One week to go

Tuesday on the footbridge steps

Just the two of us, and a damp and windy start. It left us a bit non-plussed. We need dry surfaces now, for painting, and for the application of the silicone sealant in the reassembly. What to do?

 

 

In the hope things would dry out as the rain faded, and in quite a breeze, we decided to group the painted boards in sets by number, to make the reassembly easier. We then took them up to the far end of the centre span.

 

 

Neal then spotted a large articulated delivery truck down on Evesham Road, which had (fortunately) stopped just short of the road bridge. That has an authorised height of passage of 14 feet; the truck was 14 foot two. Neal helped it reverse into the public car park, and then go back from whence it came. Phew!

The close call made us look at the footbridge again, and it struck us that there had been several minor strikes in the last few days. These have been mostly in the Evesham direction, coming out of Broadway. That's on the left in the above picture. The wasp stripes are crumpled in numerous places, but there is no damage underneath - the collision beam has done its job.

In the Broadway direction (inward, on the right of the picture) the wasp stripes have recently been bent upwards by a pair of objects, one of which has also scraped under the collision beam on both sides. You can see a darker stripe under the letter 'D'.

So far so good, but it remains frustrating to have to see the number of throughtless drivers who seem to be completely unaware of the height under the bridge, and the size of their load. The artic that came to a stop today was certainly not the first. We can be grateful that he did, but it is also a fact that he drove past the clear warning (actually prohibition) sign coming off the roundabout.

 

 

Back to the job in hand. Later in the day the wind had indeed blown off most of the accumulated water droplets, and Neal was able to start work on the last two remaining sections of the structural woodwork on the Malvern side.

Here he is, mid afternoon, on the last section.

Just one more piece of timber to go.

This is the view up the steps, in an increasingly sunny light. It was almost pleasant in the afternoon..

At the end of the afternoon, as the light began to fail, Neal completed the reassembly of the structural woodwork on the P2 steps. We were about to start reapplying the boarding when we realised that we needed to insert little dowels into the screw holes that were now evident (water collects in them) and in a rare effort to clean out the back of his van, Neal had left them at home. Well, it was nearly dark anyway.

 

We did a test fit with the first board. This is of course now cut to size and shape, treated with fungicide, primered, undercoated and otherwise painted 'n' times, so those boards are ready to go. If we had the little dowels.

What happens next?

Well, excitement is rising, as the scaffolders for the last part of the P1 canopy are coming on Tuesday 4th January. Will we complete the boarding first? That depends on the weather, as here again, we need dry surfaces so that we can apply the silicone sealant and keep it all waterproof.

Once the scaffolding is in place, we will prepare the end of the existing canopy for the arrival of the last 6m. This involves taking off some of the corrugated iron sheets, the current extension pieces, security camera and the temporary plywood sheeting over the gable end. Many people thought he canopy was finished when we opened, but that plywood end was the giveaway. There is a final section, to link the station building with the footbridge steps, give passengers a dry walk all the way around, from one platform to the other, and out of the station via the wicket gate at the side. That, on the original station building, was the main way in.

So, the scaffolding goes up on Tuesday the 4th, and a week later the actual construction begins, when the kit of parts, prepared over many months two years ago, arrives by lorry with a large HIAB from storage in Toddington. Work will then be pretty intensive over several weeks, as we have just two months to do the whole job. Hope the weather plays ball. It looks good to start with, according to the forecast.

Off site we have prepared one of the signs that will go at the bottom of the steps.

The rail posts to hold it up are already in place, so all we need now is the protective canopy over the top, and it's ready to go.

 

 

Note that the text 'requests' people to cross the line by the bridge. 

We went to some trouble to find the above version of the text (and were helped by a kind supporter), as later versions are a bit more blunt, like this one, spotted at Carrog:

 

 

Some readers may be aware that moves are afoot at Toddington to fit the new site entrance with a pair of proper GWR style gates, gate posts, and spearhead fencing. They will replace the current ugly albeit temporary Heras fencing panels, which are there to discourage unauthorised access to our site whenever it is closed.

 

 

 

Quite by chance we came across this original GWR crest on Tuesday. It was once attached to the gates of a GWR motive power depot.

Do you recognise it?

 

 

It's the GWSR company logo, isn't it?

In fact it is said that the GWSR company logo was inspired by precisely this crest, so we thought it would be fun, and pretty much authentic, to have two replicas made for the new gates planned for Toddington.

The current owner of the cast iron crest, a supporter of the railway, has very kindly lent it to us, so that 2 replicas can be cast from his original.

The back is interesting. It's a big cast iron boss, divided into 4 quarters. These allowed it to be attached to the centre of the gates, where the two diagonal braces crossed.

 

 

We are now in the process of having two copies made for Toddington. Who ever imagined that such crests were still around? What a happy coincidence that an original has turned up, just as we were thinking about having copies made from photographs.

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Just three of us today, two down on our usual strength. The weather was a bit dire to start with, but the heavy rain soon fizzled out, and all in all it was an excellent day for laying blocks. Not too cold, sunny, and the blocks were damp, which is what the mortar likes.

We started here, filling in a gap between two quoins laid in last time. In the picture some suggested 4 inch blocks have been placed - the nearest was deemed a bit low. The corner quoin is 9 inches high, and there aren't many 9 inch high plain blocks, so we have to make them up out of a 5 and a 4 inch one.

 

 

 

 

Once we were happy with the selection, Dave bedded them down, and soon there was another layer added - just one short of the top of the window here.

John spent the day ferrying in spoil from the heap round the corner, as Dave was emptying a load of mix into the barrow.

The spoil is being dumped between the foundations and the platform edge, to give us a nice level surface on which to place the trestles, when we get round here.

As it's a bit cumbersome to move the trestles, we have slightly changed the M.O. Instead of moving round the walls and adding blocks where there is an opportunity, we will now do more work in a single area from the same trestle. That's currently in the NW corner, where you can just make out Dave through the window. We have one trestle inside, and one out.

 

 

We had a visitor from the PWay today (Bob, if you must know) and he was swiftly roped in to help get the quoin, which Dave is holding, on to the corner by the door frame.

Then we let him go again, and their team went off to CRC to continue with the turnout renewal there.

With a bit of chiseling to size we managed to squeeze that last quoin in under the top of the door frame. 

Then, again, we needed two rows of blocks to make up the 9 inch height between the two corners. Dave is just bedding down the last one in the picture.

 

 

So that was two rows on two outside faces bedded down. Our usual and talented backer-upper Jules wasn't there today, so it was up to Dave to back up on the inside of the same corner.

Here he is just fitting one of the rougher blocks to the inside by the door frame.

 

 

During the day there was a lot of shunting going on, in and out of the yard and into the station.

The Toddington yard shunter had come down with a bogie flat, which was put into the yard to start with.

After quite a bit of work, involving the shunters from both Toddington and Winchcombe, a rake of PWay vehicles was made up and parked in platform 2 in the station. This comprised a rail wagon, several Dogfish, the Shark brake, mess coach and several tool vans. The picture here shows the train at the close of play.

From P1 at Winchcombe, the Usk hut can be seen to be growing slowly but surely. Since we were allowed to return in the spring after lockdown, we haven't really missed a day, so progress is steady, a new bit every week.

You can see Dave in today's corner, using up the last bit of mortar for the day on backing up. That always swallows a lot. In the original hut, the backing up and infill in between was quite haphazard, with lots of voids and loose material.

This is the overview at the end of today. Dave has been working in the far left hand corner, and with the blocks laid up against the top of the door frame, we are just over 6ft above damp course there, and about 20 inches or three courses below the top of the wall (or wall plate level).

Another close of play shot shows how far John got with barrowing in the fill. He's nearly at the end of the platform side, but we might make the fill a little wider as well, since we don't just need room for the trestles, but somewhere to stand next to them. It's a slow but steady job.

 

A little extra bit at the end of the post: 

 

It's a little gingerbread house made by the blogger grand children and their mother (well, principally their mother, the grand children helped by continuous sampling of the building material as the construction proceeded).

Does the shape of the gingerbread house remind you of anything? Square construction, single storey, one window in the gable end, chimney above?

Yes, it's just like the Usk hut! 

Sadly, the gingerbread version was demolished, but the real, life size model will rise again, you can count on us!

Happy 2022 to you all, from the Usketeers.

See you again next year.

Two weeks to go

Monday on the footbridge

A damp day, but all three of us present! There's always something you can do, whatever the weather.

The woodwork on the centre span was soaking wet, millions of little droplets everywhere, even though the span is covered by its own roof.

Down on the ground things were drier, a strange phenomenon. We decided to paint under the canopy.

First we need to open up the steps, to get to our workshop upstairs. You'll notice two pieces of corrugated iron there (pushed to one side). They keep the bottom of the steps dry, as that area gets very wet without the last bit of the canopy there. Two more weeks to go, and then we start erecting it, and this area will be dry permanently.

This picture sums up our work today: Yours truly on undercoating the boarding, John is primering timbers for the canopy work, and Neal can be seen on the steps reinstalling the timbers for the sides.

We started moving some of our kit on the platform away into storage, in preparation for the mince pie specials, but mid morning a message came round to say that those trains were cancelled (the Santa specials will run normally). The recurrence of Covid is the cause, sadly, and worries about sufficient volunteer numbers to run the trains as a result.

During the morning a visit from a member of the S&T department gave us the opportunity to admire the new track diagram recently installed in Broadway box. 

The artist did a fine job there. Now, when will the box finally open? Next year is 4 years since trains started running.

A blow up of the diagram is reproduced below.

Returning to our jobs under the canopy, we noticed the deteriorating state of the spearhead fencing. A section of spearhead fencing is planned for Toddington. Can lessons be learned from Broadway, where the fencing was painted 5 years ago?

 

 

 At the end of the day we had painted as much as we could, the painting job must be nearly complete now.

In any case, Neal had finished the structural timberwork on the Cotswolds side, and was starting on the Malvern side. We've still got a couple of days before the canopy work starts on January 4th, will there be time to put it all back together?

For those interested in signalling, here is a gradient diagram of our line. Note that Broadway is on the left, and that the mileage reads from left to right.

 Did you realise that Winchcombe station is in a dip? That straight bit south of Greet tunnel is one long, tall embankment, it must be nearly a mile and a half long.

 

 And here is the magnified version of the new track diagram (apologies for the poor light)

 

Note that this one is reversed vis-a-vis the original, which is given below.

 

Does anyone know where this original is now? It was photographed after the box closed, so surely it is still around? In the picture it is pinned to a board, not in the signal box.

 

We very much look forward to seeing Broadway box open. The building, a near replica of Shirley box, was put up before we erected the station building itself, as a sort of test case for the team, so it's been up for quite a while now.

Tuesday at Cheltenham

PWay work has now switched from Dixton cutting (where 14 pairs of replacement rails were fitted) to the northern end of the CRC loop, where we are replacing a complete turnout.

Work has already started in this shot - we are currently working 3 days a week on the PWay, a record level of activity, and something to be proud of. A previous team has lifted out the centre of the defective turnout (it has a crack on one end of the crossing) and made a start on removing the ballast.

The other end of the site, looking south.

As the replacement turnout parts have a different geometry to the previous one, pretty much everything has to come out. Here some of the closure rails have been pulled away. The new crossing and a number of other rails made to fit what will be reused are in the cess.

At the same time as the crossing replacement we are also removing a number of crippled ends in the straight leading to the RDA crossing at the curve in the distance. It means cutting off the last foot of each rail, and re drilling the fishplate holes.

 Walt took the Telehandler to bring the cube a bit nearer the work site.

He then got to work on levelling out, to the right depth, the area where the southern end of the turnout will go.

'X' marks the spot that is just the right depth, while ' --- ' means dig a bit more here.

Unfortunately there was a little collateral damage, such as this pulley wheel support for the rodding run. Hope they've got a spare at Winchcombe!

The last bits had to be dug out by hand, they were impossible to pick up with the digger.

Race Course station, on the Honeybourne heritage line.

In order to avoid the hire fee for a further 'welfare unit' we had arranged for permission to take our breaks in the unoccupied station building.

We ate in the new booking office, which has replaced the original booking office at the top of the path.

A treat today was this home made cake, a Danish/Norwegian seasonal confection called a Kransekake. It contained principally ground almonds and icing, which we liked a lot.

Then back to work, as the light would fade soon. We area, after all, in the darkest period of the year now.

Having dug out the old ballast,Walt filled in the area with recycled ballast. Normally we would have used the laser level again here, but the battery had died so we piled it on as best we could.

Fitting a cropped rail at the north end of the turnout.

During the day we heard a lot of car horns blaring, and it sounded at first as if someone couldn't contain his road rage.

In a quiet moment we wandered up to take a look. It turnout out to be a sort of 'drive in' panto, advertised as 'Car Park Panto'. It was very popular, with maybe 100 cars there.

As people were shut up in the cars they couldn't boo the villains, so when one came on stage, they all sounded their car horns.

The villain made a lot of appearances. Imagine the noise....

Our last picture of the day shows the site dug out, and reballasted on Tuesday. Doesn't look a lot different, but now we know that there is 10cm of clean ballast under the sleepers when we lay them.

The gang will be back on Wednesday to continue the job. (and finish the Kransekake)

Usk Project.

Due to the proximity of Christmas, only yours truly on site, for a quick check up of our roofing materials, a burger and a coffee with a colleague.

Santa Specials were in full swing today, with six trains between Toddington (board the train) and North Pole (Winchcombe, see Santa and get refreshments)

The picture shows the first arrival about to return to Toddington. It came in, drawn by 4270 bunker first (we did not stoop to a photograph) and after a while 47 105 trundled along behind. After waiting quite a time at the home signal, the diesel coupled up to the rear of the first train.

A few minutes later the second train arrived, this time hauled by P&O (the right way round):

Hence this nice steamy picture, with a Santa Special headboard. You can just make out fireman Steve getting ready to return the token to the signalman.

There were lots of elves, decorated locos and special hats, but what really made the atmosphere was the presence of this brass band. We forgot to note down the name, but they did well, sitting outside, motionless, with the temperature just barely above zero.

It added a third dimension to the proceedings, and everyone was very jolly. No wonder the trains were sold out.

The second train was returned to Toddington by the other 47 that resides with us (47 376), and so on, three times each, making six train loads of happy children.

The best bit for us was the burger van on the station forecourt - beefburger, cheese, onions, extra ketchup - that warmed us up!

Here's a picture we missed last week, the barrowing in of spent ballast infill around the platform side of the building. This is to give the trestles a firmer footing, when we put them up here. One of the things we will do from the trestle is build the arch over the big window. Neal has made us a former, and all we still need to do is bed down the second (nearest) support stone for it, the furthest having been bedded down last week.

Last but not least today, a 1963 Christmas greeting from Broadway.

Feeling the chill this winter? How about 1963, when the snow was so deep you couldn't see the rails, and drifts started to form in the cutting leading to Springfield Lane!

Photograph by George Bryant

Photograph by Brian Parsons

Here's WD 90448 on a freight train, photographed twice by two Broadway teenagers as it approached Springfield Lane bridge from the north. They only had Box Brownie cameras, but the photographs are priceless today. The shed code looks like 1G Woodford Halse, where the locomotive was stationed from 1951 to 1964. It was broken up in 1966, after a 21 year service life.

Yuri? (written in the bank on the right). Apparently and act of boredom while waiting for the train, and relates the the famous Russian pioneer spaceman that was a hot topic at the time.

So we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year, and we look forward to lots of exciting heritage adventures in 2022! See you again soon, and thanks for your support, it's much appreciated.