Chimney top

Saturday, out with the gang.

Something interesting to do, and a sunny day = Large gang of 12!

First of all, a quick stop on the way at Toddington, to see how the third chimney is getting on:

The answer is: Very well. The brickwork is complete, and here the cap is being cast.

Now to reinstate the fireplace beneath, which we pulled out 12 years ago...

FYI, the two single and one double chimney served the following rooms (going away from the camera):

- Stationmaster's office  (now the shop)

- Booking Office           (now the shop)

- First class waiting room (stripped, and converted to offices/ticket window to the outside)

- General Waiting room. (the only original room left)

 

If we are truly a 'living museum', should we not reinstate these rooms to their original features?

Because it was gala weekend the gang was given a special task, well away from the many trains on the line.

This was to resleeper the C&W siding 4, and also give it a better level.

It was laid way back, say in the late 1980s, with the sort of material that we could not use in the main line, and when we had no money for ballast.

This sort of work is more interesting for us, and we enjoyed a slightly larger than usual gang, being 12 souls present in the mess coach for morning tea.

The first job was to knock out all the keys over 4 panels. Note the steel sleepers in the foreground, which today are not very common.

 

The next job was to remove all the fishplates.

These had rusty bolts, last used nearly 40 years ago, so many were reluctant to yield to the impact wrench.

Bert Ferrule chopped them off easily with the disk cutter.

On the other side of the tracks the gala was going on, so every time we heard a whistle or a toot we went to have a look. We like trains too, you know.

Here is the class 20 (the whistling wardrobe) just entering Winchcombe with a well filled rake of enthusiasts.

 

Back behind the carriages the impact wrench had to give up on two more seized bolts.

Not much the others can do until the rails are free, then it's all hands to the bars.

Unfortunately this was the moment that the blogger smartphone had some sort of a wobble, as it seemed to reboot itself several times, and refused to open the camera app.

So you'll have to imagine how all the rails were jacked up and lifted out.

At last the smartphone eventually sorted itself out, and allowed some more photographs.

How about these two black GWR freight engines pulling out of the station? They looked even better when they came back, now facing forwards again (see below).

 

Once the rails were tipped out and barred to one side we could get the Telehandler in. This then picked up the sleepers, now well past their time, to take them into the yard for temporary storage.

We still need to take off the chairs, then they are for disposal, unless any can be salvaged.

3850 and 2807, currently both in black, came back again with a lovely double header. 3850 developed a hot box last week, but was swiftly lifted and repaired, just in time for the big event.

 

 

Meanwhile Dave in the Telehandler had a tricky time trying to wriggle out through the narrow corridor between two coaches, one of which was the recently bought FO, which was already being worked on.

With the help of a banksman Dave did get in and out without damage, but it was slow work.

Here is the site round about lunch time - many sleepers already out and taken away.

More are waiting in the next pile, which makes a handy bench on which to sit in the sun while you wait.

The class 45 was also out today, substituting for the intended green Growler, which had manning issues. Well, we can't be everywhere at once.

 

While waiting for Dave to wriggle out, and then back in again (and fending off people trying to park their car on his route) the rest of the gang decided to stack up all the remaining sleepers in three piles.

Then the DMU came by, but not to pass us on its way to Toddington. No, it slowly wound its way into the C&W sidings, part of the gala arrangements, to make things more interesting.

But if there were any buffer kissers aboard they would have been disappointed, as the DMU stopped 100 yards short of the siding buffers. Oh well, better luck next time.

Once all the sleepers were out and taken away, Bert Ferrule drove up in the mini digger to make a start on levelling the site.

The ground is very uneven here, and we intend to leave the tracks in better shape than they were before.

This is the view at the end of the day, with all trackwork removed, and a start made on levelling the bed.

On the way to the Coffeepot we called in at the Usk hut, which was open to visitors.

The Friends of Winchcombe Station are making a good job of looking after it.

Very interesting was this original oil lamp, which came from the aunt of one of the FoWS members. This is exactly the sort of lighting that was in use at the turn of the century, where there is no mains gas, or electric.

We think similar lamps would have been in use in the various rooms of our stations, so one like this would look great in say a waiting room or booking office.

 

 

Waiting in the Coffeepot, we saw 35006 blow off again.

 

The incoming diesel service was hauled by one of the two class 20s

A last look at the yard on Saturday - discarded 40 year old second hand sleepers on the right, replacement CS1 concrete sleepers in a pile on the left.

Tuesday at Broadway.

Our last week of running trains this season, and it sure was busy!

The queue of waiting passengers stretched right outside the door, despite both ticket windows being in service. We haven't seen this since the reopening year.

Inside, the queue split into two, neatly controlled by the original cast iron crowd barriers. They really make the room.

We have no pictures or any information about the original inside of the former station building, but from the fact that only two, somewhat chipped crowd barrier posts were found in the buried demolition rubble, it looks like there was only one ticket window in 1904. If we wanted to be quite sure, we could lift the floor covering in the Toddington shop to see the foundations of the original posts there (long ago removed). The shop today occupies the site of the original booking office and ticket hatch. The ticket window to the platform currently in use is not at all historically correct.

Given that we are now a museum railway, with potentially dozens of passengers buying tickets for each train, we recommended at the time (in 2015) that two ticket hatches be fitted in the newly built station. At the same time we commissioned a second set of crowd barrier posts from a foundry. That has now proved to be a sound proposition.

Going fishing for trains?

 

Some of our passengers are now also more modern.

This is the first time we have see a pole in action.

On the other side, John was laying reds as 35006 trundled by on its run round.

35006 then took off in grand style with, we noticed, a rake of carriages in mixed colours. Unusual for us, but probably due to the gala a couple of days ago.

The next train was hauled by 3850, now repaired again after suffering a hot box last week. The '8' in its buffer beam number is also stuck back on, so all is well with this locomotive now.

 

John's task for Tuesday was to prolong the start of the reds all along the front facade.

Here he has made it to the end (the back is still to do, for a first course).

There's no particular reson for doing one part or another, it's just as the fancy takes him, and it all advances the build.

On the corner the first brick is a rather lovely architectural one. This shapes the corner from an angle to a curve, with the next bricks here all bullnoses.

The blue plastic underneath is to protect the plinths from mortar spatter, and will be pulled out at the end.

With this wall in English bond, the next course here will be stretchers. That'll be a lot faster than laying the halves, which all have to be cut (out of sight to the camera, under the footbridge) by yours truly.

When 3850 rolled in for the second time, the platform was already very busy with waiting passengers.

Those numbers sadly do not translate directly into cash for the railway, as the end of the season sees many shareholders cash in their free tickets for a ride. Let's hope they are also hungry, and buy something from one of the cafes.

As 3850 will return to the shed after this trip, a diesel is attached at Toddington for the return from Broadway.

We pounced with our camera to record the 37's bellow on departure, but sadly it just rolled away with the engine at idle speed.

As we were packing up this large hot air balloon drifted downwards over the Broadway bypass. It's often in the area.

We wondered where it would set down - it looks like Leamington Road from here. Hope that went well.

We're still on the lookout for a GWR upholstered bench, that indoor type found in the better waiting rooms. The new waiting / function room will be fairly long and narrow, so some useful furniture inside it is needed for people to sit down, and reduce any potential echo.

This is the sort we have in mind (they come with small variations).

This one is from a live railway station, so not available to us.

Maybe you know of another, or seen one at auction or on Ebay? Let us know if you do. We need 4 or even 6 of them to go down the sides.

 

Blast from the past.

Last week, a PWay picture from the southern end of the line. This week, the other end, as it was on Saturday 21st August 2004. 20 years ago already...

Picture by Paul Fuller.

A very proud PWay gang has assembled at the southern end of Stanway viaduct, after they reached our largest structure with the tracks from Toddington.

These are their names: (L to R)

John Ottwell, Nigel Black, Mike Pember, Charles Martin, Mike Townsend, Ivor Dixon, Pete Regan, Andy Manley, John Lees, Steve Warren.

None are on the gang today, although four made it as far as the Broadway buffer stops, and the famous 2017 Christmas train into the platforms. That was some day !

Blues all complete.

Thursday at Broadway.

Good weather, and lots of happy customers over on P1 at Broadway. That's what we like to see.

We did a quick trip to Toddington to pick up some bits. It also gave us the opportunity to see how Neal had been doing with the trusses.

The answer is that they have had all their rivets fitted now (background). The next stage is to fit the diagonals. The angles, cut to size, are in the foreground. Now they need to have a kink added to them, about 12 ins from the end, then they can be fitted.

The rebuild of the lost third chimney on the station building is progressing, albeit slowly.

The main body of the chimney, in reds borrowed from Broadway, is now clearly visible. Now comes the decorative bit.

 

 

In the station itself we had the 7 coach steamer about to head south, hauled by 3850. At the same time there is a DMU departure from P2 for Broadway. It is now clear to us why this run always has very few passengers - with a choice of steam or diesel both in the station at the same time, people vote with their hearts.

We also overheard a strange question, while both trains were in the station.

Passenger, standing by a Mk 1 : 'Is this train electric, and is that one over there diesel?'

Now, some might take this level of knowledge of our trains to prove that we need only pay scant attention to authenticity (Former chairman: 'People don't look up...') but our role is that of a living museum. So we must educate - show people exactly what it was like, precisely because they don't know.

Over in the old garden centre site more concrete sleepers have arrived from Bicester. We now have 7 stacks of 50 - 350 sleepers in total. That's an excellent total for a winter relay, plus the rail that goes with them, which came earlier.

Back at Broadway John completed laying the last of the blue plinth headers. That's it for the base of the building.

Now we can continue with the reds for the main body of it.

Here's the corner from last week. Taken down again, and rebuilt in English bond.

English bond means courses of headers, which in our case means half bricks.

We started the slow and dusty process of cutting the reds in half, to give John something to work with.

Neal came to build the second temporary door frame. This will allow us to keep laying reds, while we sort out the manufacture by a joiner of the door frames, doors and windows to GWR designs. Luckily we have plenty of evidence from our only original station, still standing after 120 years, at Toddington.

Neal helped with stacking supplies of complete bricks. As these have stood waiting outdoors since the P1 build was finished in 2017, they are either a bit dirty, or green with mould, or both, so need cleaning individually before stacking.

During the day, which was quite busy at Broadway (21 passengers on the DMU after lunch, which is unusually high) we also had 3850 come by.

The number on the buffer beam appears to have been a sticker, as the '8' is peeling off.

Where is Alex, when you need him?

By the end of the day John had made himself several towers, from which to work next time. Laying the reds is more interesting, as you now have to calculate in the specials, which here form rounded corners. Note the brick centre right, which transforms a bullnosed red corner into a right angled plinth underneath. Very elegant.

Our passengers mostly didn't know this, but they love it when they see it. That is what being a living museum is all about.

Talking about living museum, we'd like some indoor GWR benches, upholstered like this one.

These could go inside the new waiting room, down the side, and help make it a function room. The trouble is, we have never been offered one yet. We've had a couple of donated all wooden ones, which would go outside, under the canopy. (one is just visible on the right). But never an indoor one with a padded seat. They are made of pitch pine and Rexine.

One is currently on Ebay at £1200, which is beyond our means, and the joiner we visited on Friday for our doors & windows quoted £1800 +VAT  to make one. That's even further out of reach.

Can anyone help?

Saturday, out with the gang

A big gang of 12, it must be the fine weather that brings us out.

Driving Miss Daisy...

We packed them into the Ranger, three more in the tipper truck, and the rest had to go by private car - to Cheltenham Race Course signal box, where 4 wooden sleepers were life expired.

No warning boards needed here, we were right under the signalman, who watched the goings on with interest. There isn't much to do between trains.

The first thing was, of course, digging out the old ones. They were made of wood, as shorter ones are required when opposite a track centre drain, such as here.

These tracks here were laid at the end of 1999, faster and faster after Southam lane, as the head of the Friends of CRC had offered the gang a bottle of champagne if they connected his station before the year end. 

They made it, just.

We had to stop digging when the train arrived, so that was the opportunity for a coffee and some of the doughnuts left over after the briefing.

We had brought 4 replacement sleepers with us (second hand, they last longer than new) but they needed plugging as our base plates did not match their holes.

Simon is cutting off the plugs that are still sticking out here.

After three of the sleepers had been pulled into their spaces, David drilled new holes for their base plates.

You can see him here, accompanied by a little cloud of two stroke smoke.

Another sleeper to be done was on the platform road, opposite.

This one was very heavy, as it was a re-purposed crossing timber, and its weight was further added to by the water it had soaked up overnight from the heavy rain.

We got all 4 old sleepers up on the deck of the tipper. This is a slightly smaller vehicle than the new blue van with the tail lift, but it actually has a much higher carrying capacity - 1100kg, as against a net of 645Kg for the blue Transit, with its heavy tail lift (that comes off its own carrying capacity)

As we were screwing down the fourth sleeper, the rest of the gang started a second job on the other side of the crossing, where a number of dipped jhoints had been diagnosed. These were lifted an packed.

Then off back to Winchcombe, for a 4 o'clock tea.

Monday at Broadway.

Two of us on site, a brickie and his mate...

Neal went to Toddington, to drill holes. More major surgery on the 4 trusses has had to be suspended as 3850 ran a hot box and needed to make use of the lifting jacks - just where the trusses were located. Such is life, in railway preservation we all have to collaborate, so Neal spent some time moving all the steels to somewhere else in the shed.

 

During the morning John laid this row of half reds along the front.

Spot the deliberate mistake - the Broadway maintenance gang certainly did from the other side of the tracks, but that first brick on the second course should have been a corner, part of a column alongside the door.

It was soon sorted, as the mortar was still damp - see below.

 

John is also building various towers, and this is one on the corner of the store room.

This corner will have bullnoses on it, a lovely architectural feature.

After lunch John put down the second course, and at the same time rectified the errant brick by the door, replacing it with the base of a column. These architectural bricks are handed, so you have to be careful with which one you take.

Mid afternoon it was time to point the work. Slowly the store room on the end is rising up from the plinth.

Yours truly cut a whole lot of stretchers in half, to make them headers. This will be a regular job, as every other course is made of headers, so loads and loads need to be cut.

Cleaning bricks is also producing results - look at all these blues and reds, rescued from the demolition site and cleaned up. They could be used in the proposed Toddington platform extensions for example.

Tuesday at Broadway.

We're making good use of the dry weather this week. There will be three days on site, and this was the second.

 

The day didn't start well. The (electric) mixer turned 5 or 6 times, then stopped. Now the mixer often refuses to start, due to an electrical issue (- if we have this right -) where we press the start button at the wrong part of the electric AC cycle and the fuse goes. That means having to get the office keys out, and resetting the trip. All very time consuming, with a lot of legwork up and down the platform.

But this time there was current, but it stopped. Now what?

Call doctor Neal !

Fortunately Dr. Neal was on call, and duly arrived just as an ambulance went by, with its siren on. It seemed to announce his presence...

A loose wire in the plug was diagnosed, and we soon had the mixer humming again. Not before making John a manual mix (to get him started) which was quite hard work, stirring round that barrow with a shovel.

Tuesday was a blue timetable, so we had the visit of the class 117 DMU.

This is its last week in service with us, so grab a trip now, if you want one. It's leaving some time next month, but the last run will be during next weekend's gala. The exhaust note, as the revs mount, is quite striking, a sort of loud chattering. Is that normal?

The booking office is getting increasingly crowded with sundry small notices peppered about, which detract from the 'living museum' atmosphere that we try to create. Three notices about dogs, three about cash and cards, taxi ads, plastic snap frames, and one about no aardvaarks allowed on the train. 

A replica GWR poster of Cheltenham has a modern advertisement pinned over the top of it. There is, sadly, no control.

On the big poster board is an explanatory A4, which at least gives a brief resume of what we are up to on the other side.

In fact the most popular items at our 1904 station are the replica posters. We often see people taking photographs of them. They ask if the posters are available for sale, and the answer to that is no. You can buy them on line, as we did.

 

We've had some housekeeping tasks on our project. One was to visit a joinery, to get a quote for the doors and windows. Sadly our preferred joiner decided to retire.

We also need a number of special bricks, as we don't have all of the ones we need. We are also a cill short, and one is a bit chipped. It's been hanging around for almost 10 years after all.

They've absorbed some dirt too, and Neal here is trying to clean them (without success).

On the reds John is doing quite well, with this corner up to the fifth course already. But other corners have zero courses, so there's plenty still to do.

During Tuesday John laid the third course left of the door, and that is the course for the window cills - hence Neal's interest in cleaning them.

Additionally a first course was laid up to the middle of the front.

Blast from the past.

Picture by Paul Fuller.

23 years ago, and the GWSR reached the southern end of the line in Hunting Butts tunnel*.

This was the opportunity for a PWay gang photograph:

On the loco:

Keith Kendall, Mike Townsend, John Lees.

On the ground:

Charles Martin, Nigel Black, Ian Purkess, Pete Regan, Unknown, Clive Hawkins, Dave French, Stevie Warren.

 

Where are they now... (one is still in the gang today!)

* The trackbed in our ownership goes on another 3/4 mile, to just short of the Prince of Wales Stadium, but this is currently unused (and seems likely to remain so, due to various issues)