortly afterwards there was a loud clatter. Eh? It was the dropping of tools, and a bee-line was made for the mess coach at the bottom of the yard.

Others, from the PWay side, arrived from Broadway, where they had been recording the newly laid track assets, starting from the northern buffer stops.

Returning to the mess coach, we found Roger from the 2807 Boot Scraper Enterprise Ltd rummaging round our store of cast iron chairs.

The boot scrapers he makes are sourced from discarded GWR though bolters that we pass on, and they have all sorts of dates on them. Every now and then a customer demands a specific date. This time, it was 1969. Tricky.

We hope the customer didn't specify that it had to be a GWR chair as well.


Other good news were spotted at lunch time:

The chimney liners for our Usk building have arrived! When we build a chimney, we build a proper one.

After lunch, and with all the shuttering removed, disassembled and all the nails pulled back out, we started to back fill the space around the concrete slab.

Dave picked up big bucket loads of clay and soil from a pile further down the yard.

The first bucket load went into the corner. Neil watched over it as the bucket was emptied.

Then some down the side, and the next load went into the SW corner.

Rob, normally on the PWay side, helped us for the day and is leaning helpfully on a shovel here.

He was 2 hours late this morning, due to yet another road closure on the motorway.

More soil went into the southern side, once we had cleared the pile of concrete blocks put there last week to start off the first course.

All the blocks are now in the middle of the slab, and next week, weather permitting, we will put the first course on, after setting out the site.

Then it was the turn of the NE corner. Bit trickier here, as the Telehandler can't reach all of the way.

The whole site needs to come up a bit, to reach the tops of the platform wall blocks on the edge. When they are put in.

Mid afternoon Dinmore Manor brought more happy travellers from CRC. Those with shovels were pleased for the opportunity to stop and wave.

Finally the SW corner was filled in.

Having brought as much soil as he could, Dave drove the Telehandler as close to the foundation slab as possible, to compact the soil. This worked quite well.

The trip hazard of the open trench all round is now gone, and next week we can finally start building that Wendy House. Sorry, Usk weighbridge hut.

We finished the day in the Coffeepot, but not before consuming vast amounts of sugar from another one of Paul's little treats.

This time it was Liquorice Allsorts, and they are, sadly, very moreish.

Concrete day!

Monday at Broadway

A miserable start on Monday, not helped by a weather forecast which said that rain would peter out by 9am, which in practice meant it rained all morning and into lunch time. We were so cold up on the bridge that we called an early lunch, just to warm up with a hot cup of tea, and a huddle near the heater.

What are we up to then? The three Malvern side roof panels and associated steel supports are now painted in light and dark stone, so that end is done. That leaves two bare panels in the middle, John being occupied with the Cotswolds end.

In order to move the scaffold tower under the bare bit in the middle, we spent a welcome 10 mins moving the big pile of T&G into the corner, bottom LH corner in the picture. That warmed us up already!

This allowed the tower scaffold to be pushed into the middle, ready for a start on the next bit.

Poking the paintbrush in between the corrugated iron sheets disturbed the cluster flies hibernating there. Instead of flying off, they had a habit of simply dropping off, and one landed down the neck of yours truly. Argh!!!

Neal resumed work on the treads, having reached the top of the stairs. The next tread is a tricky one, as it fits into the corner which is full of nuts and bolts.

Neal spent quite some time sawing the first one to fit, which meant measuring and removing lots of little cutouts for each of the many bolts.






The previous day, Sunday, was a day on the cushions for Mr. and Mrs. Blogger. A little light browsing of the gift fair at the race course, and then the food fair at Toddington, was on the cards.

The idea was to take the train south from Broadway.  Arriving at the top of the drive, we were amazed to see the size of the queue outside the ticket office.

Mrs. Blogger, in her civvies but a card carrying BOC, leaped into the gap, and opened up the second window.

This took the pressure off the other BOC, and the queue quickly disappeared, so that we were nonetheless able to catch the intended train. Broadway counted a high 208 passengers on Sunday, and that without any coaches. The cafe was busy all day too.





Wednesday with the Usketeers.

What a strange start to the day! Heavy mist, swirling round the Cotswolds edge, and before you knew it, it was down on the B4632, you saw nothing, and the condensation misted over your windscreen. The temperature varied between 2 degrees C (frost warning!) and plus 7 degrees, depending on whether it was misty or not, within the same mile of road.

We had an early start at 8am, and this is the mist that was rolling down from the Cotswolds edge.

Thanks to our gallant supporter Mike in Wales, we started the day with a healthy supply of Bara Brith, ready buttered and with a jar of home made damson jam on top if you wanted! We certainly did.

All this washed down with thick builder's tea, who says we don't drink that any more?

The inscription in the box says 'Well done! The Usketeers' and while it was a little premature at 8am, by lunch time it was richly deserved - all the concrete was in.

Just as promised the hire firm came at 08.30 with the vibrator. While the railway does have a small vibrator, the hose on it is too short, so we had to resort to renting one to cover the full 25m2 area.

Also just as promised (why can't plumbers do this?) the concrete lorry arrived precisely on time at 9am.

Here it is reversing slowly through the zig-zag road of the Pway yard.

We worried and fretted a bit over the last few days whether the lorry would fit under the oak tree, but we worried for nothing. It fitted just fine, and it was soon on station.

'Now you all have to work very hard'. 'Whaaaat? I only came to look! Got my hands in my pockets, haven't I?'

Soon the concrete started to pour into the hole, which was strangely satisfying to observe.

Of course the chute had a limited reach, which was the cause of another fret from us, as we needed to bucket it around with the Telehandler, but our guys were all on holiday.

The middle was about as far as it would go.

Enter the vibrator... it was amazing how it liquefied the concrete, so that it poured itself into all the corners. Of course it causes all the air bubbles to rise to the surface too. We had thought of bringing rakes and shovels, but in practice the vibrator did it all for us.

This corner remained tantalisingly out of reach, until we managed to borrow Mike from C&M to pilot the Telehandler for us, which he did, expertly.

The first lorry filled just over half of the pit, so we had more Bara Brith and more tea for an hour or so, until the second load arrived. This filled the pit right up to the brim, so now it was a case of vibrating it into every corner and depression.

There was a small surplus - you always err on the side of caution when ordering - and this was poured into the back of the stop block.

It came in very useful there, consolidating the back of the return.

On the way back, we noticed that a visitor had left his calling card on one of the cross hatched edging bricks.
What do you think it was, a fox perhaps?

Also on site was the PWay team today, and two of them here were measuring up some second hand rail to replace a split one in the unloading road at Toddington.

Using two scaffolding planks nailed together last week, the top of the concrete was tamped and levelled.

The tamper made of planks had been decorated by a wag, and it seems that the Usk weighbridge hut is now known as the 'Wendy House'.

There seems to have been a change of plan too, as it looks as if we are now having a second storey and 4 windows. Note the oak tree to one side, just like the real thing. Have the council planners been told?

Just before lunch all the concrete was in, and levelled off.

You can see the Usketeers here in a huddle under the tree, enjoying the scent of victory. This was a long time coming, with a lot of ups and downs, but we got there!

We let the concrete settle down a bit while we chewed our sarnies, and more Bara Brith.

After lunch Jules took a trowel and gave the edge a beautifully smooth finish all the way round.

The building itself will be located about 20cm back on two sides, and about 10cm back on the other two. However, this edge will probably be buried, so we may not see Jules' work.

At the end of the day the foundations were ready for blocks, so we fetched a supply of them and stacked them to dry under some spot boards.

We will need to wait 2 weeks before starting a first course of these blocks, on top of which will go the damp course. The stones we have recovered start from above that.

Next week we will be breaking out the shuttering.

At the end of the day the Pway group also came back from their job, this time at CRC.

When you are weary after a day's work, you get wearier still because you have all the heavy tools to put back.

See the crack? It's at the top.

The track walkers reported a broken FB fishplate at CRC.

Peter here led a team out there to replace the set, once they had worked out where exactly the break was.

As is traditional, both Usketeers and PWay gang met at the Coffeepot for a sit down, tea and a chat.

We were delighted to receive the visit of Rick and his Lagonda. Remember Lucky the Dalmatian while we were building Hayles Abbey halt? Rick is his owner, although Lucky unfortunately fell ill and subsequently died, so there is now a new Dalmatian in the family, Jester.

We had the tea together, then went outside to admire the Lagonda again.

A peep under the bonnet

The car has a 4 cyl engine, with twin overhead camshafts, very advanced for its period. An enormous brass car horn can also just be glimpsed.

The dashboard has a lovely set of switches and dials, all set into a wood veneer panel. Notice the gear lever - it's on the side, not in the middle.

The radiator cap is crowned by a lovely brass ringed thermometer, or 'Calormeter' as per inscription. The little segment of gears drives a needle according to the temperature of the water, ranging from FREEZING to COOL to NORMAL and then to BOILING.

The car was admired by Usketeer Jim, the Winchcombe stationmaster, and by Clive from the PWay.

We can talk vintage cars for hours...