Another look over the fence.

Saturday, right outside the mess coach.

Lots of wooden sleepers to change, some of the oldest along the line. Laid in... 1987?

We were a good gang today, about a dozen again, with old friend from the Broadway extension Chris back again, at least for the winter season (some of us have other things to do during the summer).

 

 

 

 

No doughnuts today, but Pains au Chocolat.

Yours truly actually prefers these (having spent 4 years in France), and they go so well with the strong tea.

The first sleepers are dug out along the section.

 

 

 

Our job for today was right outside the door. Well, that is unusual! No need to ferry people around, and lunch was in the comfort of the mess coach again.

It seems that the stretch between the bracket signal and the start of concrete sleepers on Chicken Curve, laid in the 1980s, is due for a bit of rejuvenation by means of spot resleepering.

 

 

 

 

We were soon interupted by a passing train. Now, this is the non running season, but in name only.

Work pauses to let the race train by.

Just after 10am Foremarke Hall came by with a race train. Each carriage had a name sticker with the name of a race horse in the windows. Eg. 'You are seated in Arkle, and you there in Red Rum'.

It was only a single race train, so presumably a minor event down there at Cheltenham. It came back ECS an hour later. We had a bright idea, how to make more use of a loco already lit up, and carriages already warmed - we ran a Fish & Chip special during the middle of the day, until the race train itself (same carriages!) came back again at the end.

 

 

Over half of the sleepers along this section are throughbolters, proving that they haven't been changed since they went in, then already second hand, back in the 1980s when the track was relaid from Toddington southwards.

There's only one way to deal with throughbolters (everything being seized up after 35 years) and that is to break them up in situ.

Easy work, looking at this one. Rotten to the core. But others were still good at one end, and caused us a lot of headaches trying to get the chair off the sleeper with just brute force.

With a rotten sleeper finally extracted we dug the bed out further (so that new ballast can be robelled underneath) and then inserted a new softwood sleeper.

This is what that looks like, when the new sleeper is in, all bolted up, ballasted with fresh ballast, and then robelled. 

The keen eyed among you will spot that this is a transition from FB rail on the right, to bullhead on the left. Not a very common fishplate (and eye wateringly expensive if it breaks).

Fresh ballast appeared by Citroen van out of nowhere, actually from Gotherington Skew, quite a distance away.

As we have a double trackbed, it was easy just parking the van alongside, and shovelling it in.

 

 

 

Near the end of the day - the sun now sets early - we took this picture of the work site. Eleven sleeper replaced, an excellent tally and a reflection of the strength of the gang today.

We thought we had done all of them, looking at the red crosses on the sleepers disappearing as we did each one, but at the end of the day Bert Ferrule promptly sprayed 11 new crosses on the next lot.

Nooooooooooooo.....

Trains on Saturday then:

- Race special down.

- ECS back up

- Fish & Chip special down

- Fish & Chip special back up

- ECS down

- Race special back up.

All with one train. That is what they call sweating the assets! Glory to Ukraine (of course!) but also to the  volunteers on board, who must have had a pretty non-stop day on their feet. Well done guys!

The early dusk these days enabled this rather splendid shot of Foremarke Hall heading back north with the return of the F&C special. Lovely light, that.

With the track free again the gang attacked another sleeper. We recall this one as a toughie, as it was rotten at one end, but not the other, and was the very devil to separate from the throughbolter chair at the good end nearest the camera.

Here David and Chris are attacking it with pickaxes, with only partial success. Anything to get it to splinter into pieces.

 

 

 

 

Our last picture of the day, again in the light of the setting sun, shows the ECS race special heading south to CRC again, to pick up the happy but now empty handed punters.

 

The orange glow of the setting sun reflects off Foremarke Hall.

 

A few pictures from 1987

A look into history:

John Lees was there when the track was first laid in the same area where we just spot resleepered:

October 1984.

October 1984

You forget just how empty the place was when we first took possession. All they had was a goods shed - no station, no signal box, no platforms, and no track of course.

1986

This is the area where we worked on Saturday. The rail head has just arrived from Toddington, passing over Chicked Curve and over the B4632. Ahead lies a huge job. We don't think twice about this, when we rumble through in our 7 coach train today. But the people in 1987 had to lay everything.

1986

The carriage sidings outside the goods shed were just a pile of second hand rails.

November 1988

Two years later the line was clearly in use (rails all shiny), but the carriage sidings were not yet connected. Carriage restoration was taking place out in the open.

 

November 1988.

This picture is not from where we were working, but from the construction of the south end run round loop turnout (since moved again of course, to out of sight beyond the bridge).

We have posted it, as it shows Steve, in yellow on the left. He's still with the gang today, and on Saturday was seen applying heat to SHC fitted concrete sleepers, to straighten the bent hoops. It worked too!

 

Then, in July 1987, after a run round loop had been created and a basic platform raised (no station building yet) a test train was run from Toddington, 2 miles away.
 

July 1987 Test train.

Here comes the Cotswolds Rambler! It didn't ramble very far of course, but how exciting to have two stations.

That's Peckett 'John' at this end of the train. The little 0-4-0 is still with us, and indeed is being worked on.

In the foreground is the PWay team, standing at the end of Chicken Curve. Somebody's car has just been used to bring up a sleeper. It's still like that now.... but we use a little Landrover.

Then came the opening day itself:

Now it's the 'Winchcombe Pioneer'. It's August 2nd 1987. Where are all those people now?

In the centre with grey hair and a tie is Tim Bazeley, chairman, who sadly died earlier this year. On his right, with red handkerchief, is Greg Wigg, board member, and founder of today's GWSR Heritage Group.

Still going strong, and defending our mission to 'Build and maintain a railway museum for the benefit of the public'.

Some newsy items from during the week:

The railway items exhibition in the Broadway museum (top floor) at the top end of the High Street is now open. Do go and check it out.

Here is a banner for it:

During a dry day we popped down to Winchcombe to complete the Tarmac reinstatement for the former position of the small lamp post we swapped out.

You can see how close it was to the holly tree, which had grown right over the top of it.

We heard that the holly tree actually predates the reinstatement of Winchcombe station.

The Tarmac area around it has subsided a little, you can see the dampness and green, where a puddle forms during heavy rain. Raising that would be a big job, so were were asked to Tarmac as it was before.

Friday also saw race trains at Winchcombe. The first picture shows the train full of happy punters. The second shows the ECS working back to Toddington, an hour later. Note the headboard for the race trains.

Back to the Tarmac job then, and at the end of the morning the site looked like this:

Now we just need some green discolouration to match. But otherwise a neat job was achieved. Much better than the loose concrete ducting that was there before.

Monday saw a volunteer outing in a specially laid on Fish & Chip train. It was hauled by 37 215.

This was the company's thank you for all the volunteer hours we put in, helping the company to keep going. It was well patronised, and we saw many friends, and had some useful chats.

CRC was looking quite spruce, but as it happens the CRC gang keeping it so have just put out an appeal for help.It's a fact of life in our preservation industry that volunteers get older, and they need new blood from lower down all the time.

 

So if you'd like to help there, get in touch with David Tomlin (email address on request via contact form) or the plc chairman. They'd love to hear from you. They meet once a week, and do a fine job. Come and do a bit of gardening, or painting, and be part of a gang. It's fun.

 

Tuesday at Toddington.

A day fabricating. Just as well, it was pouring again, although it is surprising just how wet you can get putting your overalls on under the boot lid of the car, walking to the loco shed, turning back because you have forgotten something, trying to find your keys again in the deepest pocket, walking back to the loco shed.... Anyway, once inside things were brighter, as we met Neal, John and the 35006 gang.

 

 

 

 

We need to get on with the new brackets for the Winchcombe canopy. Although they are new castings, they can rust within a few hours, so the first thing we have to do is treat that surface rust.

 

 

 

 

Here is the first of the three brackets with a dose of Kurust on both sides. That stuff works really well, converts the rust to a black coat of some sorts.

Over a couple of hours we did all 6 sides of the 3 brackets. Slow but sure.

 

 

In the meantime John was fabricating, in this instance the ladder and platform for the yard lamp recovered from Winchcombe.

Here the rungs are being welded to the angles, to form the ladder. That job was pretty much finished at the end of the day, and John made a start on the platform that clamps to the top of the post.

 

At the end of the afternoon the black stuff had gone off (takes 3 hours) and we were able to apply a coat of primer. As we don't have any paint resources for this we are very grateful to the 35006 mob, who let us have a few cupfuls of theirs.

Thanks guys!

Round about us some interesting work was going on with 3850. That loco is getting a lot of new parts, a very thorough overhaul, we must say.

We could help noticing the  big new dragbox here. This is a steel casting. It gets a lot of knocks, so a plain iron casting wouldn't last long. Later a brand new rubbing plate was offered up to it, covring this whole area. It had, as is usual, been heavily eaten away by being right under the cab and shovel plate of the tender.

Ignore the level with the word 'PECKETT'. This is 3850, a 2-8-0, not a little 0-4-0 shunter. Work is going on with the Pecket too though.

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Well, not all of them, Dave had to bow out today, for family reasons. Jules couldn't make it either, but we pressed on with just the three of us - Paul, John and Yours Truly.

 

 

 

While waiting for scaffolding to finish the chimney and do the roof, we are looking for other jobs. Today that was the fitting of the supports for the barge boards on the two gables. Here Paul is fitting the first one, setting it on the wall plate by means of the 'bird's mouth' cutout.  (centre left)

 

 

 

 

Winchcombe was very busy today, despite the lack of trains. There was much moving around of Santa stuff, and thousands of presents have to be made ready to be handed out at the 'North Pole'.

In the picture you can see contractors erecting marquees in the yard for the (hoped for) crowds.

At the northern end of our (now new-ish) platform the guys from C&M were putting some large diamond pattern blocks on the return.

 

Laying diamond patterned blocks.

That looked really good, it was a fine idea. Somewhat like the other end round the stop block, they cut a number of these big edging blocks at angles, so that they could be dressed around the return.

At the end of the day they might have finished ( we were in C&W chatting to a clockmaker volunteer) but the work was covered with a sheet to allow the mortar to go off. We'll have to show you the result next time. It should look good !

Although the forecast said 'heavy rain' and 'weather warnings' it was in fact a fine day as you can see. The rain wasn't due until after dark. Unlike some (see below) we don't work in the dark....

 

Those that do work in the dark.

Yes, the PWay gang spent a second day in Greet tunnel, profiting from the absence of trains to go through it and do spot resleepering.

As is so often the case, there were a lot more to do than at first thought, so they will no doubt be back. As we are also spot resleepering on Saturdays, we are going through our stock of spare sleepers like a dose of salts.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is also a more detailed shot of the gang at work. They have a gennie and a pair of lights on a stand, but it's still dark where you want to look.

Notice the blue spot on the rails. That's from a personal headlight. Those really seem to work well.

Greet tunnel - 1905

This is a rather good one, isn't it? You can clearlyy see this was once a double track railway, and that there were steam engines once. The walls are all sooty.

In the foreground you can make out a bit of daaylight. That means the picture was taken at the Winchcombe end. Just before the Greet end there is a curve to the left, and that means when you are looking souith, all you can see is increasing gloom.

For extra atmosphere, when you are standing in the gloom, remember that in 1927 3 railway workers were killed just behind the camera. Stepped aside for a train, got surprised by a second one rolling silently out of the gloom in the opposite direction.

Our thanks go to Mike, Andy and Jim for their pictures, giving you a glimpse of what they did for us today.

Back to Winchcombe yard.

At the other end of the darkness scale were these contractors, who were up in the skies under a blazing sun (luckily) to make the C&W workshop (former goods shed) watertight again. The old shed had glazed panels in the roof, tjhey leaked, and were being taken out and replaced with a simpler and drier plain roof, we ascertained.

 

There it is - gone.

 

Back at the Usk hut we found John applying preservative to the 4x2s that Paul was cutting to fit to the gable ends.

Thanks to some recovery from the former garden centre at Toddington, and the offer of wood from a bungalow roof at Lydney that we accepted, we have actually got quite a lot of 4x2s, more than we need, now that all the trusses have been made.

This was noticed by the guys in the C&W, who ambled over to ask if we really needed all of the wood.

Actually we were only too happy to pass it on, glad that it was going to find some use, somewhere, as we had suspected when we said 'yes' to it.

 

We then spent a good hour ferrying it all across to the C&W wood store, where, we noted with interest, a number of timbers were immediately taken indoors for further use in.... a diesel locomotive at Toddington.

Well, we never imagined that!

 

 

 

 

The pile outside the C&W wood store grew and grew. It got so big that it was decided not to put it into the actual store itself, but keep it outdoors under a tarp, with some other stuff.

Somewhat exhausted but feeling slightly fitter after all that, we repaired back to the Usk hut, to find that there was an imminent downpour.

Heavy rain over Hailes Abbey in the distance.

Oblivious to what was about to happen, the guys from C&M continued laying blocks, while we stood in the doorway of the Usk hut, now perfectly dry. 

Yes, the temporary roof really works!

 

 At the end of the day we could see that Paul had attached not one but two supports for the barge boards. That will ensure a certain distance between them and the wall.

This end still needs trimming.

Next week we'll do the other end. The glazing has also been ordered, and is expected to arrive in the middle of next week. We will see what the weather does, before deciding which day we want to work.

Here is a last look inside the hut, as it is today. The floor is now dry, and has dry leaves swirling around on it. Wood for next week is stored against the wall, ready for next week.

We have our snap in here now, instead of in the tiny and cramped lamp hut.

It felt rather snug, even warm, as the sun streamed through the plastic covered window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look over the fence - East Somerset Railway.

Ten days ago our PWay gang was invited to a joint excercise at the ESR in Cranmore. They have a very modest PWay gang - their line is only  miles long - and they needed a few more strong arms to help take a twist out of the turnout that leads from the steam shed to the main line.

 

What's it like in there?

The Cranmore site is very elongated, so it meant a long walk from one end by the entrance to the turnout beyond the shed.

 

The steam shed is one built by David Shepherd, and amongst other things, to house the two mainline locos that he had bought.

Outside we found a large steam crane. Surely a bit big for this size of operation? But a mighty beast indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

As we are interested in lamp posts, we always look out for what types other people have. Cranmore is on a former GWR line, so we were surprised to see these two:

They are both Midland railway lamp posts, a fact proudly declared by the foundry on the bottom. The furthest Midland lamp post we have ever found was outside a pub a few miles from Lynmouth. How on earth?

We were made very welcome, and discovered that a 6 man delegation from the WSR had also acceped the invitation. But the GWSR team won the medal for the greatest distance travelled. We were 12 in total.

4110 being worked on in the smokebox.

 

The Cranmore loco shed had GWR 4555 and an Ivatt tender loco, while an adjacent workshop saw GWR 4110 being worked on.

Outside was a red 1938 stock ex IOW underground carriage, freshly painted. Sadly, also, freshly vandalised. We will not give the vandals the air of publicity with a photograph. How do they find these places? The ESR is quite off the beaten track.

GWR 4555 just about visible.

Outside the steam shed, but with garden centre lamp posts.

 

After a long walk (and push of a wonky trolley with our tools) we arrived at the turnout in question.

Although it had been relaid about 10 years ago, there was quite a dip in the centre around the crossing. Also, the components were of very mixed origin, albeit all GWR.

GWR throughbolter, attached with plain chair bolts.

Where the correct double chairs were not available, narrow chairs with the corners smashed off did the job here.

Well, it works, doesn't it?

 

 

 

What was needed on the job were lots of jacks and a level gauge. Then dig round the timbers, and pack from a dumpy bag of small ballast.

It soon became apparent that:

- Mendips weather is very changeable, and it began to rain heavily.

- Lifting the rail did not lift the timbers. A gap appeared in the chair under the rail as we jacked upwards.

Diagnosis: 95lb rail used in slightly larger 00 chairs (aka ought-ought).

The replacement of two chairs was necessary, and as they had a different footprint (natch) they needed re-drilling. So before we could do the jacking and packing we came to do, we had to correct two of the chairs that were in the turnout. This during heavy rain.

There wasn't the sort of PWay stock where you could go and find yourself a 4 hole turnout chair. We had to hunt around the site, and rummage in a large pile of rusty throughbolters which remained after relaying part of the main line in concrete sleepers.

Andrew gives a pep talk in the ESR mess room.

We finally got the chairs replaced, and then yielded to the temptations of the mess room a few hundred yards away.

 

 

After lunch it was back outside, after passing through the ESR's workshop, where there is a very active engineering facility.

 

 

Two views of GWR 4110 being overhauled.

 

 

 

Back outside by the yard to main line turnout, Andrew gave us our instructions for jacking. And digging out. And packing. And filling back in.

Where are the Robels now? All this would have been so much simpler. At least we had a good sized gang, so the work was well shared.

Nearby were the remains of a very temporary looking platform, which was used during the time that Cranmore station was still in BR hands and could not be used by the ESR. (Today it can)

Jacking and packing completed, and while there was still a bit of daylight left, we had the pleasurable aspect of our visit to the ESR: A ride to the end of the line.

An 0-6-0 Sentinel with a Rolls Royce engine came out to us, with a brake van in tow. This was to be our passenger vehicle to the other end of the line. Looks like fun! We clambered aboard.

The ESR is only 2 miles long, which is up this straight and through the hill in the background in a deep rocky cutting, then down the other side in a series of curves, until the line stops in the middle of nowhere.

Behind us lay Cranmore and David Shepherd's loco shed. We learned that the former practise of lighting up the locos in side the shed had corroded the roof, and the shed has had to have new roof sheets. That is why it is so white in this picture.

Grinding through that rocky cutting.

The Sentinel roared off but at something of a snail's pace, towing the one brake van. Truly a shunting locomotive...

Aftre 10 minutes we reached the other end, a run round loop at a place now called Mendip Vale.

Arrival at the other end, Mendip Vale.

Sentinel and brake van at Mendip Vale, with the loop in the course of rebuilding.

This is the very end of the line

Beyond the end of the line, we ascertained, the trackbed is owned by a farmer and an embankment has been cut. Further along is a former level crossing, also seen as an issue to any thoughts of extending into nearby Shepton Mallett. That would be a good idea though, it seems to us, as the line could do with being a tad longer, and having a destination.

Weird stuff parked at the end of the line.

End of the loop at Mendip Vale, looking back towards Cranmore.

4247 awaiting overhaul.

Cranmore's signal box, in many aspects identical to Broadway's.

The eastern end of Cranmore station - NR property begins under the bridge.

We rather liked the self build water tower at Cranmore, with Braithwaite tank panels on top. With its red and blue bricks and arched windows it looks very GWR. 

One like this, but a little larger, could work well at Broadway. However, during the Broadway build the question was asked, and a water crane or tower was declined as not necessary. Is that still the case, we wonder?

Finally, at the end of our very wet day at Cranmore we posed for a group photograph of our 'team building excercise', or helping out our colleagues at Cranmore.

It was a pleasure. Next time, more biscuits please!

Nine of the team of 12 at Cranmore that day. The two GWSR representatives are second and third from the right.