A busy week

Saturday with the Pway gang

A breezy, cloudy day, with 8 volunteers - quite good.

Dave spent the day repairing the blue Landie (failed tensioner wheel bearing), and the others set out for Didbrook to continue a spot resleepering job there.

Before you go spot resleepering, take your replacement sleepers!

We have very few spares left, as you can see.

In the white Landie we didn't even make it as far as Didbrook before we met 35006 coming down round the curve at Hayles. That means parking up, and watching it steam past.

We parked at Didbrook 1 bridge (the older one), and waited for the others to arrive (some parked at Toddington, some under the bridge (one spot) and one walked up from Hayles).

Then we split into two groups, the diggers (foreground) and the sleeper draggers (rear).

Again we paused to let a train by, this time 4270 with the first train out of Cheltenham. We were a bit far down in the ballast to see how full it was though, the train towered above us.

Here are Pete and Adam fitting the chairs back on to the replacement sleeper, watched by Bert.

The second sleeper on site was a very old one, it must date back to the 1980s and would have been second hand even then - it was a GWR throughbolter, and we never fitted those consciously, only used sleepers already equipped with them.

You can't unscrew these, they spin round and round, and in this case the bolts were loose too. The only way to remove them is to smash either the sleeper, or the cast iron chair.

Once you have go the sleeper out -  quite a job, as the through bolts stuck into the ground and prevented the sleeper from being dragged - you can drag in the new one, here one of a pair we did.

Afterwards you shovel or rake in some ballast scavenged from around, and then the new Robels get to work. They are fantastic! No more digging, or hacking with ballast picks. They do all the backbreaking work, beautifully consolidating the ballast beneath the new sleepers. They're not only easier, but also do a better job than the old manual way.

There is still a bit of hard manual labour, even with the Robels we take it in turns. At lunch time we laid them on the ground, and retired gratefully on our stack of new sleepers for a bite and a coffee. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the leftover doughnuts from first thing, so no pudding for the gang  this time.

We have to time our work and rest carefully, as we are obliged to ask for a line block if we want to work. But there are trains running, so a lot of the time we just sit there and wait. We are less productive than in the past, when we worked pretty much non-stop, pausing only briefly to let a train pass. Today we replaced 4 sleepers, the new norm.

The rests have one big advantage, in that we can watch the trains at leisure. Here is P&O heading out of Toddington, now with the reduced rake of 7 (due to the shorter platform length at Toddington).

The other job we did on Saturday was to iron out some dropped joints and dips. Here Bert crouching down is eyeing in Leigh and Nick on the pan jacks, while Adam confirms the heights with the cross level.

Once the jacks are set up and the right level achieved, the offending rail is packed with the Robels.

This stretch, between the two Didbrook bridges, is a regular 'customer'. Every year we have to return to pack the Cotswolds side, which has dropped down a few mm. Our suspicions fall on the lack of proper drainage at the foot of the Cotswolds side embankment, which is somewhat boggy here. Perhaps a new ditch at the toe of the embankment would cure the problem?

The canopy gang at Broadway

With the final part of the canopy complete, there is one more job to do - dress the bare end of the building.

This is what it currently looks like, with a window placed in the middle that wasn't there originally.

 

Below is the famous August 1904 picture, showing the residents of Broadway village queueing up to take an excursion train to Stratford on Avon.

Look under the canopy on the left, and you will see two quad royal poster boards, one on top of the other. We're in the process of making those, but will fit them side by side, to allow for the window that is there now. We have found 4 older style posters for them.

Under the canopy itself - apparently a hit on social media, we are told - we have fitted the WAY OUT board, with that lovely pointing hand.

A similar one has been made for the other side - 'WAY OUT, OVER FOOT BRIDGE'.

Now to build P2. The canopy gang is keen to do this.

Stop Press:

We had a well known visitor today!

Apparently, t h e place to stop for an interview at Broadway is now under our completed canopy extension, by the big hexagonal lamp and under the new WAY OUT sign!

Tuesday at Broadway.

A day of good progress, on the hand rails, painting steps and cutting them to size.

It was a day of GWR engines, with 4903 taking the first rake into Broadway. In the foreground is our step stripes painting station.

A bit further down the same platform is the steps cutting to size station.

As we don't want a friendly nudge from a Hall we stand to one side and let it pass.

The other GWR steamer on Tuesday was 4270. Doesn't it look fantastic! We spoke to one of our new department heads, and he couldn't believe the station was not a restoration, but completely new from the ground up.

It was fairly hot and sunny on Tuesday, so we broke the ice (as it were) and had our first Magnum of the season.

Neal concentrated on the hand rails. This row is now up, but not yet finally. Always a bit of fettling to do. When he's signed it off we'll give it a few coats of varnish, and it will look all luxurious.

This is the top end. Will you leave it like that, Neal, or will you finish the end off with something pretty?

So this is what he did at the bottom.

38 out of 48 step covers have had their modern yellow stripe replaced by more traditional white so far - 10 more to go.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

A day without Dave, our chief block layer. He's allowed a day's holiday, isn't he? But we filled the day well, after an annoying start. It's Maxie again...

 

 

This time she wouldn't reel back her pull cord. Something wrong with the return spring inside apparently. It was a bit unfortunate, as normally Dave is the master of the pull cord, and of course Maxie pulled the trick on the day he wasn't there. 

Paul had a go, got the mechanism off, reeled in the cord, put the mechanism back on. No good though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Steve came ambling by. Big mistake!

'Steve', we pleaded, 'can you fix Maxie's pull cord for us, please?' 

It was our lucky day, and thanks to Dr. Steve the mechanism was reset and we were able to go.

While Steve got his fingers all greasy for us, we decided to take down the formers under the new arch. Here is the big window with its blue brick arch - all is revealed. And it stayed up! (a small worry....)

The inside is a bit more impressive, and here the bricks seem to float in the air.

Outside is big tank 4270 waiting for the inbound Foremarke Hall.

 

 

 

A short distance away our colleagues from the Construction and Maintenance department resumed laying bricks around the buffer stop, and today made a start on the diamond pattern blocks that will go round the end.

 

 

 

With Maxie operational again at last, we were able to start a normal day's work - Paul on making up trusses, John on cleaning up the wood for Paul, yours truly on selecting blocks and making mortar, and Jules below laying undressed blocks behind the outer row that Dave put down last week.

Jules on backing up the Malvern side along its full length.

 

Outside the big window the site is now looking quite tidy, with the formers removed and the site levelled (mostly by John, a few weeks back) so that it is now safe to walk around.

 

Paul then spent the day making up trusses. That's a slow job, the three pieces of 4x2 have to be jointed together at the right angle, and of course each one has to be the same as the other.

And then you have to wave to passing trains. That takes a fair chunk out of your day, but passengers love it.

John spent the whole day pulling out nails, and sawing the timber into usable lengths.

The stack of clean timber on the left allows Paul to make a selection for the next truss.

 

At the end of the day, after allowing for a much delayed start because of the pull cord problem, Paul had completed the second truss, and had started on the third.

Jules was 'on top' of things - here working close to wall plate level around the chimney. The liner pipe now needs to start bending away from over the fireplace, and make its way to the middle of the gable end (to be) on the right.

The PWay dept. was also at work today. A group went up to Peasebrook to iron out a (rather) small twist, while Martin and Doug stayed behind to continue the long job of bringing all the 400 or so concrete sleepers from one side of the tracks to the other. 

They did pretty well - a quick peep at the end of the day showed that only 10-20% of the stacks remained to be collected.

 

 

Mid afternoon Julian had to go, and this is an overview below of what he achieved.

It's a layer of undressed stone along the inside, running from the fireplace, across the lintel to the far side on the right. That pretty much backed up Dave's work from last week, so next time Dave can start again, and complete the run that brings that side up to wall plate level.

The job around the buffer stop also did well today - look at those neat diamond pattern blocks they laid! 

The space in which they are standing is due to be back filled afterwards, and this will allow vehicular traffic to pass this point, without the danger that used to lurk here, of tipping into a dip in the weeds.

Finally for today, a quick shot of the gable end. This shows how Jules has pushed the chimney liner upwards at a 45 degree angle, and then built around it to keep it in place (currently on a wobbly support of bricks and bits of wood).

To close, a sample of the photographs we'll be publishing on the Flickr site in a couple of weeks or so:

It's life in Dnepropetrovsk, that unpronouncable place which has now been shortened to Dnipro! Where do you sit, if there are no benches left in the shade?

Ukranian locos have two types of horn - a gentle pheep, and a loud blast. These passengers will no doubt get that little pheep, before the EMU moves off. Life is relaxed there. We liked that.

Spring is here

Saturday with the PWay gang.

Six of us on Saturday, and a hot and sunny day it was too.

We were spoilt by Tim, who brought a dozen creamy cupcakes, left over from a village fair. What a start to the day. 

We kept them under cover until lunch time, and attacked the 20 or so doughnuts that Bert brought for us.

In the middle is a big tea pot. That helps to wash it all down.

 

Then we went to work. We look at what was done on Wednesday, and could carry on from there, or address any new issues that have come up since.

For Saturday that meant three people going to Peasebrook to check out a potential twist in the track, while the other three stayed behind to carry on emptying the ELK bogie flats that are filled with the timbers and rails removed from the Toddington crossover replacements.

Dave was in the Telehandler. A week earlier it was in at Halls for a service, so we couldn't do this.

Dave paused his unloading activities to let 35006 past, having collected our eager passengers from CRC with the first train of the day.

 

 

 

 

After the timbers were unloaded and sorted (well, many of them) it was the turn of the rails and turnout parts.

Here Dave has picked up the lifting frame, with which the rails can be moved about.

Moments later Dave was on his way with a 60ft length, which was carefully placed on the pile just off camera on the right.

In between times we had to pause to let the trains through. You can just see the Telehandler on the left with one of the two crossings.

These two turnouts could become useful if we re-jig the C&W yard with a view to servicing a carriage storage shed. Nothing is thrown away here.

Three of us were taking apart some of the sleepers that could not be stripped earlier, as they had GWR through bolters on them.

Here is one, tipped on its side. The sleeper is no longer usable, but the throughbolter clings on. If you try to undo the bolt from the top, the bottom, with the nut, just twirls round as it's rusted on solid. Not a good way of securing a chair if you ever want to replace the sleeper. As you can see in the picture above, we have to cut the bolts off with a rail saw.

One chair, a square one which is part of the turnout, was particularly difficult to remove as we couldn't get the rail saw into it.

The other way of removing old throughbolters is to split the sleeper in half. This is what Tim and Nick are trying to do here. The sleeper, although no longer usable, was particularly reluctant to split.

At the end of the afternoon almost all of the two ELKS were unloaded, with a few elements of the turnout remaining on the second. All of the chairs, including a handful of throughbolters had also been removed. Just before 4 o'clock we treated ourselves to tea at the Coffeepot, waiting for the last and diesel hauled train ex Toddington.

Dave, will you be 'mother'?

Just after 4 o'clock the Peak rumbled into the station, with P&O waiting opposite for the road to Toddington.

P&O is a magnificent beat, so come and enjoy it before there is no more coal. It seems that it is preferrable to import coal from 5200 miles away, rather than from nearby Cumbria or Wales. The environmental impact that way is far worse, as is the economic impact on our modest little bit of history - coal prices, imported from 5200 miles away, have gone through the roof.

The driver of P&O leans out to see round the curve, before moving off under a clear signal.

Tuesday at Broadway

We're concentrating our efforts on the handrails now. A local carpenter shaped the wood for us, and yours truly spent Tuesday giving a topcoat to the brackets, which we had shotblasted and zinc coated a couple of years back now.

All our handrail brackets in the their top coat. It looks like we are 4 short.

We have straight lengths of handrail, and these curved transition sections, carved out of a single block of Sapele.

Here Neal is preparing one of the transitions by cutting a hole inboard from the end

After painting the brackets, yours truly moved on to the special non slip treads we have to use. They have a very garish yellow stripe, and it was agreed we would change this to a more heritage friendly white. As the white tends to spatter a bit we did it outside, pausing only to let a large engine trundle by.

The hole Neal drilled receives the lock nut for lengths of threaded bar with which the various pieces of handrail are held together.

From on top of the centre span we always get a good view of the goings on. Soon you will be able to do this too.

With the brackets dry, Neal was able to start fitting the first few, having previously marked out the line that the hand rails will follow.

An issue was the very large holes in the brackets, and the thin boarding on which they are screwed - this will need screws of gauge 20 and only 1 inch long. We tried to get slotted screws to make the fittings look old, but no luck in the local hardware store. It's a weird size.

At the end of the afternoon Neal had done very well already.

Don't the handrails look good?

They still need varnishing.

Wednesday with the Usketeers

A beautiful, crisp day. As so often, we started with a quick coffee in our 'Welfare Facility', leaving Jules outside. It's rather rude, isn't it?

Jules paying penance for not bringing any cake....

Joking apart, Jules is being very careful, still for Covid reasons, as there is someone in his family who can't afford to be exposed.

Dave and yours truly took to block laying again, leaving three doing other jobs - see below. We have just about run out of both sand and cement, but there was enough to do one mix today, which can be sufficient if the block laying is slow and complicated (which it was, today). We worked on the facade that faces the side of the cutting, continuing a line of blocks that will cover the lintel placed last week.

While we were doing that Paul and Jules arrived and shoved a long length of 4x2 past our noses, and mounted it on temporary bricks. That was to illustrate the level of the wall plate. That wall plate will be in the middle of the 16 inch thick wall, so with a sloping roof the outside of the wall needs to be lower, and that threw out our plans for block sizes for the last row somewhat. We are indeed almost there on this facade.

Underneath John was doing sterling work on pulling thousands of nails out of the ex garden centre timber recovered last week, even as Paul and Jules already started using it to make the first of the trusses. It's all so fast!

We asked Paul how it was all going to work with that wall pate, so he drew a bit of a sketch. 

At least someone knows what they are doing round here.

There may or may not be a gutter as well. Originally there was no gutter, but we think the stonework would be better off without being splashed at low level, and we have had an offer of second hand cast iron guttering.

 

Meanwhile, trains ran this way and that, reasonably well filled we saw.

Ready with that hoop?

Almost there - don't drop it now!

Back at the ranch, Paul and Jules laid out our sample truss recovered from Usk, and started to lay out new (- second hand) wood around it.

More hoops are exchanged during the day. None dropped though.

Paul and Jules then put up the second sample wall plate on little piles of bricks, to show the height. The thickness of the course over the arch looks a bit thin, but Paul assured us that we could make it thicker if we wanted, there was some flexibility available.

Paul and Jules then laid a long piece of timber from one side to the other, purpose not clear to this co-worker.

All part of the plan. Obviously the two wall plates need to be parallel and level as well.

Then they started putting the first truss together. The original truss was very basic, just three lengths of wood nailed together, although with joints where they met.

The 4x2s then had to be cut for length. Eventually we will also need to treat them for woodworm, as not all the timber we recovered was clear of it, even if still sound. We bought 5L of special treatment for it.

Taking a step back, here is a shot of the first truss trial fitted to the end of the building, on a pair of wall plates also not yet formally in pace. It's all just to get the dimensions right. The legs also need to be trimmed (no, it's not going to be a lean-to)

Hold on there, Jules, we're going for a quick cup off coffee and will be back later...

Dave continued with his blocks, even as the end of a truss was swaying around him, which resulted in a lot of merriment. The two teams were fighting for the same space.

 

 

Trial fit completed, the new truss was wrangled down again and carried off for further fettling.

Today it was warm enough for the first time this year to have our lunch outside -  see garden chairs. The good days are back again.

 

 

Dave completed the run of blocks started first thing, and with a shovel full of mortar left over at the end he bedded down a 9 inch block by the quoin on the right here. Together, these two blocks will make enough room to support the final quoin on this corner, a 5 inch oblong we have been saving for just this occasion. It's already been fetched out of storage, and is waiting, askance, at the bottom of the picture.

Before placing this quoin, the inside will need to be backed up for two levels - we are looking at Jules, and hope he is up for it next week.

We are planning to get a dumpy bag of sand on Friday, ready for next week, as well as three more bags of cement. There is still quite a lot of stone about - the chimney corner (which is quite fat) will swallow that, as well as the two gable ends.

In other news today, the PWay gang spent all day on stacking sleepers. One party went round Toddington and CRC recovering leftovers from the relays there with the white Landie, the other continued the transfer of some 400 concrete sleepers from one side of the yard to the other. Hope this is the last time! We may well be using them soon.

By the buffer stop Rob and Pete were laying blues inside and out. This job has moved up the priority list, as there is a wish to reinstate the roadway round the buffer stop, and past the Usk hut, and to do that the hole in which Rob is standing needs to be filled up.

 

Back at home, we came across the curious annual phenomenon of Cotswolds lambs racing. Soon after birth, they gang together and absolutely race around the field, then pause on some unseen signal, and race back in the other direction. Why do they do it? A few days later they stop, and grow up to be boring sheep.

Here's a little video of them, taken today:

https://youtu.be/VplFoqxdrrg

The appalling invasion by a neighbour of Ukraine prompted us to dig out the pictures we took 20 years ago while on a rail tour there.

The pictures are currently being scanned and cleaned, and when done will be posted on our Flickr site.

Here is a foretaste. Not all of Ukraine is flat, the western end has the Carpathian mountains and is very pretty and quite rural. This is our hotel train (Dzherelo, or Spring) drawn by a huge 0-10-0 E class loco, the most numerous locomotive type in the world, and one you have probably never seen though. It's big.

Check out the lovely little haystack in the RH corner - remember those? We loved that country.