A new job.

Thursday at Toddington.

We're getting ready to start our next project. It's just a quickie, and we offered the company our help, as the job was budgeted for contractors, and we volunteers will be cheaper.

It's to construct 20m of featherboard fencing at Toddongton, to shield the garden centre demolition site from the public eye, and jolly the site up a bit.

Our real intention was to volunteer to build 60m of traditional 4 bar and post fencing along the station approach. This would be a heritage project, as it would be in the same style as the Broadway station approach, for which we have a photograph from in the day. Currently there is a rather ugly row of Heras fencing panels along the station approach, whose purpose is to fence off the triangular coach park in case of occupation by squatters.

This second, more traditional fence is currently pending, as we are awaiting funds (about £2500) via the Trust, which itself is reliant on donations and is actually trying to save up for the viaduct repair job.

While waiting for a supplier to deliver materials we took some left over Creosolve and had a go at painting the woodwork on the newly installed stop block.

 

The sleepers on it are already second hand, and they will last a lot longer if they are protected from the damp with water repelling (ersatz) Creosote.

It would look neater too.

Shortly after completing the job we took a shot of it with P&O just leaving.

Someone else could give the ironwork a coat of black Hammerite perhaps?

After a very long wait on Thursday we finally received the fencing materials for the featherboard job, some of which we immediately coated in Creosolve so that it will be dry next week, ready for the first installation.

It shouldn't be too long to do, and then we can get on with what we initially volunteered for, the post and rail fence along the drive. If the funding is found for that.

Also during Thursday Neal, nearby, was busy with the steelwork for Broadway P2. The first fascia board is now all drilled, ready for rivets. That was a very slow - and, Neal admitted - a very boring job, but he got there.

This picture shows Neal arriving with the angles for the second board. They needed lengthening from what was supplied.

Here then is the first board ready for rivetting, and two angles laid out ready for the second. That will be made up using a long sheet from the painted stockpile on the right. It will need the Telehandler, those sheets are very heavy.

Saturday, out with the gang.

Fairly grim weather - drizzle, 6 degrees, 'feels like: 1 degree' and we can certainly confirm that. It was cold, thanks to a northerly breeze.

 

 

 

8 of us huddled in the mess coach with tea, hungry for a doughnut delivery.

This eventually came, but in the form of these muffins.

Nice too.

Eventually the departure into the weather could no longer be denied, and we filled the Ranger and Transit with tools and a supply of spare throughbolters for concrete sleepers. Scene of the action was to be the Dixton cutting, one of our favourite places.

On arrival we were amazed to see this landslip. Don't worry, it's not serious, as Dixton cutting is particularly wide (we suspect that it was used as a quarry to help build the long and high embankment from Greet to Prescott) and that slip can slide as much as it wants, it won't get near the track. Vertical posts hammered into it to check its progress (if any) show that our infrastructure people are on the case.

Before we started to work we let the southbound train past, which at this point gives us about 45 minutes of peace before it reappears again.

We were ready to pounce as soon as it swept past. The first job was to lift and Robel 5 joints here, easily done were it not for the constant failure of our hydraulic jacks. These are circular and fit under the rails, so as not to enter the loading gauge. The classic Duff trip jacks are bombproof but cannot be used without a line block as they stick out above the rail.

Do readers know of any mechanical models that remain below the loading gauge? We have seen them on the Continent, so they do exist over there.

 

Here then is a dipped joint packing team at work. Two people on a pair of Robels, and two more in support feeding them with ballast.

Off camera are two more setting up the next joint with the hydraulic jacks. At the end of the excercise we only had one working one left, due to the seals which keep failing.

Forty-five minutes later Foremarke Hall duly came back from CRC. The Dixton cutting is a lovely place for photography, due to its secluded greenery and attractive 3 arch bridge.

 

 

 

Once past our site the driver opened her up again, and the coldness of the day resulted in plenty of visible steam.

With trains crossing at Winchcombe we were hit by the next one, headed by P&O this time, about half an hour later.

Again we stepped aside, and watched quite a well filled train (this being Saturday) disappear through the 3 arch bridge and round the corner into Gotherington. That then was the conclusion of the 5 joint packing exercise, and we broke for lunch parked on top of the Prescott road bridge.

 

Next was the changing of 5 cracked chairs on the concrete sleeper section of the long Gretton straight, half a mile further north.

 

 

The chairs on concrete are throughbolters, and have the same issue as throughbolters on wood - the bolt often turns when you try to remove the nut above. This is exposed to the elements and consequently rusts on solid.

We gave these a dose of WD 40 first thing to loosen things up.

 

It wasn't always successful though. A very stiff one was tried with a ring spanner and an extension piece, and the result was that the head of the bolt revolved underneath instead. 

Fail !

Three pairs of nuts out of the five sets did come off, so then you get this picture, showing the broken chair and threads revealed. Here we're digging a hole to allow a new chair to be slipped underneath, but over the threads.

For this job we did need a line block, as the Duff jacks with a much higher lift had to be used. So there's a fair bit of waiting around while trains enter the section, and pass.

We achieved three out of the 5 changes. The other two will need a complete change of concrete sleeper, a much tougher task.

Our exit was Gotherington Skew, where we paused to let a train through before crossing the line. Here you can see some of the Broadway P2 spoil used by the drainage gang to fill a void over a culvert.

On the right is temporary storage for some of the Didbrook economy sleepers. These won't be there too long, as we have plans for them. Either the complete resleepering of siding 2 at Toddington, or resleepering (and perhaps tweaking) of the upside yard layout at Winchcombe (EE and PWay sidings).

More wartime economy sleepers for these will come out of Didbrook, probably as a project for the following winter non-running season.


Here then is the train coming out of Gotherington that we waited for to let past.

What a beautiful early evening shot. The train is accelerating here, pulling the rake of 7 round the curve out of the station. 

Mental note - do a video of it the next time we are here!

We got back 'home' to Winchcombe 10 minutes later, only to see the same train accelerate out of Winchcombe station. We left the vans still loaded, as there was shunting going on and we would be in the way. 

So we were 'forced' to go to the Coffeepot and wait....

Here is the result of the shunting manoeuvres. Two GWR wagons, in need of repair, being hauled off to the C&W workshops. Ready for the gala, we wondered?

Lastly, a question to readers:

We were given a box full of these aluminium number plates. They come from a railway enthusiast's estate, but we don't know what they are. There's a 50p coin on one to indicate their size.

Does anyone know what we were given here? Does anyone want them, for a donation?

Monday - two convicts.

Two convicts, sentenced to hard labour, were at work at Broadway on Monday.

One was sentenced to crushing stone into ballast, while the other...

...had to dig trenches along the platform for the stormwater drainage system.

We were at it all day, and towards mid afternoon Neal's pipework looked like this.

Eventually this will all lead into the pipe going through the platform wall (still to be dug down a 6ft hole) and out into the centre drain.

Additional pipework had to be installed to supply the platform lamp posts, which are in situ, but not connected.

We got rid of two large Cotswolds stone concrete blocks from the old foundations, and were half way through the third when we called it a day. Attacking these blocks not only gets rid of them, but also yields useful ballast to put under the building's floor.

This is the result, mid afternoon. Ten wheelbarrow loads of stone ballast were delivered to the site. That now needs evening out a bit.

In the not too distant future the Broadway supply train will bring purchased ballast, which will be tipped on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, convicts still there.

Monday was fun, rock breaking, why not do it again?

So here we are, Yours Truly on rock breaking, and Neal on conduit digging.

 

 

 

This is the rock breaking scene. Lots of blocks of Cotswolds stone in concrete, a Kango, and a wheelbarrow.

 

 

It's quite hard work. When we saw the station staff put out dog bowls with water, we said, why not coffee for hard working volunteers?

Bless them, that worked. We got two cups of coffee, and 4 biscuits. Lovely people.

For a Tuesday the station seemed pleasingly busy yesterday. The cafe thought things were a bit slow, but the platforms had plenty of people on them.

We paused briefly to let P&O run round, then carried on with filling that wheelbarrow with rock chippings from the old foundations.

 

 

 

 

Neal came over briefly from digging in conduits to destroy a large lump of old concrete that had been used to back fill the platform.

The best place to do that was right inside the wheelbarrow, then you don't have to scoop up the remains.

 

 

 

 

 

The next train in was headed by Foremarke Hall.

 As the day was warm and sunny we were able to take a fine shot of it running in.

 

 

 

Here's a shot of Neal digging. He was mixing the purposes a little, sometimes working on the stormwater drains and sometimes on extending the conduit for the lamp posts' electrical supply.

 

When he was fed up with digging he would come over and give the concrete blocks a brief seeing to. That helps to de-stress.

Another big reason for disintegrating those old foundation blocks is to create space here, as we need somewhere to store dumpy bags of sand for mortar making in the future. This is the place where the mixer will stand when we start brick laying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a shot of progress with the conduits. The pipe over the top is the conduit for the lamp post supply. The stormwater drains have been part buried already.

A big job that remains here is to dig a 6ft deep hole and connect them with the tunnel that we dug earlier from the trackbed and the centre drain.

 

 

Lunch as usual was taken in the nearby signal box, from which we snapped Neal seeing P&O off, after chatting to the fireman.

While in the box we were surprised by a buzzer indicating the imminent arrival of the train - that works ! Unfortunately there are no news of any imminent activation of the signal box that we built, now 8 years ago.

 

 

 

From the same lofty viewpoint we also took a shot of Foremarke Hall arriving later in the day.

It made us proud to think that everything we saw was built by our own volunteers.

The Hall gave a little toot, just as it rolled up to the station building with all its prospective passengers waiting eagerly.

 

Near the end of the day we found Neal on his hands and knees, digging an additional tunnel through the foundations. This is to allow the possibility of a sink in the store room on the end. (formerly the Gents)

 

 

 

The last shot for Tuesday shows the hole complete, and a pipe pushed through.

You can see where it's going - there's a bend in the corner where it will turn up, under the sink proposed there.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Moving day ! Today we met one last time first thing in the morning, for coffee and doughnuts and a chinwag. Then we were off to our new job.

Dave popped in early, prior to spending the whole day on a Telehandler refresher course. So on balance there were just the three of us.

We see Dave here filing parts of the door lock on a mini vice he had brought. The door lock, ancient and very moth eaten inside, is back from the menders and now works reliably.

 

 

Prior to starting work we also had a look-see at the new S&T building. The build goes up in pauses and spurts - today was a spurt. 

The gable end has gone up in brick, and this morning they were working on the corbels. Soon the building will be dry.

After Dave left us to go on his course we went through our tools, deciding what we needed at Toddington and what we could give back to their original departments.

This then is what we are going to do next: It's 20m of featherboard fencing from the traffic cones to the birch tree on the left. The fence here has two purposes: 1. To replace the temporary steel fencing that is there now and 2. To hide the sight of the former garden centre demolition site.

The plans a couple of years ago to build a visitor centre here seem to have been shelved.The estimated cost was horrendous, and fund raising is currently difficult - for example, our viaduct appeal is well short of even its initial waterproofing purpose, having raised £400.000 out of the initial cost of £600.000. Brick repair still has to follow, so if you want to help, do make a (another...) donation via the Trust appeal page.

So the garden centre site will remain undeveloped in the near term, and it's not a pretty sight, hence the featherboard fence. It actually continues one that is already there, just before the sliding gate.

In our picture you can see Paul starting to dig the first of 11 post holes.

Those post holes were very much more difficult than we thought. They need to be 24 ins deep and after 9 ins we hit rock solid bottom - a tarmac surface that was once the original road here (the current road is about 1ft higher than it once was).

We pounded away at the tarmac, only to find closely compacted granite ballast underneath. We had to poke this out one stone at a time.

We borrowed an SDS drill and had a go with that, but it wasn't ideal either, being rather too big for our purposes.

In the picture you can see John starting a second hole, and hitting the same problems.

Next to our work site is the 'Greenhouse' where the Broadway P2 canopy is being made.

Today Neal did a bit of work on that (see below what else he was doing) and you can see that a second fascia board is being laid out.

The angles on it now need spot welding, before drilling the rivet holes and putting a number of temporary bolts in.

With the two post holes fairly advanced Paul decided to measure up the posts to see if we were already deep enough. It seems that we were, so time to try out a trial post.

It fitted OK, and was certainly no higher than any of the existing ones, so we went for it. This will be the closure post for a 1200mm gate here, giving access to a path to the garage behind the gate, which will be used to store goods for the shop.

Although we are using Postcrete instant mix, Paul advised to mix it in a barrow first. But it does go off extremely quickly, so after two of us mixed it up together to save time, we threw it down the hole PDQ.

 

Here then are the first two posts, the gate post and its closure post. 

Digging the holes out was pretty tough, we had no idea that there was an old tarmac and ballast roadway underneath. 9 posts to go....

We got there, but were very tired at the end of the afternoon. But at least we have made a start, a small achievement already, so that made us feel good. And we are offering our volunteer labour for free, instead of the paid contractors that were pencilled in for this job.

Have you seen ze Schpy?

Trains were running of course, and we saw lots of schoolchildren at Winchcombe on their wartime experience lessons. John here loves to play the German spy... next week, the parachuting nun! He'll keep them guessing.

The PWay gang was also out today, lifting and packing joints near Hayles Abbey halt. The sleeper replacements nearby at Didbrook will resume during the next closed season, yielding lots of concrete economy sleepers with which we can relay some of our earliest sidings at Toddington and Winchcombe.

There were no pictures from today, but yesterday Paul was about and he took these two pictures of P&O at work.

Here is P&O just rumbling into Cheltenham Race Course.

Related to PWay work, you might be interested to know that as a result of our offering rail cut offs for sale (there are two new ones on offer in the Cotswolds halt) we have had an unusual request for some longer bits, cut into angles so as to make the support for a table.

This is the job half done. It was Neal who cut these at an angle, hence no fascia board work today.

So we want to say, if we can interest you in a 9 inch or a 12 inch piece of rail, they are for sale in the Cotswolds Halt. If you need a different or a special length, then we're happy to talk, as long as it raises funds for the railway.

 

 

 

 USK HUT UNVEILING

And just a reminder, next Wednesday 8th May at 11am there will be a small ceremony at the Usk hut, to mark the completion of its move and rebuild at Winchcombe.

Our Trust chairman Philip Young has kindly agreed to unveil the enamel sign that we have had made for it. This will announce the purpose of the Usk hut! Many people have asked: But what is it for? Well, it's a building rescue, and we are going to dress it as...... (you'll have to come and see)