Steels go up.

Thursday at Broadway on P2.

We are gearing up to lift in the second pair of ring beams, and start the plinth of blue engineering bricks.

It should happen some time next week.

First of all we have to move the steels under their intended positions. This wasn't too difficult, with two men moving them easily by means of a little piano truck

Here they are in place. You may also notice two little ramps, ready for the Genie lift that we are renting.

 

 

 

Neal then got the angle grinder out, and ground some little tear drops of steel off the ends.

This issue became apparent with the first two beams. Once you are up on the ladder trying to bolt them down, you don't want to find out that there are a couple of mm of steel holding them apart. 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the beams in place, ready for lifting next week .

The platform covered in thick plywood will support the genie lift. We will also use it to fix the temporary cross members (those rusty red things in the background, salvaged from the P1 build.)

 

 

Back to the build. The station was quite busy on Thursday, less so with this diesel hauled train, more so with the other, hauled by 2807.

When the train had left and things were quieter, we decided to treat ourselves to a cuppa and an ice cream.

This is the life !

Back on P2, we stepped aside to let the steamer run round, giving rise to this lovely cameo of Neal watching 2807.

The loco was driven by a former Honeybourne fireman!

Having positioned the steel beams, we spent the rest of the day positioning piles of blue engineering bricks around the perimeter of the building, ready for the construction of the blue plinth to start. We are using new blue imperials. They are very heavy, and wore out one builder's glove of Yours Truly. Neal reports that they weigh 3.7Kg each, and that instead of 500 metrics per pallet as in the CRC P2 rebuild, there are only 380 in a pallet with these bigger imperials. And that pallets weighs in at a tonne and a half. We spread out one pallet, so that is 1 1/2 tons that we manhandled on Thursday.

The concrete blocks are for the internal walls of the store room.
 

For those interested, here is a link to the camera on the footbridge, operated by the FoBS:

https://www.ipcamlive.com/broadway2a 

If you make yourself a bookmark, you can go there directly any time you want. It's also been added to the list of links on the top right of the blog.

 

PWay on Saturday.

Pictures by Paul, with one team at Gotherington, and a second at CRC, with fishplate greasing also taking place, and possibly completed for this year. So a good day.

The Gotherington team (with Paul) changed 3 sleepers at the platform end.

Here they are being dug out.

Two problems here: The sleepers in question had spikes for rail fastenings, a rarity (luckily) on our line. They work loose, but are hard to remove. They need to be cut.

 

 

The second problem was the location: right by a central drain cover. One spiked sleeper was hard up against this drain, so could not be removed in the normal way. In the end three sleepers were replaced here, to gain some space.

 

 

The spiked sleepers at Gotherington were replaced by Pandrol fitted ones on base plates.

After much digging these were wriggled in and pushed to the right spot, by the drain cover.

Paul also took this rather nice picture of newly overhauled 2807, arriving by platform 2.

The owners of Gotherington make a fine job of keeping their station neat and tidy, and looking real. If only BR hadn't cut back the canopy ends. They now mark the actual property line.

The other two teams were at CRC, where some dips were ironed out and fishplates greased. They then all joined up in the Coffepot at Winchcombe, the best place to be.

Sunday was a day on the cushions for us, with some visitors from Hilversum.

We were going to take the 11.15 to CRC, but held back when we saw what was hauling it.

Instead we preferred the 11.40 steamer to Broadway, then a round trip.

The visitors declined an offer of free (shareholder's ) tickets, and felt they ought to pay, to give the railway some cash. What nice people they were...

Monday at Broadway on P2.

A long awaited day, and not only by our readers. On Monday we lifted in the second pair of ring beams, and made a start on brick laying on the P2 building. A great day !

 

 

 

This is the opening shot, from the footbridge. The ring is partially complete, with the remaining two steels on the ground. Three bracing strips are also just about visible on the floor. They were salvaged from the P1 build.

 

 

 

 

The two beams lifted in quite easily, and here you see Neal bolting on the bracing strip.

This will come off again in due course, and be replaced by a truss, which does the same job.

 

 

 

 

The last angled bracing piece was placed on the end, helped by a Genie lift.

Our building now has a shape and volume, which gives you a better idea of what it can be used for.

It occurred to us that a bar in here, during the beer event, would be perfect.

All the uprights were perfectly straight, and we had no trouble in bolting all the different pieces together. Another fine job by Neal !

 

The steels took less than a morning, and that gave us the opportunity of making a start on the brick laying. There will be 5 courses of blues to form a plinth, so that is what is being laid at the  moment.

We couldn't resist a record shot of the first brick of the P2 waiting room at Broadway going on.

These are 3.7Kg imperial blues, the real McCoy.

Occasionally one needs trimming, so this is what Neal is doing here.

Yours Truly made the mortar, which was dyed dark grey, to simulate the ash that used to be put in.

 

 

Recently John also went to fetch the last 6 Broadway lamp tops, from a  Coppersmith who does an excellent job.

They now need painting, and we prefer to replace the plain steel nuts & bolts with SS ones, so that will be a shed at home job.

 

At the end of the day John had laid a good 40 bricks.

This picture was taken mid-afternoon, after which he laid some more. He made it to the S end of the building, and a bit beyond the gap for the door in the foreground.

Wednesday with a full complement of Usketeers.

At last, John (replacement car bought) and Dave (back from Devon) brought the little team back up to its current strength of four.

 

We had three jobs on the go - two hole diggers, a gate hanger, and a creosote operative. The latter job has to be done at least a week in advance, as it can't be done in the rain, and you don't know what next week will bring.

In the picture Paul is fitting the lower hinge to the small gate, the post we placed last week now having gone off.

From the double gates we can go in two directions:

Dave here is going north, and is busy digging the first post hole of the fence that leads away from the gate. We have a curve to deal with here, as well as some undergound cabling to avoid.

 

On the other side of the gate we had John, who was digging the first post hole south of the gate.

As you can see from the faces, there is a problem. After about a foot John hit a large root. Now what?

Paul attached the lower hinge to the smaller gate (it's the top hinge that does all the load bearing, we learned)

And after some adjustment the smaller, pedestrian gate was in. This will allow passengers arriving by coach to get to the station directly from the triangular coach park.

There will be a drop bolt underneath, which will permit the small gate to be opened independently.

Wednesday was a hot day (27 degrees C) and the Usketeers escaped to under the trees for coffee and cake.

Yours truly went to the Cotswolds Halt, where this Orange Cake looked attractive. It was both Gluten and Vegan free.

Whatever - what matters to us was the taste! Give it a try, why not.

Afterwards the Usketeers relaxed among the lime trees. Relaxed, until they relaised what lime trees did to their cars, also underneath. Oh-oh !

Working in parallel with the Usketeers was a team from C&M, who were repairing a much older section of featherboard fence by the sliding gate.

We like to take a picture with people on it, but there were none !

 

 

 

We'll have to add the people separately - here they are, enjoying a coffee break in the shade.

Smile !

 

 

 

 

Over on P2 at Toddington we found one of the posters commissioned by the RATs, which this blog has helped to source.

 

We are currently organising three more, of which two for Broadway, P2, of the turn of the century era.

You'll have to wait and see, all part of the planning.

In between times we saw 7903 Foremarke Hall running into Toddington.

Then it was back to the job at hand, i.e. erecting the gates and the surrounding posts for the start of the post and rail fencing.

Here Paul is drilling the first holes for the fence post, on a grandfather post, next to the gate.

 

John and Dave had dug three post holes. They are always an adventure, as you never know what is down there.

Here Paul and Dave a loading up some postcrete for the first grandfather post.

Then here is where it went.

The first grandfather post southwards is already in, and in the picture you can see them about to shovel in Postcrete down the hole for the post by the fence.

The post nearest the camera was a difficult one, as John hit a big tree root here. We had to move the intended route by a few inches.

 

 

 

 

After two posts were set south of the gate, the three of them addressed the first grandfather post northwards.

 

Three grandfather posts set for the day, and two of them with wooden posts attached, was about it for the day.

Yours truly spent most of the day preparing further woodwork for use, making hay while the sun shone. The sunshine dried out the pallets of posts that we had delivered. All were pretty wet inside, despite hot weather and tarpaulins thrown over the top.

We laid future woodwork out on the ground, and the firece sunshine soon dried it out. Then it was creosoted, ready for next week. If it rains then, we are still ready to go.

This is our last shot of the new fencing run for the day.

Both gates are now hung, and concrete posts are set on both sides, ready for rails next week. We are off to a flying start.

PWay on a hot Wednesday.

 Pictures by Paul and Walt, with thanks.

 

 

 

The job for the day was to investigate the overgrown yard at Stanton, and see if there wasn't a switch buried in the undergrowth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer seemed to be 'Yes' but what did it look like?

The PWay team is not equipped to deal with a lot of undergrowth, so it was basically hand weeding, something which is anathema to Your Blogger, who suffers from hayfever and related asthma. (if provoked)

We stayed safely under the shadow of the lime tree by the new gates at Toddington, but impressed by the team members that could attack the undergrowth..

Piles of military grade sleepers peeped out of the brambles.

These could come in handy for a relay of sidings that we have pencilled in for a future job.

 

It was amazing to what depths the team members could penetrate the undergrowth.

Many of us wondered - what are they doing in there? Some suggestions made by unkind observers were hotly denied.

But the reward for a day's hacking was one FB switch, fully exposed.

The switch was pulled out by the Telehandler, for further examination.

Riveting stuff.

Saturday in the yard.

Just a small gang on Saturday, something to to with the Ale and Steam event? There were just 6 of us, and several jobs to do:

- A track inspection at Bishop's Cleeve

- Interflon greasing south of Bishops Cleeve

- A point timber to replace at Winchcombe.

As we were too small in numbers the track inspection got priority and a two man team remained behind at Winchcombe, to sort out second hand point timbers.

We have a pile of rejected timbers which can no longer be used, but which are long and heavy.

Dave decided to cut them into manageable pieces with his chainsaw.

Behind dave is a pile of 'still some potential' timbers.

These need sorting out the chaff from the re-usable, and that's why we needed a space next to them.

In between times the Steam & Ale event was in full swing, with 3 slightly shorter trains in service. One was hauled by the green class 37.

 

The rotten timbers, now more bite - sized, were taken to a corner of the yard.

They are now much easier to manipulate.

LADY of LEGEND was there too, with its majestic wheels slowly turning.

 

The grand old lady made her way to the station, where there was a pleasingly large crowd of people enjoying their day.

 

 

 

 

There was practically no one to be seen without a glass in their hand. Now that is what a successful day looks like. Such a crowd is also good for a local brewery like Goughs of Winchcombe, or a pub like the Crown & Trumpet at Broadway. We provide a multiplier effect on business.

 

After clearing the pile we felt rather weary, so called it a day, but not before checking in at the C&W shed, where we spotted some familiar planks.

These are the replacement planks for the bench at Hayles. One plank has been snapped clean in half, probably by someone standing on it to get a better view.

Please don't do that.

Broadway P2.

We are ready to start the blue plinth in bricks, but are waiting for John to return from a holiday.

Next also would be the lifting in of the other two ring beams, now that we have a hard concrete floor. The waiting time is not wasted though, as we can continue with the canopy at Toddington, where much remains to be done. Next week some time looks like a probable time for the lifting in.

Sunday on Creosote.

An infill day, to prepare with Creosote the bare new wood for use on Wednesday, when the Usketeers return.

It's still Ale and Steam, with a pleasing business about the railway.

Winchcombe is the main activity centre for beer, while Toddington was calmer (we heard), although customers did certainly manage to drink some barrels dry - see gaps in the racks. What we didn't know was that you can also do takeaway, that isn't advertised but we thought would be a good idea to do so.

The beer came from surprising places, like Derby and Crich. Well worth a try, but of course volunteers are barred from this if on duty.

Our two visiting GWR engines were in service again, as well as the blue class 47, seen here after arriving from Broadway.

These beer festivals are a good thing, as peripheral activities also do well, eg our cafe, and the RATS shop of paraphernalia.

The PWay door stop / anvil stand also drew interest, as evidenced by this last one remaining. More are on their way, thanks to Andy's new little business in the old B&S shed at Winchcombe. The rails are clean cut, and polished or painted. They are also on Ebay, and we have received good compliments!

Wednesday with an Usketeer.

Two absences out of four this week. John is replacing his worn out car, while Dave is in Devon, leaving yours truly and Paul to proceed with the business.

 

 

The first gate post that we planted last week has now gone off, so was ready today to receive its gate. 

That comes as a bit of a kit. You have to put your own hinges on for example. Here Paul has attached the upper hinge to the bigger gate.

With the upper hinge on, we were able to determine the exact location of the lower eyebolt.

To our surprise this did not locate well, it would be exactly opposite a mortice and tenon joint. How is that supposed to work then? We had no choice but to cut into one of the braces, to create room for the lock nut.

We put lots of Creosote on the newly opened joint.

Capping strips for the featherboard fence, paid for by a supporter.

 

Hartwells then arrived with the capping strips, recommended (and funded!) by a blog reader. We chatted to the driver, who explained that the spacing of the hinges on steel posts is designed for steel gates, not wooden ones. We did not realise that the spacing of the hinges is not standard. Wooden gate posts were offered to us, but as we want this fence to last, we chose galvanised steel posts, which we painted black to render them less modern.

Not a real problem said Paul, everything can be overcome.

 

 

 

 

From time to time we need to be in the station, and today we saw this cameo while looking at the structure of the original roof.

As you may realise, railway preservation is not only about trains, it is a social thing. We look forward to our days on the railway, above all because of the people we meet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We took the larger gate out to the site and hung it to see the effect. Not bad !

Here Paul is just checking it for level. We now need some washers with a 1 inch internal diameter, as these weren't part of the kit.

So which do you prefer, Heras fencing, or a 5 bar wooden gate?

 

 

 

Then Paul put the main hinge on the smaller gate. It wil be a tricky juggling affair to get the two gates to be the same height, and the posts exactly vertical. And that on slightly rising ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 We are not alone by that canopy - with nothing happening at Broadway for a short while, plenty has been going on in the 'greenhouse'.

Two out of the four fascia boards that Neal made have now been rivetted. Neal also primered the rivet heads, so far only on the one side, as the boards are hard to turn over - very heavy.

 

 

There is also evidence of some manoeuvering of the constituent parts.

One of the ridge purlin centre parts has been extracted and placed in the working area. Whatever next?

 

 

 

 

 

But then we heard a rumble down the original station approach. What could it be?

We have a delivery! Anyone ordered a fully functioning Bulleid Pacific?

 

 We let P&O in, then returned to work.

Neal had arrived, and was setting out the next phase of his work to construct the iconic GWR curved ridge purlins. All this is written down of course. On a tiny scrap of paper, which he showed us.

The curved angles in the bacground are cut into shorter pieces, and are attached to the end of the ridges.

What is this going to look like? Here is the original, at Toddington. Can you see what Neal is doing?

In between two ridge purlins is a truss. These we still have to make, and they are the biggest items.

Back on the station approach, Paul had the two gates pretty much in line and at the same height. Here he is checking the second gate post for level.

That worked out Ok, so it was time to put in the grandfather post that starts off the actual fence here.

Then we mixed up the postcrete, and shovelled it in.

Next week this post will have also gone off, and then we can fit the bottom hinge and finally set up the second gate. John should be back, and we can start digging more post holes.

 

On the side of the older featherboard fence a gang from C&M was repairing the featherboards, which we must admit had looked rather moth eaten on top.

This picture, taken earlier, shows what they were up against. With the sponsored caps, our bit of fence certainly won't suffer from this phenomenon.

Our last picture from Toddington today shows one of the gala visitors leaving, preceded earlier by its tender.

It is good practice to coordinate departures and arrivals, to make maximum use of the lorry mileage.

So: Two in, and two out. (locos + their tender)

Some PWay thoughts.

Paul, head of our PWay dept, had a walk around Toddington today, and saw a number of items for your perusal:

 

 

More rail ends were found at Toddington, and were put on a trolley for recovery to Winchcombe.

 

 

At Winchcombe they were stored adjacent to the old B&S shed, which has become Andy's workshop for turning the rail cut offs into cash for the railway. He polishes them, and some get painted as well, if the customer wants it that way.

In the shed there's been a lot of progress on one of our other heavy freight locos, 3850.

The buffer beam and cab controls look fantastic.

Much work remains in the area of the slide bars, which, it now seems, also suffered from the heavy shunt the loco once got in its BR days.

9351 was seen waiting for the lorry to take it home, as you saw earlier in the blog.

After the departure of our class 73 we now have two class 20s, which one day may be seen running back to back.

What we think is the later arrival (correct us if mistaken) has now been painted in BR blue. With a bit of luck it is hoped to have it available for the gala.

In Winchcombe yard spare stone left over from the gabions in the river Isbourne were put into dumpy bags, for easier transport later on.

 

 

A poor looking throughbolter as also discovered.

You can see here that it is close to the fishplate, and that the hammering has pounded it right into the wooden sleeper.

The replacement was then robelled, and now all is well again.