Completion of the yard lamp at Toddington.

Thursday with the yard lamp

A cold but sunny day, and a surprise discovery on returning after a 4 day rail tour to Scotland - Neal had already poured the base plate with the 4 retaining bolts.

The bottom of the hole, with newly cast foundation slab.

 

That meant that we had gained a day, and could now erect the post itself.

Because a yard lamp post at 16 feet is twice as long as a standard platform post at 8 feet in total length, the drawing below advises a concrete base underneath, and use of the 4 bolts to hold the post down.

With its large lantern on top, there is also more wind pressure, another reason to strengthen the foundations. We have secured a replica lantern for the post, similar to the one in the drawing (the lanterns were not all identical) but it will have LED bulbs in it, rather than the oil lamp in the drawing. In the end the post is intended to light the area, and perhaps allow the removal of the modern spotlight fitted to the goods office (visible on the guttering in the picture below)

John inserting the conduit.

Before putting the post upright we inserted the rest of the conduit from underneath. That wasn't easy. It turned out that inside the casting was some sort of rim and the conduit was not keen to go beyond that. But we got there, with the help of a long steel tube to guide it through.

The post is up!

Then came the big moment of the lift. Neal is quite a dab hand with the little Telehandler, so we got it on to the 4 bolts without to much of a problem. What took a bit longer was getting it vertical. Eventually we succeeded with a combination of shims retrieved from the metal skip, and tightening or relaxing the 4 retaining nuts in turn.

At the bottom end, 2ft 6 ins long, we wrapped a sheet of plastic around it to seal the 4 slots in the base. Normally we would have back filled the hole with concrete, but on this occasion we felt that simple filling with earth and rocks was best here. This is because the post is close to the office of the goods shed, and there is a (very small) chance of having to move the post at some time in the future, which would be very difficult with a 1m cube of concrete around it. You have to think ahead.

 

 

 

Yours truly went to get a truck from Winchcombe to clear away the excess ballast and cement. On return we found that Neal and John had already offered up the platform, which was made in house by John (it is his third already!)

Now it was just a case of bolting everything down securely, and applying primer to any new bits of metal.

After that the unused ballast was loaded on to the truck and taken to Winchcombe, were we dropped it off by the Usk hut. It will come in very useful there when laying the diamond paver path.

With the same journey we also took away the two PWay trolleys that had been cluttering up the site since the crossover was relaid.

After returning we erected the ladder, also made by John.

So here is a picture of the post, with ladder and platform, and a departing train. The first picture with this new piece of GWR railwayana.

The last job on Thursday was to pour a base of concrete around the bottom of the steps. Neal smoothed it down nicely, and then we wrote '1905' into it with the handle of a paintbrush - our little joke!

Saturday out with the PWay gang.

Low turnout alert - just 7 of us!

 

 

 

 

 

But at least 22 items of confectionery on the table - what to do? Sample them all of course.

The custard filled doughnuts earned our recommendation.

Jim judges the milk left over from Wednesday...

The regular Saturday sniff test - is the milk still good? We had 3 bottles of it today. One was a reject, as basically cheese inside. One was found open, left over from Wednesday. Jim's sniff test pronounced useable - just. Then there was the fresh milk from Saturday.

Our email call to arms said that we would work at Winchcombe. The electronic sign on said Gotherington, so which is it?

It proved to be Gotherington. Six of us loaded up a Transit and drove down the trackbed from Gotherington Skew bridge, through the station platforms until we could go no further. That was by the barrow crossing on the south side.

All our heavy kit was put into a wheelbarrow and wheeled the rest of the way down to the signal box, where a dip in the rails was reported.

'Dear Parishioners, please stand for Psalm 223....'

The dip was at the end of the work that the tamper had done here. That was right by the foot crossing used by the signalman to mount his little platform for the token exchange.

Jim was in ebullient mood, and spoke loudly to us some wise words from the 'pulpit'. How we laughed...

Then Dinmore came past, accelerating out of Gotherington station, and we were able to get this rather fine shot of it in action. The box was unmanned, so all the signals were 'off'.

The job wasn't too difficult, just a case of jacking up the dip and packing it with the Robels.

Jim watched from his 'pulpit' as Dave cranked the handle up and down. These jacks are very temperamental, in that sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't, despite much pumping.

It does help of course if you have the handle set to 'lift' (clockwise rotation) and you're not pumping when the handle is set to 'lower' (anticlockwise rotation).

You soon learn.

Tony eyed us in, and called out when to stop pumping.

With the track at the right height we can then consolidate the ballast underneath the sleepers with the Robels. These vibrate at the end, and make the stones wander around, seeking the space with the least resistance (which is the void we want to fill). It's a brilliant system.

We noticed that the ballast in this area was very thin. Look at this picture - it's a hole in the ballast made by the tamping tyne, and you can see that after only a couple of inches there is just mud underneath.

This area was laid in the late 1990s, and we didn't have much money. The track was laid on the old trackbed (often stripped of ballast when the track was removed in 1979) and what appears to be new ballast is just a thin layer on top.

 

Here's a picture from the archives, showing the PWay extension train just entering Gotherington station.

Gotherington station in July 1997. Picture by John Lees.

As the station house is in private hands (it was sold off some time before the famous derailment and BR closure) the track passes through on the far side relative to the building.

 

Today the station has been transformed into a lovely little museum, which is open on gala days (check our events before calling there though!). If you are lucky you can have a go on the pump trolley along the relaid 'goods line' at the back.

Our job wasn't too difficult, and soon we were ready to go back. However, we had to spend half an hour waiting by the station until a train had passed, before reversing carefully all the way back to Gotherington Skew bridge. We spent the time uefully talking to the owner about station clocks.

Here's our little gang of 6 waiting for a train, but not to get on. We want it to get out of the way, so that we can go back to Winchcombe for lunch.

 

Back at Winchcombe the next train sighed to a halt by the bracket signal right outside our mess coach.

Does Dan like driving steam engines....?

We had a nice chat with Dan, son of a former GWSR board member. It's great to see a second generation on our lovely railway line!

Moments later the signal arm rattled, and Dinmore Manor set off with a huge cloud of steam from the drain cocks. It was still cold today, only 3 degrees when we set off first thing.

At the end of the day we often call in to say hello to the valliant gang in the C&W shed.

Here is Pam lettering a GWR Hall nameplate made of wood, specially for the gala. 

There are two of them; we understand that one has been sold already. Wow!

 

Monday on a PWay special.

 The call to arms said come help replace the pads on a foot crossing, but we broke the PWay code:

- Replace pads on foot crossing = shovel ballast

- Come eat doughnuts with your mates = shovel ballast

- Sign on and have fun = shovel ballast...

 

Yes, we did replace the pads on a foot crossing - to start with.

Here is said crossing (between Laverton and Little Buckland) without pads. They were removed to let the tamper through during the winter works.

 

 

 

Simon took these two snapshots, as we attached the strops to the big and heavy rubber pads.

The tricky thing here is that we only have the Telehandler to lift the pads in, and it can't swivel like a JCB or an RRV. So it crawls at an awkward angle up against the rails.

 

 

 

 

Well, we managed to fish this customer out of the weeds OK.

 

 

 

Four of us juggled those heavy rubber pads in between the rails. There is a trick to doing this: you have to insert the first and leave it at an angle, using a block underneath. We brought a block, and a piece of rope.

Then you insert the second pad, also at an angle, to make a sort of 'hat'. Two guys on bars then prise up the first pad, the third guy yanks out the block with the string, and then the fourth guy in the Telehandler slowly lets down the 'hat' until it is flat.

Once in, the middle two pads hold each other in by means of their own weight. The other two pads are pushed into the rail web from the outside, then back filled with ballast (Yours Truly and Simon here) to hold them in place.

 

Job done! One crossing fully reinstated. We wondered though if anyone ever used it. The footpath to it starts on the B4632, in the middle of pretty much nowhere.

Time to call it a day, go home, light the fire, cup of tea and an easy chair? No! Here comes the breaking the code bit, because some unexpected ballast shovelling had been reserved for us.

 

 

 

 

It seems that the tamper lifted the track here and there and left voids, such as in this picture. We are on CWR rail, and that needs support all round, and in the picture there is only very little, due to the lifting.

 

 


You can see here that the sleeper ends on the left having nothing against them, to stop the track moving sideways in this area.

Walt in the Telehandler tipped various bucket loads into areas without, and our job was then to shovel it up, and tip it where it was needed.

Here is a pile almost gone, near the bridge over the Wormington road.

You can see why we get backache from shovelling.

A bit later we realised a lot of the bending over could be avoided.

 

We got Walt to offer up the bucket load of ballast, and we then scooped it straight out of there, remaining upright.

This was much faster, and we also got much bigger shovelfuls. It felt a bit like firing a Castle (using our imagination, having never done any such thing).

 

 

 

The rain then came upon us, and it all got a bit miserable. But we did finish the job, filling in the voids between the foot crossing and the bridge, so left with a sense of achievement. 

Paul was also very pleased, and sent us a few pictures, including this one of the job done. 

Hope you apreciate all that, the next time you rumble over it.

 

 

Tuesday with a new lamp top.

At last a sunny day, and hence a good day for putting the new lantern on top of the yard lamp at Toddington.

 

 

 

Sunday was spent wiring up the new copper top. It was made by a coppersmith to a drawing from a GWR architecture book. The only difference is that it won't have an oil lamp in it, but three electric light bulbs, as it will do a job by the ash pit outside the goods shed at Toddington.

We arrived bright an early at Toddington, to see Dinmore Manor ready to leave.

It felt glorious to see such a blue sky again.

We were working by the ash pit, and next to fitting the top we also tidied up the site by disposing of a pile of rubble that was already there, and two rotten sleepers abandoned by the line side.

Only the tap remains. It is clad in a  plastic pipe and is not pretty. We hear that the pit is much less used now, in preference to another outside the shed. What can be done to remove this plastic pipe from view?

 

Then we fetched the new lantern from the back of the car - a tight fit, only possible by removing the floor in the back - and put it on the man basket, ready for lifting.

Neal then lifted the basket up with John and the lantern it it, and then climbed up the ladder himself.

The next stage was a bit tricky. It wasn't so difficult for two people to lift the top on to the end of the post (the heavy glass was not yet fitted) but just before it went down Neal had to connect the wiring inside the lantern to the supply wire inside the post.

There was no room for yours truly up there as well, but they managed OK. And soon came the first admirer, Bob from the P&O group.

 

Here it is, a portrait of the new yard lamp at Toddington. As a test we even had the lightbulbs working. They should give out a fair amount of light, at 11W each, or 75 in old fashioned watts. We'll have to see when it's dark.

The wooden block in the foreground is to make sure no one backs into it with a Telehandler.

Then it was time to try a few shots with passing trains.

The first one to come along was Braveheart, tender first. Oh well.

Next was the class 37 on the last full trip to CRC.

We do like that Growler in its all over green. It feels like a British racing car.

 

After the diesel hauled train left, Dinmore Manor was released from behind it, and approached the pit for coaling up.

Let's try a passing shot, also including the signal box.

 

 

Then a three quarters shot from the front, parked by the ash pit, and the yard lamp in the foreground.

The shot we liked the most was this one, more sideways on. Only that plastic covered tap spoils the scene a bit, we think.

 

 

The last shot for the day is this one, head on.

You can clearly see the new ladder and platform built by John.

At the bottom is a patch of concrete with the date '1905' drawn into it. That must be the date it was put up....

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Cold and dry, but no Jules. We struggled on...

What to do today? Well, obviously, a coffee and a good chat first. Discuss our various ailments. How the world would be so much better if only we were in charge.

Mount the guttering, was the decision. Where was it again? Ah, under this sheet.

 

While yours truly continued with digging the trench (Monday: Digging ballast, Tuesday: Digging round the yard lamp, Wednesday, er, digging a trench, do you see a theme on the railway?) Dave and Paul laid out the gutters that we had (and previously cleaned and painted).

In between, how about a shot of our floor, now finished, and even swept for the occasion! We can sit anywhere we like, a really strange feeling. 

Those slabs we bought, after grouting, really look the part. We were lucky to find them. But then you make your own luck.

We got the trench for the cable connected with the hole by the platform wall, but it isn't deep enough yet. Another round of digging is required.

Just how long is this thing anyway?

The guttering that we have is a bit haphazzard. The Railway Archiving Trust at Toddington very kindly let us rummage through what they had, and then we'll have to buy what remains. We don't quite know what that is yet, so everything was laid out and measured first.

The first job was to decide which way round it would be. We decided that the downpipes would be on the front corner, leading to a soakaway (still to be dug out, dang) and here are Dave and Paul trying a length for size. How would a swan neck from here work?

John spent the day giving our woodwork a topcoat of white. Here he is taking off one of the window fixtures, so that it wouldn't get covered oin white paint.

Outside, Paul and Dave had moved top the other end of the Cotswiolds side gutter to see about the brackets. How would they hang? An old offcut of Ogee gutter was used to define the location.

Meanwhile trains kept on running, but sadly not very full. If a coach appeared full, it was a coach trip. An interesting marketing phenomenon. 

Here is Dinmore Manor exchanging tokens, with 75014 Braveheart waiting for the token to Toddington.

We liked this pair of goods vehicles. They look nice and fresh. We think they act as storage for the Friends of Winchcombe Station, and may be shunted into the goods platform that we built at some point.

 

Later we caught John painting the window at the front that he had cleaned earlier. Everything needs a final topcoat, to make it look goood, and to protect it from the weather that it will undoubtedly receive.

The PWay gang was working in Winchcombe yard today. We were very pleased to receive a visit from Rick, who was recovering from a mishap. He has, happily, fully recovered.

In the picture are Walt, Peter, Simon, a beaming Rick, and Robert, our dynamic SouthWest by rail leader.

Where will we go next, Robert?

In this picture you can see that the gutters on one side have been pretty much put into place, but there is a little gap in the middle that we need to bridge with a part to be purchased. That's what you get with second hand stuff.

After completing the guttering on the Cotswolds side, Dave took a look at the cable that we are laying for an electrical supply. We have a thick armoured cable, but are also putting it into a conduit.

Dave here is poking the end through the hole in the platform wall that we drilled last week.

With the conduit in place the cable looked like this mid afternoon. Ready for back filling then.

Back filling was quick, much faster than digging out (sigh...), especially with two volunteers on the job. We put red sand round the conduit, and a stretch of yellow warning tape on top.

Volunteers from another department started the job of laying a double row of 2ft slabs along the platform edge. The first thing to do was to raise the  ground level with some waste material. The slabs will provide a path along the platform edge top get dry access to whatever is parked there.

Cameo with Dinmore fireman and driver at Winchcombe.

At the end of the day the Usk hut looked like this. One row of guttering up on brackets, but not yet watertight. The angled lengths of board steer the water from the gutters away from the building.

The final intention here is to have a downpipe on the corner, leading to a soakaway.

Monmouth Troy today.

Most of you will know that the stone station building now at Winchcombe is not the original. No, the original brick station building, which was the same design as that at Broadway, was demolished at some time in the 1960s. We don't know the exact date, and there are no photographs (3 demolition pictures of Broadway exist though).

The stone built station building at Winchcombe today was originally the station building at Monmouth Troy. Below is a picture of it as it was in situ, but after closure.

Monmouth Troy after closure.                                Author unknown, coll. Jo Roesen.

It was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt over a period of mainly 3 years between 1988 and 1991. Sadly only one of the three original chimneys was rebuilt (and only 2 instead of the original 3 at Broadway, for a much longer building). Another difference today is that the canopy over the entrance is shorter. That was more accidental, as two of the brackets were broken. While the studs for the brackets exist in the facade, the missing brackets were not replicated and a shorter version of the canopy was put up 30 years ago.

Thanks to the Friends of Winchcombe Station the missing brackets have now finally been commisioned, and they await fitting, together with a refurbishment of the rest of the canopy.

Two members of the FoWS went to explore what remains today of the site of Monmouth Troy station, and they are happy to share what they found. Compare the photographs with the map below.

Map of Monmouth Troy station site.

North East tunnel portal, under Gibraltar hill - 140 yards long.

Site of Monmouth Troy station viewed from end of north east platforms looking south west - looking towards tunnel.

Site of Monmouth Troy station viewed from end of south west platform looking north east - tunnel behind the camera.

South West end of viaduct over the river Wye.

Track bed after bridge heading South West where lines converged after bridge and viaduct.

View of the remains of Monmouth viaduct across the river Wye.

View across goods yard looking North East.

View across yard looking east. Block wall presumably from coal yard days.

Wye river bridge, aka Duke of Beaufort bridge.

Wye valley footpath bridge - looking west.

Wye valley footpath bridge looking towards Monmouth Troy.

Monmouth Troy station was built in 1857, and was closed in 1959 to passengers, and in 1964 to goods. The railway that built it was the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool railway. The pink sandstone with which it was built is very similar to the stone blocks of the Usk hut, and they may well have come from the same source, possibly Usk tunnel.

NB No blog next week, give us a rest !