Asset retrieval from.....

Saturday with the Transits.

Now that we have nearly completed the asset removal exercise, we feel more comfortable in talking about it - there's just one more load to go.

The station we visited was Swanbourne. It's a stop on the former Varsity line from Oxford to Cambridge, which was closed and partially lifted. It is now to be reinstated, and stage 1, from Oxford to Bicester, is up and running. Swanbourne is a rural station on stage 2 of the project, from Bicester to Bletchley.

 

 

Swanbourne village is about 2 miles from its station, so it is not proposed to reinstate the stop here.

 

The buildings in the picture, the stationmaster's house and wooden booking office in front, will be demolished. 

 

 

Here is our Transit on a test run.

It has taken us a long time to secure formal permission to work here, and part of that process was to work out how we would do the job and how easy / difficult it would be.

What we were after are these special bricks, blue bull-nosed and diamond cut edging bricks. 

 

We need about 250 of them to complete the Usk goods platform at Winchcombe. Although we have a few in stock, and we knew the sources of a few more, what we didn't have was one source of the same type of brick to cover the whole requirement. The are not all the same size and shape!

Eventually we came to an agreement with the people rebuilding the line, as the re-use of some 12 tons of material that would otherwise be crushed or go to landfill helped to meet their goals of reducing the environmental impact. There are indeed 800 of these bricks, and each weighs 15 kilos. 

 

Here is the trackbed at Swanbourne, seen during one of the earlier exploratory visits. One track is still down, but cut off at the far end. The bricks in question are all along the edge here, on both sides.

 The length of platform nearest to the building has these stone blocks along the edge. It looks like these are the original edging stones, and that the platform was later lengthened.

These natural stones are 50cm in length, and 25cm x 25cm in section. There are 100 of them. As far as we know they are going to landfill, so if anybody can re-use them, we could provide the contact that we know. 

 

 

 

Rails now lifted...

Our test day involved  knocking off bricks to see how easy it was, and how long it took. Some were very easy, and could be tipped back by hand, while others were sheer murder as bedded on very strong cement.

The little bolster in the picture is wedged under a pair and nothing was moving despite a real pounding with the lump hammer. If they are all like that, we have a problem. Then Roger came along a few yards further on and just tipped over a whole stretch without any tools at all...

Phew!

Our first actual removal day was a hot one - remember that hot spell a few weeks back? 60Kg in a wheelbarrow with a squeaky wheel over bumpy ballast was about as much as we could manage in one go. Wait ! Is that really 200 wheelbarrow loads? Arghhhhhhhh!

We started at the eastern end of the site, and worked back towards the station building, where the only possible access was located.

Our idea of royally arriving up the trackbed in our Transits was crushed when Heras fencing was put up and they started digging a deep trench to re-route a gas pipe.

Hence the wheelbarrows.

More Heras fencing arrived at the front, this place was getting ready for action. 

We managed to borrow a second Transit, and recruit two more helpers, so managed to gear things up.

 

It didn't help that the road leading to the station was then closed completely, and we had to beg to be admitted each time. These little things are sent to test us, but we got there. 

 

 

Here's the gang taking a rest in the shade, with the wooden ticket office and brick built stationmaster's house visible behind. Note how close the wooden building is to the platform edge.

Dramatis personnae: Roger, Bob, Dave, John and Jim. Austin helped on day 1, but found the drive from the Birmingham area somewhat arduous, so he was excused.

One morning we found this impressive stack of bricks, ready to load, on our arrival from Winchcombe.

Roger and Jim live rather more locally and spent the time we were on the road piling the bricks high on the platform edge

 

Then, all we had to do was to walk them over to the vans, which were parked on the other side of the platform, and somewhat lower down.

It's an odd arrangement at Swanbourne. It's a fairly early station, opened in 1851.

Jim is standing on an old rodding tunnel, which was covered in natural stone slabs.

Last Saturday was rather damper and we cleared the pile, leaving just a few on the trackbed for one last trip, most likely in 10 days.

This is what a full Transit looks like - just the one layer. Knowing that a reclaimed imperial blue can cost you £1 from a reclamation yard, you can get a pretty good idea of the value of 800 of these giant blues for the platform edges.

They all need the old mortar chipping off though, that's another long job.

 

 

 

Someone has already made a start, but who is this masked mortar chipper?

We have no idea.

So far we have done 7 out of the required 8 Transit trips, so there's one more to go. The first 300 odd bricks were stacked inside the Usk hut perimeter, as they will be used here along the platform edge on the right, including round the stop block at the end.

When we have done that we can make a start on the building itself.

The other 500 bricks will go into our strategic store, and would be perfect to go round the future turntable pit. That will need between 400 and 500 of these bricks, so the numbers are just right.

 

 

We left behind the little booking office, all locked up and with a hole in the roof.

We did not manage to look inside, but someone else did a couple of years ago, and he made this video:

https://youtu.be/7hBZocMzAVk

Wednesday

First time back on the Usk project! At last. But there were just 3 of us, three others being detained for various medical reasons.

The PWay gang on the other hand had a good turnout, and can be seen here in a 'socially distanced' briefing in the car park.

The circle was so big that it hindered the incoming traffic! Various hold ups ensued, as if people hadn't had enough on the A46.

Project leader Dave made it in though, and it was good to see some bricks going down again. We've got two courses left to do on the platform, then all the edging bricks to place, so a start on the actual building this year looks a bit unlikely, after the 6 month hiatus we've had.

We received a visit from Dave and Alan out of Churchward house, and they made good use of the nearly finished new platform to wave at the first train today.

The trains were well filled today, although we heard that there is still quite a bit of room for the bank holiday weekend.

After making up a barrow of mortar for Dave to lay the bricks, yours truly joined John here to start work on cleaning the 300 edging bricks that we have dropped off on the Usk hut pad.

 

 

It was  quite peaceful, plugging away at the mortar all day. It came off quite well, and it was nice to be able to stack them without the stack going wobbly because they were now clean. The clean ones are stacked bottom right on the picture.

Dave could only do half a day - domestic arrangements overruling any extension - so we plugged away for the rest of the afternoon, interrupted only by the second service arriving from Toddington. Again, that was well frequented, although once again little demand seemed to be made on the offer of catering supplies being delivered to your seat directly from the Coffeepot. Strange.

Dinmore Manor was doing the honours today, a 6 coach train being a fine piece of work for her.

Then it was back to work on the edging blocks. Mortar needs to be removed from two sides and most of the bottom (some were not very well mortared down at Swanbourne and came away easily, while others were stuck down so hard the block stripped the top off the underlying brick, rather than give up its hold on the mortar.)

This is a typical brick which needed cleaning.

We made ourselves little 4ft high platforms on which to work without bending over. After doing this for an hour or two, it caused us to respect the work done at Broadway where every one of 10.000s of bricks in the platform were cleaned individually by the stalwart few.

Here's an end of the day shot of John, looking pleased with himself after counting all the bricks we had cleaned - there were 40 of them. He's sitting on the pile of clean ones. More next week.

Finally at the end of the afternoon Dinmore Manor came by again from Cheltenham, on its last journey back for the day. Then Winchcombe fell silent, except for the bell signals with which the signalman closed down his box for the day. Ting Ting.....

 

 

Neal's father

Some of you might have read between the lines that Neal came a little less often to Broadway these last few months. This was because he spent more and more time looking after his father, who was frail and increasingly unable to take care of himself. Neal would arrive late, or go home early to cook, and some days he couldn't make it to Broadway at all. Father and son shared their house for a lifetime, and after Neal's mother died a few years back, son looked after father as best as he could.

Now Neal's father Barlow has died. He passed away on August 6th and the funeral was yesterday. Barlow made it to the respectable age of 97 and was the doyen of his village. Apart from military service he never left the place of his birth.

Barlow Cooper, 1922 - 2020.

The only departure from home ground was during military service, when he was sent overseas to Capetown, India, Iraq (Basra and Baghdad), Jordan and finally to the island of Sicily. Most of his duties were as a motorcycle dispatch rider. On his return to the UK he had a bad prang and spent a lot of time in hospitals and convalescent homes, finishing the war on lighter duties on firing ranges in Wales.

After his demob, Barlow worked for a local building firm, before becoming a railwayman at Honeybourne, where he worked as a shunter in the 1950s. He then qualified as a signalman, and worked the boxes at Honeybourne Loop, Long Marston, Milcote and Chipping Campden, all local stations now long closed.

In his latter days he was a caretaker in his local school, and after retirement he made bird feeders which he sold from his front gate, a figure at the roadside fondly remembered by the local villagers.

Barlow Cooper, 

1922 - 2020

Rest in Peace.

Beware of what you wish for!

Saturday retrieval

On Saturday we were off again on another jolly with two Transits to our mystery location. With a mystery cargo, can't say what it is until we have completed the job. Another trip is planned this Saturday. Then maybe a last one the week after that.

On the return trip we passed the Toddington entrance, and our intentions are clear to the public:

We are open !

So welcome back, and do pay us a visit. Saturday was a sell out, but visibility over the next days is not so clear as people are leaving the booking until the last minute. That also makes it hard to plan train capacity.

Back at Winchcombe we saw the first commercial train after the lockdown, and it felt as if things were back to normal. The bell rang, the train came, the signalman exchanged the token...

Foremarke Hall was on duty with 5 compartment coaches, and one open. We were pleased to see people behind every window, and all compartments had clearly been taken up, one even by a sole traveller.

At Broadway a small group of spectators was milling about outside the station, but the gates were shut as the train can only be boarded at Toddington. One car screeched to a stop to take a picture of the Hall crossing the bridge, it was business as usual...

Passing Toddington yard on an errand, we saw this set of wheels being worked on behind its own little enclosure.

It's the wheels of 2874, just come back from being re-tired. Steady progress there, on 2874.

The two period lamps on the goods shed office, recently fitted in place of two modern ones, have been further improved with the removal of the third modern one over the door. It turns out that the two period lamps give out enough light to cover the whole area quite adequately.

 

 

Hayles Abbey halt

It's had some tlc. Until the day before it was like a jungle out there, with uncontrolled grass growth and weeds.

After a first pass with the strimmer.

Martin at work with the strimmer

 

The bank is clear again.

Although trains do not stop here at the moment people do look out of the window, and we want to show that we care about the place.

At Broadway on Monday

The former Paxford bench was taken out into the sun for further scraping. It's a bit dark in the container to do the finer bits of paint removal. The old paint is very tough, and gums up the sandpaper, but it's almost all off now.

Underneath the bench wasn't painted, and you could clearly see evidence of the previous owner - see the stamp above the coffee cup.

There's been a slow but steady delivery of spearhead fence panels from our production line in a container. They are intended for P2. We make these ourselves out of component parts you can buy direct, which is cheaper than the finished product off the shelf.

Another two panels were walked up to the signal box. About 25 are being made.

Terry, one of the Broadway stalwarts, gave us this 1936 Bradshaw's map of UK railway lines. The sole advertiser on the leaflet was BUMSTED's, who sold salt. What a lovely name, Bumsted. And we like the idea that you can put their salt on your food, in your bath, or if you really have no better use for it, you can throw it in the garden. That seems to cover all the options.

Take a look at the above extract from it. It's a list of recently closed lines. In 1936! Under the 'B' you will find Barnstaple - Lynton, and of course that is true, as the L&B closed in 1935. You may be able to increase the size of the picture by clicking on it for more detail. Notice also Whitstable to Canterbury, (locomotive Invicta), Alton to Bastingstoke (Oh Mr. Porter), Sandgate to Hythe (that long ago?), Machynlleth to Corris, Welshpool to Llanfair Caereinion, and Quainton Road to Brill. All closed by 1936 already.

 

 

----------------------------------------**************--------------------------

You may recall that we have commissioned a replica GWR stationmaster's hat, to show what it was like and what can be done. It has at last arrived, after some difficulties in sourcing the specialist decorations, which were finally made by a company by appointment to the Royal House:

Isn't it fabulous! Gold braid all around, a little beehive decoration on top, and the pre-1935 GWR emblem. Just about visible is a hatband of black lace oak leaves. When a GWR stationmaster wore one of these, you knew he was a person of some importance.

Today, all that is available to our stationmasters is a generic, BR type cap. We have commissioned this to show what a GWR stationmaster really wore, and what is achievable. It's undeniably expensive, so we clubbed together with one of the stationmasters, who will be the actual wearer. That may be the way forward if other people would like one - a user and a sponsor. Further details of the source are available on request.

(breva2011 at Hotmail.co.uk)

Wednesday out along the line

Gee, it's been so hot, wish we had some rain! Well, we got that today, in stair rods, all day long.

 

We're not allowed to meet in the mess coach, and it's no use standing around in the rain waiting for others to arrive, so we moved over to the station canopy until our group was big enough for a briefing. As we waited the doors of the Coffeepot opened and even though they said 'No Entry' we were able to secure 11 coffees from the catering staff, who smiled kindly upon our damp and miserable condition.

Seeing that a large bunch of us were assembled in one place, Steve from the loco dept took the opportunity to test a number of us who were interested in a future role as lookout. 'Tommy' played pinball while deaf, dumb and blind, but lookouts, annoyingly, have to be able to see and hear to a certain minimum, so flags and arms were waved at us from a distance.

Then the first down train rumbled in, headed by Foremarke Hall. You can see how much it rained by the stripe across the end of the tender. That was a raindrop passing before the lens of the camera.

In the picture the catering staff have come out of the cafe and are ready to load onto the train the picnic packages that passengers have ordered. There were only about 5 of these for this train - is this because people didn't want one, or because they didn't know about them?

The fireman stepped on to the platform in an enormous greatcoat, which was all wet down one side only. Hope the passengers realise the effort the footplate crew are putting in to keep the wheels moving.

Here is Foremarke Hall just moving off again, in the direction of the tunnel. Smoke and steam, just like in winter!

After the train had left, class 37 D6948 appeared out of the gloom.

The signalman came down from the box and, rather than just hand over a token, asked the crew to stop.

 

 

Words were exchanged, then the big diesel reversed into the C&W yard.

Here it waited with the second 'COVID' rake of 6. It is believed to be a test train that went to CRC, as it was not spotted at Broadway during the day.

As there seemed little hope of the rain abating, we threw some tools in the back of the Landie and headed out to Laverton.

Here we re-ballasted the outside of the footpath crossing. The ballast had dissipated a bit, leaving a trip hazzard for walkers.

All sorted now, after some energetic shovelling.

A second crossing nearer Little Buckland was also on our list, but this was about a mile further up the track in driving rain along an open embankment.

Enthusiasm waned rapidly, and we decided to call it a day.

At least we got to see Foremarke Hall again, this time as it approached Laverton bridge. This was the site of a run round loop at Laverton halt before we started the final part of the Broadway extension in 2015, but you'd never know it. It's quite overgrown now.

The full story of the Broadway extension, as seen by PWay stalwart John Lees, can be seen in his photographs, which we have put on line here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/73536293@N02/albums/72157714804883022

With these last few photographs of early 2018 we have now posted on the Flickr site all of the photographs John took during a 37 year career with the GWSR.

The Flickr site therefore carries the only photographic record of the building of the GWSR (as far as we know). We have no museum, nor publicly available archive of the Honeybourne line, and its successor, the GWSR.

The Flickr site now has to be paid for, and while we don't mind doing that, it does mean that when yours truly steps in front of a bus, payment will cease and the archive will be lost.

Out on the track, and a new look over the fence.

 Saturday on the PWay.

It was hot, and we were outdoors most of the day, without shelter. But it's part of our routine, so we slap on the sun lotion, cover up and think of rainy November days.

Saturday was the first of the ghost trains, trial runs to see how our new COVID arrangements would work - only two round trips a day, mostly compartment stock, social distancing, some limited catering. They went well, we understand, so August 15th we are off, trains will rumble by again.

 

Saturday we were out along the line checking up on various aspects brought to light by our track walkers, prior to the resumption of the trains.

Here we are on the bridge at Little Buckland, where we came to fit a set of blind fishplates to a weld that we considered unsatisfactory.

 

 

 

 

 

   Steve can be seen with one pair of plates fitted over the weld on the left, and on the right he is doing up the other set. In the background Nick seems to be having his laces done up with a spanner.

That should stop them coming undone ! 

 

Next we went to Stanton yard to have a look at the Broadway extension southern breather, as it needs to be in tip top condition with this heat we've got at the moment.

Great was our surprise when we found that someone had wrenched the gatepost off. It was bent in half at ground level, by what appeared to be a big vehicle, coming from the inside. Mystery. Can anyone clarify this?

 

 

 

After giving the breather a liberal does of PWay grease, we skipped the planned replacement of an end post at Toddington (too hot to undo the insulated fishplate in question) and went to Winchcombe to check up on a number of small issues reported by the track walkers.

Here we were able to enjoy the sight of the first post-lockdown train passing through. It was Dinmore Manor, with 6 on (instead of the usual 8) and filled with volunteer 'test dummies'. They did not stop, slowing only to pick up the next section token.

 

Numerous catering volunteers sat under the station canopy enjoying the breeze (they were there to practice loading the refreshments ordered by passengers) and we availed ourselves of a Peppermint Magnum, which went down extremely well. We recommend!

Then it was on to join the gang, which was at the southern loop turnout, in the distance on this picture extra social distancing chairs were in evidence.

 

 

 

 

This southern turnout is motor operated, and as we wanted to inspect both blades we phoned the signalman to ask him to move them from one side to the other, remotely.

That was a bit spooky, as we sat and waited - see Steve in the picture- and then suddenly it whirred into action.

 

 

 

 

 

Inspection of the blades complete, we headed back to the station to eat our sandwiches in the shade.

After a jolly cold collation we headed off for Bishops Cleeve, that station that isn't a station any more.

We parked by the nursery (formerly the British legion, before that the goods yard) and then walked south to two Hedges Bridge, where we inspected and greased the southern breather of the CWR that goes through the former station area.

 

Here we came across several regrettable instances of casual vandalism and littering.

Because we have a virus crisis, the litter now includes face masks....

 

... empty plastic bottles tossed into the trackbed by the foot crossing...

.... a telephone handset, and (not photographed), an almost new set of trainers. What were they doing there?

Also not photographed, the indestructible wetwipes people are flushing down the toilet these days. And, reported by a colleague, the pedestrian crossing gates first vandalised twice in succession, then blocked open with cable ties.

What's going on at Bishops Cleeve?

Then we walked the half mile north to the other end of the CWR, to check and grease the northern breather.

By now the second down trip from Toddington was getting nearer, so job done we walked back to the cars to await the train.

These trains have been so rare over the last 5 months that even a tender first photograph is worth the while. Nick took a film of the train passing, and collected a wave from the fireman.

The high, dark pines in the background mark the actual site of the station buildings, knocked down in the early 1960s.

After that we called it a day, on this very hot day. We decided to treat ourselves to a cold drink outside the local Goughs brewery, where they had installed a little terrace and a bar, no doubt with a supply pipe leading straight back into the building...

After tidying up the tools, we had the chance for one more shot of Dinmore Manor, this time near the end of its second journey, here passing through Winchcombe again.

Reports are that everything went swimmingly, so now we need those trains filled as much as is allowed, for us to glean a small profit. We need you! So do come and book, electronically through our website.

See ya !

A look over the fence - Statfold Barn railway

An invitation to an enthusiasts' day tempted two of us to visit this remarkable little railway centre, which is actually on a working farm, near Tamworth. It's a private affair, open from time to time, so keep your eye on events if you would like to visit. We paid £13 for a day of unlimited free rides and a cup of tea in their cafe. More food is in the form of burger vans by the main entrance.

We put the postcode into the SatNav but that took us, from Broadway, on a slow crawl through Tamworth, and it's better if you go via the M42, overshoot a bit and come off at Appleby Magna, then go back down the B5493 to the SBR for 5 miles.

As you come in, this is what you see straight away - three platforms busy with NG trains (one is almost hidden by bushes on the left). Who could imagine that this is a farm? It's actually a seeds business manufacturing extracted oil, so one side of the site is devoted to pure commercial stuff, while the other side is devoted to the railway, and a long, newly laid railway line goes off across the fields and almost out of sight. It must be over a mile long, and who can say that they have that in their garden!

There were at least 4 if not 5 trains in operation, most topped and tailed or double headed. One was a pure freight train, just for fun. A double decker tram also had its own line, but when we tried to board it we were told it had gone back to its shed 'for lunch' and we took this to mean recharging its batteries, as there is no overhead wire. The people we met were very friendly.

The gauge is basically 2ft, but to meet the needs of the vast collection of NG locos there are several other gauges in evidence, which leads to interesting pieces of track, such as this one, leading away from one of the loco sheds.

There is also the biggest collection of cast iron signs we have ever seen, mostly in the main exhibition shed, but also on various walls such as here. 

All the older looking outhouses seems to be replica new builds, done in period style and incorporating various bits of architectural salvage. Very well done.

SRAGI No.1 from Java

Many of the engines are from sugar railways, so you get not only a large variety of manufacturers, but also of interesting wheel arrangements. Almost all were immaculate and indeed in working condition. Sragi No.1 was not working on our day, but the firebox was still warm from recent use.

We are dyed in the wool GWR enthusiasts, but the SBR site is fascinating if only for its engineering aspects, with many things we had never seen before. It's well worth a visit.

In the middle of the site is the (private!) farmhouse, with a back garden that leads down to a lake. This lake (of course) had a 2ft gauge railway right round it, and you could ride on it, or take a charming picture of it from various viewpoints:

The motive power here is a little Kerr Stuart saddletank, which has its own little engine house, complete with '1895' date stone over the arch.

The whole site has an air of quality about it. Everything works well and is thoughtfully executed.

The little Kerr Stuart had an interesting motion, which you don't see very often. It is round in section, instead of rectangular. And why not?

Shortly after the three platforms a viewing area has been created, which gives a great place to watch the comings and goings, which are very frequent, and signalled too!

Here's ALPHA, a little 1922 Hudswell with special SBR stock. The signal gantry is larger than anything we've got on the GWSR.

Coming back out is a double header with JACK LANE and WENDY, a donation of 2019 and already in service.

The signal box is a little gem, very busy and with its own little locking room down some steps. That makes sure that it is more in scale with 2ft gauge.

One of the stars was the Garratt of course. There are more engines running than trains, so every now and then there is a swap and the retiree goes and takes water by the viewing platform. K1 was just joining the service trains again.

A Garratt? This we have to see. So we made this train the one we were going to take to the end of the line across the fields, where there is a balloon loop. We're just off in this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are in the rear of the Garratt hauled train at the balloon, just about to be overtaken by a saddletank whose name we couldn't read, and which had a humungous whistle.

The red tent is for a signalman, who coordinated the very busy arrivals and departures at this location, where there could be three trains at once.

 

After the train in the previous picture overtook us, we followed on round the tight curves, safe in the knowledge that every vehicle was on bogies.

On the way back we stopped half way along at Oak Tree Halt, which is the entrance to the cafe, shop and exhibition hall with turntable.

The pointwork is interesting again. This is also the stop for the shuttle tram (when it's not 'having its lunch')

 

This is the first of two large indoor areas. It's the shop and cafe area, with a viewing gallery linking it to a workshop that you can also see (see below).

Under COVID arrangements you sit at very large tables, 2m apart, even seated. You are asked to wear a mask indoors and on the train, but you can take it off when eating here.

Yours truly availed himself of an overly crumbly lemon tartlet, which immediately went the wrong way down the throat.

 

The resulting coughing fit, quite impossible to suppress, caused some rather worried faces all round. We might have said: I have a bomb! It was the same effect....

 

Here is the view of the adjoining hall from the viewing gallery

Everything is very neat; it looks as if you could eat off that floor.

To think that we walked in the ballast in the David Page shed for 20 years at Toddington, until we received a kind legacy to pay for a floor.

If you want to see the exhibition shed (or roundhouse as they call it, although the Barn in Statfold Barn was a better description) you pass by this amazing exhibition piece, high up under the ceiling.

It's PAKIS BAKU No.1, a 120 year old O&K well tank which is in working order, but not going to run anytime soon from up there. It's parked on a wagon chassis. You can still see the brake reservoir.

Finally you get to the main hall, which, despite the fact that during this enthusiasts' day many engines were out and running, is packed with interesting, mainly 2ft gauge locos from all over the world. It's fascinating stuff. Again there is a viewing gallery, and in the middle there is a home made turntable which is in regular use. Among interesting items that we saw, not always easy to photograph well, were a WW2 searchlight on a NG wagon, a 'Galloping Goose' half bus, half truck on 2ft bogies, two steam engines converted to electric propulsion, and an 'as found' WW1 Baldwin on a truck.

 

 

JATIBARANG No. 9

 This 1930s Mallet, erected by Jung from 'Jungenthal bei Kirchen an der Sieg' (who needs a postcode when the whole address is on the worksplate) was so beautifully painted it was almost good enough to eat. It was operational too, but not today. It was formerly on a sugar mill in Indonesia.

This Peckett inspired us too, with its long, lowslung outline. It was built fairly recently in 1944 for Harrogate gasworks and is, like so many others, an operational loco.

Going back to the centre we found a number of engineering workshops, and these have become a useful revenue earning sideline for the complex. It's becoming a centre of expertise.

The range of services include boilerwork, as can be seen from these outer firebox sides on this 1931 example, with another one being worked on behind the hook at the back.

Another workshop, not open due to COVID circulation issues, was full of metalworking machines, and outside that we came across a pair of very large con rods, much too big to fit anything on site. These turned out to be a new set for the Patriot project, at the SBR for some additional work. Who'd have guessed!

 

An item of personal interest was this anonymous standard gauge industrial 0-6-0. It's on temporary bogies here, off the turntable by the main gate.

HASTINGS after

 

This is a 1888 built Hunslet, which was bought by the K&ESR, life expired, in 1964 and was thus one of the first locos they ever had. Originally named LIVERPOOL, it last carried the name HASTINGS on the K&ESR. According to the notice it was fired up once in 1965 to half boiler pressure, but what they saw was so worrying that they never used it again.

It has now been bought by a K&ESR supporter, and after extensive boiler work is not far from running again, finally, after all these years.

 

 

From your blogger's personal collection is this picture of HASTINGS below:

HASTINGS before.

It shows HASTINGS in the late 1960s at Tenterden, after repainting in the then K&ESR house colours and after its aborted steaming. Parked at the buffer stop end of the siding, it already looks as if the next steaming date is some way in the future.

In front of the engineering works was this interesting vehicle, belonging to an employee to whom we spoke. It's a 406 series Unimog, once an aircraft towing unit and as such fitted with a double cab. It is due to be paired with a beautiful showman's caravan, which can just be glimpsed behind. Thanks to the double cab, the whole family can be accommodated in front.

A parting shot before we go, here is CLOISTER and SYBIL MARY just setting off with a freight train. It earns no revenue, it's just for fun.

Wonderful.

The signal is 'off' too, you can see the box in the distance.

By the main gate our attention was drawn as we left by this interesting lorry (the railway also runs road and rail events).

This is a barn find that was in pretty ruinous state, as the brand new cab can witness. It' a 1920s Godfredson with solid tyres, made in the US.

What struck us particularly was, like the modern tipper trucks we receive with stone from the local quarries, you can open the rear door remotely from the cab with the green lever in the picture.

 

What must have been quite an innovation at the time was the tipper mechanism in the centre of the picture. It is unlike anything we see today. The hydraulic cylinder points up, and as it expands it drags the leading edge of the bed with it via a cable over a pair of rollers. How much simpler is today's ram underneath the bed! 

 

 

 

All in all a very impressive collection, with great touches of quality throughout. We enjoyed ourselves, and were sorry we didn't invite our ladyfolk. Next time better!

If you want to know when they are open again, here is a list of events:

https://statfoldbarnrailway.co.uk/events/

Other business

Another batch of John Lees' PWay and Broadway extension pictures has been published on the Flickr site. This is the link if you would like to look through them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/73536293@N02/50087065921/in/dateposted-public/

There are about another 100 to go, then that is the whole span of his career with the GWSR.

 

                                  ++++++++++++++++ ***** +++++++++++++++++++++

The canopy completion and footbridge team at Broadway have found a way through to resuming work. We've had the necessary risk assessments done and received the approval to go, and we think we can start in the very near future. A minor obstacle remains, so have patience. We all want to get going again!