Steaming into the sunset

Monday at Broadway.

Cold, sunny, but damp. It made painting difficult, but we had an extended tea drinking session in a (only slightly warmer) mess hut and when we ventured outside again, the sun was starting to shine into our cutting and beginning to dry things out.

Neal has completed the tops and bottoms on the platform side, and has now started on the cross timbers.

These have a partial chamfer down the corners, which means extra work with the router.

The chamfer he put in on this timber can be seen in the foreground, as Neal is bombarded with sawdust from the busy little machine.

When the two pieces in which he was working are put together, you get this cross. Look carefully, and you can see the chamfers along the edges.

It all has to come down again of course, and be further treated and painted, before final assembly can be envisaged.

Having done the cross on the intermediate landing, Neal fitted the top bar along the next downhill bit, so that he could work out the correct position for the next cross timber.

And here he is, fitting that same timber. It was in and out quite a bit, being sawn, then planed, there are so many angles involved and mass production is not an option. How on earth the GWR assembled several footbridges like this we could not imagine.

We can only guess that the answer was cheap labour.

Here the diagonal one is in, and now the horizontal one is being marked with a pencil for cutting in the middle.

Elsewhere, John was (re-) painting the steels and woodwork for the temporary extension to the roof of the steps. The two steels are in the rear. This was the stuff that was so cold and damp first thing, but after trying to warm it by an ineffective heater in the cabin, we finally took it outside and let it dry in the sun.

Yours truly was on the brackets for the hand rails. These were saved from HIA, but some are badly rusted and we really need 4 more. The good ones were shotblasted and zinc coated, and today received a first undercoat in dark stone.

They look like a little army of soldiers here....

Trains were running of course, and this is a good time of year for a). plenty of steam in the cold air, and b). the chance for a glint shot in the low sun.

This is the steamy shot. 9466 was out to play, but failed later in the day and did not come back, making this shot a bit unusual.

That glint shot was a gleam in the eye when we built this platform 2, and the thought germinated that the combination of a low sun and a late afternoon train could result in a fine glint if one stood on Platform 2. As the year progressed, the sun stayed resolutely high in the sky while trains were running to Broadway, and it slowly became clear that the only possible opportunity would arise during the very limited post Christmas runs, if - if - it was a sunny day and the train arrived or left at just the right moment (and not a few minutes earlier or later)

This one below is pretty much the desired effect, except that Dinmore arrived a tad early. The plus side is that after drifting past the Caravan Club the driver opened her up for a few seconds.

The result was a fine plume of steam, with a touch of orange at the bottom. Just so.

The footplate crew seemed relaxed, and we crossed our fingers that they would linger a bit, and let the sun go down a bit more.

Go on, wait just a few more minutes....

Eventually they moved off, and the sun had reached that magic point, where it was setting just on the Malvern side of the station.

There it goes, steaming into the sunset.

The only thing that spoiled it was the roar of the traffic under the bridge. A day later we took this video, in which the train left just a little earlier, making the sun that bit brighter, and higher in the sky:

https://youtu.be/czCvkB2B0hc

The trains were busy too, which was good. Anecdotal evidence from the car park, booking office and Auntie Wainwright's bric-a-brac shop and lots of people waiting on the platforms suggested good financial results this week.



Toddington yard.

In other good news the six sided lanterns for the two yard lamps placed in the loco yard behind the shed have now been mounted:

The former Dumbleton lamp post with new top, and new ladder bar, ladder and platform.

The second yard lamp post, slightly shorter, but with its original platform.

The second yard lamp, with Dinmore Manor arriving.

We have yet to take a photograph of the lamps at night. They have certainly been in use, and are said to be quite bright, thanks to the group of 6 gas look-alike LED bulbs in them.

No work on New Year's day, so here's a last picture of 2019 at Broadway. The last train has gone, one last tidy up, then it's looking forward to 2020 and see what exciting things the new year brings.