Cinque Terre adventures.

Saturday out with the gang.

A modest gang on Saturday, just six of us. Many regular faces were missing, which was strange. Yet the weather was splendid and the job interesting.

 

 

As we loaded up the tools, 3850 came by with the first train south.

An all black locomotive is tricky to photograph, but it is nice to look at. And it provides variety from green.

 

In the yard was a small pile of point timbers, and one had a message on it, with a smilie.

Wonder what happened there....?

 

We set off for Gotherington, with a kink and some sleepers to replace on the list.

The kink was certainly visible. It was just by skew bridge, and on a curve. An insulated joint here was a point of weakness. There is a plan to replace this with something stronger in the future, so Saturday was just a repair.

First we had to let a train pass, before we could get a line block and start shifting the track.

 

We got the sluing jacks out and set them up as two pairs.

These jacks are the heaviest thing that we have in our equipment, but luckily the truck that brought them wasn't far away. They're like carrying lumps of lead.

Sleeper ends had to be dug out for this, to lessen the resistance.

Despite the small gang - all of us except the cameraman were on the picture - the track did shift back a couple of inches. Success !

Next was 2807 heading south, so we had both our working 2-8-0s out today. One black one, and one green one.

 

It was very nicely framed by the green trees coming round the curve at Skew Bridge yard.

Robel man is ready to go !

 

 

 

 

 

After correcting the kink, all the working Robels were brought out and laid in a line, ready to go. Quite a lift was required here too.

 

 

Lunch was held a few yards away on the platform at the station.

Steve (1), Simon, Bert Ferrule, Steve (2) and Tim sat in the sunshine.

The next job was the replacement of some life expired wooden sleepers between the platforms. These here are quite old, being already second hand when they were laid here to replace the lifted track in the 1990s.

What was interesting here was that these sleepers, unusually for us, were laid with spiked base plates. Spikes are quick to insert but tend to wear loose with friction, and the slow softening of the wood into which they are driven. So it's not a very good system, and wasn't used very long. But they are b*****s to get out. We didn't have the right tool for the job, but got by with a bar and a fulcrum in the form of a keying hammer head.

We also noticed that there are at least two types of spikes used on base plates. One where the spike directly holds down the FB rail (R) and one where it's a reverse Pandrol clip (L). Reverse, in the sense that it goes against our adage of 'Tail on the rail, and you fail', as here the tail is placed on the rail. Weird.

Once the spikes were out, with some difficulty, but extra weight on the bar got us there eventually, we hammered the base plates out sideways, without having to use jacks. Just the toe of the bar to take the strain.

The base plates go for scrap, or can you think of a use for them? We'd be happy to sell you one.

The rail ends are still selling well. Amazing !

Next, 3850 trundled into the station, with the regulator closed. Gotherington is a nice area for photographs, thanks to a number of fine trees, and the station owner keeping his station spick and span.

The train spent longer at the platform than expected. It turns out that Steve saw a dynamo belt flapping round uselessly on its pulley, and alerted the engine crew. It was removed and handed over, and by 4 o'clock we already saw it on a table in the C&W shed.

 

 

 

 

3850 then managed to leave, 10 minutes behind time. This was slowly made up during the day.

Having removed the base plates, we tried to remove the sleeper, but it was stuck, despite all the digging out. It turned out that a stone had worked under the rail, and was jamming it.

 

We brought 7 spare sleepers with us on the Transit, and with a short walk 4 of us managed to bring over two of them for the replacement work. The others were stacked on site, ready for next time.

Because there was no proper ballast under the sleepers here we were forced to pack the new ones by hand, which is quite hard work. 

Just to make sure that they were well supported we got the Robels out, but several times they were reluctant to go into the ground, as there was no ballast to vibrate underneath. This is a consequence of lack of money for fresh ballast when the track was laid by us, years ago.

 

 

Finally, a question.If you look closely at the original Cotswolds stone wall here, you can see two vertical lines cut into it. One behind the fire alarm bell, and one behind the handle of the trolley.

Such grooves were cut into the rough stone to allow something to be screwed to the wall here. On the end of the building this would have been poster boards, but this is under a window, and low down. 

What could it have been?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday at Broadway.

An Indian summer day, with fine sunny weather after early mist.

Neal has been spending much time on the trusses at Toddington, but decided to have a break from drilling holes, and joined us at Broadway.

The front row of blues on the building is almost complete, with half of the fifth course laid. John decided on a change of air, and made a start on the plinth headers.

We have a door frame remaining from 2017, so Neal decided to instal that in the future store room. This will allow us to lay reds around it. In the picture he is trimming it to size.

 

Commercially, the day seemed very busy again, supporting our FD's message a few weeks back that we were trading a bit above budget. Good news.

A newly outshopped locomotive also brings people in.

Here is 3850 running round a morning train, with plenty of steam to show that the morning air is now quite cool.

The low morning sun also allows some fine portrait photographs, with 3850 now back on its train after running round.

 

 

 

 

Setting off provided clouds of steam, with a little hole in the cloud to let you know which engine this was. 

Here is 3850 setting off, past the installed but unused Broadway signals.

By mid afternoon the end door frame was in, and supported by some temporary struts from the main frames.

Neal also prepared the ground with the two other doors for dummy frames, so that we can build around them. The actual joinery work still has to be ordered.

 

During the day John made slow but steady progress with the blue plinth headers along the back, having completed the Honeybourne end. The height of the wall is now such that he no longer needs to wear knee pads to work, a big improvement.

The result at the end of the day was 80 bricks laid, and pointed. We're not quite half way down the back straight. Neal even suggested that we lay out some reds now - wow !

We are running out of sand and cement, so next week should see 'STEVIE' come up to Broadway with 6 bags of sand, and 20 bags of cement. Haul road along the back? We can handle this ourselves. Thank you, STEVIE, and your driver.

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Another lovely day, and all 4 Usketeers reported for duty. There was lots of other stuff going on too.

 

Firstly, a quick sit rep of the canopy manufacture. Neal reported that he had been down every day last week. That's motivation, my word.

The result is here to see. 

Two of the 4 trusses are ready, but for their diagonals, which need bending at the end. That might be possible in house, but could also be a specialist job. We'll see if there is room to do it in the loco shed.

 

A third truss is half finished on the left, on the trestles.

 

 

Meanwhile, on the rebuilding of the Toddington stationmaster's chimney, enough imperial bricks for the job have been lent by the Broadway P2 team to do the job. They have been collected, and stacked under the scaffolding - ready to start.

 

 

Early on, there were discussions on top on how to proceed.

The first bricks to lay is a course of blues, ending in a course of plinth headers. Then come the imperial reds.

 

We'll come back to this job later in the day, but for now, back to the Usketeers.

Paul and Dave planned to spend the day correcting the slightly wobbly line of the new post & rail fence, and before doing so, they gave John a lesson on how to prepare lead caps for the uprights. We want our fence to last.

In the lower area the fence line is not straight. This is because when digging post holes, we had to avoid the tree roots of the big pine, and also take care not to touch the power supply cable that was known to run alongside.

Then they were interupted - hey, isn't that....

Dave, Peter, Peter and Paul having a laugh.

Yes, it was their old mates from the PWay team, Peter (1) and Peter (2).

They had been assembling a 12ft piece of track, which will be used during our young engineers weekend, which is planned for 10 days hence. 

We are very keen to recruit more young people, so want to interest them, and make them feel welcome. A whole weekend is dedicated to young engineers on 28th and 29th September. Do come, if you are the slightest bit interested

Then it was back to the job of straightening the fence line. This will be done by inserting spacers between the uprights and the concrete posts.

You can see a spacer inserted here. With the rails put back, it'll be straight again.

 

 

A few last adjustments, and the fence is complete again.

Now it's straight, except for a slight detour round the old pine tree.

We couldn't shift that.

The slight differences in colour are because yours truly wasn't able to give this area a second coat while Paul and Dave were working on it. That'll be for next week then.

After we knocked off, there was one last look at the build of the stationmaster's chimney.

Here they are, having a site meeting on the top of the scaffolding, as 2807 draws in from Cheltenham.

More of a sideways on look here, and you can see that the blue brick plinth is done.

This crop shows exactly where they were, near the end of the day. 

In fact the state of play at the end was that, next to the plinth headers, they also got the first course of reds down. When that has gone off next week, they can start the rest of the chimney with the reds.

The team have left a channel inside the chimney, so as not to preclude a reinstatement of the stationmaster's slate fireplace, which was ripped out and rather brutally skipped in 2011.

 

A look over the fence - Cinque Terre line.

Our jaunt into Italy for 2 weeks was quite exciting really, particularly the second week, which was spent in the Cinque Terre area on the north west coast. We had a base 3km up a cliff, and dropped down to the local station by bus every day to travel along the line and visit the different villages.

In Framura you can see the old tunnel on the left, and the new one on the right.

 

 

The thing to know about the Cinque Terre line, from Sestri Levante to La Spezia, is that it was built as a single line, almost completely in tunnel under a long cliff. It soon became clear that a single line was completely inadequate, and from the 1930s the line was completely rebuilt as double track, leaving the old tunnels mostly to one side.

 

Just north of Framura, you can see a train emerging from a new single line tunnel, while the old one is still in use, but further along it splits off into a gallery at the foot of the cliff, which seems to have been overcome by rock slides.

There is no road along the coast!

Just south of Framura the new double tunnels take over (big concrete wall) while the old track continues over the arches, now as a 6km cycle track.

Cheap restaurant at the bottom of the glass lift, expensive one by the old tunnel mouth on the right.

You could get a hamburger cooked to any degree of rareness that you liked, not possible in the UK. We had one as tartare...

 

 

The cycle path is also almost completely in tunnel, emerging only for stations in open valleys.

However, it is so close to the cliff edge that there are periodic windows, and benches from which to look out.

Here is one of the brief sections not in tunnel, with a palm tree making a useful cycle stand.

The temperature during the week reached 37C, so we were glad to plunge back into the tunnels, which were lovely and cool.

Tiny beaches also appeared from time to time. They are definitely for the locals, you had to know they were there.

Section workers houses also appeared, some converted to holiday residences, and some ruined. You probably need to bring your own water, and arrange for your own electricity supply.

Towards the end of the cycle track the line opened out a little more, before the usable cycle track ended in Levanto, where a low viaduct across town was cut off half way along. It was still used by road traffic, with a steep ramp at one end, and a traffic light.

One cheeky local carved himself a road out of the cliff and had a holiday home half way up. The entrance was in the tunnel, so at some point his car must have driven along the cycle track. We also met a police car with flashing lights, just checking. It's nice to have a police presence.

The original stations have mostly been replaced with newer builds along the new alignment. The old ones often still exist, but some have been converted to flats.

 

 

 

 

We spotted this one as being almost completely original. It still had its awning, and the station clock. 

This is at Monterosso, one of the 5 Cinque terre towns. It's much more open here, with a long beach, so we did not find that as appealing.

Then came an actual train journey along the current operational line. We got out at Vernazza, a beautiful town, with a railway station right in the middle.

It's on a short open section between two tunnel mouths, just 100m of daylight. The main drag (centre left) goes down to the sea, and the station is right on top of it. The open section is so short that most of the station is in narrow tunnels, where modern double deck EMUs, in pairs, stop with just a few feet showing. In the tunnel is where you get out.

Such chaos! We loved it.

 

 

This isn't Oxford circus, the tunnel is only slightly wider than normal, and you have to shuffle along behind the yellow line. Your EMU whizzes past as you queue for the exit among hundreds of visitors.

 

 

 

Here are two pictures to show the length of the open section.

Looking south, towards La Spezia (big port), and...

 

 

 

 

 

Looking north, towards Genoa (also a big port).

Just look at how close to the centre of the village this station is, you can't get any closer than that.

 

 

 

 

 

And is there any other traffic, next to the Cinque terre shuttle for tourists?

Why yes, there is. Bulk trains, container trains, long distance passenger trains, HST sets.....

They all race through the same tunnels, as you shuffle along behind all the other tourists. It's no problem.

 

 

Here's an example of a non-stopper. Not sure what this is, but it's fast. We saw trains labelled Frecciabianca and Frecciaargente (white and silver arrow) and there is a warning message on the tannoy to stay on the narrow strip behind the yellow line. You'd better.

 

 

 

Here's a bunch of people pressed against the wall, in expectation of the next train. You never know what it will be, although the tannoy warns you that it won't stop.

They mostly don't sound their horns (we whistle everywhere on the GWSR) but if you are a railway enthusiast, you know what's coming by the rush of hot air that precedes what's going to burst out of that tunnel mouth.

And there's the next one rushing through.....stand back !

It was thrilling stuff.

The next village, on the next day. Manarola.

That was an interesting one too. Again, the village was in a cleft in the cliffs, and this time there was no room for the station at all. It was moved a bit further along, to the other side of a rock.

The little station building has gone today, and the tunnel doubled.

 

 

 

What hasn't changed is the pedestrian tunnel leading to the town on the other side of the rock. It's still there, and usefully headed: MANAROLA.

 

 

 

 

 

Manarola too is beautiful, but it was spoiled for us by a noisy restaurant playing disco music across the harbour, and huge foreign tour groups that made themselves large across any platform that gave a famous view. Selfies ruled.

Instead, we sought out the outskirts of the village, and climbed up to the less frequented, higher end of the main drag. Here it was clear that the grape harvest was in full swing, and we were intrigued by what looked like a little train puttering along the levels.

 

This is way up, so apologies for the slightly fuzzy image, which is a crop. You can see a little monorail train going along, on a single rail that appeared to be going anywhere it liked. Amazing! It was held up by sticks.

We followed the road higher and higher, parked Mrs. Blogger in some shade (it was very hot) and climbed up a last row of steps.

This is what we found. A double terminus of vineyard monorail, by a car park. The little train with two wagons can carry 16 boxes of freshly picked grapes, and these have been stacked by the road. A lady in a van came to pick up the load, and we said how interesting her little railway was, and how we admired it. Well she didn't, she replied, it was her work. Point taken.

The rails have teeth underneath, and the motive power is a simple Honda engine with a single speed. Notice how it is inclined - these little jobs will climb a 45 degree slope, or go down it, as witnessed in this short little clip:

https://youtu.be/JQV5ibm4aoM?si=Dr2J-aUmP1Tq2mmk

It was apparently filmed by an American, who was not overjoyed by the cliffside descent.

This picture shows the station at Manarola, seen from the rock behind which the town is located. They had to install the station a bit further along the coast, and then you walk back through a tunnel. The train just emerging from (or just entering into, if you like) a tunnel is a loco hauled longer distance express, that doesn't stop, so watch out.

Just to the right of the tunnel mouth is the start of the recently restored Via del Amore, a cliffside path built by the miners that dug the tunnel to the next town round the corner, Riomaggiore.

Riomaggiore was the third Cinque Terre town visited.

 

 

This was another station between two tunnel entrances, but this time double ones, so they were wider.

Nonetheless there was a foreign tourist crush, with little signs, umbrellas or flags held aloft to follow my leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a freight train from La Spezia coming through.

In the corner of the tunnel entrance is a lift shaft, through which you can exit the station straight to a higher level.

Down below at platform level, looking the opposite way, other long distance trains rumbled through non-stop, as tourists squeezed along the narrow platforms in the tunnels.

 

An Italian HST set passing through...

 

... and another freight train emerges out of the gloom.

 

 This is the picture that everyone wants to take. You'll need sharp elbows to get past the selfie sticks!