Heavy freight

Saturday with the gang along the line

A beautiful day, and the second day of the Steam and Ale festival. Just a normal working day for us, but we couldn't help noticing that the trains were well filled, and that there were beer glasses in every window.

Walking a replacement hardwood timber to the Landie.

 

We had three 'to dos' on our list:

- Take a replacement timber out to the Broadway CWR breather, and grease both ends of the CWR section

- Put a clamp on a rail in the Defford straight.

- Finish the sleeper replacement on the back siding at Winchcombe.

 

 

All in all there were 8 of us on Saturday, including a track walker, so we were able to split into two teams for the first two jobs.

We have few spare sleepers, so we chose this second hand one, which was still sound, but needed its old holes plugged up. There were loud jeers whenever the chap on the hammer bent the plug!

Waiting for the up train near the Stanway viaduct.

Is that a Spitfire? By Jove, I think it is a Spitfire!

The northern CWR breather, just short of Broadway. It got a good dose of grease, and so did we...

35006 with 'The Cornishman' over Little Buckland Bridge. Sadly for the photographer the driver had just shut the regulator.

We returned to the mess coach at Winchcombe for lunch, the first two tasks completed. It was hot in the coach so we had the doors open, and here you see Steve watching P&O drift into the station.

The back siding, laid 30 years ago and now looking a bit careworn.

Drilling and replacing chair bolts.

With one line relaid and bolted up, we turned to the second rail on the Malvern side. With the rail gauge we made sure it was the regulation 1435mm away, but once it was out this rail turned out to be not only very old and of thinner gauge than normal, it was also bent at one end.

Bent? No Problem! Just get some heavy duty doughnut eaters to stand on it, that'll put it in its place....

The rail that was a little less than straight can here be seen to be of much thinner section than the other. The lifter fishplate says 'Worn 1/2' and that is the largest lift we have seen in a long time.

This siding was laid 30 years ago, with left over rail, and sees little or no traffic. It's just for storage. So that's where you put your lowest quality rail. Notice also how the head of the rail has been wrapped partly over the side. Signs of a long and tough life. Somewhere. (not on the GWSR!)

By screwing it down to gauge, the rail ended up straight, and here the gang can be seen keying it up. That brake van is wanted for the gala, so now it's not blocked in any more. On Wednesday it had already been extracted.

Dave very kindly spent an hour with us, after his long, regular track walk to Gotherington. He scooped up the rotten sleepers with the Telehandler.

 

 

Here is the length of track that we have relaid.

Job done! Now for some refreshment.

Refreshment takes place round about 15.45, just before the Coffeepot closes, and the rake hauled by a  diesel rumbles into view. Bert prefers to photograph the diesel, while yours truly hurried to the beer tent to see if there was any left (after duties!)

There was, but not much. Toddington, we heard, was already dry. We were just in time.

We should have these Steam and Ale events more often, they seem very popular and certainly fill the trains. A large crowd stood on the Winchcombe platform all day long, with a DMU shuttle taking people back and forth to Toddington.

We've got a short video for you of the day, it is of 7903 Foremarke Hall crossing Stanway viaduct, as we were lubricating the CWR breather there:

https://youtu.be/Z3mREMlXFsw 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Monday at Broadway

Work on the footbridge steps has been completed, as far as the P1 side is concerned, and the centre span. A few more jobs remain on the P2 side, but we're not in a hurry there, as the platform is not yet finished off. It needs a surface, and for that to happen, the slab for the building needs to go in.

So what did we do on Monday? As the station was being built we had the opportunity of building a parachute water tank for locos to fill up at Broadway, being the end of the line. The idea was not proceeded with as thought to be unnecessary, but now we received a request to lay a supply pipe to P1 for the gala.

We have a blanked off 30mm pipe on P2 and a length of pipe, so the two were connected up and a screw fitting left at the P1 end. Maybe we'll be asked to build a water tower after all? You never know, things change.

 

 

As usual on a Monday we had the council refuse lorry visit the site. We were amused to find it now had a name.

Another lorry is called 'Bin Diesel' ! It's nice when people have a sense of humour.

The footbridge is now ready for visitors, and we have installed a barrier at the far end. There is a still one potential hitch - we need official sign off. Let's hope that goes without any hitches.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Almost a dry run for the gala! The 9F was on service trains, and a little freight train ran up and down at Winchcombe. You get to see all that if you are a volunteer, it's the wages we get. (no cash, alas)

On our way down to Winchcombe, we noticed that Jubilee preparations are being made in nearly every village.

This is Toddington, on the roundabout. Isn't it lovely?

 

 

Once on the Usk project site, we were soon delighted by the appearance of our gigantic visitor, the Riddles 9F.

 

A 2-10-0 it is - isn't it long?

This is BLACK PRINCE, the engine saved by David Shepherd.

OK, back to work now, the 9F's gone to Cheltenham empty stock to pick up the first passengers. A similar, balancing train has gone off to Broadway, as part of our new timetable set up.

Dave here is finishing off the top of the Cotswolds side, a thin layer of blocks over the brick arch. Because of the slope of the trusses, the front is thin and the back is thick. The inside isn't in yet; you can see right through under the wall plate.

By the stop block our colleague Rob was working on putting down the diamond pattern top blocks.

They are a bit of a puzzle - how to lay them that the pattern is consistent.

Well, this end certainly looks right.

 

 

 

Here's Dave, just finishing off the front course. With this, both the Cotswolds and the Malvern side front facade are finished. There's more backing up to do on both though.

Our friends on the PWay were also about. Here they are, working to replace a point lever that had been crushed by a passing Telehandler. That's the second time now for this lever. It seems to be structurally in the way.

When we got back from an aborted picture of the 9F - it was a fabulous picture, but the camera froze and disobeyed the command to work the shutter - we found Dave, now on the inside, starting work on the backing up that was still to do, as mentioned above.

We helped him by finding a number of lesser dressed blocks to lift the inner face up to the wall plate.

 

Caramel and walnut cake - want a slice?

Then it was time for a well deserved mid morning cup of coffee - and cake. This week sees Paul's 76th birthday, and to celebrate he treated us all to lardy cakes. A couple of hours later it was an offering from yours truly, seen in the picture.

There were mysterious manoeuverings with the 03 shunter today. Here it is with a GWR freight train, being reversed into the P1 road. Once behind the signal, it got the token and headed off for Toddington.

Do like the new home base of the GWR Toad? 'CHELTENHAM HIGH ST', we think there is a twinkle in someone's eye here.

Dave was laying from the southern end, up to the start of the arch. The other end still has a stack of bricks to support the wall plate, but we must build evenly across the arch, so as not to stress it from one side only. So it's a block on one side, then another block on the other.

John was very busy with the trusses that Paul was making. As soon as a truss became available, he coated it in anti woodworm solution, and in between trusses he took the nails out of the 4x2s that Paul was using to build with.

And here is the 03 back again! But what's this, a different freight train consist?

These are all preparations for the gala, so do come and enjoy it all. The Sentinel will be up and down here with one freight train rake, while the 42XX will run with the GWR consist, said to be 16 vehicles long. It will even visit Broadway, a first for us.

As we have a 9F available, we said to one of the organisers, can we have this scene please?

Can you imagine the sound that this 9F made, at 60 mph with 800 tons of iron ore on? We have interviewed 2 of the people living in the station cottages at the time, and one reported parts of the living room ceiling slowly coming down, the other that the mantle from the gas lantern in the living room fell out. (Picture by John Diston)

Back on the truss making, and we noticed that Paul was using this chisel to make the joints. Isn't that a wonderful example of a carpenter's tool? The chisel was huge.

But Paul wasn't using it when we next passed by (on the hunt for an 11 inch x 6 inch block that is no more than 5 inches deep, please), he was taking it easy sawing this length of 4x2 to size.

 

 

The finished truss was then picked up by John and taken over to the area where he does his woodworm treatment.

Unkind tongues compared this to a biblical scene.....

Notice how Paul was quite content to sit there and let him struggle..... (to be honest, the truss wasn't that heavy, just awkward)

Then another opportunity to photograph the magnificent beast. How to give it that sense of power through a photograph?

Wait, how about from the bottom of the C&W service pit?

And then it rumbled by. A stationmaster observed that it rather clanked on Tuesday, but today it was silent, like a well oiled machine.

Shortly afterwards, our stalwart Hall chugged by, into the section just cleared by the 9F.

7903 Foremarke Hall, on the RED DRAGON.

Near the end of the day, here is a picture of the Cotswolds side of the building, which is pretty much complete but for the roof.

Dave was still working inside, first from one side, then the other, to balance the increasing weight on the arch. Outside it was time for the afternoon diesel, here in the form of our Peak.

This is the last picture of the Usk hut for today, taken to show the progress on the inside, backing up to the wall plate (almost).

You can see that Dave has managed a row of quite chunky blocks all the way from one end to the other, so eliminating two of the piles of bricks that were holding up the wall plate.

The space between the inside and outside layers still needs filling, until the top of the wall actually supports the wall plate (at the moment it does not yet touch it). On the original building we noticed that the infill was often very haphazard, and not always accompanied by mortar. We are using mortar throughout. We did cheat in one place, where a brick sized block was needed on the infill, and we used - a brick. Well, no one will ever see that.

Good progress today, good weather, and good camaraderie. We set off for home, tired and happy.

 

 

Lynton & Barnstaple gala, and more trackbed route

The EA meeting and Hunnacott trackbed walk on May 14th were followed by a day at the L&B gala, a walk down the fabulous Heddon gorge, and a 'look-see for yourself' of the old trackbed between the top end of EA's area of interest and Blackmoor Gate station0. (currently a restaurant)

Heddon's mouth

This is the mouth of the river Heddon, as it passes through the cliffs and into the sea. There are some fabulous walks possible here.

Behind the camera and further upstream is the L&B embankment below Parracombe that was breached during the great Lynmouth flood in 1952.

Making up a freight train, which then alternated with the passenger train.

'Stan and Oliver' here were very entertaining. They presented themselves as 'Professional sing writers', and Stan caught out a number of unsuspecting visitors sitting on a SR bench by running up to them with a glove stained by 'wet paint' and making as if the bench had just been painted. Great fun.

The passenger train, with fabulous carriages and the superb replica Baldwin.

The freight train that shuttled back and forth to Killington Lane.

Watching trains at Woody Bay isn't just about railways, it's also about beer and food. And classic cars.

Even under a threatening sky the Baldwin and those historic carriages look brilliant.

We were interested to see that the L&B is another candidate that is starting to use sleepers made of recycled plastic. And they are heavy, we had a little practice tug, and there was resistance!

In a marquee in the grounds of the adjacent hotel there were several panels outlining the future plans to reinstate the line to Wistlandpound reservoir.

 

Rather than do it all in one go, as per planning consent obtained, an amendment has now been tabled in order to permit a start with the section from Killington Lane to Parracombe halt, which is fully in L&B ownership.

This diagram outlines the costs involved. The total is £1.65m, as you can see. However, the goods news is that they have a legacy of £450k, and that is enough to rebuild Killington Lane bridge, for which an approved design exists. If the planning amendment is approved, work will start on the bridge in October this year.

The L&B is therefore running an appeal for the balance of £1.2m - we shall make a contribution to this worthy cause.

 

 

The replacement bridge over Killington Lane will look a lot like this one. A concrete arch, faced with stone.

This isn't it of course, it's just one with a similar appearance that we came across elsewhere in Devon.

After the L&B gala we explored a few more lengths of trackbed that looked interesting. The first one is the site of Blackmoor Gate station.

Blackmoor Gate station is one of three built in the Swiss chalet style on the L&B (with Woody Bay and Lynton). The original building is still there, but today it is in use as a restaurant, and is surrounded by building extensions. You can see the original building as the highest point peeking out from behind the other buildings in this picture.

Looking the other way you can see where the line, on heading north out of the station, passed into a cutting to dive under the main road. That is all filled in today.

Another view from the road, and here you can see a concrete signal post, an original which is still in situ. We've heard of lower quadrant signals, but this looks a bit extreme... 

Beyond the station, heading south away from the camera, the trackbed is mostly secure and indeed work has been done on two cattle creep bridges in anticipation. After that, it's the Wistlandpound reservoir.

You can walk right round it, it's perfectly open to the public, with metered car parking.

Map of Wistlandpound reservoir, with footpaths. The original railway arrived in the strip of land bottom left, went round the reservoir in an anti clockwise direction and crossed two arms of it on embankments, now removed.

This is the reservoir, seen from the dam. The reservoir was built in 1957, 23 years after the L&B closed, and covers part of the trackbed. It is the intention to build a new alignment more or less along the same route, but at a higher level.

This is a shot looking south, down from the dam. You can't make out the old trackbed here, but as we understand it, it approached through the woods along the side of the valley, at a slightly lower level, and the dam now blocks that path. Today, a steeper private drive from the side of the dam dives down to the former trackbed to a house, then there's one more short section, and then Hunnacott.

Starting the walk round the reservoir, we tried to see where the trackbed would have risen out of the water, but it's not really visible. That seat in the picture turns out to be important though.

Looking the other way, it marks where the trackbed ran with a few symbolic sleepers, and an image of a train on a post. Not far from the water's edge then. (the water level was low at the time)

Coming to the spot near the centre of the map above, we thought we had found the old embankment and a bridge, which looked just right for a NG railway. See also the concrete (SR?) fence posts in the foreground.

But no, we found out later that the actual original trackbed swung round in a wider curve on an earth embankment. That has since been swept away, so was no longer visible. So this isn't it.

But a little further along, on the top side of the above map, the trackbed was definitely there again.

Here it is, looking west from a typical L&B stone bridge.

And this is the view east, back downhill, from the same bridge. Overgrown, but the trackbed is intact.

Also from the same overbridge, this view over the reservoir. The line followed the trees in the background, sweeping round in a big curve, and rising out of the water somewhere off the RH side of the photograph.

In the map of the reservoir earlier, you will see a yellow area at the top, with a curved side at the bottom. That is the line of the old trackbed. It arrives at a minor road through some sort of private yard, seen here from the overbridge.

This is that bridge at road level. If you drive along this road be careful not to miss it, it's very innocuous. To the left is a slow curve north that ends at Blackmoor Gate. It's on that section that work was done on two cattle creeps.

Our last picture shows the start of that section to Blackmoor Gate. All unencumbered, and very leafy and peaceful.