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.