Our very own fridge.

Friday in a freezing loco shed.

We're fabricating and painting. The outside temperature was 0.5 C....

Neal is close to completing the second of the 3 future support posts for the end of the canopy for P2 at Broadway.

This one is slightly different, as the stringer from the bottom of the steps will pass through the 'cast iron' embellishment. A central gap therefore has to remain.

In the picture Neal is measuring up pieces of round, cut in half down the middle, which will be fitted above the widening on the post, already in place.

This is one he did earlier. We've been doing this job on and off while we wait for the official go ahead to start the P2 building. Things are looking favourable at the moment, but there are still one or two obstacles to overcome.

 

 

 

John continued his good work on the ladder and platform for the yard lamp. He will be getting used to this, it's the third one he has done. Second hand GWR yard lamps with original ladders are pretty rare, we only had the one, and for the other three new ladders had to be made.

This ladder is now complete. It's so long that it doesn't fully fit into the picture!

He's also done the floor of the platform, two uprights and the 'D' shaped guard rail at the top.

All this is covered in millscale. Previously we didn't remove this, but advice now is to deal with it, as the paint will stick much better. We don't want to leave a rusty legacy for future generations.

Friday was really busy in the shed. We noticed work on 2874, P&O and a welding course going on.

This is a little cameo on 2874. Steve, Jamie and Mike are removing a rear cylinder cover on 2874. It's heavy - you can't just walk up and pull it off on your own.

Ian was making new steps for the loco. Why - steps don't wear out, do they? The answer is that they became badly rusted at Barry.

Later yours truly and John put on a layer of topcoat on the Winchcombe canopy brackets.

Its called Dulux Country Cream and is a commercially available colour that matches quite well BR Western cream. In this picture we added a bit of saturation to the image to show you, otherwise in the dark shed the colour comes out as pretty much white. The paint covers really well, we found; we liked the stuff.

Saturday with the PWay gang.

Cold, dry, a good turnout, and a work site close to the mess coach. It all went very well. First we had Nick's chocolate doughnuts (a thumbs up given to them) and tea, for what some might call a 'briefing'.

Jobs for the day were:

- Finish off replacing the last 14 sleepers in the stretch opposite the mess coach

- Load the sleeper wagon with CS1 concretes

- Change two end posts by the outer home.

 

OK guys, there's tea, chocolate doughnuts, and raspberry doughnuts.

The weekend Santa activities take place between CRC and Winchcombe station, so they don't cover our worksite - except at the beginning of the day, at the end, and in the middle. Oh well, we can work round that.

While we were still having tea the first train came past - an ECS working to CRC. Foremarke Hall suitably decorated.

That was followed very shortly after by 4270 light engine, to pick up the marroon rake from P2, and take that down to CRC as well. Then we were clear for a few hours.

Sleeper wagon, part filled.

What we are going to be doing during the winter season is now sharpening up. The major job is to replace a stretch of several hundred concrete sleepers at Didbrook over 1/4 mile. These were laid back in the 1980s with austerity ex army sleepers. Being austerity, they contain less concrete, are shorter, and are now life expired. Some have shown signs of cracking up, and have had to be fitted with tie bars. 

 So they're coming out.

 

Boom out, Dave.

Dave fitted the forks to the Telehandler and together with Steve spent a couple of hours loading up the rest of the bogie flat.

Last week there was a question about GWR throughbolt chairs, so we took a picture of one close up to show you the construction.

 

This is one, end on. The bolt and square washer underneath are still on.

Note how rusty the nut on the right is. To get that off (if you can, after many years of rain) you need extreme force. That causes the bottom to rotate, as the sleepers is now too rotten and soft to hold it in place.

In other words, the bolt is impossible to remove, and we have to split the sleeper open to get the chair off. The 2807 guys then manage to turn them into boot scrapers to raise funds for their loco.

Simon here and yours truly spent some time splitting several sleepers to get the throughbolters off. We used to attack them with the pointed end of picks, but have now taken to using wedges from our rail moving kit. It's better; we might try some commercial wood splitting wedges next, see how that goes.

'All that has to be shovelled off'. 'Surely not, do you mean that?'

Although we were working close to the mess coach, it wasn't that close to our storage facilities, so the Citroen van had to come out and transport all the kit and dump it by the lineside. 

Dave also brought fresh ballast, and some replacement screwbolt chairs for the day. All heavy stuff, but it kept us warm.

Bert Ferrule and Simon attack a sleeper marked with a red 'X'.

Another crew shovelled out the cribs, and pulled in the replacement sleepers.

Tim kept a wary eye on the loco movements. No, it wasn't coming, it was running round, but you never know.

The gang working several sleepers at once.

With our gang of 11 on Saturday we were well manned, and this enabled us to attack the job on several levels, which is of course much more efficient.

On the right in the distance is the digging out crew, in the middle the sleeper breakers, and on the left the sleeper replacers and packers. Imagine if we only had 4 people (which actually happened on one day last year) - they would only be able to do one job at a time.

Here is a shot from the other end. The sleeper diggers have finished, and rejoined the sleeper replacers. There's no fresh ballast at this end, so Dave had to put the bucket back on the Telehandler and go all the way to Gotherington to get another load.

After lunch, Bert Ferrule, Jim and yours truly went to the outer home (beyond the north end of Chicken Curve) to replace the insulation jackets on two insulated joints, where the end posts were failing.

Insulated joint where the plastic end post between the rail ends has disappeared.

Close up - a big gap in the middle. This can lead to bridging with debris, and block failure.

What struck us as mysterious was why there was a second insulated joint, about 100m in front of the signal (where the first one is). The orange tube, which usually contains cabling, looked empty.

Well, we redid all the insulation on both joints as requested. Ours not to reason why etc etc.

What the joint insulation should look like. Boot by blogger.

We signed this one off and returned to the main site of 14 sleepers being replaced. Light was starting to fail.

In fact the guys were just finishing off, so we loaded up the Citroen with all the bits and bobs, Dave picked up the sleeper wreckage with the Telehandler, yours truly the scrap. Then park up the van, clean up, have a chat with Alex and then the signalman. That was Peter, also a member of the PWay gang. (Better indoors with a stove and an armchair, he knows) (But very boring, with just a few train movements....)

Set the controls for the heart of the sun... (who knows where that comes from?)

That second insulated joint nagged at the brain for the rest of the afternoon, we had to find out why it was there. Peter was only too happy to explain. The second insulated joint made for a short 100m section. There's a second by the outer home on the other side of the tunnel. When an incoming train hits that short little section, it rings a bell in the box, warning the signalman that the train is arriving. Ah.

Peter also let us take a snap through the window of the Santa activities on P1 at Winchcombe:

It's quite atmospheric, isn't it!

Only 4 o'clock, and so dark already. Santa activities were going full tilt, everyone was enjoying the hot food from the griddle, the model train whizzing round, and - the singing penguins. (!) But this is the NORTH pole....?

Tuesday - unloading day.

A PWay special. We are preparing for the winter works in January, and need lots of concrete sleepers along the relay site at Didbrook.

The bogie flat loaded on Saturday was pushed out to the site just short of Toddington, and on Tuesday a team of 3 unloaded it, and took the sleepers out along the line.

Walt in the Telehandler took out packets of 4 sleepers and dropped them in the Malvern side cess. That seemed rather slow, so we tried 8 sleepers, with success.

Walt drops off 8 sleepers.

It took pretty much all of the rather short day to empty the wagon, but here it is, ready for filling up again. It takes 128 sleepers at a time, so if we remember correctly, that's a bit over 5 trips. So we have a way to go yet.

Here's an overview of the relay site. We're looking at the area between the two Didbrook bridges, looking south towards Winchcombe.

The relay site starts just south of the bridge, and continues to somewhere beyond those houses in the distance, which are alongside Didbrook 2 bridge. About 650 sleepers will be involved. All the ex military sleepers are coming out, and are likely to be stored at Gotherington skew yard for a time, either for possible sale, or own use in the C&W yard, which has poor quality track at the moment.

Picture taken by Walt.

 

 

 

 

As Walt drove the Telehandler back to Winchcombe at dusk, he met the 03 coming the other way on Chicken Curve.

The 03 then collected the empty wagon and took it back to Winchcombe - see below for the next day.

 

Wednesday in our self built fridge.

Minus 3 degrees at Winchcombe! We sat indoors for a coffee from the flask, but wondered if we weren't better off sitting outside in the weak sun. It was cold in the Usk hut, like our very own fridge. Two windows are now glazed, leaving one to do by the apprentices trained last week. Paul was away on family business.

 

 

 

 

We sat inside the hut, feeling out of the wind, but pretty cold nonetheless.

Jules found a spot in the sun, where life was bearable.

 

 

 

 

The window was covered in ice, and someone had used it as a blackboard for a stick man and a little steam engine. They melted of course, once the sun got to them.

After enjoying some seasonal mince pies, courtesy of the Broadway gang Christmas dinner, we got the kit together to apply the glazing to the third and last window.

Mince pies, and putty. One of these you can't eat, according to the safety instructions.

We took the window out and put it on the table, where it was easier to work on. Two glass panes fitted easily. Too easily in fact, which was a bit suspicious. The other two panes next to them seemed just too large for their spaces, and we then realised that the central bar running from top to bottom was off centre by a few mm.

Back to the manufacturer, accompanied by a stiff complaint. No? Well, not the latter, as the manufacturer was Paul, who very generously agreed to adjust the frames for us. 

So we'll finish that one next week, and we put the plastic sheet back on for now.

 

Out in the yard the PWay gang were already loading the bogie flat again with the next load of 128 sleepers.

This time it was Bob in charge of the machine, and he was doing very well, as you can see by this load of 8 that he just picked up.

Later in the day the wagon was almost full again when we passed by, and at the end of the day it was ready to go again for further laying out. Now we need 3 volunteers again to empty it.

Then back to the Usk hut.

Jules and Dave decided to knock off the protruding edges of the bricks under the damp course. They needed to be level with the wall, so that the floor can go in.

After lunch the sun was fully out, and although the temperature never climbed about 3C, it became quite pleasant outside.

Yours truly spent a satisfying half hour applying LeadMate around the window frames, and then we painted the two barge boards that we have (two more are needed) in white primer.

That's another job ticked off the list.

Dave and Jules spent the afternoon making an inventory of the floor slabs that we have. Many are cracked or damaged. We could do with a few more. The originals were in the same stone as the building - chunky pink sandstone, if anyone has a few to spare.

To start the roof we are still paused, pending receipt of funds to rent the scaffolding. If we get that, we could start the job after Christmas.

Last week's derailment puzzle.

The loco that derailed, with the strange chimney, was actually a 2-8-0 WD in service in Holland.

                                                  Collection NSM

That large chimney came about because Dutch enginemen complained of drifting smoke along the boiler. As they had a higher loading gauge, a chimney extension was the easiest solution.

The actual locomotive was NS 4309, and the crane that rightened it was a British built Ransomes Rapier.

The derailment took place on the approach to Ijsselmonde marshalling yard in south Rotterdam, and the cause was an unusual one - the previous goods train had dropped a buffer on to the track, and the WD hit it and then derailed on the points entering the yard.

 

 

A couple of readers got pretty close to the truth of the tale - you can't fool them! Britain and The Netherlands have always had close ties with railway equipment.

Belgium was the first continental country to open a railway line. That was between Brussels and Mechelen, in 1835. And who supplied the kit? We did! And that's why trains in Belgium today run on the left, just like the first ones we supplied. (which leads to a tricky issue with their HSL from Brussels to Rotterdam, where they run on the right... what do they do on the border - does anyone know?)