Digging a hole, and a Jolly.

Tuesday - digging a hole

After much work with the PWay, Tuesday saw the canopy gang finally back at work on a heritage project - the yard lamp by the ash pit at Toddington.

 

The site of the yard lamp, by the loco pit at Toddington.

 

 

 

Tuesday was a fine, sunny day, and perfect for digging a large hole.

The GWR No.4 yard lamp has a 2ft 6inch bottom, which itself stands on a big lump of concrete as a base, so the hole needed to be quite big, and deep as well. 

We kicked off with a heritage projects review and a mug of tea in the mess room.

On the way there we were thrilled to see the boiler of 2807 back, and undergoing a steam test.

The air line at the front replaces the blower, until steam is raised.

 

 

 

After tea we were all gung-ho to dig, but there was only room for one...

Neal supervised, while yours truly took pictures and carted away the spoil, six heavy barrows of it. We leave a tidy site.

There were two steam locos out today. Foremarke Hall was one, as can be seen in this against the light view as it approaches Toddington signal box to return the token.

 

You can see the signalman lean out ready to receive it, as Foremarke Hall approaches, steam on.

And there is the handover, captured by the camera!

Neal and John only paused briefly to see who was driving. They had swapped roles, with Neal now down the hole, and John supervising.

At lunch time the hole itself was ready. It was so deep that we needed a little ladder to get out. Luckily there was a little one handy.

 

Behind the loco shed the steam test of 2807's boiler continued, as the pressure slowly rose. 

The boiler was tested almost full, and coal came by way of the small Telehandler, which stood by its side like a little tender.






 

 

 

 

And there is the desired plume of steam from the safety valve!

We ascertained that this picture is unusual as the trolley is a genuine boiler trolley from Swindon.

It worked like a charm.

 

 

 

 

 

Also out and about was 75014 BRAVEHEART.

Trains were not particularly full. Although it is currently Easter school holidays, it may be that people went elsewhere due to the fine weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, and with the main hole complete, we dug a trench to take the power supply from the goods shed.

We did about two thirds of it, with one more day's digging required to take the cable into the building. 

Neal and John watch the afternoon diesel loco emerge from the yard to couple up to the Broadway service train.

Half an hour later the class 37 returned with the train, on its way to Winchcombe and CRC, with Foremarke Hall coming off to go back on shed here.

We ordered a bag of ballast and 6 bags of cement to fix the big cast iron lamp post in its hole, paid for out of our own pockets (there is no budget for this work). Due to Easter the delivery will only be in a week's time, so that is when we can continue. The ladder and platform have already been made and painted, so all is ready now.

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Only three of us today. Two were off on domestic duties, so the work fell on the three hardy ones. We did OK! Take a look at the pictures:

This was our starting point. The floor had flagstones over about two thirds of its surface.

Here Paul is just manoeuvering the first flagstone on a bed of mix, the first of 6 made during the day. Mixing was rather non stop, and Paul, being alone today, also felt the pressure.

We always stop to admire the trains - that's what we are here for after all - and the first one today was the ECS for CRC, with 75014 pulling tender first. It seems to be a popular engine with the crews, who are vieing to drive it! Several passed us today with triumphant waves.

 

 

Back inside (just as well, as it drizzled all day) Paul was on his third slab already. Each line in turn gets a slab, until we reach the door, then it gets a bit tricky. We can't step on a green slab, and to avoid doing it by accident we laid half bricks on the new ones. Later a scaffolding plank was laid across the newly laid slabs, to spread the weight of the walkers.

Soon it was time for a coffee and a doughnut. We often take 5, we are not the youngest and this is not a race.

The guilty pleasure, but shouldn't you be working?

As we resumed we received the visit of Ian from the Friends of Winchcombe station, who brought an interesting GWR branded coat found in a house clearance.

As you can see, it is marked 'GWR' and also 'WAR', with '5 C' stencilled below. It looked like some sort of overcoat for someone stationed outside.

Does anyone know what it is? We're not sure what to do with it, but we might let it go for a donation.

 

Below us at the foot of the platform a group from Construction & Maintenance was reconnecting the water supply to the lower yard. We've had 3 leaks at Winchcombe in the last 1-2 years, how unlucky is that? One seems to have been leaking underground since the time we built the Bradstone visitor centre, which was a good 5 years ago. No one knew. It's all fixed now though.

 

Before laying the final slab up to the door, we had a think and decided to make a passage for an electricity supply.

This will enter the building under the doorstep, where there is a convenient gap, although not all was free on the inside. We spent quite some time hammering away at the concrete (who made it so hard anyway?) until we had a passage round the corner to the white plastic conduit that we put in, to link with the opposite side of the building.

We then inserted an armoured cable, which will be buried to where there is a connection with the mains. Inside we will have a light, and maybe a power point.

 

Once the cable end was in place we covered it in sand and then laid the last slab over the top of it. That got us up to the door on the centre row. What next?

We decided to do some slab cutting to size, to address the difficult corner by the fireplace.

Outside, Braveheart was back, and gave us this very nice shot in front of Winchcombe signal box.

 

There are two big skips in Winchcombe yard - one for metal, another for sundries. Both are interesting to 'skip surf'... you never know what you might find.

Today it was - a metal chicken. Really! You wouldn't believe it. Just for once we took a selfie, just to show you that it's true.

 

We wonder if anyone is interested in obtaining this metal chicken, perhaps for their garden, in exchange for a modest donation? That would be worth more than its weight in metal, surely.

In the meantime it is our gate guardian. We will look out for metal eggs next week.

 

 

With the chicken parked on the window board, our thoughts returned to the floor and in particular to the corner by the fireplace.

We cut one of the narrower slabs diagonally in half, and that yielded two smaller examples which fitted the corner perfectly. Only one more small hole to fill there now.

At the front by the door we also cut a slab to size, and this completed the entrance.

In the picture Paul is just fitting the last piece of the puzzle here, a small piece sliced from an offcut that we had. Almost nothing is going to waste.

Our last picture shows the room from the inside looking out. Notice that we also laid the narrower slabs all down one side, leaving only a 2 1/4 inch wide strip, which we also fitted until the muck ran out.

Then we were out of puff and decided to call it a day.

 

 

A look over the fence: South West by Rail. (1)

As has become a bit of a tradition, a group of the GWSR PWay team took a rail trip to visit other railways in the UK. It's our annual 'Jolly'. This year we headed for the South West. With the strikes it was touch and go, but last week the strikes were called off, and we had the green light.

Eleven members of the gang met at Cheltenham Spa on Thursday, to take a Cross Country train down to Plymouth. The weather forecast was dire, with 50mph winds forecast at Dawlish all day the next morning, and lots of rain. We didn't mind, as we sat indoors, looking out...

Travelling by train, four round a table, is a great way to get to know each other better.

Here are Peter and John, both members of the PWay gang, but also signalman and 'Spy' in the wartime events for children.

We were to be based in a hotel opposite Exeter St David's, but we went straight through, and on to Plymouth. Dawlish twice that day then.

On the way we passed this amazing cafe at Totnes,with the old atmospheric pumping station behind. It's one of only three that remain. Brunel actually had the atmospheric system up and running, but due to constant leakage the costs of pumping were way higher than estimated, and eventually Brunel gave way and normal locomotives were used to pull the trains.

Unfortunately the scenery was rather spoiled by a derelict and heavily graffitied factory right next to it.

 

We headed straight for Plymouth, our junction station for the Tamar valley line.

Plymouth is not a pretty station (unlike, say, Exeter). It was rebuilt in 1962 and the architecture is clearly of that era, being rather brutalist. Its one attractive feature was a luxurious Brunel bar, which sadly has since been converted to a Pumpkin snackbar whose top of the range product was a bacon roll, microwaved bag and all.

 

We found a very handy public map, which explains the run of the Tamar Valley line. It was selected for closure by Dr. Beeching, but kept open nonetheless as the terrain made a replacement bus service impossible.

To get to Gunnislake you carry on from Plymouth, go past the docks, under the approaches of the two big rail and road Tamar bridges, over the Tavy estuary to Bere Alston, where the train reverses to go up the Gunnislake branch.

The line out of Plymouth to Bere Alston was once double track and continued north through Tavistock (top right on the map), round Dartmoor, past Okehampton, back down through Crediton and into Exeter. This could be the alternative route to Dawlish, if ever re-opened.

 

At the start of the actual Tamar Valley line things began to look a bit more familiar to us, as the driver had to get a staff with an Annetts key out of a box at St Budeaux.

Isn't that what we do at the end of P1 at Toddington?

Things on branch lines don't change much...

 

 

 

We then dived under the road bridge over the Tamar, with Brunel's famous Royal Albert bridge visible in the background.

 

The first stop was Bere Ferrers. This was a little Southern jewel, an example of a heritage centre supporting a NR station.

 

 

 

This was no longer GWR territory, so everything was painted Southern green.

It struck us that the totems and signal box had different spellings of Bere Ferrers.

A little research revealed that this was not someone's private joke and a wink, but that the spelling of Beer Ferris was in fact the original. It was changed in 1897 due to its unrefined association with the devil drink. Beer was actually the name of a local family that owned several villages.

 

The next stop up the old Southern line to Okehampton was Bere Alston. Here we had to reverse up the branch to Gunnislake. Bere Alston was a Junction with a double track main line, so was equipped with no fewer than 4 roads over 3 platforms. Here too the name was changed from 'Beer'.

This map, from a local billboard, shows the reversal at Bere Alston and the winding branch to Gunnislake.

 

This picture shows the single track and platform in operation today.

We are looking at the old double track Southern route to Okehampton.

Behind the signal box was another platform, and two more tracks.

 

 

Looking back towards Plymouth, with our unit 150244 waiting for the road to Gunnislake.

The turnout for the branch line is operated by the guard, who has just walked ahead with the staff.

You can see how the branch quickly dives downhill after the station, subject to a 20mph speed limit as it twists and turns on the approaches to Calstock viaduct.

There are plenty of trees to obscure the view, but they don't grow as high as the 120ft viaduct, so we can show you two views of the Tamar:

Looking upstream across Calstock village.

Looking downstream, at a muddy still tidal river Tamar.

A mineral railway once ran along the far shore, and until 1934 a steam powered lift connected Calstock station with the quayside below by the river.

The line is fairly busy, and we had to wait a bit to let passengers out of the way to take any photographs. Of course we could always get out to take a picture, but that was risky, we didn't want to watch the 150 roar away with 10 of your buddies waving goodbye...

After a very slow ascent out of Calstock we eventually reached the single platform that is Gunnislake today. Nothing to see there, it was a bit of an anticlimax.

Originally the line went on to the original terminus of Callington. That bit closed in 1966. A little while later Gunnislake station was moved back a little towards Plymouth, so that a low (12'4'') bridge over a road could be removed.

From this buffer stop shot you can see the road that used to be crossed by the railway dive down under it, but today no longer constricted by the low bridge.

 

 

 

According to Wikipedia the traffic on the Tamar Valley line has grown by 50% since 2001, and Gunnislake is the busiest station.
 

It's risky standing up here looking down, so we hastened back onto the 150 and soon we were off again, back down the hill towards Calstock.

 

 

 

Lots of excellent historical pictures of the Callington branch beyond Gunnislake can be seen here:

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/callington-branch.html

It's interesting to note that the station buildings of Luckett - and to a degree also of Gunnislake - are very similar to those of the KESR. They did have Col. Stephens in common, which probably explains that.

At Calstock we were slightly more daring, and once the doors opened, the first out of the starting blocks.

The reward was a shot of Calstock viaduct in the distance! So there you are, it can be done.

Back on to the 150, and a parting shot out of the door, to show how the line curves round on to the viaduct.

Finally, another picture at 'Beer' Ferrers, with our very jovial and chatty guard sweeping the platform with his eyes for any errant railway photographers.

Then it was back to Plymouth, and along the GWR main line to Exeter St. David's, where we finally got to our hotel, and with the luggage that we had taken with us all day.

A busy day? Well, there was one more little excursion - up the hill to Exeter Central, for a slap up meal up town. 

Part 2 next week.