Back to 100%

There's not a lot you can do about a flu virus, except sweat it out. It's grim, but it's a steady process, and you do come out of the tunnel at the other end.

So, back to work today. Or actually yesterday, as there was a half day painting session on the footbridge.

There's an awful lot of carpentry around now, and John had a picture on his phone of a test fitting of an entire side to show on this first day back. However, no work was done on Monday and it was felt a catch up session on painting was required, which is what we did. Neal turns out to be faster than the painters, who have to repeat each coat laboriously, with many coats of preservative preceding.

Tuesday afternoon saw a visit to the foundry, to place an order for 4 more of these cast iron finials. They fit on top of a cast iron tube, 5'' in diameter.

Two are for Broadway for the P2 modesty screen, and the other two are for P1 at Winchcombe, where the running in board has none.






No one else has come forward to join us in this order, so we are making 4, right?

Meanwhile, back in the little workshop progress is good on the two 'WAY OUT boards.

The boards are now structurally complete and almost fully painted, with just an extra coat of white to go. Then we attach the letters, and that lovely Edwardian pointing hand.

The bigger board has the extra text about going over the footbridge, double sided in both cases of course.







Wednesday on the goods platform.

We met for tea and doughnuts, exceptionally in the rather cosy mess room of the C&M team. They've even got swivel chairs in there!

Someone must have stolen it, it's gone!

We couldn't meet in the mess coach as usual, as it has been taken up to the viaduct site in support of the track relaying team. It'll be up there for a couple of weeks.

We were soon back out in the fresh air, and under a lovely winter sun. Ideal weather for laying bricks, and today we really took a swing at it, working almost non stop until dusk.

The team was a man down last week, and progress was only modest, we heard. This is where we started from this morning, with a fair few bricks laid in the middle, some at the far end, very little at the stop block end.

Jules and Dave took on the northern end, and built up from the first 4 rows there.

You can see from the dark colour of the mortar where they are working here, and during the day this end of the platform wall was raised from row four to row 7, out of 11 in total.

Paul, freed from his duties in the distant mess coach, started at the stop block end, laying some brilliant bricks in an awkward corner.

Next to looking after Maxie our mixer, yours truly, helped by John, shuttled to and fro from the brick pallets on the other side of the yard with more supplies of blues, which seemed to have run out completely at the coal face. Finding a serviceable wheelbarrow was no sinecure. This barrow above had a firm tyre but once loaded with 20 bricks it proved to be an illusion as there was no air in the tyre at all, and that made it almost impossible to push.

A passing volunteer took pity on us and produced a footpump. The tyre was duly inflated, it held the pressure, and the wheeling effort was transformed! Brilliant.

We soon had a nice pile of blues rising on top of the platform, which the brick layers only had to grab to lay below.

The blues we are using are all ex-Avonmouth, where we retrieved them in a heroic rescue mission a few years back now from the former turntable pit there.

Several lorries turned up today with bits of paper showing that a load of ballast was required for 'Station Drive'. Well, that was here OK, but the contractor on the Isbourne had relocated to a new job up by the road bridge.

It turned out that the stone was actually required for this temporary haul road that is being built. The road is required to give the contractor access to the site of the Winchcombe slip, which is located at the rear of the new houses recently built here (with cream coloured gables).

More information about this can be read on the drainage blog. (several episodes)

The site of the slip is in the cleared area of cutting, more or less above the signal post in the picture.

Back at the goods platform the lads had gone for their sandwich lunch and left a lovely straight piece of wall built, here 7 courses high now. More than half way now.

Paul commanded them (!) to commence work on the southern end, where the brickwork was only 1 - 2 courses high. In the sun the effective temperature was high, and we see Paul taking off his jacket here, what a sign of spring. Jules has already done so, folding it neatly on top of the platform.

Mid afternoon everybody was working on the stop block end, and here too the courses were raised to at least the half way mark - 7 courses high at the far end, and 6 courses high at the near end today. We were well chuffed.

And then there was a roar, and this lovely Hercules slowly turned towards the Cotswolds above our heads. We must be on some sort of a military route here, as we often see aircraft doing the same curve, one way or the other.

The last picture of the day, taken as the light started to fade, shows the brick laying gang pointing up their work. There is now a solid wall 6 and 7 courses high all the way along.

As there is still a risk of freezing overnight at the moment, we will continue with the wall, until we are sure that lime mortar can safely be used on the stone of the Usk hut.

Tomorrow there is a talk in the Longford Village hall (near Gloucester, GL2 9EL) at 13.30 on the Vale of Berkeley railway, so that is a bit of a busman's holiday and should be interesting.

Friday back at Broadway, see you then.




Post Scriptum

A hot off the press picture from John Mayell, showing progress on Stanway viaduct with relaying the track.

A team of 8 was busy clipping up, as can be seen here, and even laid a further panel in addition to the 4 1/2 laid on Saturday.

We are now half way across.