Unemployed digger.

Friday at Broadway.

The digger is still on hire, so as we wait for the wagons to come back empty, what else could we do with it?

 

 

Neal had a go at a second tree stump extraction, and this is him back filling the hole. He did pretty well with this smaller mini digger, to get these large stumps out.

As the wagons are not yet back empty (Race trains were running is one possible explanation) we took the mini digger to the other end of the site to see what we could do without actually removing any soil.

 

This is the area of the future modesty screen, so needs to be at floor height, and level.

As soon as we put the bucket in, demolition rubble appeared. We got quite a few useful blues out, which just need cleaning and mortar removal.

This curious item surfaced as well. This end of the former building had a Gents toilet, so is it something to do with that? Or part of an acetylene supply? (the gas was made across the road in the goods yard, up to around WW1)

After grading the area was flatter, but now we have a soil pile to dispose of.

In the background John laid bricks all day. He's on the third course all the way round, and just a few bricks from the end.

A question to readers:

When we first started the rebuild of the station several S&T cupboards were put up on softwood legs along both platforms. There are 5 or 6 of them. They were supposed to be temporary, but were never removed. Now they are still there, and look ugly. They don't belong.

An S&T cupboard along P1. Plastic conduits rise up underneath.

They are largely empty inside, and most only contain a tap and the wiring supply for the lamp posts.

 

 

Here is an example on P2.

The platform lamps are wired up in parallel, so lots of conduits come out in each box, one from each lamp post, plus the main supply, and often a tap.

 

We would like to replace them with something much smaller, but what? What is available, and would look authentic? Any ideas?

Our own idea is for some green cast iron cabinets, as used by the GPO. They look like this:

https://www.ringbell.co.uk/nostalgia/AAR.htm

But where to get them from? They have completely disappeared from our streets, and have been replaced by much larger, modern armoured boxes. Where are all the old cast iron ones?

We have looked on Ebay and on the net, but none are for sale that we know.

Any ideas?

Saturday, out with the gang.

Cold, with rain later as it gets dark.

We were outside the Winchcombe signal box again, on the three panel stretch that we have been refurbishing.

We stopped off at Toddington to measure up the original door knobs, and found, sonmewhat to our disappointment that...

 ... the wagons filled with spoil had not been emptied, but simply left in the parlour road.

The 3 ton digger hired in at Broadway is there for a week, and that in the expectance of further empty trucks for it to fill. So far it has worked for two days, and at the moment that looks like all it will do for the week's hire.

On to Winchcombe then.

 

 Friday, Saturday and Sunday are Race Train days. We worked in between their comings and goings.

Shovel packing, and robelling. Hard work.

 

 

 

Rails, sleepers and some ballast are now down and aligned, after extra work mid week. There remained only the levelling. As we only had a limited amount of ballast the Robels could not be used in all places, and much of the day was spent on the heavy task of shovel packing.

 

 

 

Nearby, the Usk hut was looking very floral, a bit too much we felt, as it's meant to be an industrial building.

It's a question of winter storage, we ascertained, so it will revert back to its brutalist industrial look next year.

The roadway that passes by the Usk hut has been marked out for a surface layer of grey chippings. A group from Colas Rail (who came for a day's volunteering before) will spread out this layer in the near future.

It was proposed that the roadway be defined by a number of sleepers positioned down the side, so these were brought in on Wednesday by the Telehandler.

 

The Telehandler is a big machine, and unfortunately it ran over the end of our diamond pavers and cracked one. Unfortunately we have no spares, so it's going to have to stay this way.

 

 Later in the day the empty Race Train passed our work site again.

The full race trains go down to CRC at 10.00am, and then return to Toddington with the empty stock. They will go back to CRC at the end of the afternoon to pick up the happy punters. 

We have had the bright idea of using the same rake for a mid day fish & chip train, since the locos are still hot and the carriages warmed.

What an excellent idea!

We noticed later in the day that the Toddington car park was absolutely rammed, and that in November.

Clever, so clever.

Just before dark the train returned from CRC, tender first.

Tuesday, at Toddington.

All pictures by Paul Fuller, out on a track walk in the snow, which kept the rest of us at home.

We particularly like this scene with Toddington box. Note that the restored GWR goods wagons have now been put up against the buffer stop, as was always intended.

 

 

No trains this week (there was a charity Santa last Sunday) but real Santa trains will start this weekend.

Stanway viaduct, with its 15 arches.

We are still well short of the funds required to do the actual repairs to the piers, damaged by the leaking deck (now waterproofed).

If you want to give the Trust a Christmas present, make them a gift aided donation to help:

https://members.gwrt.org.uk/donate

There's also an option to buy a commemorative plaque, one on each of the new guy ropes fixtures that support the parapets:

https://www.gwsr.com/support-us/stanway-viaduct-commemorative-plaques

 

 

Looking south along the Cotswolds side. These are the parapets that were stabilised. That was an unpleasant additional cost, on top of the waterproofing works.

Water and frost are the typical things that damaged the piers.

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures, but because of the snow and freezing temperatures overnight, there is no brick laying work at Broadway this week. The emptying of the clay filled wagons is pencilled in for the 27th.

Wednesday at Broadway.

Sub zero temperatures, so no work on the P2 build.

Instead we headed for the Broadway mess room, and started stripping the paint from the MR bench

 

This is the MR bench that was donated by VT at Tyseley. It struck us as rather gloomy looking, all in dark brown paint. That merited further investigation - was it always painted dark brown?  It turns out only the front is, the rear is varnished, but out of sight.

 

In fact we have an identical MR bench at Winchcombe in the booking office, and this one looks much brighter. There's no brown paint, just clear varnish over natural wood.

So we decided to strip off the dark brown paint back to the wood, and that job was started today. It's on an-and-off job, one that will be done if the weather is unsuitable for brick laying, like today.

 

As you will have read in the comments to the previous blog, the bench may have originally been rescued from Wilnecote (BR)  Midland station. That was very interesting, and sounds very plausible.

 

 

When we turned the bench upside down, to start stripping paint from the back, we found this label attached. In case you can't make it out, it says:

From: (BR) WOLVERTON

To: TRAFFIC DEPT.

       SUTTON PARK.

 

 

 

Note also the plywood,  which runs all along the bottom. That is a modern material of course. There were scraps of webbing, and this will have been the original material to support the springs and horsehair stuffing. When that gave way, Wolverton made the plywood repair. And maybe repainted it?

 

Lastly for this week, a couple of finds from the dig behind the former building. These are relatively modern bottles. They had rolled off the debris at the back, to the foot of the fence line.

The one on the right is a 200ml  bottle, which we think once held Orangina. It does though seem a bit small, and Wiki states that Orangina was sold in 250ml bottles. The pear shape and outside texture, made to resemble an orange, are typical though.

The one on the left is moulded, with somewhat old fashioned bubbles in the glass. Of note is the pronounced lip at the top of the neck, which we think was there to stop a wire retaining a cork from slipping off. So what was in it? Ginger beer?

These two are probably from the time of the demolition in 1963.

 

In a similar place, i.e. up against the back fence, one of the RAT Trust members found a cast iron finial in the early days, and this formerly sat on one of the P2 modesty screen posts. It most likely rolled off its post when the bulldozer pushed over the screen.

We still have that original finial. Many people think that the modesty screen posts had the finial as part of one casting, but it was loose, set into position by a small screw in the side. We have used the original to make replicas for Broadway, and two for Winchcombe.

We are always willing to help out other stations, in a quest for authenticity.

Digging at Broadway again.

Thursday, on the road.

The appeal for help with benches for the new P2 building at Broadway has had a good start.

One was seen on Ebay, and was entirely funded by a friendly supporter, including transport from Cornwall. This one is a genuine 10ft GWR one, with 6 legs and upholstery along the back.

 

Here is a picture of it, as advertised. This is exactly the type that we are looking for, so if you know of another, do let us know.

It actually came from an antique shop, and was advertised on Ebay.

Underneath are two owner's stamps - GWR, and BR (W).

It's made of pitch pine and heavily varnished, with seat covering in green Rexine. This is slightly damaged - not surprising for its age - and we will give it some thought whether to have the material replaced, or 'leave it in its juice'. There are 4 small knife slashes on it, some buttons are missing, and someone has stood a pot of white paint on it at some time. So, not an easy choice.

The other bench was kindly sold to us by VT of Tyseley, for a very friendly price.

 

This one is also upholstered, but of a different design, and from a different railway company - the Midland Railway.

It's actually engraved 'MR' on the back rail, not discreetly underneath like the GWR one.

Interestingly, we have an identical one in our Winchcombe booking office.

 

In the first instance we have retrieved both and taken them to Broadway for storage, until the building is ready.

Ian and Neal answered our appeal for help, as these benches are surprisingly heavy.

The GWR one strikingly colourful, don't you think? That's a whole lot of layers of varnish. 

 

Two is an excellent start, but readers, please keep looking and asking, we need two or maybe even four more. They could be surplus at other railways, privately owned, on Ebay, or at a railwayana auction, you never know. But they are not common !

Saturday, out with the gang.

Twelve of us on Saturday, outside the Winchcombe signal box again.

Two of the three panels were put back in on Wednesday.

The third and final panel was trickier, as it was slightly humped, coinciding with two concrete troughs carrying cables. This meant we had to dig out the beds to a deeper level to get the track straight again.

 

Once again STEVIE played a crucial role, something the original Stevie in his JCB would not have been able to do, as we were surrounded by trackwork.

Here we have fitted a bucket to scrape out the ballast from the larger of the two beds. That between the conduits had to be dug by shovel and pickaxe.

At the other end of the relay a replacement timber had been worked in, and Tony spent some time fitting the fishplates to the first pair of rails. Initially the same rails are going back in; in due course we would like to replace the three shortish pairs by two longer ones.

One sleeper had been fitted with a panel that it revealed its previous location - some distance from Winchcombe!

Here is that view from the signal box steps again, with all the sleepers back in their places. That was followed by refitting of the rails, a tricky process of lifting and wriggling the rails back into the chairs, still at all sorts of angles.

The rails were then clipped up, and the curve re-aligned. That was still old fashioned manual labour, with a good eye required.

Monday at Broadway.

Just a quick visit was intended, to find homes for the two new benches, but it ended up being nearly a whole day.

John (our valiant brick layer) turned up anyway, but was forced to make his own mortar as Neal and Yours Truly were occupied getting the dumper for the P2 project. This always takes some time.

Taking the Paxford bench out of the mess room.

The two benches were much appreciated and admired, but where to put them?

We already have two plain ones (not upholstered) A dark brown one for under the P2 canopy (found in a bus shelter in Paxford) and a varnished pine one with 4 legs (shorter model) formerly located at Eynsham.

We decided to put the Paxford one under the P1 canopy, where there is already a sister bench, until the P2 building is ready.

The Eynsham bench, fully restored to varnished pine a couple of years ago now, was taken to the signal box for storage. It's dry in there, there's plenty of room, and it's not being used. It actually looks quite good there too.

Ian doing a Rees-Mogg on the new MR bench.

 

 

 

The two vacated spaces in the mess room were then filled with the two new acquisitions, which are rather heavier. The previous occupants were lighter, and easier to transport.

Neal arrived and confirmed the hire of a 3 ton digger for a week, starting Tuesday.

What do you want for Christmas? A reliable contractor, that doesn't cancel.

 

That meant getting the dumper from Winchcombe, using the Ranger and a trailer.

There we met head of PWay Paul, and a friendly chat ensued.

Tuesday at Broadway - spades in the ground.

Or 3 ton diggers, we've hired one in.

Neal makes his way to the site, along platform 2 at Broadway.

 

Here is Neal taking it down P2 to our work site.

We have it for a week, and there are several jobs we'd like to do with it:

- remove the temporary storage pile behind the footbridge

- grade the rear of the building

- dig out the footings for the canopy stanchions

- dig the trenches for the conduits from P1

There was a roar as we got ready - it was an A400. This seems to be a popular route, crossing our line along Springfield Lane.

Here is the first job then: digging away the temporary storage pile of excavated material from the building's foundations. This pile is only the rest, the major part went away on the day, in the wagons which are now back, empty.

Here is where we are taking the material, into those wagons.

This is our own little 1 ton dumper, which has a handy elevation option. It worked a treat.

Us churning over that pile of clay was of great interest to the robins. They are quite used to us humans, and sit nearby, waiting for a quiet moment to dive in for worms and grubs.

 

 

Round about lunch time both wagons were half full, and the dumper was unable to put in any more material.

Neal came down off his clay perch and pushed the spoil back, revealing a new void at the front.

Then we went back for more fill. By now the pile had shrunk by half, and we not only had top mount the slope, but drive some way along it.

Result !

At the end of the day the pile was reduced to a small remainder at the back. The wagons were full a second time, and Neal had to come down and push the material back once more. That left just enough room for the rest in this picture, a job for Wednesday morning.

Collection of the full wagons has been arranged for Wednesday lunch time, with a surprise visitor !

Wednesday at Broadway.

Cold and sunny - great digging weather!

 

First, and overview, so that you get an idea of where we are at the moment. John was laying bricks, but was off camera.

Two wagons loaded with spoil await collection. Late last night we heard the news that the collecting engine would be Foremarke Hall ! No less.

John is plugging away, mostly at the back at the moment, to stay out of the way of the digger and dumper. First thing he did was build up this corner. You can see how a lovely rounded corner to the building is developing here.

 

 

 

 

Here is John, round the back. He's reached the end of the back with the first course, and is mid way along the second here. At the end of the day he had started on the third.

 

We added more spoil to the wagons this morning, with a bit of pressure on, as collection was expected around lunch time.

Neal had to come and push the spoil back a second time, in order to create more space at the front. The little dumper only has a minimal reach.

 

 

We then followed Neal back to our original tip site, which, as you can see, is looking almost clean again. You knew if you were digging at ground level, in view of the mat of pine needles that was revealed.

Here Neal is cleaning up the site, while we wait to take the last two possible tips to the wagons - then they are definitely full.

 

Then - what else could we do? This corner needs to go, so Neal made a start on that.

We managed to hide one more load on the wagons, but now that is definitely it.

At last Foremarke Hall arrived, on a test run after having its cylinders bored out. That coincided with our need for haulage, so that was a very nice fit, and something interesting to look at.

 

Something interesting indeed for the Broadway gang too.

Mud is fascinating, isn't it?

At last Foremarke Hall managed to set off, in a large plume of steam, of which we are showing you the first second.

Enjoy !

The low sun made this passing shot possible. It's rare to see a steam locomotive on a real working freight train. This was no demonstration, and we want our wagons back empty, and as soon as possible too.

With the wagons gone, our thoughts turned to what else we might do with the digger.

The answer was: Have a go at digging out one of the many pine tree stumps. It's amazing how many trees have already been removed, but their stumps are still here.

Pine trees do not have very deep roots, and those that it has are mainly round the outside of the stump.

Neal cut those through with  a metal saw - the only one that was to hand - and then had a go at removing the stump.

To our surprise this worked. There was only one major root left, and after much pushing and pulling this eventually cracked, and the stump was out.

The end of the day - it got dark all too soon - saw Neal pulling out the stump, and starting a second one.

Wednesday on the PWay.

Pictures by Paul Fuller.

An extra day was put in on Tuesday to try and complete the 3 panel relay outside Winchgcombe signal box.

The RRV was used to line up the track, which has had some basic ballast under it.

New ballast was added today.

On the same day already immediate use of the relaid panels was made by 47 276, doing a shunt with carriages from Toddington to Winchcombe.

 

 

While STEVIE went out to get fresh bags of ballast from Gotherington Skew, the team set about stripping the chairs from the sleepers from Siding 4 (4 panels relaid last week), and also main line projects.

This gained us about 80 S1 chairs.

Here is a picture puzzle for you. A whole picture full of Panlocks, but one is not a Panlock.

If you can spot which one it is, you are of above average intelligence.... *

In the yard behind Churchward house a large pile of PWay trolleys has been assembled, awaiting refurbishment.

* If you really tried to do this, then maybe not :-)