Vandalism at 'Cleeve

Saturday towards Bishop's Cleeve

We are now nearing the southern end of our 14 mile railway.

Wednesday we reached the southern end of Gotherington loop; here we are on Saturday, setting off further south, about to pass our Manor Lane entry and parking point.

The next place of note we passed was the site of the most recent Gotherington slip, repaired at a cost of half a million pounds a year ago.

There's now an impressive platform behind sheet piling, and Nick, one of the newer members of the team, has stepped up to enjoy the view.

Note how rusty the rails have become. Not for long now though.

By our mid morning coffee break we had done half a mile, all of normal 60ft rail lengths. No 'freebie' 120ft lengths along this stretch, sadly.

Steve and Nick enjoy their break in the open air. It wasn't exactly warm due to the wind, but it was bearable. In any case, what else could we do out here?

 

To our dismay we found the bridge parapets behind us vandalised. On two of the pilasters the top row of blocks has been forced off and thrown over the side. The top tube of the railings has been wrenched off; we found it in the undergrowth.

The special blocks that finish off the top of the parapet lay at the bottom of this cattle creep bridge, now used by walkers form the new housing estate built nearby. Many smashed after hitting others as they landed.

Who could have done this? A cricket bat abandoned, and the new housing estate in the background are clues.

We took our lunch break by the next underbridge along, and after a short break for our sandwiches we pushed on.

This was our unspoken goal for the day: The 16 III mile post, and also the site of the breather, where the CWR through Bishop's Cleeve station site starts. You can see the site marked by the traditional pines in the background.

This is the same place, looking back over the long, straight stretch we had done. Gotherington lies around the corner in the distance, out of sight. Although it was only early afternoon, we felt that with one mile under our belts we had done enough. This work requires a lot of bending over, and the backs were starting to twinge.

The view was not so pretty here, at the entrance to Bishop's Cleeve, with these piles of builder's waste tipped for all to see. Neighbours, eh?

And lastly for Saturday, a plug for an advertisement the company has put up - our 

STEAM HEATING BOILER VAN 

is for sale - see picture above. It was originally a Mk1 BSK, which was converted in the 1960s. It is largely complete, with its boiler, and is mounted on a good pair of B5 bogies. The body requires some restoration. 

Price: £13.500 + VAT

Expressions of interest to: chairman (at) GWSR.com.

Monday - back at Broadway!

At last it's permitted - groups of 6 may meet outdoors again. And that's what we're doing. One gang for Monday, another for Wednesday.

Now we have to get the place up and running again, ready for the re-opening on Tuesday 13th April.

The most immediate job was to clean up the drive from months of relentless pine needle rain. The gullies were full to bursting with them, and armfuls were pulled out. All this went on wheelbarrows and was carted off to the north end for disposal. 

The station itself and the partially complete foot bridge was still looking quite good. No damage to report, despite various storms that we've had. The benches are all out along the platform, ready to receive visitors' bottoms. And one for the loco crew at the starting signal, that was a special request.

A little summary about Broadway signal box:

 

 

It looks a lot more the business since the spearhead fencing was erected around it. These double gates give access to the steps, and also to the grass behind the fence for mowing, or if you ask nicely, maybe for a picnic.

At the other end the fencing is almost complete, with a purpose built gate installed to lead down to the locking room.

We've ordered some more cast iron posts to complete the fencing from the south end to the future P2 building.

Here's a peep inside the box. More instruments have appeared on the block shelf, and tests have shown that the box can now communicate with Toddington.

Asking around a bit suggests that the box might be made operational during the next non-running season, i.e. next November.

Yours truly spent most of the day on stripping the Eynsham bench of dirt and old varnish. It's a slow job, but at the end of the day the back was finally done.

With the bench upside down it became apparent that one of the feet needs surgery. Our usual carpenter is busy though, he's on a job until the end of May. And so is another carpenter we know. Now there's a profession not affected by the pandemic! We hope he can slip the repair in for a couple of hours nonetheless. It's not a big job, but you can't sit on the bench if one leg is rotten.

In the afternoon Dave, Ian and Brian started work on the Hayles Abbey running in board. The paint has failed, after just a season. We're not absolutely sure why this is - either because the water based primer ( a cheapo non brand name) was no good, or perhaps the wood was damp when it was applied?

 

 

There's no work at Broadway on Easter Monday, but that may be the day for a week's work on the PWay on the crossings that have been delivered to Winchcombe yard. We'll find out soon enough.

Tuesday at Toddington

One last push ought to see us through this unloading road, we thought.

First, a look at the new (albeit temporary) approach road. The ballast has been rolled in, and some fencing erected.

The contractor was finishing off and had added the last two ACO drains across the entrance, filled in the last bit of concrete and finally (after the picture) re-hung the gates.

Our little gang removed the strips holding the flange guides, and then levered out the battens, so that the track is now usable again. You may now load! (Or unload...)

We spent the afternoon with a general tidy up, and in particular sorting out the bizarre arrangement of downpipes in the old garden centre. They collect rainwater from a surprisingly large surface area, and all fed (or in some cases didn't feed) into a - water butt!

We used some old bits of plastic pipe that was lying around to direct everything into a proper drain in the corner.

Because of the pandemic, the plans to develop this site are shelved for the moment, until there is more cash available.

Wednesday, playing with Interflon (again)

It was bright and sunny, getting rather too warm even, later in the day. We had a pretty large gang today, and it split into a number of different activities. One addressed the issues raised on Saturday (eg seized bolts), others resumed track walking in preparation of steam trains running again, another team went to Bishop's Cleeve to see if the vandalism on the underbridge could be repaired (see below), and finally a gang of 7 went to Two Hedges Bridge (through Bishop's Cleeve) to resume fishplate greasing, trying to get it all done down to beyond Cheltenham by the time the trains come back.

The fishplate gang repaired to the foot crossing at 'Cleeve and set up the two trolleys under the bridge in the distance. We started at MP 17 I , being the end of the CWR where, sadly, fishplates start again and we had work to do.

Mid morning we were at MP 17 II, where John decided to launch a few chestnuts. Chestnuts - aren't they a winter delicacy, John?

 

There were these two Irishmen, see, and they went into a bar....

 

 

 

A late morning coffee break was held quite a long way down the straight, where you can glimpse Two Hedges bridge in the far distance.

 

 

 

After lunch, and now on the curve leading into the straight before CRC station, we paused again at MP III, after several people admitted that the heavy impact wrenches were starting to take their toll on various backs. We're all retired here, you know.

So after ticking off another half a mile we had to stop. We have one more chance to knock this greasing on the head, which is Easter Saturday, so with a bit of luck and determination (and a slightly younger team) we might be able to reach CRC station, or even into it. Fingers crossed.

After unloading the tools again at Winchcombe - note that Gotherington village is closed for the next 13 weeks! -  we had a quick peek in the C&W 'barn' and were thrilled to see progress on our mess coach. The C&W blog also gives good coverage of this, they are really doing a good job.

 

 

The vandalism of the underbridge at Bishop's Cleeve was very disappointing, and two of us (of the Usk gang) immediately volunteered to put back the bricks that had been thrown off by the vandals.

You may recognise this face - it's Paul, back at last from about a year's absence. Last seen building the platform wall at Winchcombe.

Paul couldn't resist a good brick laying, so when he heard, with Dave, that vandals had pushed the top layer of capping bricks off the pilasters here, he got a truck with sand and gravel and can be seen here this morning, replacing the bricks and the missing safety bar on the first pilaster.

And here is the result of today's efforts. One pilaster rebuilt!

One more to do though. That will be for next time. They didn't have enough replacement capping bricks on site to do both sides that were attacked.

Derek on the Isle of Man in 1964

In July 1964 I made a visit to the Isle of Man with the Oxford University Railway Society (OURS) and here are some of the pictures from that tour.

We sailed from Liverpool to Douglas by Isle of Man Steam Packet Company boat. It was a very smooth crossing, with the biggest waves being in the Mersey Estuary.

We didn't waste much time before taking ourselves to Douglas station, and the first picture is of No.8 Fenella with the 3:00pm arrival from Ramsey, just passing the engine shed before arriving at the platform. This picture and the next were taken on 3^rd July 1964. [A07.01]

In Douglas station, waiting to depart with the 3:40pm to Port Erin is No.10 G.H. Wood. [A07.02]

The next pictures were all taken on 4^th July 1964. No.10 G.H. Wood is seen at Port Erin before taking the 10:35am train to Douglas. [A07.03]

At St.Johns, No.12 is seen with the 12:00noon departure from Douglas for Ramsey. St.Johns was the junction for the Peel and Ramsey lines and formerly of the Foxdale branch which had closed long before. [A07.04]

Next, still at St.Johns, Mona is with a train for Peel. [A07.05]

No.12 is seen leaving Kirk Michael, on the line to Ramsey. [A07.06]

No.5 Mona, is shunting the Peel section for Douglas at St.Johns. Also in the picture is No.8 seen taking on water. [A07.07]

Readers should know that the Douglas to Peel section of the Isle of Man railways was closed in 1968 and subsequently demolished. So Derek's pictures have quite some historic value today, especially as they are in colour.

Remember that you can buy full sized electronic scans of any of these through breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk

 

Milepost 15.I

Friday at Toddington

The concrete having set, two of us returned to grind off the strips that held the angled guide rails in place prior to the pour.

We found the scene thus this morning. The contractor had returned and dug in the rest of the ACO drain across the entrance. This should intercept water draining off the car park.

The rest of the concrete will be poured next week.

Neil spent most of the day grinding off the strips, while yours truly heaved and levered away at the battens to free the flangeways.

In the station rakes of coaches were being shunted - we are getting ready for opening, the sleeper is beginning to stir!

 

 

A few battens wouldn't move at all. They had swollen when wet and were now jammed.

We got round that by cutting into them with the circular saw, to relieve the pressure. Worked a treat, that did.

 

 

 

 

 

From time to time we tired of wet knees and being bent over all the time, and so we wandered over to the far corner of the car park, where there was some sort of activity.

It was Stevie, our friendly contractor. Having prepared the ground for the relocated approach road over the last few days, and suffered a ginormous puncture for his trouble, he put down Terram today and can be seen here spreading out the ballast that was delivered on Wednesday.

We watched him spreading it out evenly, after which it was rolled.

At the end of the day we had all the strips off, and all the battens were out, so that's a success. Not long now and the unloading road will be ready for - unloading again.

Saturday at Far Stanley

Seven of us today, including the welcome return of faces we hadn't seen for quite a while. Many of us have now had a first shot.

Here is where we started again - MP14 at Far Stanley. This, and the Dixton cutting around the bend in the distance, are amongst the quietest, most rural stretches of the line.

We've had a series of mechanical failures on our Bances, so Nick here is trying one out to make sure it works while waiting for the main contingent to arrive from a lineside parking area about half a mile away.

We had brought the kit in the white Landie.

While the others arrived, we laid out the tools by the side of the track, as the two trolleys were underneath on the back. They are built to be manhandled by two people - well, that was us, so we set them up on the rails.

 

As last week we had two teams with a trolley each. The first one undid the fishplates - looking south in this picture, gave them a whack with the keying hammer to loosen them, and then sprayed on the Interflon.

This picture at the JJ Farms lane shows very well how our line used to be double track.

 

 

The second team, behind us, tightened the fishplates again with a second Bance impact wrench.

Trailing a bit behind - theirs is the slowest part of the job - are two members of the team with manual torque wrenches to give the nuts one last turn to the correct setting.

 

 

We made smart progress initially, as the first stretch had been relaid at some point and pairs of rails welded together to 120ft lengths - half as much work for us, and elimination of half of the dipped joints too.

At lunch time we reached the parking area for the others, at the northern end of the Dixton cutting.

The weather was cool and dry, ideal really for working, and a few jackets actually came off, as this is healthy exercise. We ate our sandwiches in the open air.

Did you notice the orange campervan in the background? It's the same one as this one at Broadway in 1989:

Picture by John Lees.                               Honeybourne line track walk in 1989.

It's the same driver too, still volunteering on the PWay ....

Then it was on to the Dixton cutting straight, with the 14 III mile post in sight. 

In the four foot is a replacement FB rail for a short piece we put in as a patch a little while back. We still need to do this swap.

 

Mid afternoon we got to this distant signal. It's operated by wire from Gotherington box, which is quite some distance away. 

Must be quite a pull, this one.

We had several enforced rests. Two were due to equipment failure, and a third was a sudden requirement to fill up the Bance, when the Landie with the two stroke can on board hurtled past on its way back to base to get something.

Halloooooo.....

And this is where we got to, mile post 15.I and so over a mile from our starting point. We think it's a record this year. We only stopped as we were getting exhausted from the constant bending over, and carrying the heavy impact wrenches.

Wednesday with the gang

A good turnout today, as people are slowly coming back to work. We assembled in the yard at Winchcombe, which has had some deliveries:

8 lengths of FB rail - looking good.

And 3 almost new crossings, marked up with assembly instructions and their locations: two for Toddington, and one for CRC.

It's planned to put these in during the week after Easter.

 

 

Two members of the gang set off for Broadway on a small job, and the rest of us went to Mp 15.I to carry on where Saturday had left off.

An issue raised by Saturday was a seized bolt, and we dealt with that by replacing it with a new one, while others hauled the trolleys off the Landie. We're on the skew bridge at Gotherington here.

After half an hour of work, we started to approach Gotherington station.

That's a private house today, so the track stays on the down side.

We have good contacts with the owner though, and were grateful for the patio tables and chairs on the platform.

We had our elevenses there - coffee from vacuum flasks, as the full Devonshire cream tea service did not seem to be operating....

Is that a ray of sunshine we see there? Despite a weather forecast for grey skies, a sunny beam penetrated the gloom and we were actually quite comfortable up there.

But what's this? A shiny pair of new boots? Who's the lucky boy then? Someone who doesn't come so very often.... mind that you don't get them dirty. Is that a speck of dust we see there?

Late morning saw us power through the platforms, and here we are at the southern end of them, by the GOTHERINGTON running in board.

Lunch was taken Al Fresco as is our wont, and we picked this spot by the Bradstone signal box, where the signalman's crossing afforded us a slightly higher place to sit.

Mid afternoon we started to flag, and we looked for a good place to stop. We decided that the end of Gotherington loop would be a good marker point. Note that we are doing both tracks on the loop at once here.

We reached the southern end of the loop, having done both sides- CHECK !

On the way home we passed Winchcombe station building, where the C&M gang was busy with a repair on the pavement outside of the building. We're definitely getting ready for opening again.

On the way back we picked up the welder's tools at Little Buckland, and locked the gate again. The welding job is now done. Then it was home for a well deserved beer:

Derek's 1964 steam pictures.

Flying Scotsman is seen here passing Grendon Underwood on an SLS/MLS railtour on 18^th April 1964. Doesn't it look better without the smoke deflectors. 

On the same day a DMU is seen approaching Quainton Road. My notes say that it is the 12:30pm ex Nottingham Victoria. 

On 3^rd June 1964 Fairburn 2-6-4T 42252 is seen drawing in to Woodford Halse on a train from Banbury. 

These LMS tanks designed by Charles Fairburn were once quite common, and so successful that they were to become the basis of the BR standard 4 tank engine. 277 were built between 1945 and 1951, mostly by Derby but with some help from Brighton works. They were used mainly for suburban passenger trains. BR 42252 was a Derby built example and came into traffic in 1946 at Newton Heath. It had a 21 year life - not too bad - and a somewhat nomadic existence, certainly in the latter years. One posting was to Tebay in 1966 and one could speculate that it was one of the bankers over Shap for a while. At the time of Derek's picture it was actually based at the station it is entering in the photograph, but three weeks later it was posted to Chester instead. It finished its life in 1967 at Normanton and was scrapped.

Two examples survive, both famously on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, where one was once painted in a Caledonian blue livery. That put a  few noses out of joint!

Skipping a couple of years for a minute, on 28^th August 1966 the driver of this Oxford to Cambridge through train is taking the token for the single line towards Sandy. My notes don't say where, but I think it is Blunham. In its day, the Oxford to Cambridge route either joined or crossed seven main lines out of London and should never have been closed.

We asked Derek what he was doing in the train passing through Blunham, and he said:

It was a day out in Cambridge. It was a through service from Oxford to Cambridge formed of a DMU. It was a travesty that this line was closed. In its day it either joined or linked seven main lines out of London (Bahh!).

Blunham is a tiny village on that section of the Varsity line (now being rebuilt) which lies between Bletchley (target of the current rebuild, of which Swanbourne and Verney Junction are parts) and Cambridge. Some of the trackbed has been built on, and this third section will need a lot of innovation to get it back up and running. The final course of the rebuild is not yet decided.

Back to 1964 and I like this view of a Deltic on the northbound Flying Scotsman service, complete with headboard, passing Sandy on 29^th June. This view shows the layout before rebuilding. On the left is the double track Oxford to Cambridge line, with the double track east coast main line on the right. With the subsequent closing of the Oxford to Cambridge through route the east coast main line was quadrupled here. That, together with a housing estate on the Oxford-Cambridge line where is crosses the east coast main line before arriving at Sandy station means a huge detour whichever way they choose to go on the reinstatement to come. Then of course there is the guided busway at Cambridge that has commandeered some of the former route.

At the time of the picture I was on a journey from Oxford to Lincoln and changed trains at Sandy.

I have a copy of the BR Midland timetable from 1967/68 which shows the Oxford-Cambridge service (slimmed down by this time) with a warning note that the service would be withdrawn within the currency of that timetable. Indeed it was closed, at the end of 1967. Shortsighted as ever. 

The weekend in Lincoln was not dedicated to railway interest, however I sneaked in one picture here at Firsby on 1^st July 1964 with a train arriving for Grimsby Town. Waiting in the siding is a train for Skegness.

Remember that you can buy original electronic scans of any of these pictures  (+/- 5Mb) through breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk.