Saturday with heavy sleepers

 

It was a bad weather forecast, with heavy rain and thunderstorms predicted, but what are you going to do? We can't just stop. We did sit for a while inside our newly repainted mess coach, it has finally been moved back to its old position, with access and power. We sat in there, and celebrated with some doughnuts as the rain rattled on the tin roof. We still don't have a water supply, as previous arrangements involving a buffer tank are no longer satisfactory, so we need plumbing in to a mains pipe somehow. Then we can brew tea again.

Our job for Saturday was to place ballast retaining boards by up to 4 bridges in the Far Stanley area, our quietest and prettiest piece of the line. During the doughnut fest in the mess coach we discussed how to build these, and we decided to use old concrete military sleepers, which are of no use to us, and which are clogging up the yard anyway. The military sleepers are slightly lighter than your standard concrete sleeper, but, worry not, they are still very heavy.

We got the Telehandler into the yard, and sorted out some suitable candidates.

After some fiddling, we worked out that two could be loaded on to the white Landie, and still shut the rear flaps. You just needed to push them around a bit, just right.

Steve, Nick, Dave, Bert Ferrule and Jim chew the cud.

The back of the Landie made a handy support for the arms, while listening to some of Jim's incredible tales from his life with the MOD. (Jim's on the right)

Loaded up with the tools, we set off for the first bridge, and found that we were not the only people at work on that stretch of the line.

We met the lineside clearance gang just as Foremarke Hall passed by, heading for CRC tender first.

OK, who wants to start shovelling?

Our first bridge was for an accommodation track, now rarely used except by people on foot (if the pattern in the weeds could be believed).

Ballast here rolls down the slope, exposing the sleeper ends, and making packing the dip you often get by a bridge more difficult.

We had two sleepers on the back of the Landie, and found that this 'lightweight' version could just about be lifted by 4 people with nips.

'When I nod my head, you hit it with the hammer'.

We also did the other end of the bridge, where we see Bert Ferrule knocking in one of the steel pipes that we had sawn to length. Steve was the courageous volunteer who held the pipe in place, while Bert whacked away from above.

And here's the finished product. One ballast retaining sleeper, with ballast shovelled in behind it. In the background the second sleeper is being eased off the Landie for the other side.

The arrival of Foremarke Hall from CRC was a welcome excuse for a break from shovelling ballast back up the slope.

For lunch we returned back to base, and treated ourselves to a tray full of cups of tea from the Coffeepot.

We extracted two more ex military sleepers from the concrete disposal pile, and took them up to the next bridge. This was the one that crossed the road near Prescott (of the hill climb)

 

Here too the sleeper ends were exposed, as it had been rolling down the hill along the wing walls. Another candidate for a sleeper built ballast retaining wall then.

This time it was Nick who was brave enough to hold the length of pipe upright, while someone whacked away at the top of it.

We had a specially heavy sledgehammer to whack these pipes in, and it did the job very easily. Steve kept a supervisory eye on the proceedings.

 

The last pipe was extra long, say 8ft instead of 6ft like the others. We had a gay old time trying to whack that one in, as it was much taller, and some distance away from any high point from which to wield the sledgehammer.

We each had a go from different positions, until yours truly got the measure of it with the slightly lighter keying hammer that we had with us. Once the pipe started to go down the rest was easy.

And here on the left is the third sleeper built wall that we built. Bert Ferrule and Dave are just tidying up the site. We had a fourth sleeper with us, but decided to leave that for the next gang on Wednesday. Once you had the system worked out, placing these sleepers wasn't so difficult, but the initial organisation at the beginning of the day took its time.

We returned to Gotherington Skew bridge, where we had parked our cars. A quick look at the timetable showed that a train was due in 5 minutes or so, and so we were able to take this rather splendid shot of Foremarke Hall accelerating away from the skew bridge, round the bend and on to the Dixton straight.

Monday at Broadway

Still a split activity, with John painting the recently fitted boarding on P1, while Neal and yours truly switched their attentions to the steps on P2.

But first of all we decided to clear up the P1 site of material we do not need in the immediate future. The bulky tower scaffold has gone to Winchcombe where it is needed, and the Broadway gang very kindly put in the last slab around the replica uprights, so that the ground can now be walked over. The rest of our stuff has been concentrated in a corner, with just a piece of fencing over the entrance, as we are still working upstairs.

The P1 staircase now visible in all its glory. Now to finish the roof!

Underneath the staircase it is now light and airy.

Now we have a special plea to all users of Broadway: Please respect this area, and resist the temptation to fill it with clutter and handy storage solutions for donations of luggage, spare picnic tables or scratch built cupboards. We've put a lot of effort into building this, so let's keep it beautiful!

Don't do this, please.

Look after our heritage footbridge now, don't let it sink to this.

Now, back to the day's work. We had a group of special visitors today, three experts from Sperry whom we have invited to test the rails on our line from end to end with ultrasound test equipment

There are two of these machines, seen here on the forecourt being set up and tested. They are ultrasound testers, the same as those used by doctors on your body. The doctor uses a gel to improve the contact between the skin and the sensor; these machines use water as a medium, but gel is used for spot checks. The grey area near the bottom is the water tank, which dribbles fluid on to the rail and which is then distributed by a little revolving brush. There are a several sensors near the railhead, which look forwards, backwards, downwards, and one which checks the fishing bolts. A screen at the top gives a readout of any faults (potential cracks) detected. Not all faults require action of course, but in this way you get to know what state your rail is in.

Two machines were set up in the headshunt at Broadway, starting from where the engine stops for the run round.

It looks a bit like a race, but while the machines advance at walking pace, they have to stop and examine whenever an anomaly is detected. It is planned to do the whole railway over several days, mostly in the evenings outside our normal running times.

 

 

Before starting off, the sensors were tested on a joint, here using the gel that improves the contact with the rail. One of the sensors was playing up a bit, but then they set off.

It was hoped to reach Toddington at the end of the day.

Meanwhile....

Back on the footbridge, here on the P2 side, Neal was in his element as he started cutting wood for the framework of the sides. He was back and forth with his tape measure checking on the P1 side now complete, but there was little that is standard on these steps, every panel is sightly different from the next. The bridge now at Broadway is a foot higher than the one at Henley in Arden, and this extra height has been won by increasing the rise and the going of every step until the extra height required for the rebuild is reached at the top.

Neal sawing away, all day long.

Yours truly carried on with last week's job, which is drilling the countersinks for the bolts holding the steps down.

Last week we ran into several old screws, which blunted the huge spiral drill that we have. Neal sharpened this at home, and we managed to drill almost all the holes up to the intermediate platform, when it became blunt again. The wood is first class quality, and hard as stone.

Neal's work site, from above.

At the end of Monday Neal could be seen fitting the cross braces on to the first section, with the bottom frame member done up to the platform.

Tuesday at Broadway

An operating day again, with lots of visitors, but volunteer numbers were tight. We need more help, in all departments. Come and have a go, please do. It's very enjoyable.

The cafe reported that at one point it was a full house, something they hadn't seen since before Covid struck.

Today John was working on the upper half of the P2 steps, where the treads still need widening. This is done by attaching a strip from an unused tread at the back. We have several spares, as the footbridge when at Henley in Arden had two spans, the second carrying a public footpath across the station.

Neal continued with the framework for the sides, here watched with great interest by the passengers in a train that was about to set off. A visitor from the Caravan site across the road expressed great praise for Neal's carpentry in the P1 steps. And rightly so!

 

 

Of course we allowed ourselves the usual mid afternoon break, once there was a quiet period between trains.

Three coffees from the cafe, and three Magnums - a veritable treat. Sadly not all of the coffee made it along the bumpy way over the footbridge and down again to the other side.

In the afternoon one train was hauled by D5081, which rumbled slowly into the station with its characteristic slow chug.

Here it is about to pass under the footbridge, with its new steps.

After a while there was a plaintive 'TOOT' and then the 'Splut' reappeared on the loop while running round.

The evening light gave us some fine shadows for this passing shot.

And here is D5081 ready to depart again with 7 on, just waiting for the 'Off' from the guard.

Our last shot is just for the record, so that you can see where we got to. Yours truly completed drilling all the countersink holes for the tread boltheads to go into, and bolted everything down nice and tight. No more wobbly treads anywhere.

Neal spent most of the day working on the second section, interspersed with help for yours truly when the big drill he was using kept hitting various bits of broken screw still left in the old treads.

Normally, at this stage of the blog, we'd be talking about the Usk project, but on Wednesday we're taking Mrs. Blogger out for a day at the seaside. It's a day trip with Vintage Trains, diesel hauled, from Tyseley to Scarborough. A day spent looking out of the window, and being fed and plied with wine - who could say no? Work will proceed on Wednesday as normal - no one is indispensable - but perhaps we'll receive some pictures to show afterwards?

And there's a bit of news, hot off the press, about the Robel powered hand tampers. A second kind and generous sponsor has come forward with an offer to sponsor the second of the pair of Robels that the PWay gang would so much like to have. This is incredible! We are very grateful indeed, and the second sponsorship has given us the confidence to place a firm order for a pair, which, we learned, actually arrived today.

It is very rewarding to communicate like this with those that follow and support us.

Thanks for watching, and supporting. We'll be back soon.

A strange machine

Almost unknown to most, a strange machine sits in hiding in a shed at Winchcombe. One day the shed door was ajar and peeped inside. There was a strange mechanical contraption that we had never seen before (and we have seen a few strange ones). It had GWR on the front.

John Earle on the Cotton Sturdy

From the loco on the front, and its vaguely Art Deco, shape you'd guess its period of manufacture as around the 1930s. But you'd be wrong, it was made in the 1960s! Between 100 and 150 were made in Gloucester by the Cotton Motorcycle company from 1966 to 1975. They were used in factories towing trailers, as garden runabouts, and a few were used by British Midland Airways as aircraft tugs, albeit specially fitted with a heavy weight to improve the adhesion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All but the aircraft tugs were used as tippers, as can be seen here in the garden behind P2 at Winchcombe. There was no hydraulic tipping mechanism - the flatbed was hinged off the centre of gravity so that, when you pulled a lever, it tipped by itself.

Stay away from that lever, we say!

Bruce Ward on our Cotton Sturdy, before it was painted in chocolate and cream.

 

 

 

The Cotton Sturdy was originally powered by a 430cc JAP single cylinder engine, but later examples also featured a Briggs & Stratton unit, which is the case with ours. The steering wheel came from a Morris Commercial, and other bits from British industry were 'borrowed' as the versions required. Reliant, Land Rover and Morris Minor would recognise some of the powertrain pieces borrowed. A motoring correspondent noted that when setting off on it, the first impression was one of - vibration!

Our example was purchased by Steve on the PWay for £60 when no longer required by a sewage works near Cheltenham. It's an ugly duckling, but given the low numbers made, it must be quite rare now.

And the Cotton Sturdy's relationship with the GWR? None - just a bit of fun!

A day with 76077

Thursday at Loughborough

The work done to our Toddington Standard 76077 by LMS at Loughborough is open to GWSR volunteers - this keeps the job going, and reduces the costs of the overhaul. So two of us went to work on the locomotive on Thursday. We were made very welcome. It seems that volunteer numbers on the locomotive are down, so a few extra hands would be welcome, otherwise we will have to pay for the work to be done. You don't need any special skills.

The locomotive has now been re-wheeled, a big step forward! To permit work on the springs, the frames are just held aloft by the 4 lifting jacks, just an inch or two. Andy and John discuss the day's work.

A few items have been laid out to give an impression of how the loco will look, eg the grab rail, lamp iron and Horwich works plate.

The steelwork is temporary, it needs to be cleaned up next.

We liked the little brass oil reservoir by the valve chest.

Many items are on order, but delayed. With/after COVID the market is in disarray and prices are high, or products unavailable. This has delayed the timing, but the loco continues to advance. The re-wheeling is proof! It is 6 months behind, but we did it.

Accessories laid out over the smokebox

We had two jobs on Thursday. The first was to sand down the inside of the frames, ready for filler to be applied to the pitting that 20 years out in open storage have caused.

John on the sander, in the frames.

 

The second job was to clean the reverser shafts of oil and crap accumulated over 20 years of storage, and indeed service for BR.

Here are the two halves of the reverser shaft. This one is ours, as it's stamped '76077'. Parts were pitted from the rain in open storage on a wagon at Toddington north sidings, other parts were not pitted, as covered in a thick coat of old grease.

It took all day, but we got the grease and dirt off with a scraper, and then liberal application of old diesel.

There were no traces of paint, so these items will have been polished steel, as visible from the outside, like the coupling rods. Rather beautiful, we thought.

The bearing surfaces had a small amount of surface rust. This shaft only rotates through about 30 degrees at a time, so its not as critical as say the wheel axles, which rotate quite quickly. We polished these with emery paper.

 

 

We are gradually burning through the 76077 project funds, although we should be able to complete the frames and wheels. There is an income stream every month, (eg your blogger's standing order of £25) but expenses are steady and we could do with more support. Standard 76077 is a locomotive project run by GWSR people, it's our locomotive, so let's pull together and see it through.

On the longer term horizon is the boiler refurbishment. We are currently awaiting a report on its condition. It should be quite good as it's not very old, but you know how these things are, they always find unexpected stuff.

In the more immediate future is the smokebox. This will be a new build. And we have commissioned a new reverser gearbox, even though we don't have all the money yet. This is being raised through a special parts sponsorship fund, which you can see here:

 https://standard76077.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Sponsor-application-form-v4.pdf

We are something over half way to raising the £10.500 for this gearbox, which was taken from the loco at Barry. For £140 you can be part of this. Or buy some shares, and be part owner! Or, if it suits you better, set up a standing order like your Blogger. It isn't much per month, but over time it adds up, and it plays a really important part in securing a steady income stream to underwrite the work.

Thanks for your help, guys!

Finally, a little peek (with permission) into the work of our contractor Locomotive Services Ltd at Loughborough:

(Picture with kind permission from Andy)

Bulleid Pacific 92 Squadron in one of the halls, receiving work on the firebox. When you come and volunteer here on 76077, you'll be astounded at the work they carry out on preserved steam locomotives. There is a lot to see, but we can only show a very limited amount. That 92 Squadron is there is common knowledge, so a picture of that was OK.

Friday at the foundry

Having had 4 more ball-topped GWR gateposts cast for Broadway, we went to the foundry on Friday to recover the pattern that we have, and put it into storage.

Finding a foundry that will do your kind of work is not easy these days, as many have gone to the wall recently. Those that survive don't necessarily do the sort of work you want.

We have had gate posts cast for Broadway by this one, a private foundry with an old fashioned smelting column. This is filled in alternate layers of scrap iron (in this case principally car brake discs) so that is good recycling, and smallish amount of coking coal, which is imported from Poland. 

More modern foundries use expensive electric ovens, but many of these have been forced to close, due to rising costs of power, the rising minimum wage, and disposal costs of foundry sand. Not to mention the COVID crisis.

In the picture you can see the little chariot which ferries the scrap iron and coal to the top of the column. About a third of the way up is a blower, and once the column is lit, the molten iron pours out (inside the building) after only a few minutes. We were surprised by how fast it went.

When the molten iron has been drained out and emptied into the crucible (inside the building) the impurities which float to the top are blown out through a vent at the bottom. 

You can see a shower of sparks, and a treacly drip like lava coming out. Inside they are busy filling the many moulds with the molten iron from the crucible.

The column is then refilled a number of times, with more scrap brake discs and coal.

 

 

We haven't actually got a picture of the casting process, as we asked the proprietor whether he was OK with us filming it, and he said OK, so here is a film of it happening. It was fascinating. Not many people get to see this:

https://youtu.be/VgmUyWh1Dio

In another part of the building we were allowed to see various castings already made and fettled, e.g. pump casings, impellers, valves, gate posts, finials, even cylinder blocks like this one:

This is a block for one of the IOM engines. We think they are reversible, so with one pattern you can do both blocks. GWR engines had this possibility as well, we heard.

Here is a pattern for the single cylinder block for a traction engine. It was well worn, we thought, it must have been used multiple times.

Next to it was an actual example of the original block, with part of the original exterior sheeting still attached, in red and yellow. We also saw a smokebox saddle for a smaller engine, and in the background you can see some of the pump casings that are ready to go.

The foundry, we learned, specialises in small runs, which is attractive in the railway preservation world. Your blogger once needed a foundry to cast him an 18 inch cast iron signal bell (smashed in a shunting manoeuvre gone wrong) and there was none to be found in the country where he was living at the time. A typical answer was, we can cast you 500 brake blocks, but not one signal bell.

Hope you enjoyed the film. We returned home grubby, with grit in our hair as if we had hung out of the window of a steam special!

Saturday on the PWay

Another good team turnout today. It looks like they all came in the hope of more doughnuts like last week, but there were none :-(

Thus are expectations raised....

 

 

 

We've had a request to improve a hand operated turnout in the C&W yard, so the first thing we did was to sort out some reasonable second hand sleepers.

Is this off the rails, or what? Can't tell in this infestation of Mares' Tail.

Then we set off to inspect the site, passing by our PWay mess coach. It has received a beautiful new coat of paint, and a watertight roof, but now it is parked in an inaccessible spot, without electricity or water. No one could explain to us why it is not back where it was.

The good news is that on Wednesday (i.e. today) the coach had finally been shunted back to where it was. It still needs connecting to water and electricity, and the kitchen given a once over.

Dinmore Manor chugs past with the well filled first train out of CRC.

The turnout controls part of the fan of sidings leading to the C&W barn, and beyond. The lever controlling it has become unreliable, we were told.

... and heads off for Chicken Curve, still at 10mph as within 'Station Limits'.

Only at the end of the curve can the loco open up, but what a cracking sound Dinmore Manor makes when under load!

After inspection of the lever mechanism we decided that two replacement half sleepers were required, to secure it better. We think the installation dates back to the late 1980s, so could well be life expired.

 

At 11 am we felt it was time for a coffee, particularly as a fine drizzle had started.

On the way we met this gentleman, with an interesting Pashley bicycle. It was very well appointed, and we stopped to admire it.

The break was only short, the drizzle faded away and there was no longer an excuse to linger.

Here Nick has posed with an old fashioned T spanner to undo some chair screws holding down two 75lb fishplates. Note that we said 'posed'...

... because as soon as we had taken the picture for the record, he set off with his true intention of using the motorised impact wrench, which burped angrily 4 times, and then the bolts were out.

The turnouts in the yard are a real jumble of second hand stuff, assembled way back when we got recovered material from places like Gloucester docks. The best quality rails and turnouts went in the main line, what was left went into sidings, which were only there to get coaches in and out of the old Winchcombe goods shed, which became the base for indoor carriage maintenance.

Here we see two point levers, one which is spring loaded (our difficult one) and one which is more basic and which works with a heavy weight. They were connected by a common length of sleeper, which had become life expired and too wobbly.

Bert Ferrule and Mike thought, why lie down, when you can stand up and saw?

We pause briefly to watch a Broadway bound train to trundle out of the station.

After screwing down both point levers to the two new sleepers we couldn't get the turnout to operate correctly. We spent a long time fiddling with the position of the lever (drilled three times!), with the turnbuckle in the middle of the rodding, and with the tie bar between the blades

Adjustment of the tie bar - it didn't help.

We got the lever to throw the switches, and lock them, one way but not the other. Whatever we did, it was always the same.

What's this 'ere then?

Eventually, having tried all options, suspicion began to fall on the point lever itself. Bert Ferrule and Tony took a very close look underneath, and started poking and rattling various components. It's a funny system, you always pull the lever in the same direction, whether you want the through road, or the diverging road. But that damned lever would only ever lock the through road.

Triumph!

Eventually Bert Ferrule emerged from the dusty ash with a broken bolt. This sits inside the coiled spring, and makes sure that it stays straight when the lever is pulled (i.e. does not go banana shaped, as it must have done).

It cost us a whole day to discover the cause. We did also manage to fit the two new half sleepers, and fettle the point blades so that they fit better.

At the end of the day we went to the Coffeepot for our usual ice cream and mugs of tea. We watched the diesel hauled trains at the end of the day, always interesting, as you never know what is going to appear this time.

On Saturday is was Growler 37 215, which rewarded us with a satisfying growl as it set off.

Monday at Broadway

Work on cleaning up the Eynsham platform bench is nearing completion.

 

 

It took ages to strip off the old varnish, bits of green paint (?), drops of red oxide and chainsaw oil and general sweat and dirt. But we got there - the bench is finally ready for a new coat of varnish!

Half an hour later.....

Once it was dry, we carried the bench over to the mess room, where it will be stored safe and dry, while performing a useful function. 

Now to wait for the building of the platform 2 building, to complete Broadway station. A proposal has been submitted.

At the same time, Neal and John were working on the footbridge. John was giving the inside of the LH row of boards a final top coat, while Neal made a start on completing the final run of the forecourt side.

Mid afternoon Neal had gotten this far.

Need a bolt?

We left early, to visit our local Broadway hardware shop for some more supplies. It's a brilliant shop. They have everything, and it's not hung out in self service isles in little bags, where you have to buy 20 to get half a dozen. If you need 29 M12 x 100mm bolts, you can have 29 M12 x 100mm bolts. They have solid brass screws (not 'brass' which turns out to be brass coloured steel) and a lovely range of door and window furniture in solid brass, We managed to secure a replacement solid brass sash lock for the big Usk hut window, which had a broken lock on it.

On the counter is this cat in a round basket. It's always asleep, as it's very old. The temptation to pet it is very strong, but - you do not touch!

Tuesday at Broadway

A busy day for the station staff at Broadway, a lot of people were waiting for one of the first two trains.

Both positions are now open in the mornings. Previously we coped with just the one.

People who want to buy a ticket, we hear, always make a bee line for the first window, the one on the left. So if you are the relief booking clerk to the normal window on the right, you get all the hard work.

Due to booking on line, station staff cannot now say how many people boarded at Broadway. 170 tickets were sold though.

Work on the footbridge covered three areas on Tuesday. John gave the forecourt side of the recently fitted boards a topcoat, after filling in countless little nail holes from the nails holding the boards in place.

Yours truly worked on the P2 treads, which are in place, but not bolted down yet. It meant drilling x new holes into bone hard, three inch thick wood. That was very slow, but we got there, and all bolt holes are now present.

Neal made a start on the Malvern side steps. In the picture you can see him cutting to fit the lower supports for the boarding. These were profiled and primered last winter and stored.

In the background you can see the stream of passengers on Tuesday morning. We think there were 80 or 100 people on the platform for the first two trains.

The P1 boarding is now complete. John is giving it a last coat of paint on the inside.

To complete the 1904 picture, we still need the final part of the canopy to reach across, and keep the bottom of the steps dry.

Some of the work today was rather repetitive, so from time to time we would wander over for a chat, or get some coffees in from the cafe.

Neal is working on the third support, starting from the bottom.

Later in the afternoon people mostly left, having spent time in Broadway village. Stationmaster and assistant watch the last train pull out, then it's time to empty the litter bins, and, sadly, wash parts of the platform of dog urine that was left today - twice!

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

It was the three Usketeers today - just the 3 of us. Jules is moving house, and Paul has gone on a much needed (but short) holiday.

It was John on painting windows and cleaning blocks, Dave laying blocks, and yours truly measuring up and sourcing them for Dave to lay.

 

 

Here's our starting position: A line of 7 inch blocks loosely laid out, and tipped over, ready for mortar to be applied.

We still had difficulties with Maxie, what is this, a mid life crisis? Today she kept stopping, but later stopped - stopping. Then she spat at Dave! He got a big blob on him. How very ill educated she is.

 

Here's Dave, ready to kick off. More loose blocks were laid out last week on each side of the door frame.

After doing the 7 inch blocks (they were 7 inch, as that is the height of the window cill in the middle, which they will tie in) Dave moved over to the door frame, and gave those blocks a hard stare. There is one big one in there balancing on a small step in the level, which will be tricky to accommodate.

The quoin on the corner was one of three we put down today. It was a red letter day. It's always more fun to put down exterior blocks than backing up, as the exterior blocks give a much more visible sign of progress.

 

The big lump by the door frame was the tricky bit today. How to bridge the one inch gap, and bridge over to the next block underneath? We must have no pairs of vertical joints.

We had a 'sneck' (one of those small stones that make things fit) but it was too thick. Dave must have N Wales family in him, as he expertly split the thickish sneck into two thinner ones. Brilliant!

For a break from painting windows, John came over for a chat and to see how we were doing. Here you can now see the line of 7 inch blocks in place on the right.

As we had a barrow of mortar going off in the sun, Dave was keen to use it profitably, so we decided to put up our second quoin here, on the corner nearest the station. This is another 7 inch job, again to fit in with the window sill on the facade.

When we saw the Telehandler out and about, we jumped at the chance to use it, and lobbied for Bob to bring up a few more baskets of rough stones. He did this, very gracefully. It was unkind of us to push our luck then, and ask Bob to help us lift in the third and last quoin, a really big and heavy one. John had found it under a pile of stones on a pallet and said to us, guys, if you don't use this heavy one soon, you'll be sorry when the wall gets higher.

There's no picture of us lifting this jobbie up to by the door frame, as all 4 of us lifted it together. You can see that it is easily bigger than any of the others on this part of the wall. But now it's in.

After that quoin was put into its place, Dave filled the gap up to the corner, then did the inside as well, so that this corner has now gone up a level, inside and out. We find that the mortar is going off well, and is quite hard a week later when we come back. You can only really lay one row of blocks at any one time, as they are so irregular that any weight on top would put them out of position before the mortar goes off.

Here is our end of the day shot. Blocks were laid in 4 places, marked by the hessian and blue covering plastic.

It was a good day, and, we felt, with more progress than average, despite the absence of Paul.

Stop Press!

A blog reader has come forward with a very generous offer to sponsor one of the two Robel tampers that the gang would like to have so much. There are some very kind people reading this blog, and the tired PWay gang is very grateful.