Steel manufacture under way.

Friday on steels.

Are proper start is being made on the actual manufacture of the Broadway P2 canopy parts. We have painstakingly cleaned and primered about half of the 7 tons of steel, and last Tuesday Neal started to cut some of the parts to size.

 

Last Friday then saw the start of putting it all together.

Neal is starting with the 6 purlins, for the three roof bays involved.

In the picture he has laid out two 7.5m angles, put in wooden spacers at each end, and laid in the first of the zig-zag lengths of strip.

Just checking....

 

The angle pattern starts in the middle, and Neal is working outwards towards the two ends.

As you don't want to end up with a length facing the wrong way, Neal is just checking the drawing. But ask Neal any question, and he always knows the answer. It's all in his head.

 

The start of the manufacture is a slow process of setting out, so we had a quick walk to the other end of the site, through the loco shed.

All is quiet here. The DMU in here last week has gone again. Now we see Foremarke Hall and Dinmore Manor on the left, and 3850 and 2807 on the right.

In the middle is the little Peckett 'John', and original from our opening year. It's sort of a running shed on the left, and an overhaul shed on the right.

Right. Back with Neal. He's laid out a lot of the strips with angled ends, found the fit satisfatory (and meeting correctly those from the other end) and started drilling holes for bolts, later to be replaced by hot rivets.

Neal was drilling through 3 layers of 8mm steel, so that is 3cm to penetrate. Hard work.

A Magnum lightens the atmosphere and gives some relief from the hard work.

Saturday at CRC.

Most of the PWay gang were having a small tools training session (no more small tools jokes please, I think we have already exhausted them in the mess coach, thank you)

There was a large cake, provided by Paul. We divided it into 8/12 portions, but actually the whole cake disappeared. Someone must have had more than one piece... Hungry Caterpillars R Us.

Six people split off to have small tools training, and the other 4 went to CRC to measure up the platform roads, as well as the sleepers for the southern loop turnout.

When 35006 came with a train we stepped well back, next to some of our lesser used goods wagons.

Then we moved back forwards again to measure up the timbers of the turnout. This was laid in 2000 with second hand timbers. It is surprising how many of these are still good, but 9 now need replacement, so were marked up and measured.

 

We walked back along the platform for lunch, next to our little gem visitor 78019.

Why we like volunteering - getting bacon rolls from a window.

Although we had all brought some sandwiches with us, we couldn't resist knocking on the window of the buffet car.

With a result ! Three thickly filled bacon rolls, with the option of ketchup or brown sauce. Worth every penny.

We then headed back to Winchcombe, to find the 6 trainees just tidying up after their day of small tools training. This course will be repeated for the other half (and more) of the PWay group.

Monday on concrete sleepers.

A full team of three! But just enough to do the job. One in the Telehandler, one on the ground, one on top.

 

 

We had our own little train - the C&W 03 shunter, a Toad, and the Warflat with 160 CS1s.

Monday being a non-running day, we were soon pushed out to site at Hayles, without any nasty interuptions from revenue earning trains...

The 03 was soon gone again, leaving the Toad and Warflat stabled between the Hayles platform, and the Didbrook 1 bridge. In the foreground is level ground for stacking the sleepers.

Walt in the Telehandler arrived soon after, also bearing a bag of 5 custard doughnuts.

Here he is, just starting the unloading, 8 sleepers at a time.

This is the stretch of track with those thinner wartime economy sleepers that we need to replace during the next winter works. It's the completion of what we started in the last winter shutdown period, about another 400 sleepers to do. You can see the economy sleepers with those holes in them below. On the right bigger CS1s that we brought with an earlier load. One more half load remains to be brought.

At the end of the morning the Warflat was empty again - that took about 2 hours, not counting the arrival and departure with the men and tools.

If we didn't count lunch, we reckoned we had about 3 hours available to do some loading. Rain was also expected at 3, so that fitted nicely.

The rain came early, but not too hard, so that was OK. We managed to recover all the last remaining wartime sleepers piled up from last winter's work, so the site is now ready for the next winter period job.

Next Monday is likely to be an RRV day. These extra Mondays, with just a small team, are quite fun, and always interesting, as different from the routine.

Tuesday on steels.

Two of us again, but good progress was made.

Yours truly spent the day rounding off the contact edge on the zig-zag strips and angles, so that they fit better into the long pairs of angles that make up each purlin.

 

Ah yes, the purlins.

Tuesday we (I say 'we', that is mostly Neal, let's be honest) completed the first purlin.

Here it is, in the middle.

On the left are the potential components for the next one.

We're having to think forward about the logistics of this, as there will be 6 long purlins, and two shorter ones. We need a production line of trestles, and a storage line. Remembering that a completed purlin can no longer be moved by hand.

So we inched the finished purlin forwards, and the bare pairs of angles to the back. One purlin will serve as example for the next, it saves us thinking time.

 

Mid-way through the day Neal walked over to the Trust office, to hand over his cheque for the viaduct appeal.

For someone who is now a pensioner of modest means, this was a pretty generous gesture from Neal. Our viaduct certainly needs it.

Can you see the white stains at the bottoms of the arches and down the legs? They are caused by water leaking from above, though the brickwork. The waterproofing over the tops of the arches has failed, and now the rainwater percolates through the bricks, and in winter it freezes in between. Some bricks have already been pushed out and fallen to the ground. Not good, we need to address this issue soon to halt the deterioration.

Please join us in the appeal with a donation. We need you! Together we are strong:

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

 

 

After lunch Neal started the second purlin,

Here he is setting up the two parallel sides, held appart by two wooden blocks to get them started.

At the end of the afternoon the second purlin was well under way.

We'll be back on Friday to complete it. Then we'll have to cut ourselves some more angles for the third one.

Wednesday with the PWay gang.

Pictures by Paul of today's work:

Robelling at Toddington, and along the line.

What would we do without the Robels!

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Four of us again, all busy with something. The Usk hut keeps on giving!

We started early, a bit after 8am. Paul and Dave were already there however. It doesn't seem to matter when we get up, they are there before us. Oh well. Back in times of employment we started work at 9am, and now in retirement, it's an hour earlier. Crazy!

We had an early visitor, Steve, a fellow PWayer with very many years of experience. Not only on the PWay, but also from his pre-retirement skills, principally with electrics. So we are getting some advice, not only for the Usk hut, but also for the home. Dave is listening eagerly.

 

Dave and Paul worked on fitting the lock today.

This is a big one, marked LNWR on the inside, so it has a fitting railway background. It was originally fitted to a door facing the other way, so it's now upside down with us. We're still looking for an upside down key....

 

 Trains today were one steam, one diesel. They looked reasonably well filled. Steam was Dinmore Manor.

Diesel was our class 24, with its lovely nearly-stalling chug. There were more people in the steam hauled trains though, it does seem to matter to the public.

 

Inside, Dave a set up a small vice and was filing down the 1/4 inch bar inside the lock, to which the door knobs are attached. We are dealing with second hand stuff from various sources, and it doesn't always fit easily (as we found out with the Ogee gutters!)

Outside we started preparing the diamond paver path.

Last week the berm intended to give lateral support to the path was dug away, so this week we had to get some more material to replace it. As we are on a slope here the risk is that the pavers will slowly split apart if not supported from the side.

Measuring the pavers and allowing for a two inch base of weak mix we established that we needed a four inch drop along the route of the path.

Ants quickly make a home underneath the slabs if you bed down on sand. So a weak mix as a base should put a stop to them.

At the end of the day we had prepared the first 6 feet or so. This allows us to make a start on the path next week, unless there is a washout. One was promised for today, but never came.

Dinmore Manor did though.

We had an amusing comment today - it seems some people are walking down the slope at the end of the platform to try and catch a glimpse of the Usk hut, currently obscured from P1 by the brake van. The Macaw is going to be moved to the end at some point in the near future.

Our grass at the front is growing fast, and so are some Mares Tails. Clearly some fragments of roots were included in the earth we brought in, and they are now popping up in various places. If we dig them out quickly then they won't have time to dig down deep. We picked out 30 or so last week, and another 11 today. We are winning!

Fun fact from 1865.

When Charing Cross station in London was opened it included a 250 bed hotel in front of it, set back 120 feet from the Strand.

One of its features was a 'rising room, fitted with comfortable seats, in which visitors may be conveyed up or down if they feel indisposed to use the staircases.'

A rising room with seats? What could that possibly be? Other hotels soon also offered 'ascending rooms'. In fact it was another quarter of a century before a new word emerged for this amazing contraption: It was a lift !

Don't forget to make a donation to the Trust for the viaduct! We need you.

See you again next week.