New fence started.

Saturday with the gang.

A nicely sized gang on Saturday. Although it was feared to be small, we were unexpectedly joined by track walkers Alan and Margaret, and the group then became rather jolly. On top of that three people brought yummies - David and Margaret had both made brownies to share, while Bert Ferrule did his usual run of doughnuts, with added bags of chocolate cookies, while on the table there was a large chocolate cake left over from Wednesday! We know we lose calories while working outdoors and along the track, but will the weight loss be enough to overcome the likely gain?

First of all, a quick look at the new S&T building as it stands now. The shell is complete, with an impressive thickness of insulation inside. The roof is complete, but no chimney, alas.

Doors and windows next. Completion is expected for July, we read.

 

 

After modest doughnut/cookie/brownie/cake consumption, we got the tools out, for a resleepering job at Toddington south, where GWR throughbolters are still to be found. Now that is old track!

We always try out the Robels and impact wrenches before loading, as they have a habit of not starting once you are out there and committed.

Here David is looking at one of the wrenches, which did start. Two strokes are very temperamental (Robels are four strokes though). On site, Alan tried to start it and failed...

This is the end of station limits at Toddington south. Almost all of the life expired sleepers were GWR throughbolters. These we can now split much more easily, thanks to the generosity of a blog reader. That maul works a treat!

 

 

Once we have split the old sleeper down the middle it can be withdrawn from the chair bolts in two halves, and a replacement inserted in its place.

 

Of course we could only work while we had a line block, and there were two steam hauled trains running up and down.

Here's BETTON GRANGE steaming south out of Toddington.

It was hard to see how busy the train was, as we were well below the carriage windows. But the car park at Toddington (through which we took the Transit) seemed full enough. The Grange is certainly a draw, and we have it until the middle of the month, we heard.

Whith a train heading for Winchcombe, we had to wait for the return working to pass us into Toddington.

Nothing to do then, but wait. Break out the flasks of coffee. Who'se got those packets of biscuits we saw in the mess coach?

Then we had the other new build out too, 2999 LADY OF LEGEND.

We like those tall wheels, and the early form of cab.

Windows? In a cab? What would you want some of those for?

The passage of the train south meant more waiting, and people munching on biscuits.

When you load all your tools and spare parts at Winchcombe you have to think of everything. Today we had a fail - 6 sleepers loaded, but only 9 standard chairs to replace GWR 10 throughbolters.

Tony and Yours Truly reversed the 4x4 back up to the yard gate, where we stripped some chairs and screws off the pile, which was ex siding 2.

 

Those extra spares enabled us to finish off the last of the 6 sleepers we replaced.

Then we loaded the bits back on the truck, together with 10 potential boot scrapers for the 2807 gang.

Back at Winchcombe everything was neatly stacked.

These are our 'garden quality' sleepers. The bearers underneath are half sleepers, split by our sponsored maul.

We are making quite a success of selling rail ends, it's surprising how popular they are. Have you got yours yet? They're £25 for a 9 inch one, and £35 for a 12 inch one.

Last but not least is our tea in the Coffeepot. Or rather outside, behind it. A lovely lady comes out of the kitchen with the tray, then after a while comes back to see if we are alright.

We are now, thank you !

Wednesday with the Usketeers at Toddington.

Three of us, as sadly John's car expired and he was unable to travel. John is now looking for a replacement. So we split ourselves into two teams of two, and one.

Firstly, a blog follower has suggested that we improve the new featherboard fence with capping along its length. He then generously offered to pay for the extra wood involved.

We had a look at the older fence that is already on site, and we can see what our blog reader was on about. This one is disintegrating along the top edge, and a cap would prevent that. So we asked Paul and Dave, they thought it was a good idea, and today we ordered the wood involved.

It's really nice to have a dialogue with blog readers, and with a productive outcome too. Thank you so much, guys. It really is appreciated.

 

This is the cap that is involved. A batten is nailed along the top edge, and the cap attached to that.

The material will be delivered next Wednesday.

 

 

Then, on to today's work. Team one was Paul, who installed the gate at the start of the featherboard fence. This is intended to permit access to the storage garage by people with trolleys from / to the station shop.

The gate is quite wide, so chosen because of the trolleys that will pass through. That also made it more susceptible to warping, so we gave it an extra pair of hinges in the middle, taken off an older gate we found at the back.

Paul fitted the latch and half of the bolt. He still has to attach the keeper, but was a few screws short. So that is for next time, and also fitting the last 4 boards to close the hole.

Team 2 (Dave and Yours Truly) started the new job. This is on the upper part of the station approach.

Looking up the station approach.

Since we took possession of the garden centre site again there has been a worry that undesirables might occupy the triangular coach park illegally, so a temporary Heras fence was put around it. 

Well, you know how long 'temporary' is...

The end of the Heras fence at the station end.

Finally, and with the Covid disruptions behind us, we are grasping the nettle and are going to install a traditional GWR type post and 4 rail fence along the station approach.

The company was keen on the idea, but had no funds. (it was this hold up that caused us ad interim to accept the featherboard job, which was funded)

 

At the top of the station approach a large Heras fencing gate is opened by the stationmaster every operating day, to give access to a new approach road directly to the car park. This is done to avoid the daily conflict between cars driving past the station building, and the many passengers walking there from the car park. On non-operating days volunteers use the original station approach.

Original station approach on the left; new road to the car park on the right.

Our post and rail fence will stop just short of the red and white striped pole. This marks a high pressure gas main just underneath, and is the reason that our original idea of cast iron gate posts and side hung spearhead gates here could not be executed. The cast iron posts would be buried deep in the ground, and that is forbidden in the vicinity of the gas main.

This blog does not know the size of the gas main here, but if you want to know what happens when a gas main is damaged by construction machinery, then have a look here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislenghien_disaster

The LT objective for a gate here is now a sliding one from the RH side. Currently there is no money for it though, so the double Heras fence gate at the top of the new road is going to be here a while longer.

 

Here then is the start on the post and rail fence made today, by team 2.

The design we have been asked to execute calls for a double gate here, a 10ft one for vehicles, and a 5ft one for pedestrians. Dave is digging the first post hole.

 

This is the design for the pair of gates. They have been laid next to each other, so that we can measure the exact length required between the gate posts.

The ground here was not too difficult (there are about 25 holes to be dug though!) so Dave was soon on the second post hole, opposite.

Having hung the gate by the featherboard fence, Paul joined team 2 and together we mixed up the concrete and set the first post, together with a grandfather post for the adjoining woodwork. Dave fine tuned it with the level.

 

By using the two gates laid next to each other as a model, Paul made up a 15ft bar with which he established the exact spot for the second post, as well as its depth.

 

In the picture the level along the top told us that the post on the left needed to go down another 4 inches.

We will bed this second post into concrete next week, when the first one has gone off, and we can hang the bigger gate on to it.

We also started a third hole, the first of the grandfather post holes for the fence itself. It was all going rather swimmingly.

Near the end of the afternoon it got rather hot, and we went to the new corner shop by the roundabout to get a box of 3 Magnums.

They went down exceptionally well, we can report.

Behind us is our pile of materials for the post and rail fence.

Lastly, we went out to the platform when we heard the yard shunter manoeuvering.

This turned out to be the 04 (with an 8 cylinder Gardner engine) shunting the gala goods train back up the north carriage siding.

All sorts of stuff happens when you volunteer here.