A Fusilier arrives.

Saturday in the yard.

The first real hot day of our heat wave, and as a result, only 6 workers.

We started the day with a quick drop off at Broadway:

Three fire buckets, beautifully lettered by C&W, came in Neal's van. They are filled with sand - or are they?

Because the walls of the station are only one brick thick, we don't want to hang anything heavy on them, like a fire bucket filled with water or sand. It could pull the wall down. So, to achieve the look, Neal made 3 plywood disks that fit inside the top part of the bucket, and then put an inch of sand on top of that.

Here they are in place. Not ideal light at 8am, too much light & shade, but you get the idea.

The posters and the fire buckets pretty much complete our construction of the main building. Let's hope it stays as authentic as this.

 

On to Winchcombe then.

 

 

Here we were asked to replace a number of broken chairs on the main turnout into the yard, the last one still controlled by the signal box.

We had to be careful not to damage the bonding wires and insulated fishplates here.

Adam in the picture is removing the chair bolts from the affected chairs.

The timber in the foreground was clearly second, third or even fourth hand when it went in in 1989 - just look at all those leftover holes. We're going to replace it.

 

 

 

As the ground was dry and hard, Dave went to get the mini digger. That's twice now we've used it - it is really a useful tool for our kind of jobs, esp. with the narrow bucket to go in between sleepers.

Not far from where we were working there was Alex from C&W, readying the MACAW for a coat of primer.

The new idea - not yet confirmed, but in discussion - is to park this lower vehicle along the new goods platform, so that the Usk hut can still be seen from the two main platforms. The goods van initially intended for here could go into the bay, for example.

We'll see what develops.

Fitting the replacement sleeper - also second hand, but fresher.

Big GWR tank 4270 was out on Saturday, and passed our worksite here.

 

This hard to find cast iron double chair was also unserviceable, so had to be changed with the last one we still had in stock.

It's a bullhead one, so not so freely available (and if we could afford it).

 

During the renewal activities we came across a number of well worn items.

Ever seen a Mills key like the one on the right? It takes a special force to bend it to that shape.

 

 

Lunch was taken in the nearby mess coach, but not before ordering a tray of bacon butties from a passing train. We have connections on board....

The tray came complete with sauces and napkins. That's service for you.

Pudding was left over doughnuts from breakfast.

 

 

As the day was rather hot - and this was before the 38 degrees that our region saw on Monday and Tuesday - we called it a day when the job was done, half way through the afternoon.

Dave made a very tidy job of site reinstatement here. And all the bonding wires were still intact. Great work there, chaps!

Tuesday with ...

Shucks, it got cancelled, too hot! Time to write an article for the magazine then.

Wednesday with the Usketeers

A productive day, with 5 of us, and of those, three were laying stone. You can't get better than that with a small team like ours.

First thing found us staring at the 'Bubble Car' DMU, which had been parked right opposite the site. It made a very pleasant change from the usual motley collection of goods vehicles, and it gave a splash of colour to the scene.

This is today's opening scene. It's a shot taken from the end of P1 at the station, to give an idea of how much of the building will be visible.

The original idea of the goods platform was to use it to park 2 vans there, but a recent suggestion is to park the MACAW there (being repainted) as it is lower and won't hide the new building. The jury is out at the moment.

 

 

 

The three block layers we had today were Jules, Dave and Paul.

Jules was on the Malvern side, to finish off infilling between the ends of the trusses.

Paul spent all day on the front, and bedded down the blocks put there loosely last week. In that way another row of 7 inch blocks was completed today.

 

Dave was inside and addressed the urgent backing up that was needed on the front. The last couple of working days saw us put stone on the outer side, and nothing to back it up. You can't keep going like that, the layers need to interlock.

When he had finished to infill on the Malvern side, Jules joined Dave inside and worked in the area of the fireplace, where a large amount of infill is needed in the corner. 

 

 

In the picture you can see all three of the likely suspects working on the same wall. That is where most of the progress was made today. Three block layers certainly kept yours truly and Maxie going, we could hardly keep up. There were constant demands for more mix.

Nice melon there, Paul !

We had a mid morning break, and instead of cake Paul produced a large melon, which he very kindly shared with all of us. He had a sharp knife, and four of us had our eyes glued on that melon being stabbed and sliced downwards - would Paul stab himself in the groin? An attempt was made, but the Tupperware box saved him.

An unusual activity took place today at the end of the up carriage siding. This area was back filled with builder's excavation material back in 1990 or so, in fact some of the more venerable PWayers can remember exactly what went in.

As the material filled in there settled over the years, the siding has settled with it, and at the far end the stock there is leaning to a certain degree. A firm of ground investigators took 5m core samples to confirm what was down there, before conceiving a plan to build the made up ground back to its original intended level.

 

 

Behind the platform the chaps from Construction and Maintenance continued with the infilling.

The Telehandler rumbled by the building on a number of occasions to deposit old bricks and general fill material.

At the end of the day the back of the platform was level all the way along, but still 6 ins below the top of the blocks.

We envisage a grassed area around the hut and along the platform, which will enable the FoWS supporters to mow the area easily with their sit on mower. Grass will also keep the area free of weeds.

 

 

Below is a little snapshot of the laying activity at the front of the building today.

Paul was preparing a thin sneck to bring the gap there to the same level as the other blocks, while Jules was backing up diligently from behind. Jules also dropped a lot of fill in around the flue pipe. Broken bricks are ideal for this, as we didn't manage to bring many smaller stones over from Usk.

 

Dave helped with one of the mixes, and when Maxie wouldn't spit out all of the mortar in the drum, he got quite cross with her, and hit her numerous times with a shovel.

Dave! This is a family blog!

 

 

 

Paul did well on the front, and was two blocks short of completing the 7 inch row when he stopped for lunch.

We took the opportunity of an empty trestle to measure up, and provide the last two blocks which just about fitted the gap. In that way Paul could complete the row after lunch (and which he duly did).

Trains came by every hour as usual, hauled by the Ivatt and Dinmore Manor.

We wondered if passengers would frequent the trains today, or stay away to recover from the heat, but they pretty much came as normal.

Generally speaking though we are seeing fewer heads than before, a phenomenon experienced by other railways as well.

After lunch the spoil dropped off by the Telehandler was shovelled out and about, and was then compacted with the diesel roller.

There are 9 spectators in the picture!

 

More spoil was brought in and dropped under the tree, with the idea of providing a gentle slope down to the road (as it were) on the other side.

This shot through the doorway shows 6 of the C&M gang levelling another load of spoil.

We had several showers today, and got somewhat wet at one point. However as there was a slight wind it was noticeable that some areas inside the hut were now quite dry, even though it hasn't got a roof yet. It's starting to look like a real building.

So at the end of the day we had the Malvern side wall completed and the trestles moved inside, a row of 7 inch blocks completed along the front, and the inside wall backed up for the equivalent of two courses.

Very well done, that team!

On the way back home we stopped at Toddington to drop off a cotton double sheet into the loco dept. textile wheelie bin. The steam boys are steady users of cotton waste, so if you have any cotton items, do please think of them. The bin is by the gate to the shed.

Just as we dropped off the cotton sheets the last train of the day - diesel hauled by 5081 - chugged out of Toddington. That old Sulzer has a very slow, plodding sound, there is something about it that is captivating.

 

 

A post on the PWay social media account suggested that the Deltic had arrived. We had to go and see that. It's 55019 ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIER.

Here it is. What a lovely name plate it has.

Here's the majestic Deltic at rest outside our diesel shed. Behind it you can glimpse a class 47 and a Growler.

Our diesel gala takes place at the end of the month, over three days from July 29th to 31st. There will be extra trains, with a 45 minute timetable, and lots of different diesel locos. The Deltic of course has never run on the Honeybourne line before, so do come and take a look.

More information is available on our website:

https://www.gwsr.com/Diesel_Gala.html