Loading for Broadway.

Friday at Toddington

Essentially a day for transfering the dumper back to Winchcombe for someone else to use. We will need it again when we get the chance to dispose of the second half of the spoil accumulated behind the footbridge.

We cleaned and greased up the little dumper, and ran it back onto the trailer.  Then back to Winchcombe, unload, reverse park the trailer (tricky....) and finally proceed to Toddington to check the P2 roof sheets we had bought and stored in the old garage. They are priceless, as you cannot get them any more, their grade of thickness is no longer available in the UK, only thin, garden shed sort of stuff. If stored in the open in piles they are at risk from damp creeping in between the 100 or so sheets.

 

There were rumours that the PWay would make a start on Saturday of placing the stop block at Toddington, and relaying 50 yds of track.

It was satisfying to see that the stock had indeed been shunted out of the way, leaving the site clear for us to get to work.

Goods vehicles with an exterior refurb will be stabled here, so it should look quite attractive.

Paul was about with the fork lift. He positioned the second hand 'economy' sleepers out of Didbrook by the new stop block area, so that they will be within easy reach for when we start work.

These concrete sleepers will replace life expired wooden ones, which, we were informed, were the first sleepers ever to be laid on the GWSR. (alongside the goods shed) So pretty old then.

A whining sound in the station drew our attention to 'STEVIE' trundling through, with the results of a lineside clear up session in the Broadway direction in tow.

Saturday with the gang.

A good day, we did something quite different on Saturday - the relay of that siding at Toddington, with the planned placing of a stop block. It was true then.

Tea and sweets were consumed in the mess coach, as well as a bag full of unusual goodies that David brought back from a visit to Japan.

What is this? Should we eat it? Does it need hot water to activate?

This 'foreign food' was treated with some suspicion, PWayers are traditional guys. But some items, notably a large wagon wheel type thing but with more marshmallow, turned out to be quite popular.

 

 

Then it was off to Toddington, where the now partly empty 'siding 2' awaited us. This is to be stripped and rebuilt from the white dumpy bags to a new stop block on the ballast in the foreground.

The first job was to free up the fishplates. This was quite easy, as all of the ground consisted of locomotive ash, which was easy to dig into.

 

Steam dept. members told us that these rails here were among the earliest ever laid on the GWSR, and as they were for sidings the quality was low, the best parts being used on the future running line.

Here is a typical fishplate, with just two holes. Rails were heavily worn and short, and chairs came from all sorts of places. The Mills keys were rusted in solid, and fell apart when hammered out.

 

 

 

 

 

Once again our RRV STEVIE came into his own, and removed the rails, all of about 5m in length, so a real kit of parts, this siding.

The rails were laid to one side, and will, surprisingly be used again later. They will support only stationary vehicles, for display.

After that it was the turn of Dave in the Telehandler to scoop out what remained of the sleepers and chairs.

 

This length of siding used to be the location of 'TINA', the steam dept. Mk1 mess room coach, and after that was sold, it held some box vans and a unit from a DMU.

With all that cleared you got a new viewpoint for passing trains.

 

 

 

 

Here is one of the more unusual chairs that we uncovered. It is marked LNWR (1846 to 1922) and has 4 chair bolts, two of which we have never seen before

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once all the sleepers had been scooped up by Dave - any loose GWR throughbolt chairs being wheeled off for transformation into boot scrapers by the 2807 supporters - it was time to scoop up the ash ballast so as to make a new bed for the replacement concrete sleepers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ash was dumped into the, er, ash bin. Well, that's what it's for, isn't it? We had rather a lot of it though, hope it's big enough. 

More trains passed by our relaying site.

 

This time it was Dinmore Manor, being overlooked by the yard lamp rescued from the platform at Winchcombe. Now it's in a yard, as it should be.

The stop board is for the siding adjacent to the one we were working on. This is known as 'Siding 1', which your blogger finds confusing, as it is actually the former up line, which forms an extended loop from the yard throat. The siding we were working on therefore is known as 'Siding 2', although it is the first one with a dead end.

 

 

 

After starting to excavate the ash ballast we hit a conduit, which caused some consternation as it was not advised. This is what the gang is staring at.

However, it turned out that all 4 cables in it were disused, and indeed cut at some point. But not subsequently removed. 

 

Then it was a break for lunch, this time in the new mess room built on the end of the goods shed in similar style.

Out of the window you got a great view of the big fan of a diesel locomotive below. Who can guess which type it is? This was positioned to propel three empty wagons into the car park, ready for loading with supplies for Broadway on Monday.

 

 

 

Back outside, and STEVIE got busy scraping the bed of the siding with the bucket.

The result was a very level bed, as the arm was locked, and the RRV ran along rails. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After levelling the bed it was time to try out a first sleeper.

These are the wartime economy sleepers, ex Didbrook. So nothing is wasted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the first sleeper laid in. The rails actually continue to where the photographer is standing, that was the next rail joint.

The conclusion was that the bed wasn't quite deep enough yet. It only takes one sleeper to be a bit high, and the whole track panel is too high as well.

That was as far as we got on Saturday.

 

 

 

As a reminder, these are the wagons that have been externally restored, and which will go on to the relaid piece of siding 2.

That will improve the look of the locomotive shed area from the passing trains.

At the end of the afternoon we had the opportunity of a couple more shots of railway activity. We enjoy PWay work, but there are side attractions too that we enjoy.

Bert Ferrule gets a great shot of 37 215 as it passes with the last train to CRC on Saturday.

Some moments later there was an opportunity for an unusual stock move, 7820 Dinmore Manor with three Dogfish wagons out of the Parlour Road siding. These were propelled up the line.

  

 

A bit of GWSR history.

John Lees' photographs, put on line here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/73536293@N02/albums/72157664738875108

are always a useful source of the early years on the GWSR. What did that siding look like when we took over the line? Was it true (as some claimed) that it was the first ever track to be laid by the volunteers?

Here is the Toddington track layout in 1960, after passenger services were stopped. A double track main line, and a loop alongside the goods shed.

With all the track lifted, we see the area of interest to us, between the goods shed and the signal box, in early 1980.

Then, in August 1981, the first signs of track laying. A compound of corrugated iron sheets was created next to the goods shed, reinstating the two main lines. But not yet the loop alongside the goods shed, later known as siding 2. So the two main lines were the first to be laid, the loop came after them, not quite the earliest track then.

A year later, in August 1982, the compound was removed again, to reveal that the up line now had a kink in it, to increase the width of the six foot, as the up line was considered a siding. This kink has given us a headache today, in getting the relaid crossover to fit. Ideally, the up line would be relaid as such (and not as a siding with a wider six foot) but today there is a bracket signal in the way.

Loading up for Broadway.

Three of us stood ready on Monday to help load thirty tons (!) of materials for Broadway in the Toddington car park.

Once on site it became clear that no help was needed at all.

 

The supplier came with a grab lorry and loaded bags of type 1 material straight into the trucks. No need for help here.

Ten bags fitted in each truck, and then there were further bags of sand, which were placed on top.

The type 1 will go to support in the floor of the P2 building, while the sand is to make up mortar for brick laying.

Speaking of brick laying, the third wagon - the Mermaid - was then filled by another supplier with blues, and the balance of reds that had been stored by a supplier since the P1 building was completed. They were part of the original order.

The total supply of materials for Broadway P2 is over 30 tons.

On top of the bricks we lifted the 4 RSJ ring beams, held down by a thick strap.

This train of 3 wagons is now ready to go to Broadway for unloading. However, the intended date for doing this - this Friday - has had to be cancelled due to the unexpected non-availability of one of the key players.

A new date is being researched. It's not easy to get everyone in line, and then fit it within our (non-) running schedule.

 

Meanwhile, John set about cleaning more of the curved angles for the ridge purlins under the greenhouse, while Neal offered his help to Paul from the PWay, to further excavate the site of the siding that we were relaying on Saturday.

He used the small Telehandler from the Toddington site, which worked quite well.

 

Neal also figured out - completely for himself - how deep the excavation had to be, and then devised a system for checking the depth without a laser level. It involved - a length of string and a stick. Paul was astounded.

This kind gesture will save a lot of time on Wednesday, when the sleepers are expected to be laid in. The stop block is planned to be positioned on Thursday, using STEVIE, the RRV.

Paul and Yours Truly spent the afternoon sorting the second hand sleepers from the Stanway viaduct into re-usable, and those not. There's quite a pile of them, as you can see.  We stacked the first 96 on the Warflat on Tuesday afternoon, being two of the piles in the picture

 

This is the start of the 'not suitable for re-use' pile.

It is very strange, but these are hardwood sleepers and they are not lasting well at all. Many are rotting, starting at the ends. Several have fungi growing on them.

These here will have their base plates removed, and some other second life found for them.

 

The blog will be slightly more intermittent for a short while now, due to family commitments.