Rail away.

 Rail Away.

A special day on Monday, with three of us around STEVIE in the Dixton cutting.

 

 

It is our plan to remove the 60ft lengths of rail lying along the track in the Dixton cutting. They are left over from an operation to change rail that was deemed of poor quality after an ultrasonic test on the whole line.

The job for Monday was to assemble the scattered rails into more managable piles, so that they can ben loaded on a single day. This looks to be Monday week, another non running day.

Some of the rails were on the other side of 3 Arch Bridge, which involved some very careful maoeuvering with Steve, so that we got through underneath it, without hitting it, or STEVIE falling over. 

As you can see on the picture it was possible, we just did it very slowly.

Here are some of the piles we made up. The nearest one includes two new rails, which we still plan to instal somewhere.

All in all we moved about 20 rails. Because they did not pass the ultrasonic test they are now siding quality, so they are available for disposal. They will be taken back to Winchcombe, where there are others. Scrap they are worth £180 each, but perhaps there is another line out there that is interested?

If so, send a message via the blogger contact form, top right of the blog.

Our rail moving disturbed several mice, which ran up and down the bottom of the FB rail.

No mice were hurt in the making of this blog post.

 

We achieved more than we set out to do (assemble about half the rails) so we were very pleased to note that they are all now ready for removal, providing we can organise a removal train next Monday.

Back home at Winchcombe, we ran into the former Gotherington down starter, which has had to be removed because the base was rotted. Now what do we do with the remains?

Also a quick look at the new S&T headquarters.

The doors and windows are now in, and the Heras fencing around it has been removed.

Tuesday at Broadway.

Two of us again, with Neal at Toddington on steels. He reports that there's just a bit more drilling to do, some welding, and then the 3 ridge purlins are complete.

At Broadway further progress was made on Tuesday, with yours truly on mortar and brick cleaning, and John on brick laying.

So far we have dug up a lot of metal remnants of the original P2 building, but of course it's all rusted and bent.

Neal collected it in this wheelbarrow, and then took it to the scrap bin at Toddington.

We're trying to preserve as many of the original bricks as possible, as these can be re-used, possibly on the planned Toddington platform extensions.

 

We're currently working along the front, as we have run out of DPM at the rear. More is expected imminently.

On Tuesday John was working on the fourth course, of the 5 due to come here.

2807 and Dinmore Manor were handling the services, on a pleasingly busy day for the railway.

A shot of the 4 courses completed on one section.

There were large numbers of passengers on Tuesday, no doubt boosted by the summer holidays.

Also earlier in the day, at least one coach load dropped off at Broadway.

Sadly, Auntie Wainwright's bric a brac shop had no volunteers, so that is pure income lost.

Only one course completed at the back, while waiting for more DPM.

 

 

On the other hand, one of the front corners was high enough to try out a corner plinth brick. So this is what it will look like.

The final result for the day was 100 blues laid, a very good result. The front now has a very visible wall along it, between three and four courses high.

2807 completes the picture of this all GWR scene.

Thursday with the Usketeers.

A dry morning, and showery afternoon were promised. We shall see. Four Usketeers reported for duty (and cakes).

As you may have noticed, your blog reporter has had a week off on the Isle of Wight, so what did the three remaining Usketeers get up to while he was away?

Here is an updated shot of the drive. We have completed the two gates, and are currently about two thirds of the way up. We counted out how many bits and pieces we were going to need to finish the job, and we are just about OK we think.

During the trip to the IOW Neal finished off the last of the curved ridge purlins.

Here it is, finished. The two others are on the left.

Trusses next! (but see below)

Yes, actually there is one more thing to do, and that is weld joints like these, where the curves attach to the straight pieces.

Then of course replace all the bolts with genuine rivets.

We also had a quick look round the Toddington site. Here is the Cotswolds Halt, now open on Fridays too (despite being a non-running day).

The building has had a repaint, and it now looks more welcoming in dark stone than the previous dark chocolate brown. This is in keeping with the general colour scheme of Toddington, which is pitching for an interwar era theme.

Outside, by the toilet block, is the new area for the appeal boards for the various locomotives that we have. These used to be lined up against the coal bunker, but have had to be moved after the compound around the coal bunkers was enlarged. Foremarke Hall and 76077 have put the first boards up.

 

 

The lads made an early start (8am!) and got one post hole dug and filled.

The weather forecast gave a 10% chance of rain, and we sure had that ! We had 100% !

The drizzle came down so hard that we had to escape to the cafe.

Rain at Toddington in mid August...

 

 

Luckily it would appear that it was only a lengthy shower, with quite some driving wind.

At 10am Dinmore Manor prepared to set off south for Cheltenham. The rain had just finished. A coach load of passengers arrived, 5 Dutch DAF cars, and two mini buses from what looked like care homes in Worcester. Interesting to see where our passengers come from.

Dinmore Manor ready to set off, with the DMU about to leave in the opposite direction.

Once the squall had blown over we set off digging holes again.

Here Paul and Dave a fitting a godfather post, while John is excavating the next hole, behind the Heras fence panel.

We also found another use for the post and rail fence - a place to lean on, and chat !

This picture, taken near the end of the session, shows how we are now well past the big tree, and motoring up the drive, with 20yds to go, and maybe 5 or 6 more posts.

Two more were planted today, and the posts and rails fitted for the previous two.

Yours truly creosoted all the rails finally, there must be a 100 of them...

Before tidying up we laid out some rails to get an idea of the size of the remaining job. The target is the red & white gas main marker. Somewhere in that vicinity there we will have a receiver post for a new sliding gate, but at the moment the railway hasn't got the money for that. Some panels of the ugly Heras fencing will remain at the top therefore.

 

On the brighter side, just look at the ones we have already made redundant. The pile is growing.

The new post and rail fence is behind the pile, just high enough to get a mower under.

Before leaving, we had a quick mosey over to the station, to find the DMU about to depart for Cheltenham.

This is a rather nice subject for a picture, most people taking steam only photographs.

What would W20W look like in this scene?

A little close up here shows that the DMU was quite well patronsised. At certain times it can be found to be carrying just half a dozen people, so it was good to see that it was so busy today.

 

The next blog post is in a week's time, probably also on a Thursday. We sometimes have other stuff to do, you know.