More numerous now

Saturday at Broadway.

An ice cold start today, after night-time temperatures fell to minus four degrees. Miraculously the lambs at Stanway viaduct were still going, how did they do that?

We decided to grease the Pry Lane to Broadway section, beyond the CWR where we stopped at Stanway viaduct. We piled the two trolleys and all the Interflon material and appendages on to the Landie, and met at the bracket signal opposite the Broadway goods shed.

Rather than link up the two trolleys, we kept them separate today, one for each of the teams working with the heavy Bances. That was an excellent idea.

We then set off to the point of departure for today, Pry Lane underbridge, where the northern CWR breather is located.

This area was freshly laid in 2017 and in terms of fishplate greasing is now 4 years old and due for a refresher.

Initial progress was pleasingly rapid. Not only did we weld the new rail into 120ft lengths (twice the normal rail length) but there were also a lot of 'freebies' i.e. insulated joints, which we can leave alone.

Through the station itself again it was slower, as here the lengths are back to the standard 60ft sizes, and there are also three turnouts, which have lots of fishplates to slow you down.

The station was deserted and quiet. The rails were rusty. Until Tuesday April 13th, that is. Then we re-open, so come one, come all.

In time for lunch we arrived back at the bracket signal, having done the circuit of signal-Pry Lane-northern headshunt and back to the bracket signal.

This greasing job involves a lot of repeated bending, and holding heavy stuff, so we were all tired and somewhat achey.

Feeling pleased with ourselves at having knocked the northern bit on the head we called it a day after lunch.

 

 

The next session should see us on the southern half of the line.

Tuesday on the onloading road.

The end is in sight on this long job, and about time too.

Having dug out the area, we're now at the stage of attaching the angled guides on the third and final stretch. Neal can be seen welding one of the strips that temporarily hold them in place here.

A contractor was also on site today. To intercept any rainwater from the car park this ACO drain was placed by him in the morning.

John fitted the second lifter plate retrieved from our collection at Winchcombe. Not without some difficulty, as it turned out to be a transition plate from 00 rail to 95lb, with two different hole spacings. We had to move one set of holes....

 

 

Also at work at Toddington was Stevie, our man with the JCB.

Stevie spent the day grading and ballasting the new car park approach road. On opening, our passengers will no longer drive past the station building, but now through the former garden centre directly to the car park. As this whole area is due for development, the road will not be tarmacced for now.

The spent ballast extracted from the unloading road was suitable fill for the new road, so Stevie helped himself with several bucket loads of it, to make sure the new approach was sufficiently resistant to traffic.

Next door the farmer was ploughing, harrowing and seeding, all at the same time. He was followed all day by a huge flock of seagulls. Usually we rarely see a seagull, and we wondered how they all knew what the farmer was going to do. Where did they all suddenly come from?

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day we had to dig out another 2ft of the four foot between the rails. The concrete in the 4ft will project slightly into the car park, and the guide rails will as well.

 

 

Here we are at the end of the day. Neal is just filling a guide rail for the end, while John is welding on the last of the strips.

 

 

 

 

Our job is about done here, until the concrete comes. The contractor still has another ACO drain to fit, then we can place the concrete order. The concrete unloading road should then be ready for our re-opening, and it is hoped to put the new mess room into service at the same time.

What will then happen to our trusty loco dept mess coach TINA? It's a converted former SK (we think) with tea making area, mess room and washing/changing facilities. We have not heard of any plans, once the new mess room is open.

 

Wednesday on the CWR.

The day of the rain and storm. Nonetheless we were quite numerous today, split into two teams, and saw a number of faces we had not seen until the first vaccinations started to take effect.

Throughout we've had a handful of stalwarts who were prepared to come and do essential maintenance, but many, at our age, have more or less serious issues and were shy of working, even outdoors. But since the vaccinations, now given to more than 22 million people as a first dose, confidence is just beginning to return.

And just in time too - we are running again in a month!

The job today, as a break from greasing, was to move a number of concrete sleepers on the Broadway extension so as to free 5 welds, which will be re-done. This gives the re-welding team the space they need to attach their equipment. An inspection by a third party found that a handful of the many welds on the 2 miles to Broadway were slightly misaligned, so it's better to get them done right.

The job wasn't particularly onorous (for once) but that was just as well, as the weather was a bit miserable on the approach to the storm we are expecting tonight.

We dug out a sleeper, and a bit of room on the side for two Duff jacks, then we jacked the offending concrete lump about a foot out of the way of the misaligned joint. Job done. Of course after the welders have been (probably next week) we will have to come back and reverse the process.

We worked over an area of about a mile, and came face to face with another gang on maintenance - the clearance guys. It was good to see them, and it felt quite crowded, out at Little Buckland.

The final one we did was just at the end of the Little Buckland curve. Next time we will be back to fishplate greasing, now on the southern end of the line.

Once back in the yard we found that two pairs of steps had arrived. One is new, the other was spotted next to a skip at Toddington and we had it away quick before its scrapped!

The steps were destined for our storage GUV, and for the mess coach. They will make it a lot easier and safer to get in, especially for the GUV where we often struggle to get the heavy kit in and out.

Of course the steps were heavy too... as there seemed to be quite a few people carrying, we drew back to take this picture for our readers. Hope they didn't mind.

 

 

 

Derek's 1960s Steam Pictures

Derek continues his stories about railway discovery with a camera in the 1960s:

On the 17^th March 1964 we were continuing with our small group from the Oxford University Railway Society (OURS) on a mixture of service trains and reserved brakevan journeys.

Standard Class 2MT 78058 is seen here waiting at Llanberis with a freight.

Snowdon Mountain Railway No. 8 is also seen at Llanberis.

 

A view of Snowdon, from the BR yard. No we didn't go up!

We spent the night in Holyhead, where there was nothing better to do but visit the local cinema which was showing 'The Day of the Triffids'. Seats cost either 1/- or 1/6 so we treated ourselves to 1/6 (7 1/2p). The entrance to the auditorium was at the screen end of the cinema and it only had a central aisle, so whenever anyone came in you saw the shadow of a head projected on the screen, gradually getting bigger until they found their seat. It's the only time that I have seen this film so I am not sure if it is supposed to be in fairly dim light. Perhaps it was a feeble projector.

On the next day, 18^th March 1964 we had another brakevan trip. Here at Gaerwen Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T 41234 is waiting to depart for Amlwch.

41234 is next seen waiting at Llangefni. We spent quite a long time here and it was damp and cold. We had a dedicated brakevan for our use with a supply of fuel for the stove and we spent a fair bit of time inside keeping warm.

On 19^th March 1964 Standard Class 3MT 2-6-2T 82034 is seen approaching Abererch on the 10:25 ex Pwllheli.

On the same day we were on board the 12:45 Pwllheli to Birkenhead train. It is seen here near Barmouth.

Then the same train between Barmouth and Ruabon. During the journey we took it in turns to ride on the footplate, and as far as I can remember this was courtesy of the crew and all unofficial.

If you particularly like any of Derek's pictures, you can buy full sized copies (often about 5Mb, in electronic form) with a request to breva2011 (at) hotmail.co.uk. Derek has kindly agreed to donate any income to GWSR heritage projects.