Gonna grass you up.

Friday on steels (again, and not for the last time)

Two and a half of us last Friday - Neal, John and yours truly, but John had to go ringing in the afternoon, leaving two at the end of the day.

We continued with our millscale removal, with now 3 angle grinders on the go at once.

That certainly tripled the productivity, and we made real progress on Friday.

Just to remind you what we are doing, here is a close up of an 'unequal angle'.

The shiny bit is clean and what we want, the orange bits are rust, and the grey bits are a layer of millscale that is very hard to grind off.

The purchase of flap disks helped a lot. For the first two angles we used rotating brushes, but they tended to polish, not remove. Now we have found our stride.

We did one angle each, each half of the day. It doesn't sound like much, but it's slow and steady work, and we just need to throw the man-hours at it.

We did 5 pieces last Friday, and primered them in special green primer. The total done is now 17, out of 44. Neal muttered darkly that there were more on the MACAW, up in the north headshunt.

We don't want to know that. Let's get these out of the way first.

Saturday out with the gang

It was only meant to be between 21 and 24 degrees, but boy, did it feel hot on Saturday. 11 of us turned out, which was pretty good we felt.

As we turned round the corner of the large C&W workshop, we were surprised to see that the oily black 'TAR' tank car had been replaced by a neat, shotblasted and primed example.

Instructions as to what to do next were left up against the headstocks, so there was no excuse for delay. Two members of the wagon team were already at work.

We set off for Hayles in a truck and the Ranger.

 

 

 

 

It was definitely a day for the ole factor 30 slapped on, liberally. Paul also arranged for a large supply of water bottles (yes, with water in them, silly) and they were priceless on a day like this.

Half way along the Defford straight we met P&O coming the other way, so a quick pulling over to one side and a nice shot of it framed by trees.

At Hayles we put out the site boards and inspected the long list of dipped joints reported here, both on the 4 panels relaid here in the winter, and further south. This rail had not been cropped and re-welded, so was giving trouble that jacking and packing alone would not cure.

In the foreground you can see a rusty patch on the rail. This is where the crippled rail end has dropped so much that the wheels take a short cut and hop straight on to the next rail, with a banging sound. That in turn not only shakes your beer, but also stresses the fishplate.

 

The first thing to do was to - wait.

If we work near Winchcombe then we always get two trains one after the other, as they cross at that station.

So having seen P&O go down we waited for the other train to come back up. Then we would have about an hour, before it came back down again.

Here it is: A nice picture of 7903 Foremarke Hall (unkind tongues prefer Skidmark Hall, but only because of the jokey rhyme) chugging through Hayles Abbey halt.

Then we got down to the serious work, which needed double lookouts here, as we are working on a long curve and you can't see very far.

A distant lookout (or 'advanced lookout') stands beyond the road bridge and communicates with the site lookout with a chequered flag. If he waves it, there's a train coming.

The chequered flag has no meaning for footplate crews, it is merely a means of communication between lookouts.

 

Below is the view of one of the lookouts:

Nothing to see, nothing to do, and it's hot with no shade. Just stand there and fry until something comes.

Lunch time. Now we get the chance to find somewhere cooler!

Half the team have sought the shade of this lineside tree, while the other half sits in the vehicles with the doors and windows open.

From within the vehicles you can still see the trains - here is P&O again, going south.

The Robelling of the joints slowly moves south - the shade of the overbridge beckons.

Just for extra extra security we have three site lookouts here. Or maybe they are waiting for a breeze?

The Hayles running in board and trespass signs are still in good condition, but the grass is much too long. Is there someone who would like to take that on with a mower? John, our 'spy' on the trains, gave the platform a good weeding earlier in the week, we could see that.

Steve on the right has just celebrated his 40th anniversary on the GWSR. We're a bit of a family to him.

 

One thing that cooled us down was an armful of Calyppos brought in by Paul, for which we were all very grateful.

We sucked at them thoughtfully.

Bert Ferrule seemed particularly pleased. Behind him Robel workers with ear defenders on were unaware of the cooling supplies and carried on in blissful ignorance.

We did an amazing 11 pairs of dipped joints on Saturday (i.e. 22 joints in total). As you can see, also over quite a distance from our starting point north of Hayles Abbey halt.

Our final job for the day was to replace a cracked fishplate, here in the foreground. It had been found by our track walkers, but another piece of evidence was found to be two lumps of coal in the cess. That's a sure sign of a big bump here.

We need to cut and shut this section.

The cracked fishplate that we replaced on Saturday. The crack is surrounded by yellow paint.

The amazing thing about this fish plate is that it is an extra reinforced one, to wit: Deep Skirted. And yet it snapped.

When we laid the track here in 1984 there was no money for terram or a base layer of ballast, so when we robelled today we often brought up mud, the main reason the joints are pumping in this area.

7903 Foremarke Hall trundles into Winchcombe.

Not to forget: A small gang also walked the track between Toddington and Winchcombe, in the unrelenting sun, and did 2.5 miles of fishplate greasing using Interflon. 

With only a handful of minutes to spare at the end of the afternoon we screeched to a halt outside the Coffeepot to claim 12 cups of tea. Get that in us first, then we can see about emptying the vehicles and putting everything back into the various areas of storage.

Accident sequel.

The insurance company passed the file to a claims management company (CMC), which arranged to have the blogger car recovered.

We then received the offer of a hire car while it was being repaired. A hire contract soon arrived by email for electronic signature. On reading the small print however, we were somewhat disturbed to see that 'this is not a courtesy car, but a credit hire' and our name was on the bottom for signature. A small paragraph at the bottom authorised the CMC to bill the at fault insurers for the cost, OK, but our name was down as prinicpal. We then saw the price - £350 per day. That was outrageous. A quick check with a random car hire firm at Birmingham airport showed a walk in cost (i.e. not a corporate rate) of £117 for a similar car, i.e. only one third of the price. What's going on here then?

Google led us to a car enthusiasts forum, where all was revealed. The CMC makes most of its money from the car hire, and has an interest in dragging out the repairs for as long as possible, as this lengthens the hire period. They also get a kickback from the repair shop. The outrageous daily rate is simply billed to the at fault insurance company, and this is why our premiums go up so much. If the at fault company baulks, disputes, or there is in fact no at fault cover, then the whole bill goes to the principal who naiively agreed to sign, i.e. muggins.

The credit hire was for a maximum term of 90 days, so a quick calculation shows the potential total bill if the repairs are not executed swiftly: £31.500! And we were expected to sign for that.

We called the CMC to say we were not happy with the contract. The call handler assured us not to worry, as the at fault insurance company would pay. Really?

We're now in a hire car proveded by the at fault insurers. This they rent from a nearby company for - £73 a day. One fifth. And they would certainly have refused to reimburse the excessive hire fee first proposed by the CMC. They made that very clear indeed.

This sounds like a legal scam. Someone needs to be told what is going on.

Much cheaper car provided by the at fault insurers.

Tuesday on steels.

All three of us on stripping mill scale and rust again. A tedious occupation, but much faster now with three of us on the job.

The pile on the right is getting smaller, the finished one on the left is getting bigger. There's another pile out of sight. And about the same again still on the MACAW.

The day's tally: 7 angles done, the total has gone up from 17 to 24. Over half way now.

Wednesday:

A talk on the Broadway rebuild given to a local Probus club - Usk day deferred to Thursday. 

And next week: No blog report, having a week off in Wales. Yes, that's a holiday destination ! So you'll have to be patient.

Thursday on the Usk hut.

Here's that Wednesday Usk report then, on a Thursday. Sorry if you clicked yesterday and there was no update (yet).

Posting regularly every Wednesday evening makes a rod for your own back...

So, this week...

We continue to fettle our little hut. We even had a chat about it - wouldn't it make a great little Santa's grotto, with all those stones inside?

Although not original, we do think we need a source of power and a light. The trouble is that regulations mean modern consumer units and powerpoints.

Steve was very kind to fit all this for us and connect it up, and we are already using power from here. But we are not happy with the blatant modernity of it, so Paul offered to make us a box to fit over it. The power point will be moved underneath, instead of on top.

We had two GWR engines on today: 7903 and 7820. Some trains were quite well patronised, others rather less so. Coach bookings are currently the backbone of the passenger figures.

 

Last week Peter helped us distribute the earth that Dave had brought (Dave being away this week) and today we had the benefit of John (our spy in the evacuee experiences) for half a day, before he went to give Hayles Abbey Halt some tlc.

John and Paul had a nice chat together - a problem shared is a problem halved.

John attacked the triangle in front of the hut with vigour, pausing only to watch the trains go by. We were very glad for his assistance with digging.

On our way to the skip we were charmed by the sight of the swallows making use of the overnight rain to pick up mud from puddles for their nests.

 

 

Paul and John kicked off with more painting. Our windows are going to be well protected. It was nice and cool inside, whereas outside it was hot and muggy, although the temperature was in the low twenties today.

 

John also managed to change the day, and had a relaxing time painting the inside of the big window. You can stay seated for the job.

We had several trips to the skip, and also to Churchward house to collect a cheque from a kind supporter.

On our way we passed this lovely little roadster, paired with the GWR Toad in the background. Only the Bradstone and fake arch spoil it for us.

Another interesting discovery was this member of the C&W team giving the S&T coach a little refresh. We are planning to build permanent premises for the S&T department, and this coach will then become available. We heard that there are actually plans to return it to service. It's in reasonable condition, and an interesting 2+1 SO, although the interior seating is no longer there. The partition doors are though.

Later we took this shot overlooking the front of the hut, to show what still needs to be filled. We need one or two more buckets of earth here, and the weighing machine needs moving.

The road surface will be raised and covered with fill currently on the other side of the tracks.

This is the back. The road on the left needs raising to something like the level of the soil around the hut, which itself is one course below the DPC. We have already built up the corner to indicate where the levels will be.

To cover the modern electrical units Paul made a sort of cupboard with lectern on top. The power point will be moved nearer to floor level, and the whole thing painted dark brown. It should then look unobtrusive.

In the picture Paul is shaping the back so that it will marry the inside wall of stone, which is of course uneven.

We also had an unexpected but very welcome visit from the drainage gang.

Men looking down a hole, you might say.

This drain is one of the main ones draining the whole of the Winchcombe site, which, as you may recall, was dug out with Steam Navvies. It's surprisingly deep.

It needs finishing off though. These loose concrete covers are not adequate, and the whole area has a temporary feel about it.

They are going to do a proper job, with a decent cover. Then the ugly Heras fencing around it can be removed.

Here's a little find from today: A 3 1/2 ton army lorry, by Dinky Toys, it says undeneath. It's had a rough time though (army lorries do) and we wonder what to do with it.

This is what Peter last week and John today achieved: A nice level earthen triangle in front of the hut, ready for seeding. The road in the foreground will pass behind the hut, serving as a secondary exit for the PWay yard.

Mid afternoon, after some complementary barrow loads of soil to fill in low spots, we were finally in a position to use the lawn seed we had brought with us.

The white pile behind is a test. We have access to some free ballast and want to see how it would perform to level the site of the diamond paver path. We ran out of time to bring any more.

This is the Usk hut at the end of the day, with lawn seed all the way round, and a good watering from the hose. It soon dried out again though. We'll go back for the next couple of days to hose it some more.

Paul's advice about seed quantities: One handful for the birds, one for the rabbits, and one for yourself. Pigeons certainly live in the tree above, so we raked the seed in well, to make sure at least some of it survives. They're probably feasting on it as you read this....

Last but not least, a quick chat with Alex at the end of the day. He was doing what he likes to do best: Lettering. He does it so well.

We managed to squeeze out of him (Alex now sits on the board of the trust) that the viaduct appeal is still well short. At the moment we haven't even raised enough to waterproof it, let alone repair the brickwork.

So if you haven't helped yet, or maybe you are able to help again, do please consider it. Many hands make light work.

https://www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/stanway-viaduct-appeal

We'd be very grateful for your help.