GWR 2806.9

Friday at Toddington

A sunny (and breezy) day at last, excellent for painting a truss outdoors.

Ah, but who stole our truss? It was there last time, there, leaning against the containers on the right. Now it's gone!

After hunting around a bit, behind or on top of containers, we finally found it again. It's in the picture too - can you see it?

 

 

 

The truss got moved because we have contractors in to assemble the steel platform that is going in behind the new goods shed extension, to link it with the containers on the right at first floor level. A fire escape is also part of the assembly.

 

Here is how far the contractors got Friday morning.

The fire escape and railings are still to come.

The breezy day was good for painting, so we were able to wire brush the rust off the truss, apply a dose of Kurust to neutralise what was left, and when that had gone off, we put the remainder of the truss in primer. So that is now ready for its first application of dark stone undercoat.

 

 

The sudden drop in the temperature, and a certain amount of rain earlier, has led to a rethink of the outdoor messing arrangements by the ash pit. Tables and loose chairs have now appeared in the shed, where we were able to sit well apart, and also in a breeze, what with the wide open shed doors. Very safe, that.

We mentioned earlier that there are currently no fewer than 3 GWR 2-8-0s under overhaul in the shed. That must be something of a record. (2807, 2874, and 3850).

Over several days we had a contractor in to rebore the cylinders of 2807. Fascinating stuff. In the picture the kit, which is portable, is being set up.

The cylinders need a rebore eventually, as they wear, or go oval, or get scored. Just under one mm is taken off, so it's not much. It does remove a bit of the original 2807, so maybe it's 2806.9 now?

Later the mechanism doing the rebore was up and running, so we were able to do a little video, which you can see here:

https://youtu.be/pcn73wMNhZc

2874 is of course a Barry wreck, more news of that further down the blog.

3850 is the third of the three, and this one is well advanced, it's really impressive!

No cylinder boring here, 3850 has a completely new set of cylinders! The original pair was severely cracked, so not repairable. A completely new casting was ordered, and it can be seen here, upside down as was GWR practice, having new plating fitted. The green bits are brand new frame extensions, as the originals had been in a rough shunt somewhere along the locomotive's long life. So all in all, 3850 is getting a completely new front end, which is a remarkable achievement. We have the technology!

Outside the shed is 9466, now being made ready for departure on October 1st. Enjoy this last look.

76077 Toddington Standard

There was sign of progress here (the frames are being worked on off site) in our workshop, where this little jewel was being manufactured.

It's a new casting for the sanders being machined.

A blank casting is alongside for comparison. Nice work! Look at the thread inside the hexagon shape.

These new castings don't fall out of a blue sky, they have to be commissioned, purchased and machined. As our 76077 was the last out of Barry, it also has the fewest parts remaining, so we have quite a list of what we still need.

https://standard76077.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Component-Sponsorship-Pricelist-r3.pdf

The team is encouraging our supporters to sponsor individual parts, that is how you can help. If you want to be responsible for one of the parts on the locomotive, do check the list and sponsor something. Some items are too big (we think) for one person to sponsor, so the reversing gearbox for example at £10.500 is split into 75 parts of £140 each. Interestingly enough, we heard from our man with the piggy bank that several individual items have indeed been sponsored so far, but only one of the reversing gearbox shares has been taken up. Only one ???

How about having a go at that? We do need a reversing gearbox...

Otherwise, if you want to help on a regular basis, but perhaps with a smaller amount, set up a standing order, as yours truly has done. £25 per month, in our case, the price of a meal per month. The 76077 supporters site has further details and forms here:

https://standard76077.com/support-76077

Spring hangers are also being machined in the workshop:

Here the end has been machined flat, ready for the oval apperture to be drilled.

 

Nearby was a supply of the forgings required, with those in the next stage (oval hole already machined) on the left.

 

Still to do is to cut a fine BSF thread on the shaft. This is used to adjust the loading on each axle.

A day later, Sunday, saw a lovely crisp and sunny morning, with some interesting shunting in the yard:

Here's Foremarke hall reversing out to collect the 9400, past our new yard lamp. What a great scene!

Some moments later, our Hall returned and can be seen here passing the other GWR yard lamp. Rods down too.

Further to our tidbit in the last blogpost about Chris firing a banking engine up Campden bank, we stand corrected after a chat with him over a cup of tea. The biggest banker he fired up Campden bank was an 8F over 3 days. But - he did fire a 9F, indeed many of them, as a train engine up the bank, which was 4 miles long and which ended in a tunnel.

The 9Fs brought coal trains from S Wales up the Honeybourne line, and turned west into Honeybourne station, where they would run into P3. The loco would then run round, turn on Honeybourne Triangle, reposition itself on the other end of the train, and charge up the bank, needing a good run as those coal trains could be up to 800 tons in weight. The coal train would then be taken to sidings at - Swanbourne. Now, where have we heard that name recently?

As the forecast was good for Sunday, we gave the truss - it turned up on this well wagon, in case you couldn't see it earlier - its first coat of dark stone undercoat. The truss urgently needs to be winterised with two coats of paint on each side, as it is stored outdoors.

 

 

Here's the truss, half way through its first undercoat. Although you may be reading this with the rain pouring outside,  we did have several sunny days recently and this enabled us to finish off painting the truss, with two coats on each side. It can now better stand a little rain.

 

 

We also added to our kit of parts in the new workshop, by bringing over the arched ridge purlin, and these two items for the columns.

Everything on this job is heavy...

In between Neal made himself useful by offering up the floor sections for the large steel platform that is being built at the south end of the goods shed look-alike mess room.

2874 - a Barry survivor

As you probably know, work has started on this amazing survivor of the Barry scrapyard, one of the diminishing number of rescues that is still in the raw. They must be getting quite scarce now, untouched Barry wrecks.

GWR 2874 in the loco shed, with the boiler already removed

This loco was built in 1918, so it's now over 100 years old. It was sent for scrap to Barry in 1963, and spent 24 years there, standing in the rain. In 1987 it was finally purchased and was put into open storage at Blaenavon. After a while it was moved to the WSR, and then into private storage in the W Midlands, all of this outdoors.

Now, finally, the old lady 2874 is indoors at last, and look at the state of her:

Rear dragbox

Area under the cab floor (what cab floor?)

Frame, fireman's side

Rear view of cab end

 

Yours truly is a supporter of 4253, the 2-8-0 tank on the K&ESR. That's a tank engine version of this 2800 class. Their frames at the rear were so badly worn away that about 2ft of the upper half of them had to be cut away and replaced, but it is all do-able. 2874 is not so bad as that, but you get the idea of the work still to come from these pictures.

So it's really heartening to see that this venerable locomotive is finally being restored. As we said earlier, we currently have no fewer than three of these types being worked on in the loco shed, one of which with new cylinders and a new front end. So we certainly have the skills and indeed the facilities at Toddington. Makes you proud, doesn't it?

The group doing this restoration have a website here:

https://www.2874trust.org/

A trip to the foundry

A trip to our friendly local foundry was called for, as we needed to collect 5 chunky iron finials that they had cast for us, using an original once discovered in the undergrowth around the demolished ruins of Broadway station.

The five castings are for Broadway (1), for Winchcombe (2) and for a fellow GWR preserved line (2). They are a good example of the attention to detail in Victorian times. All they do is stop the rain from coming into the top of the running in board and modesty screen posts, but why not make them look stylish as well? They weigh a ton too.

 

 

We also decided to pick up the patterns for the lamp posts that we had cast for Broadway (and for sale) as well as for the ball topped gate post. They are now in secure storage on the railway. So these bits you see in the pictures above are made of wood, an example of the pattern maker's art. The pattern for the Acanthus leaves, typical for a GWR lamp post, is particularly well executed.

While mooching round the foundry's pattern store, we couldn't help noticing a few other examples of well made patterns in wood.

 

Just look at this beautiful seat end pattern, executed as a pair.

What appears to be the end of a canopy or bridge. A huge pattern, and what an art to be able to cast this without mishap!

 

 

 

All sorts of patterns were stored in this corner, no doubt some no longer in use, but you never know. Wheels, columns, crank cases, pulleys, it's a complete walk through our industrial revolution.

It is possible that we may be commissioning further units of the ball topped gate posts. You would need them if you have spearhead fencing on your site, the posts hold up the ends and mark off any gates that go through the fence. We also used two as newel posts for the P1 staircase at Broadway. If you have an interest in these posts, you can drop a line to breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk.

Back at Toddington, there was a wonderful atmosphere on Tuesday, as 35006 came back on shed at the end of the working day.

Just parked me motor 'ere...

What was rather striking was that both driver and fireman were what yours truly as a retiree might call 'the younger generation'. We are clearly getting new blood in the loco teams. Great!

After coaling the pacific (you can just make out the bucket of the Telehandler) she was taken round to the yard for topping the tender up with water.

The two new yard lamps and the parachute tank water tower make for a great photo opportunity, and as there is a road right next to this scene, our visitors can take (almost) the same picture.

Here is 35006 almost perfectly posed for the photographer. But we must have a word with the driver about stopping so that the rods are down...

Wednesday on the Usk project

The forecast was not at all friendly, so we anticipated a short day before the rain came at mid day. It's not that we are whimps about working in the rain, but you can't lay bricks in the rain, certainly not engineering blues, it just doesn't work.

While the PWay yard was being tidied up we took the opportunity of welcoming some of the rubble that the contractors had left behind after filling the gabion baskets for work on the Isbourne. It was good fill for us!

As we continue to position the big edging bricks, we are checking the levels here, vis-a-vis the foundations of the building. 

Dave doesn't seem to quite believe the bubble, maybe he should buy a new one?

As it was getting a bit cold and damp - rain already seemed to be imminent - Paul decided to warm himself up a bit with a spot of shovelling. Maxie went 'open wide' and soon got 6 loads of ballast and some of our reject cement, which over the last 6 months of non-use had gone a bit hard in the shed.

The mix was for concrete, which we are using here to bring the level of the rear concrete block wall up to the level of the bricks in front.

By the end of the morning, we had laid all the concrete we wanted - the rest up to the foreground at the bottom of the picture can be dealt with by plain mortar.

Meanwhile John continued with his mortar cleaning of the big bull noses, just out of shot here on the left. He's done about 2/3 of them already, almost completely on his own. There are 300 of these bricks on this location alone (another 500 await him in storage on the other side of the yard....)

We transferred about 30 of them during the day on to the Permaquip trolley in the background, so that next week we can resume laying the edging bricks, everything will be ready. Weather permitting of course, it's definitely autumn now.

The sky got darker and darker - when would the rain come finally? A perfect forecasting method was found: a phone call to the wife of one of us who lived in Cheltenham. Would she look out of the window and see if it is raining? And it was too, dang !

 

Then, as the train leaves, so must we - see you next time!

Week's roundup

 Friday in the loco shed

 Another day fabricating the final pieces of the Broadway canopy.

 

As we need to vacate our shared area of the loco shed, we have started moving some of the completed pieces out into the future workshop area of the goods shed extension, which is not yet in use.

In the picture you can see the two purlins, which now have two coats of undercoat in dark stone.

 

 

One team today spent most of the day wire brushing down the final truss, which will sit on two posts over the bottom of the steps at Broadway.

 

On the left is the truss, as it has been for two years now. As it has been stored outside due to its size, it is starting to look a little care worn and needs freshening up.

On the right is the truss after a day's work with the rotating brush, sandpaper, a dose of Kurust and a pot of anti corrosive primer. On top of it are two of the angles we have recently manufactured. They also received a coat of primer. The good weather at the moment is really helping with this outdoor work.

Inside the loco shed we find Neal at work on one of the larger supporting angles.

Where the curved a straight pieces join a very shallow angled cut is required, so some time was spent setting up the saw up to achieve this.

Neal also rigged up this table, on which the large angled brackets can be laid out, measured, cut and welded.

Another piece that needs cutting is this diagonal. Here Neal is inspecting the angle, using a large fabricator's protractor.

Saturday out along the line.

Where were we on Saturday? Out in the sticks is the answer. Because of social distancing we are now required to go to the work sites in our private cars, so this leaves yer executive saloon parked in the middle of nowhere, no roads visible, and the arrow pointing at a railway line.

 

Something interesting on this SATNAV is how the line skirts round Winchcombe.

It seems that a straight line starting by the petrol station symbol and passing round the back of Winchcombe was an option once considered for the route. That straight line would have come out at Southam, just short of CRC. The enormous tunnel required made the option far too costly though, so today Winchcombe is some distance from its station, and we have the much shorter Greet tunnel.

 

 

The job site was right outside the tunnel mouth, but the spare sleepers were a few hundred yards away. Sling them on the back of the Landie then. But no can do, as there is a line of extracted drainage blocks in the way. What now?

Bert Ferrule is not one to be stopped, and he had thought ahead with two wheelbarrows among the many tools we brought up from the yard. All that was required the was a good heave and a steady balancing act. Soon however the inevitable happened, and the sleeper slid off. This happened several times, but we got them down there.

'X' marks the spot where three sleepers needing changing had been identified by the trackwalker.

While we got the replacement sleepers, Jim had already started with the shovel to dig out the first one.

We had a line block until the first service train, which left Toddington at 10 am. No pressure then...

 

This morning's 'pleasant' surprise was the size of some of the boulders hidden in the ballast. They are impossible to shovel out, a pickaxe is required to shift them. Normally ballast size is carefully specified.

What were they thinking when the laid this track, back in 1989?

We made it - now we're going to hide those boulders.

Here's a picture of the gang as they came out of the tunnel on May 14th 1988. You can see the boulders in the cess at the bottom of the picture. Somehow they ended up buried in the 4 foot, or middle of the track.

We decided to replace two of the three sleepers marked. Once the sleepers have been dug clear of the surrounding ballast, the chairs are removed and the perished sleeper is pulled out with the sharp end of the pick. 

By whom?

Why, by the smallest, oldest ganger on site - Pete! Way to go, Pete! He did it too. Proof that regular physical activity is good for you.

The compacted bed of the sleeper is then dug out, to make sure the replacement doesn't ride too high when we pull it back in.

Then it's time for the nips.

 

 

 

 

 

A sign of the 1988 times are these two cast iron chairs - marked GWR - that were used on one of the sleepers we pulled out. The are 'through bolters' secured by two nuts and bolts, and impossible to remove once a few years have passed.

Today we no longer use them, and any we find go to the 2807 boot scraper manufacturing facility.

But enough idle chatter, time is pressing!

The first train is due off Toddington in 10 minutes, and we haven't finished digging yet...

At this point also two orange clad shapes emerge from the gloom of the tunnel - it's the Winchcombe - Gotherington section track walkers.

We exchange greetings, they move on. It's a long way to Gotherington.

 

We finished off the sleeper replacements by the tunnel mouth, returned the line blockage, and soon Dinmore Manor was heard to enter the tunnel at the other end:

https://youtu.be/ULjHaPcisyU

Then on to our second work site, which was up on the embankment at Gretton. In the 1980s new houses were built close to the foot of the embankment here, and we noticed that garden waste was being dumped on top, right next to our ballast.

The garden waste is just 4 - 5 ft from the running line. How does it get there?

A closer look revealed a gate on to our property at the foot of the embankment, and a new set of steps had been cut into the soil and reinforced with slabs, for an easy walk to the top.

The next house along also had a gate in the fence on to our property, and a fresh pile of builders waste has appeared on the slope.

 

A look over the gate in question revealed a new garden path leading back to the house.

To make our work site safe we set up site boards to allow the loco crew to identify where we are working. They also get a message with our location when they sign in.

These sleepers, for some reason, were tougher to dig out, as they sat on a sticky black base that was like hacking at toffee. We got one sleeper out OK, but when we dragged in the new one, it was proud, so it went into reverse with a heave and the bed was dug out a second time, this time round with success.

We got both jobs done, and then stepped aside to allow Dinmore Manor to return from Cheltenham. The train looked quite well filled, and we got lots of waves.

Then it was time to drive home, but a situation of 'They shall not pass' arose. Which Landie would give way to the other?

Eventually the blue one had to reverse all the way back to the site of Gretton halt, where the embankment is a bit wider and the white one could to a three point turn (well actually a five point one, the undergrowth is thick and you don't want to reverse too far into the unknown).

Monday at Broadway

Another warm, sunny day. Great conditions to finish off painting the Paxford GWR bench.

 

 

It was a final top coat of chocolate, and it didn't take long.

Here it is, completed, and basking in the sunshine. This then is the former Blockley platform shelter bench, found rotting in a bus shelter at Paxford and with one leg missing.

 

Once it was dry enough to move, we took it to the mess room where it can be usefully stored until required.

The final destination is under the canopy on P2, but thanks to COVID that build seems to be delayed at the moment, unless a big donor comes along.

During the day we were entertained by the angry buzzing of chainsaws, and the crashing of falling trees. There's a man right in the top.

More of the iconic pine trees at Broadway are being felled.

 

 

 

 

On a brighter note, the replica 1900 GWR stationmaster's hat has now been taken into use by Mike, one of our new stationmasters.

 

Here he is standing proud at Toddington, and on the left is the inspiration at Broadway, the 1935 stationmaster William Barber. The hat is the same! The uniform of the GWR stationmaster gradually relaxed over the years, from a formal uniform with gold GWR buttons in 1900 to a plain looking business suit in 1947, but the pillbox hat with its gold braid and 'GWR' lettering at the front remained unchanged. This pillbox hat is what you need if you want to look like a GWR stationmaster.

Tuesday at Toddington

An early (well, 9am...) arrival at Toddington saw Foremarke Hall pull off shed in brilliant sunshine.

Bit lucky with this shot, the rods are down and the drain cock steam wafted away a second, before enveloping the loco completely.

A day wire brushing the Broadway truss had to be abandoned, so we joined the Usk team at Winchcombe, who had brought their usual Wednesday session forward by one day, as Tuesday promised to be dry and sunny, and Wednesday wasn't.

 

The morning was bright and sunny under the oak tree at Winchcombe, as these 4 pictures from Julian show. Dave and Paul (RH) fired up Maxie and made themselves a barrow of mix.

Joining on from the 21 blocks laid last Wednesday they carried on down the platform, adding extra ones from the trolley parked on the tracks.

Soon Foremarke Hall trundled by with the first train, apparently astounding yours truly and John standing by the bricks. Well, we're always interested to see how full the trains are. About 75% it seemed to us, with fewer people on the earlier and later departures. But Tuesday is not a peak day, we think.

Paul was laying them on fast today, easily overtaking the 21 we laid last week. Well, last week was our first block laying day, and we had to prepare the ground and level the blocks, which are a bit low here and there. But today, we were going full tilt. There are something like 250 to put down.

Jules was back again, albeit taking it easy what with his cracked ribs. He's in contemplative mode by the barrow here, while Paul lifts the blocks on, and Dave does the pointing.

Jules finally found his calling by following up Dave's pointing with a small trowel and a brush, with which he tidied up the joints and made sure the diamonds had no mortar in them, so that they stand out.

From time to time a train would pass by, sometimes through P1 and sometimes, as here, through P2, just to keep the rails shiny.

We wandered over to record the token exchange.

Chris, driver of 7903 today, was once a fireman on 9Fs banking goods trains up Campden bank ! What would you have given to join him on one of those trips?

Meanwhile Paul was approaching an important milestone in our block laying - the Heras Fence line! How far would he get today?

Come on Jules, we won't get the wall built like this!

Although the Coffepot isn't open to passengers at the moment, we have noticed that you can sneak in and buy an ice cream....

Who says you can't lick an ice cream while pointing bricks?

Look, this is what you do - one handed, no problem!

 

 

And then Paul breezed past the Heras fence line - it's what you can do on a sunny day when you are well prepared.

Round about 3 o'clock the sun suddenly disappeared, and it got decidedly cooler.

We left Dave, Paul and John mid afternoon to complete a small painting job at Toddington (the two angles recently fabricated). Paul was intending to reach the area of the bucket on the left, which would mean about 40 blocks laid today. A record!

Here's the end of the day shot of the platform wall so far - doesn't it look neat!

Wednesday at Toddington.

Steelwork has arrived for a fire escape and bridge to be attached to the end of the goods shed extension. It was due to go up today, but could not be progressed as the expected scaffolding did not arrive.

 

 

Part of a kit of parts for the steel structure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steelwork will go into this gap, providing a fire escape for the door on the first floor, and a bridge to a second level of containers planned on the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 It was too wet to do anything to the truss outside today. 

 

 

 

Luckily Neal was around, and together we turned the ridge purlin for Broadway the other way up, to give the primered side a first coat of light stone undercoat.

 

 

The truss (primered now on the reverse) was moved out of the way of the planned steel construction, and turned the other way round so that we can wire brush the rust on this side as well. We are hoping for a dry day on Friday to do this.

 

 

 

P & O is now repaired and was back earning its keep, and we had an interesting chat with people in the know about the draincock operating system that was broken a few days ago. It's steam operated (Mr. Bulleid likes to do things differently) and not by a mechanical linkage as in most other steam locos. One of the parts was twisted quite out of shape, but has since been repaired/part renewed. A brilliant rapid intervention, which kept this big locomotive in service.

Now, which lever shall I pull....

We had an interesting chat with the Toddy signalman as well.

Toddington box has the usual comfy signalman's chair, but in this case, it has two! You just can't get comfy enough...

 

 

A detail we noticed - next to a brass plate marked 'BROADWAY' under one of the bells - was that the level leads were Traffolyte ones, but one was a brass one. In our view, brass looks so much better, could we not have more?

The story with the lever frame is that the original one was stripped out - legally - by another railway, even as early GWSR was negotiating with a different BR department to take over 15 miles of line.

It would be nice to have our original lever leads back, if they were brass. Wonder where they are?