Saturday out with the PWay gang.
Although one or two of us are now on holiday, we still had a good turnout of seven, thanks to a new recruit, David. He was particularly welcome, as he was a bit younger than us!
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| The racehorse ALYCIDON introduces itself. |
Last weekend was our second diesel gala, and for this one we had not only ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIER but also a second Deltic visitor, ALYCIDON.
The latter was announced on our sign on platform as running non stop to CRC first thing and with passengers on board, so when we heard the drone from the mess coach we all ran out to see.
After this bit of excitement we went to work. The first port of call was to the usual territory of broken fishplates, the wooden sleepered section south of Greet tunnel.
This is a typical example, found by our track walkers the previous Wednesday. Only this side is broken, the other plate was OK.
When a plate is broken, it's common for there to be a dipped joint as well, so we prepared to address both issues.
The location was next to the excavated area (whose spoil was used for the long embankment nearby) that is immediately south of Greet tunnel. It used to contain the navvy village for the tunnel excavation.
Today it's waist high in brambles, but we ploughed through that carefully in the Landie to get to the site.
Before we started the job we let the returning racehorse pass. ALYCIDON was a famous racehorse in 1949 that won 4 top races.
Here the Deltic is slowing down for the outer home just by the tunnel. We cleaned the silver lineside box of graffiti last week.
So here's your lineside view of our famous visitor, just setting off again as the signal became clear.
55009 slowly trundled down the slope up to the tunnel mouth...
... and on reaching that the driver opened the throttle, as can be seen by the shaft of blue smoke that rose up from the rooftop exhaust port.
Just on one engine, mind. A mere 18 cylinders.
The passage of that train allowed us to make a start on replacing the broken fishplate.
In fact we replaced the whole set here, and that with a stronger, deep skirted one, as perhaps you can see. It should ensure that we won't be bothered here again.
Just to make sure the breakage won't re-occur we lifted the joint and then tamped it thoroughly with the two Robels.
We had an email from another railway the day before, enquiring what these new tools are exactly. We were able to sing their praises, so that sounds like another sale for Robel GmbH.
Job done here at Greet, and we headed on to Laverton (with a quick deviation via our cars at Winchcombe to get coats, as it suddenly started to rain heavily)
We arrived on the straight at Laverton, where the Malvern side had become lower than the Cotswolds one.
We set out the work site boards, then did a quick step to one side to let 37 215 head to Broadway....
... followed by copious shovelling of ballast into the wheelbarrow before we stepped aside to let the Growler trundle back south again. A dropped rail means more ballast needed - where to get it from?
Bert Ferrule measured up the site and eyed in the pan jacks. They're giving a lot of trouble at the moment, they wont pump up, or only partially so. Air gets in, seals leak, it's always something.
We almost abandoned the job when two out of the four pan jacks wouldn't rise, but at the last minute we managed to get a third going by bleeding it, so we went for the job after all.
Then it was off the track again to let the Deltic through. You get the idea - off and on all the time.
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| 55009 ALYCIDON on its way to Broadway. |
We were pleased to see the Deltic, as it hauled Train 1 - the bacon butty delivery service.
Seven bacon butties have just been dropped by the site board.
' Hey, where's my ketchup one - I ordered ketchup?' The system would work better if we had some sort of electronic ordering system...
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| What it feels like when you've had your sandwiches - and a bacon butty. |
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| On your feet again - we know it's hard - to let 55009 back through. |
After a day's packing, shovelling, robelling and ballasting, we descended on the Coffeepot for refreshments and light relief. We still had the energy for good humour.
The teapots and mugs were lined up, ready for consumption.
As we sat there ALYCIDON rolled in, so that was interesting. It sure is a big beast, and the hire of two Deltics was certainly a big commercial success. Well done those event organisers!
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| ALYCIDON waiting for 37 2154 to arrive from the opposite direction. |
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| Tokens are exchanged with the crew of the Growler. It's all blue here! |
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| 55009 ALYCIDON just starting off from P2 at Winchcombe - you can see a little puff of smoke. |
This oil stain appeared down the side of 55009. We went to ask the crew what that was about.
It appears that Deltics do this, there's nothing amiss. It's a feature of two stroke diesel engines, especially if they are not being stretched, or standing around at idle speed.
Bit of housekeeping.
A contact form for the blog has been added on the right, so that you can send a message about things mentioned here (not general enquiries about the railway, that has its own contact form).
No blog published on Wednesday, due to absence on a jolly. We're allowed a day off, aren't we? Usk was moved to Thursday instead.
Tuesday in the loco shed.
We continued fabricating the ends of the P2 footsteps at Broadway, with other interesting stuff only a slight distraction, as it does on a busy day in the loco shed.
After making a tiny bit of room for ourselves we were able to slip one of the three uprights into the saw. An inch needed cutting off here, to get all three uprights the same length.
John was cutting (or going to cut) a chamfer on some small parts that will be welded to the uprights, but to our disappointment the milling machine was dead, and would not be started. That sapped quite a lot of our time.
While we waited for that to be resolved, we had a look round the yard to see what was new.
This coal wagon certainly was. Didn't they make a good job of the lettering?
Further down the yard Foremarke Hall was being shunted to a different position, to free up the pit road in the shed.
That made this shot possible, with the class 24 in the background being readied for the afternoon service. We noted how it started very easily. Must be the warm weather.
The big event inside the shed was the arrival of the green Growler, D6948.
This was pushed in by the yard shunter, in readiness for a lift off its bogies to cure a number of minor issues.
Here it is being pushed in between the 4 lifting jacks, the positioning of them being another interesting distraction for the canopy team. Of course we were in the way - it's always like that. But we found a happy medium.
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| The end of the hand rail is bent over here. |
With the loco in position - the actual lift comes later - we returned to our fabrication business. With the issue of the silent milling machine still not resolved, John took to making a start on the platform for the new yard lamp that we delivered a couple of weeks back. A full set of steps and platform are actually quite a rare thing in preservation nowadays, but because we found one example that was complete, John has become very adept at making new sets, and is on his third one here.
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| Neal bending the bar into a 'U' shape. |
To make the handrail for the platform you need a long 'D' shaped bar, bend over 1 end, then heat two spots along the length of it and bend those sideways, so that you end up with a 'U'.
Last thing is a look at the cabside of the 37.
We like the BR green and aluminium works plate combination.
A bit further along the bodyside is the BR logo, in this case the 'ferret & Dartboard'.
Isn't it beautiful? It's a big water based transfer, it comes in 3 parts and is quite expensive to buy. It's also tricky to apply and get right - things can quickly get expensive if you mess it up, and because it's not a vinyl, you can't prick little holes in it to let any air bubbles out.
It would be lovely if we could have transfers like this (or, for example, the 'cycling Lion' roundel) on our carriages.
The home made GWSR logo we use today is not authentic. Fine for correspondence on letter heads, but not on locomotives or carriages.
New Blog:
Some of the railway's blogs have gone a bit quiet recently, so it's good news to be able to report on a new one:
https://ratstrust.blogspot.com/
This one reports on the restoration activities of the Railway Archiving Trust, which for some strange reason is best known as the RATS by those who talk about it.
The RATS is an associated trust to the railway, not directly connected but indirectly so, having been set up a by a number of volunteers to act as an archive, as well as a restoration activity of various railway related artifacts. It is located adjacent to P2 at Toddington and has a little museum, which can be visited from there. It has a fairly extensive photographic archive, which is located here: http://www.ratrust.org/
So welcome that RATS blog, and lets hope that they have plenty of news on artifact restoration. A very recent item is Boxford booking office (seen in the header picture) and no doubt there will be an item about it soon.
A look over the fence: with VT to Plymouth, Fearlessly.
A day off for Mr. & Mrs. Blogger on Wednesday. Vintage Trains ran a Pullman / Mk1 charter from Birmingham to Plymouth, and the attraction for us was that there was a pick up from Cheltenham.
The charter was hauled by D400 FEARLESS, and you can see it here roll into Cheltenham Spa station.
Just a few yards away to the right, across what is now a car park, is the place where the Honeybourne line joined the Midland one. Our terminus at CRC is, what, maybe 2 miles away? It seems so close, but the way is barred by missing, lightened and lowered bridges.
As a thank you to Mrs. Blogger for letting us spend days on the railway, we dug deep and bought Pullman Dining tickets.
You kick off with a full English breakfast as soon as you sit down.
We didn't exactly turn that away....
The train rattled along at an impressive 75mph (we used a Smartphone speedometer app). We carefully avoided Gloucester, so no reversal, and then stopped at Temple Meads for a crew change.
Not long afterwards we were bowling along the south coast, in and out of tunnels, being waved at by people on the beach.
Our accommodation was a Mk3 'Pullman' carriage, still pretty good although not as charming as a genuine Pullman with its marquetry.
We liked the special antimacassars that VT had made, so took a picture for you.
Of course for a more modest budget you could sit in a Mk.1 at the back, and bring your own sandwiches. You still arrive at the destination at the same time.
It was our first venture on the big railway's main line, and we had forgotten about the plethora of 'safety' warnings, and public address hectoring about sundry minor issues.
We really do not need to be told to take care on stairs, or anywhere else. We are old and wise enough to take are wherever we go. Some 'safety' notices were actually a hazard all by themselves, such as the yellow ' Warning - cleaning in progress' where there was no cleaning, with the standby hint that there might be cable trip hazards as well, in case the first warning didn't apply. Those little yellow panels are dotted about main thoroughfares and are easily tripped over themselves.
Even VT could not resist reminding the uninitiated that it got dark in the evening. Who knew? 'Take Care' has now even been adopted into the English language as a farewell greeting.
But we got there in fine style. The walk through Plymouth town centre was admittedly a bit grim (we suspect WW2 bomb damage, and a 1950s/1960s rebuild) but the reward at the end was this lovely view from atop the Hoe. It shows Smeaton's tower, the original 1759 Eddystone light house, with a Brittany ferry manoeuvering in the gloom. Yes, it drizzled all day, but at least it was warm, so in the end quite bearable.
We headed for the old port (where the Mayflower left) and took a 'Saucy Sue' type tourist boat around the many harbours and inlets that make up the town. We had no idea there was so much naval activity here.
This for example is the USNS William Maclean, an American navy supply ship, named after the inventer of the Sidewinder missile.
It seemed huge, towering above our little two deck trip boat.
A bit further along was one of ours, the RFA Tidespring. It's a navy tanker, and one of 4 like it. It can carry 19000 cu m of fuel, and displaces a cool 39.000 tons.
Our heart swelled with pride.
Then our captain pointed out a line of conning towers in an inner basin, and these were decommissioned UK submarines, waiting for their reactors to cool down (we were told).
One of them was HMS Conqueror, famous for its mission in the Falklands
We didn't manage to get a good picture of all those conning towers, but here's one of a single sub that was moored outside in the main inlet.
The old port under the bastion is well worth a visit, and there is plenty of commercial activity going on to watch, as you munch your fresh crab sandwich.
The 5 hours at the destination passed quickly, and at 16.30 we were back on the station, where there was also a lot of activity on its several platforms.
This platform blind made us smile. The Penzance train will stop at Camborne, but it was Wednesday! Everyone knows that 'This train don't stop Camborne Wednesdays'....
If you don't know the reference, watch this clip from Cornish comedian Jethro:
We were surprised to find HSTs still in service (although lots of them parked up at Laira, which we passed)...
... and that they are now named. We always believed that to be impossible - if you named one end 'Romeo' and the other end 'Juliet' , you can never exchange a power car, otherwise you might end up with Romeo and Laurel for example.
It's a lovely name plate though.
The other end was 'Powderham Castle'.
Did the driver know what days to stop at Camborne?
Another interesting thing we noticed at Plymouth (also at Cheltenham, but too far away on the other platform) was this monitor:
What a great piece of kit!
And, exactly as announced on the panel, or train reappeared from Laira at 16.54, this time with the class 47 leading, to be at the rear when we pulled out again.
Our train raised a great deal of interest, with numerous spectators along the route, including one individual alone in the middle of a field - on a stepladder!
Here then is FEARLESS back at the head (now other end) of the train, ready for departure. With at least one passenger on the wrong platform and quite some walk away. We told Mrs. Blogger to hold the door open...
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| The FEARLESS name plate and badge. |
The return journey, also often at 75mph, took 3 1/2 hours but time passed unnoticed, given the sumptious 4 course meal that was offered.
We arrived back at Cheltenham precisely on time. We hopped out of the carriage and galloped up to the head of the train, to take this atmospheric departure picture for you.
There was also the time for a quick video here:
It was certainly thrilling to stand next to this large diesel locomotive, in the confined space of this station in a cutting. Just before the start of the video the blowers were still roaring, cooling the engine from its 75mph non-stop run from Bristol. Great stuff.
Thursday with the Usketeers.
Due to the jolly above on our usual day, the lads very kindly agreed to change our planned working day this week to Thursday, and so 4 of us were able to clock in.
We carried on from last week, backing up inside, with both Paul and Dave laying rough blocks behind the 7 inch ones we laid outside last week.
With the change in the weather to cooler, damper days the railway was able to resume haulage by steam, and we felt that there were more passengers than last week, when it was diesel haulage. (but also a lot hotter)
The Ivatt was out again, seen here with the first train, which bring the ECS to Cheltenham Race Course. No need to wave then.
Across the yard we caught Jonathan at work. He was in our mini digger next to those big new containers that we bought. The job, he explained, was to dig a trench for an electricity supply cable to this group of containers. Although equipped with a digger, he found the job tough, as the ground was very hard. He got there though, this trench was back filled by the end of the day.
When the Ivatt returned from CRC it crossed P&O, paused briefly, and then set off north for Toddington. PWayer Peter was in the box - several of us are multi taskers on the railway.
Back in the Usk building we see Paul just finishing his inner backing up layer, but a new row of blocks has already started to be laid out at the front. These are 7 inchers again - heavy, but we must use them up.
Round about 11 o'clock we felt we deserved a cup of tea. At the moment that is quite a challenge for the block layers inside, because we have two trestles up, and with all the safety barriers around them, there is no room to get out of the door.
They'll just have to use this 'window of opportunity'.
Here is what they left behind.
Look at the height above the lintel of the door, it wasn't that long ago that we started laying across it, and now we are 4 courses up. Only a little triangular space remains at the top.
During tea, Dave, with a conspiratorial air, gave us this heavy tin of coffee powder. What yummy delicacies might it hold?
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Brandy soaked fruit cake perhaps - Mrs. Dave is well known for that. But no, it was - sand !!!
Politeness dictated that great gratitude be displayed, but we must confess to a slight tinge of disappointment, if we're pressed.
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| Is that my spot for mortar? No it's not, it's mine! |
After coffee, and with the inside level with the outside for a moment, Paul and Dave went back to the outside to bed down the fresh row of 7 inch blocks seen a couple of pictures further up.
Dave's end had the biggest block. Rather than lift it to get the bed of mortar underneath, we rotated it onto its end, and then afterwards you can just let it drop back into place.
Outside in the yard we saw P&O waiting for the incoming Ivatt, which was a few minutes late. That soon resulted in a big cloud of escaping steam, which is more evident now that the temperature has dropped.
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| Paul finishing off the new 7 inch row and pointing his work. |
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| Meanwhile, Dave had made a start with the angle for the next row still. |
Another angle stone was placed at Paul's end - that'll be for next week though. We can't pile them too high while the mortar is still green.
Paul left mid afternoon, gratefully accepting a lift from Polly on the drainage gang. That left yours truly and Dave, who spent the rest of the mortar on the corner here.
That leaves us with this last picture, an overview of progress today. We're 4 courses above the lintel now, all backed up, with the stone for the fifth course partially laid out, ready for next week. All of the next course has been located and taken up there, but some of it is still on the boards (bottom right) in view of the mortar that is still green.
