Completing the block wall

Last Friday

Half a day at Broadway, and half round the Usk hut.

 

 

Progress at Broadway is so fast that we have run out of materials, and so, things to do. We will probably continue now with the canopy construction.

The centre of the site needs filling with 15 tons of type 1, concrete has to go into the foundation walls, and the ring beams need bringing up. All easy work for the RRV, but finding the right day is tricky, now that trains are running again.

John spent the day on Friday on the double height interior block wall. Progress here was quick - they stand on end, so are quick to lay. That last job is likely to be complete in the next few days.

 

 

To make good use of our time we dug out a stay support for a former telegraph pole that was sticking out of the ground, and then with Neal fixed the specially made bracket around the lamp ventilator in the signal box.

Two brackets were made by a local smithy at Didbrook, to a drawing made for us by the heritage guys at the SVR.

 

 

And here is one of those brackets, with a kink in the bottom, ready to receive the GWR oil lamps that were found in signal boxes, before the days of electricity.

The lamps are in store. We will hang them when we have determined the length of the hooks with which they were attached. How far down do we want them to hang?

After lunch in the box we went to Winchcombe to start seeding the lawn that we made around the oak tree. The weather was dry, so the soil would not be too sticky.

While at Winchcombe, we had a quick look at the site of the new S&T building.

The windows at the back are in, and the red brickwork is advancing well.

 

 

STEVIE the RRV was out on Friday, ballasting voids in readiness for the arrival of the tamper.

On return we caught STEVIE having a drink behind the C&W building. Walt does a great job looking after our RRV.

Then back to the lawn seeding round the Usk hut. The job proved to be much harder than we had imagined. The soil that we had spread around the tree a couple of months ago was no longer loose as we had thought, but completely hardened out. We had to hack at it for quite a time.

 

 

 

We seeded a fairly large area, then hacked and raked to try and bury the seed in the earth. This will encourage it to grow, and make it harder for the birds.

 

 

 

Stanway viaduct update.

We've received a few pictures of the welding on the viaduct, with thanks to Paul. Previously we had 60ft flat bottom rail with fishplates on wooden sleepers. These have now rotted since they were put down (in 2008?) and have been replaced with concrete sleepers by the contractors.

To ease maintenance and reduce hammer blow two 60ft lengths are being welded together to make a 120ft length. This is over the length of the viaduct - CWR all the way to Broadway starts immediately north of it.

Here the mould is being heated with a gas torch, and the two typical 'Vee' flames shoot out of the top. In the background is the crucible, and the new SS stays holding the parapets into place.

This pictures shows the crucible cooking off. Once the molten steel has run into the joint, the excess collects in a little container on the other side.

Here the chemical reaction has just ended, with the molten cake in its little pot.

This pictures shows two completed welds, in the raw, as it were. They still need grinding down.

In the middle is the little circular inspection hole into the drainage chamber underneath, in the middle.

When the line was still double track this spot would have been in the six foot (between the tracks)

The last picture shows the hydraulic cutter at work on the far joint. This removes the excess molten steel. On the right beyond it is the grinder, which comes in afterwards to make the joint nice and smooth.

The joint in the foreground still needs doing.

Monday at Broadway.

Three of us again, or actually two in the morning, as Neal had a job to do elsewhere. 

 

 

 

 

John is a champion at laying blocks, and here he is completing the inner row along the front.

With all the blockwork complete, we will be ready to build the floor up. 

Neal arrived at lunch time, and made up some spare concrete in the mixer to fill a hole near the chimney base here.

The hole seems to have appeared after settlements and the heavy rain that we have had. It continues as we write...

John then completed the second row here, and half of the fireplace base.

As John was well supplied with mortar, Neal and Yours truly decided to clean the gutters around the signal box. They were filled with pine needles. We did the front and sides, but the back is very high and needs a scaffold tower to do the job. Sadly, no gutter netting was fitted here on construction, despite the height at the rear.

From the ladder at the front we could see that a fungus has invaded the window cill, finding a foothold in the crack along its middle. Half of the cill length is affected. This needs addressing.

Neal also cleaned the gutters all around the station building. They are clean now, so now is the time to fit the gutter netting, of which we donated a 20m surplus from the Usk project.

At the end of the day the blockwork around the floor was finished, except for a short stretch along the back, and the rest of the nearer fireplace. Less than a day's worth. See how many blocks are left stacked in the middle, they have nearly all been used up.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

With little to do at Broadway now that the blockwork is done, the Usketeers returned back to their base and continued with the landscaping around the hut.

The idea is to use more of the fill that is piled up in the PWay yard to adjust the levels of the Usk hut site, and perhaps lengthen the road of spent ballast.

To get at the piles of fill we needed to move the pile of brash to one side.

Behind that was one big pile, with earth on top of spent ballast. We needed both, but in different places.

The earth went where the compost bins used to be, to make a grassy area there in the little triangle left behind after the bins moved.

After removing the earth on top of the spent ballast, we were able to get at the ballast itself underneath. This came out of the Winchcombe platforms, after the relay there several years ago now.

Every bucket full of fill we remove from here improves the useability of the PWay yard as well, by creating room.

The spent ballast was brought to the road beside the hut, which needs to come up by 6 - 9 inches. In this way it gets a decent surface as well.

Afterwards John and Paul levelled the ballast, and picked out any bits we didn't want (bramble roots, stones, bits of metal etc)

Dave spent the day levelling the earth dropped in the former bins triangle. That had a lot of debris in it too - see below.

Yours truly spent the day seeding this area, and then turning over the soil to dampen it, and hide it from the birds. That was hard work. We are about half way there now.

We were interupted by the first of the two race trains today. Finally we have an income again. There were lots of happy punters on board. Many waved at us; we waved back of course.

The first train was hauled by Dinmore Manor, and the second...

... by our Pacific P&O. 

Do race goers realise what a special beast it is that is pulling them? A big, three cylinder pacific, a marvel of technology of its time.

 

Ah yes, debris.

Dave was amazed to discover this fireman's shovel in the earth from the PWay yard.

We've still got it, so if anyone from the steam department wants it, and give it a new handle, we'd be happy to hand it over.

 

 

At the end of our day all the previous dumps had been levelled. The road is now longer and  higher, and with the restitution of the drainage ditch down left side. It needs more spent ballast still and there is some still in the yard, but we had to hand the Telehandler over to the PWay gang at the start of their day. Next time then.

A much nicer, longer and higher road.

Late afternoon we dropped in at Broadway to hang the new (old) lamps up in the signal box.

Here they are, mixed in with the modern electric lighting. The position of the two beams across the room is a bit unfortunate, as they interfere slightly with the lamps. The lamps could be turned say a quarter turn by bending the hooks at the top we suppose. Anyway, at last the cast iron vents that we placed in the roof have found their purpose, helped by the 'U' shaped brackets we had made for the lamps to hang on. We are very pleased with the work done by the Didbrook blacksmith, and the help we had from the boys at the SVR.

Save the day !

We are finally going to unveil the big enamel sign that we have commissioned to turn the Usk hut into its new function: a coal office.

The chairman of the GWR Trust has very kindly agreed to pull the cord.

The date is Wednesday May 8th, at 11 am. You are welcome to watch, and maybe hear a speech. Bring your own champagne though.

Some PWay shots from today

Thanks to Paul we can share these with you..

 

 

The state of play with the new S&T building, seen from the southern end.

Then a lovely shot of the whole gang today, taken at Gotherington Skew while ballasting:

We salute you, our shareholders and supporters of the GWR Trust. You make it all possible.

And also two (silent) films, thanks to Paul's drone:

This is a flight over the viaduct, showing the completed works. Very neat indeed.

This shows the second of the two race trains today, making a very smart non-stop passage through Winchcombe, uphill as well as round a curve, with 8 on.

Absent friends.

 

Byfield No.2

This was an 0-6-0 saddle tank, built by Bagnalls in 1942 to help with the war effort in the ironstone industries in Northamptonshire (whose traffic passed through Broadway on its way to S Wales in the early 1960s). It started work in the Byfield quarries,  and then visited several other ones in the general area.

When the ironstone industries closed down the locomotive was bought by enthusiasts for preservation on the GWSR.

John Lees

 

 

In this picture you can see it arrive at Toddington in 1986. At the time we were running to the site of Hayles Abbey halt with 0-4-0 Cadbury No.1, so having an 0-6-0 was a big step forwards. An exciting development! It was soon put into service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Hill took these pictures of it passing the site of the halt, seen from the road bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then came the opening to Winchcombe, our first new station. We had somewhere to run to at last, not just a stop in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

The 7th March 1987 was a grand day, and here we see Byfield being made ready outside the Toddington goods shed, together with Peckett 'John', which was often in service at the time. 

We love the vast supply of firewood brought in on a trailer. 'John' was on a diet of sawn up creosoted sleepers in the background.

 

Pictures by John Lees.

 

 

 

 

Here the two locomotives steam majestically into Winchcombe station in March 1987. One platform is ready, the other is not, and there is not yet a station building.

Byfleet No.2 has the headboard 'Winchcombe Pioneer', carried by 'John' in the previous picture. This is the opening of services to Winchcombe.

 

 

 

 Picture by John Lees

Two years later, in the summer of 1989, we see the 0-6-0 at Toddington in charge of a 4 coach train, all perfectly painted. What a change in just 5 years, from a little 0-4-0 (Cadbury No.1) and two carriages, one side still in blue and grey.

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Also in 1989 was the opening of the carriage works in the Winchcombe goods shed. This happened in March, when a class 14 and Byfield No.2 pushed a carriage in. 

Note the cherry picker in the background - it must have been a really important occasion.

Byfield is clearly doing all the work here, with a big cloud of steam. Pictures by John Lees again.

The goods shed might be open for servicing carriages, but it was by no means fully resurrected as yet. Just look at the state of the windows on the end. This area is now covered by the 'barn' extension, and another one, the paint shop, has been tacked on the other end today.

Picture by Ivor Dixon.

Our last and mosty recent picture shows the loco, with a COTSWOLD RAMBLER headboard, using the new loop for the first time on 27th May 1990.

The new loop, I hear you say, where was that then? You don't recognise it? Well, that's because it's not there any more, but where was it?

Shortly after marking this milestone for the railway the loco saw its boiler ticket expire. It was taken out of service and stored, until eventually it was purchased by the Plym Valley Railway and moved to Marsh Mills in 2002. An overhaul was started in 2007, but the latest news is that it was put up for sale again at the end of last year.

Good luck, Byfield No.2. You served us well.