Concrete is pumped in.

Changing a track panel at Winchcombe

A one off day for a small PWay gang of 5 men at Winchcombe, at the entrance to the yard off the P2 road.

This has been declared life expired, and needs resleepering. Although it only leads to a set of sidings, it is at times used by the heaviest of our diesel locos, so we can't afford any trouble with that.

You can see that the nearest sleeper not only has an old GWR throughbolter on it (which means it was already second hand when laid in the late 1980s) but it has become bedded down in the now soft sleeper, while the next one along is splitting.

 

 

 

The track panel was soon dismantled, and STEVIE was used, with his new extra large bucket, to dig out the ballast.

Before STEVIE came, this would have been dug out laboriously by hand.

 

 

New second hand sleepers were used here (it is quite possible that they will be more durable than new ones today, which are no longer pressure treated with creosote)

 

The old ballast, which was still clean, was dropped back in and now you can hardly tell the difference.

It still needs a go with the Robels to settle it down.

Further into the storage siding a very old fishplate was replaced. This is the old way that fishplates were insulated to achieve blocks, by making the fishplate out of wood. 

Sadly, they have a limited shelf life.

This one was certainly life expired, and we replaced it with a regular steel set.

Pictures by Paul here. Below is one of Walt's stop frame videos of the operation, speeded up for you so that you don't have to watch the whole day:

Also busy on Friday was Neal at Broadway. It was the last working day there before the arrival of the concrete for the foundations.

We cut steel rebar into lengths, which we hammered into the clay bottom of the trench.

By means of the laser level we hammered them down to a constant depth, which will be the top of the concrete once it has settled down.

When it's gone off, that will be the start of the concrete blocks here.

Saturday cuttin' and shuttin'.

A good gang of 10, and warm but windy weather. You certainly noticed that out on a high embankment between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve.

 

 

 

We've come a long way from our starting point at the end of Gotherington loop. There are vast piles of rail cut offs in the yard at Winchcombe now.

Gotherington loop is around the corner, behind the fixed distant signal in the distance here.

Behind us is the foot crossing, then Bishops Cleeve station site.

 

 

 

After arriving we got out the tools and some of us took stock and enjoyed the view. We are the Cotswolds Line after all.

Right between Jim and Dave, a little white dot in the distance, is Tewkesbury Abbey. Can you see it? The sun shone on it for a moment.

Behind that are the Malverns.

That field in the foreground is one of just three that separate Bishops Cleeve from Gotherington now. Are they really going to fill that with houses as well...?

 

 

 

We continued on from the Wednesday job, passing the site of the repaired slip. We cut an awful lot of rail ends off on Saturday.

Here Chris is having a go. Cutting rail is quite arduous, so we took it in turns. Anyone not had a go yet? How about you! Errr....

 

 

 

 

After the rail cutting came the fishplate hole drilling.

Here David is teaching Alan.

He forgot to mention that the ear defenders are put over the ears, not round your neck. Oh well, better next time.

Margaret and Bert Ferrule watch the training session with some amusement.

 

 

 

After much hole drilling and rail sawing its time for a sit down and a bit of a rest.

The youth of today....

 

We were desperately short of cutting disks on Saturday, so tried to make one last as long as possible.

 

This one went down to the wire. We can now use it on a 4 inch angle grinder....

This shot was taken to show how far we are from our target, the foot crossing in the distance, marked by white squares.

We walked down there to look at the number on the last panel - 8. That means that we have 12 more panels to go, 48 cuts to make. We are currently doing between 3 and 5 panels per day twice a week, so this distance should be quite possible to achieve before trains start running again, but do remember that there are also other jobs on the same stretch - some packing to do where sleepers were changed, and some fishplates to be replaced by lifters for example.

A look back from the same spot. We were just packing up, having completed 5 panels during the day, and prepped no. 19 here in the foreground, being cut, drilled and having all clips removed. A flying start awaits the next crew.

This is what the same joint looked like earlier in the day, the place where we left off. Panel 19 has just had the ends cut, panel 18 still pending.

The sheep in the background all gradually moved away from us in a great big arc.  Too noisy around here for peaceful munching.

Concrete at Broadway.

An exciting day, the biggest step towards the rebuild of our waiting room on P2 in 1904 style. We are managing to do without an expensive haul road up the neighbouring field by pumping in the concrete for the foundations from the forecourt.

Here the pump has just arrived, and we have laid down a plastic sheet to protect the tarmac from spillage.

Both employees were called 'Max' -  'Max Pump' in fact...

 

 

After a quick look-see over our site they got out enough elements to make a long pipe to the furthest corner of the build. 

Now the little trestle bridge comes into its own.

Here's a view from above, to show the whole site and the pipe laid out to the far corner, which is also the deepest part of the trench, due to the falling terrain.

Not long after the mixer truck arrived. We estimated 21m3 of concrete needed, and that turned out to be three trucks worth.

Using a mixer truck gives you flexibility with the volumes, and we got a very good deal with the truck and pump combo.

They will be back at some point to cast the floor, and then again for the bases of the canopy uprights at the bottom of the steps.

We got a lovely shot of the mixer-truck combo from the private road above. The absence of foliage this time of year makes it possible.

 

Here is the start of the pour, into the deepest corner. Paul (Usk hut), John (canopy gang), Steve (steam dept) and Max Pump look on.

As you can see, several people from other departments came to help us, which was very kind of them. Many hands make light work!

To begin with there was not much to do but watch the slowly expanding stream wind its way through the system of trenches. Steel rods indicate the depth that we need to fill, and as the flow began to reach that height it was raked this way and that to get it level in every spot.

 

 

Outside the pump operator and lorry driver watched carefully for any signals from the business end.

From above you can see that the mixer lorry has a large and a small compartment on the back for sand and cement, and a tank of water at the front. The operator can change the mix as he goes along, eg at one time it was felt to be too liquid.

Interestingly, the pipe leading to the site is first flushed with a slurry of water and cement, and this lubricates it.

The red bucket was used to make up this slurry to start with.

Back at the business end, the concrete is now flowing along the back, while Paul, Steve, another Paul and John make sure the steel rods are just covered.

The flow has now gone right round, and the business end of the pipe is heaved round to a new position. It is very heavy, being filled with concrete, after all.

The gap at the end is the base for one of the two chimneys.

This overview from above shows three people heaving the heavy pipe around another bit further.

Meanwhile, outside on the forecourt the second lorry has made way for the first, which has come back again after reloading.

The ticket at the end said 20.85m3 used, so our estimate of 21m3 was pretty good.

When the mixer lorry is empty the delivery shute is flushed into a barrow, which we then tipped into the trench. Waste not, want not.

Here we are almost right round the trench. The t wo flows going in opposite directions have met, and now it's a question of letting in just enough concrete to get it level all the way round.

Soon the pumping was terminated, and the two Maxes took away the far ends of the pump, after tipping out the dregs.

Note the little orange ball on the end.

This is pushed into the pipe, the pump thrown into reverse and as it is sucked back to the start the pipe is cleaned from the inside.

 

The little orange ball wouldn't go in though, despite pushing and squeezing it.

We said to Max, you need to grab the pipe between your legs and push the sponge down with both hands.

Er, maybe not....

The last thing we did, after thoroughly cleaning the forecourt and platform with a hose and brush, was to check the levels all the way round.

We took a few shovel fulls out here and there, added some others, but generally, not bad.

Now to let it go off for a few days.

Our last look from the footbridge on Monday shows the concrete in, and level all the way round.

Getting this far has been the hardest part. Uncertainties about a haul road, arrival of materials, disposal of the soil by rail or road and finally getting the concrete in with a pump have all been resolved.

Now we can get on with the build.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Very wet overnight, which rather spoilt a dry and sunny day, as the ground was boggy underfoot and everything outside that we touched was soaking wet.

There was a strange, white blanket of fog over Winchcombe. It followed the Isbourne and stayed precisely in its valley. For most of our journey to the railway we were in early sun, until we plunged into the mist bank. This is what it looked like from inside, on arrival in the yard.

Our intention was to deal with this large pile of brash, the result of patient clearing of the fence line of bramble and one self seeded bush. Underneath is more spoil, which we may well use in the area where the FoWS compost bins are (-were).

This is the area with the former compost bins. What will it look like when they are gone? We are thinking of using the spoil here to make a slightly raised lawn, as on the opposite side of the road.

Stepping back a bit, you can now see the new compost bins, located in a corner of the PWay yard. We didn't want them in a customer area.

The large puddles could do with some spent ballast. We have some at Didbrook, but can't get to it currently.

After planting a gate post last week, we had the opportunity of attaching the retaining hook to what is now a rigid post.

Afterwards we also gave it a white band around the top, for extra visibility, just in case an enthusiastic Telehandler gives it a nudge some time in the future.

We were given a big old fashioned lock for the hut by Greg, but without a key. We had a set of (gigantic) keys made for it by an Evesham locksmith, but he pointed out that an item inside was badly worn and might not last in further use.

Dave made a replacement part, then the lock was attached to the door.

 

Yours truly spent quite a bit of time dealing with invasive bramble along the fence here.

We got almost all of it out, to reveal more spoil heaps.

Also 4 roadside type lamp posts, not used at Broadway as not GWR. They are probably for sale, if anyone wants one.

Finally, we had another look at the S&T building being constructed. There is good progress. A plinth of blue bricks has been laid, and internal blockwork is rising steadily. You can see how wet it's been too.

Back at Manor Lane.

Today the PWay gang made excellent progress, and dealt with 5 more panels, leaving 7 or 8 for the next gang - sounds like a job for two more working days, plus the minor faults that still need addressing.

Paul provided these pictures of today.

This one is rather striking. It demonstrates rather well the problem that we are eliminating on this stretch, the dipped joints and crippled ends.

We cut off the last 1 - 2ft of each rail that is bent, then redrill the fishplate holes and plate them up again. In this way we end up with perfectly level rails, instead of hollows every 60ft.

We have quite a pile of cut off ends now, in all sizes up to 2ft. We noticed a seller on Ebay offering 1ft anvils for £68. He already sold 15, so there seems to be demand. If we can help you with one of these, for a donation to the railway, then do get in touch via the blog. (top RH corner)

 

 

This picture from the end of the day shows clipping up on the last of the 5 panels done today. 

The end of the stretch that we are doing is the end of the grassy strip beyond the Ranger - it's in sight. 

We should also be able to insert a complete new rail, once the gap in the background has grown big enough.

So that is what the hydraulic loading ramp is for....

 

 

Here is that gap - it's about 30ft long at this point.

The SW board announces the foot crossing where we will be stopping, so we are definitely in sight of the end.

A curiosity of the day was finding these three items, left over from the pre 1979 railway, when it was lifted. The big plate is a BR base plate for track that was spiked down, a bad idea in practice (they work loose). The fishplate is tiny, and well rusted. Our best guess is that it stems from the lightweight contractor's line that ran parallel to our line when it was being built. We have seen these before, and there are pictures of the parallel railway in our archives.