A Bubble Car arrives.

Saturday, out with the gang.

A good gang on Saturday, and one beefed up with a new recruit - Sam. Welcome to the gang, Sam!

What are we supposed to do with this then?

 

We had a bit of a one off job on Saturday, inserting two brand new insulated rails at Gotherington Skew, to replace a set of insulated fishplates that were giving alignment trouble.

 

Time is beginning to press, as live trains are due again in March, and there are race trains too. So this job had to be done in a day.

First thing to do was take off the existing insulated fishplates.

Fishplates off, the next thing was to cut a gap long enough for the two new rails, with a couple of extra cm for the welds - these new rails will be welded in.

Here is David on the disk cutter (once we had it started...) These two-strokes are so temperamental.

The rail came out in two halves, with the old joint in the middle.

A complication of the joint replacement was that the new joints, which are permanently glued and bolted to their rails - were designed for Pandrol clips, while this stretch has SHC clips. So two sleepers had to be removed, followed by the dreaded ballast digging for two new beds to be created.

Dave then went to get the two replacement sleepers off the Transit.

These have to be loaded on a previous day, while on the day we need to think of taking the right chains for both types of sleepers, the hook attachment for the Telehandler, wedges for moving the rail up or down, the list of critical items is quite long.

 

 

The two Pandrol sleepers were then lifted into the beds we had dug out.

The existing rail on the other side of the old fishplate then had to be cut to size.

Chris is doing the honours here. Standing stooped like that is very tiring after a while, so we took it in turns.

After final cutting to size, to make sure none of the joints were over a sleeper, the new rails were lifted in.

This picture shows why different, Pandrol fitted sleepers were required.

The factory fitted insulated fishplate has special cutouts underneath for such a clip to be fitted. 

Lunch was our first one taken al fresco in 2025. It was a lovely sunny day, and the bridge parapet is just the right height for sitting on. Coffee, with lemon muffins, went down particularly well.

 

 

After lunch we fitted the second rail, back filled the ballast, and spent some time on slewing jacks and bars getting the alignment just right. The welders who will finish this off need the rails to be just so. We don't want them to weld a 'threepenny bit ' curve here.

 

 

 Finally, the new sleepers we packed using our Robel hand held tampers.

Here is the final product, a nice, straight insertion. We are not just repairing track issues, we actually improve the track.

 

The operation also yielded a little side benefit - four perfect anvils, or door stoppers, that came off the brand new rail when we cut it to size.

Seize your opportunity, we don't have many that are so brand new. 

 

 

 

 

Finally, a little insight into the gang's daily life. For every outing, all our tools have to be taken out of storage, often 5ft up in the air, and humped on to a flatbed truck, and back again.

This item is always the heaviest: It's a sports bag, with a broken carrying handle, that is filled with sockets of all sorts and sizes. Most of these we never use, yet we carry the whole bag round dutifully.

David handed it to us on Saturday, with the comment: 'Here it is, the BAG of DOOM' !

Never a truer word. We staggered off.... 

Monday at Broadway.

Brick laying at last ! There is a small window between Monday and mid week, where the temperatrures are above 3 degrees for 24 hrs.

 

 

There were several pre-opening jobs to do at Broadway - trains start to run again this weekend.

The most important one was to find a storage place for the windows and glassware supplied by the joiners. In the first instance this had been put in the Ladies' toilet, but the Ladies will be back now and the stuff had to go somewhere else.

 

 

 

 

 

John came to lay bricks, the first possible day in, what? - three weeks? Just look at that sky, we could hardly believe our luck.

John was working on the corner here, and along the back. 

 

Neal was on site too. He set out to beef up a drain cover at the bottom of the drive with this new one here.

Neal cutting a shape for the new drain cover.

The ring and cover needed replacing in steel. The previous model was conceived for pedestrian traffic - it was on a footpath, after all - but who would have guessed that HGVs would use the station approach to do U turns in front of our overbridge, and reverse up onto the pavement? They even snapped a concrete kerbstone in half. 

This abuse of our (private!) driveway is one reason we have not yet put back the original GWR cast iron gate posts here, although we have an offer from a supporter for a replacement pair (the originals were dug out and re-erected at CRC).

 

 

 

 

Mid day found Neal using a Kango to remove the earlier concrete around the plastic riser.

The new steel ring is lying up against the fence here. 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearer the end of the day, and we find John pointing up his work. He laid a line of half bricks along half of the back, raised the corner, and started a tenth course from the middle.

Neal completed the drainage cover replacement. It's all in here, and packed in with concrete.

The ROAD CLOSED sign was just used to cover over the site, until the concrete has gone off.

The tamper arrives.

Now that the Didbrook second relay is complete and welded up,  the tamper can be hired in to do its work.

Pictures by Paul.

 

Next to its crew of two, there is always a representative of the PWay department on board. Just in case contact with the railway is needed, or local knowledge.

Last week it was Bert Ferrule, who is seen here waiting for Bob to do his preliminary inspections. 

 

 

 

The Didbrook section was tamped thoughout, and tested at 25mph. The result was - smooth as butter ! Nice.

Another PWay job done in the (short!) closed season, and on time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A bubble car arrives...

 

 
 

 

 

 

On Tuesday 'Bubble Car' DMU 55024 arrived at Toddington (by road, by road!).

This will no doubt plug the gap left by the sale of our 3 car DMU a few months ago, and prior to the entry into service of our own (slightly different) class 122 Bubble Car, No. 55003. It's a short term hire, we understand.

The origin of this unit is the Chinnor & Princes Risborough railway, who have two of these class 121 single DMUs.

Here it is, just a few minutes after unloading, in the Toddington loco yard. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something that we liked was the duck - it's from Aylesbury depot, after all!

 

What could we put on ours...? A doughnut springs to mind....

 

 

 

 

 

 Pictures with thanks to Chris Sturgeon.

 

 

 

 

 ... and a few more very recent pictures from Paul, taken only this afternoon:

 

Our black 2807 is also back, so we are all ready to start the new season. Just need to change that PADDINGTON destination board....

 

 

 

Tuesday, brick laying again.

 All three of us profiting from the crisp, clear weather on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week is either wet, or too cold again, so more brick laying will have to wait until next week. 

An occasional visitor on Tuesday felt that we were making great progress, but to those on site seeing half a row a day laid the progress seems quite slow.

 

 

Neal made himself busy by building solid plank platforms along the back, so that John can work without having to stand in the sticky clay. 

At the same time Neal brought over a whole lot more bricks, finishing one of the packets (we have others...)

 

 

 

 

John was working around the south end and rear on Tuesday.

Neal is just bringing another barrowload of muck - John got through three of them, but there comes a point when you need to stop laying bricks, and get on with your pointing. 

At the end of the day John had finished the tenth row of reds, and was on the eleventh. This end of the rear is slightly in advance of the far end though.

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Just two of us today, as Dave is off for a couple of weeks. How the other half lives, eh?

The weather was attrocious to start with, making us sit in the weighbridge hut and looking at our watches. Will the rain stop soon? The forecasts had differing opinions on the subject.

 

Finally, after multiple coffees and biscuits, we could wait no longer. There's nothing for it, but to get your best rain gear on and stand outside, cleaning bricks.

These are from the top floor that we took out. Liquid cement seems to have been poured into the cracks, which all had to be chipped off before we could lay them again cleanly. We're going to use dried sand to lock the bricks in. 

 

 

We put the bricks that were ready by the door, while Paul, inside, levelled the sand and placed the bricks. 

He's making a lovely job of it. Plus, we want somewhere to sit. To start with, we were perched into a corner, but at the end of the day, it felt a lot roomier already.

 

 

 

 

We bought a third dumpy bag of sand, and barrowed some of that in as well. We're working towards the door, but before we get that far we need to trim off the bottom. A bit like the cream coloured door frame, which, in the corner, has been truncated by someone, and a brick substituted at the bottom. We're planning to come out at a level a little above the doorstep, to ensure that water can no longer flow in during heavy rain.

At the end of the day Paul had laid 50 or 60 bricks, and was indeed close to the door. Best to trim that while the weather is dry though, hopefully next week.

 

Winchcombe was really busy today. Vans were bringing in supplies for the start of the season (Saturday), all the carriages were being checked, and police with a bomb disposal van turned up - luckily just for an exercise.

 

On the footbridge the guys from Construction & Maintenance were fitting non slip treads down the P2 side. This meant drilling holes into the metal treads underneath, so that the non slip ones could be bolted down.

The chaps were inventive too. How do you drill into steel when the existing non slip surface prevents you from using a mag drill?

Answer: Weigh down the drill with a 56lb weight, and a beefy chap standing on top of it...

Worked a treat.

 

The up side was almost completed when we took this picture.

In the platforms are two of our rakes, being readied for the resumption of services.

Hope it's a good season, 2025! We've got Betton Grange residing with us this year, and the maroon Bubble Car for a couple of months.

Come and see them.

 

 

 

And finally...

 

A very kind supporter has offered us a GWR lamp post, complete with gas lit top. We do appreciate such offers, as we can certainly use more, genuine GWR lamp posts. There are several places around the railway where they can realistically be used. Remember that we started our railway with nothing, just a bare trackbed and 4 demolished stations. We're still on the lookout for another GWR upholstered bench, if you know of one.

We will pick the lamp post up next week, so the next blog issue will see a report, with all about it. 

Got a post in your garden that needs a good home in a GWR museum? Send us a note via the contact form, top right.

 

 

 

Last push at Didbrook.

Friday, round and about.

A small team of 4. David set off in the Telehandler for Didbrook, to help contractor Kevin add some of the better ballast to the newly relaid track, to enable further levelling.

 

 

 

Paul, Nigel and Yours Truly tackled what was thought to be a 'quickie', but which took rather longer: lower the two troughs opposite Winchcombe SB, so that the lids don't touch the rails.

You may recall a recently resleepered panel here, when the troughs were already noted as being too high. 

As the cables inside them were thick and stiff, moving the troughs was rather difficult. After some head scratching we appealed to nearby FoWS for some gardening hand tools, and armed with a little rake and a trowel, we scraped ballast and compacted ash from under each trough.

 

Once one trough could be rotated out of its bed, the latter could be scraped out, and an adjacent trough pulled into the lower position. The process was then reversed.

In this way we achieved the asked for 1 inch headroom under the rails. It took us all morning.

During a trip to Toddington we came across the Broadway spoil train, which was just arriving in the yard.

Then it was on to Didbrook to deliver supplies, and check out how Kevin and David were doing. 

Paul and contractor Kevin discuss progress.

A lot of the ballast removed here is still good for bottom ballast, so we have been putting it back, prior to adding expensive new ballast to the top.

Picture by David.

 

 

 

 

Here's a (bit of a slanted) view of the situation at the end of Friday.

The relay is looking pretty straight and level now, although it needs more packing at the southern end.

Next will be a ballast drop, followed by tamping.

Looking back a few years, to the same place:

A wagon loaded with track panels, recently lifted from Quedgley, has been pushed to the end of the line. The first shuttle services from Toddington were terminating at Didbrook, just out of sight.

 Pictures by John Lees, of the PWay gang

The panels were lifted off the wagon by a crawler crane, and laid directly.

Those with sharp eyes will see that these panels are fitted with the wartime economy sleepers, which we have now all replaced, over two seasons.

The date is 18.08.1984.

 

Just a general enquiry now, out of interest.

 

 

 

 

We use a Lister generator on the PWay, and we wondered if anyone could say any more about it?

We have had it for a long time, possibly since the start (1980s). It still works fine. Just use the two decompression levers (on top) and crank the axle (centre right) and off it goes. It's a two cylinder diesel model.

 

 

 

 

This is the works plate. There is no date of manufacture.

Can that be determined from the number?

 

 

 

 

Monday, a ballast train at Didbrook.

Now that the track is back in place and roughly aligned we are able to add fresh ballast, ready for tamping.

 

 

 

Three of us dropped the first load of ballast at Didbrook on Monday.

First, we shunted the mess coach and vans back to Toddington, then went to pick up the ballast train from the Parlour Road. 

The DOGFISH were expertly loaded, another compliment for our contractor Kevin. You couldn't get another stone in. And it was his first time too!

Here we are, coupling up to the wagons. Would they hold the vacuum?

Hmmmm... mostly. There's a leak on a hose somewhere.

Once arrived at Didbrook 2 we discussed the plan. The first job was to walk the track and check for any obstructions. What would the plough blade do to any welds not yet ground down? In fact the blade is fitted with little skid pads underneath, which are designed to ride out any rough patches like that, so no worries.

And there it goes. It's always a magnificent, satisfying sight, that stream of ballast being heaved out of the four foot and into the cess.

There's a video of it here:

  https://youtu.be/s2-pmHAEuwI

 

 

We did 2 wagons, then the other two. In between there was a minute for a snapshot.

 

 

 

 

And this was the result. Doesn't it look good? Almost ready to run on. But first the tamper has to do its job. That's coming later in the week.

 

 

 

After the drop we reversed back to Toddington, giving this view from above. It was bitterly cold, despite the sun. The crew of the shunter taking the clay wagons back from Broadway already mentioned how cold it was as they went along, and now we could feel for ourselves why they said that.

 

 

 

Passing through the Toddington North cutting, we saw the results of the slip stabilisation works done there last year. Drainage was clearly important.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further along we approached Stanway viaduct.

This all looks very neat and professional, with the waterproofing done, track reinstated and parapets stabilised.

 

 

 

A close up shows how the parapets were stabilised, with stainless steel guy ropes attached to wall brackets. These offer the opportunity for individual memorial plaques, and the blue squares show the ones that have been taken up. This raises funds for the viaduct repairs that are still due, to rectify the damage done to the brickworks by the water that used to leak through. That's going to be a much larger bill.

If you want to help with a plaque, here is the link:

 https://www.gwsr.com/support-us/stanway-viaduct-commemorative-plaques

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

Another bitterly cold day today, exacerbated by a nasty wind and a sneaky mizzle, which made you wet without you noticing it.

 

 

 

 

The first job of the day was before we even got to work - it was to open up the gates to the yard at Stanton. More ballast was arriving, in 30 tonne loads. Big stuff. 

Then it was on to the Usketeers at Winchcombe, who also had arrivals, but of a more modest scale.

Here is Dave, with a barrow of sand for the new floor.

We had a planning session first thing, to decide on the floor level we wanted to agree on. The DPM will wrap round the new floor, and up the sides beyond it. 

It struck us that the inside of the weighbridge hut was already less damp than last week, as evidenced by far less moisture on the windows inside. On the other hand, the underside of the DPM, when turned up, was soaking wet. So the damp is definitely rising up from the old floor, provoked by the higher ground now outside the building.

 

 

 

Here is what the first barrow loads of sand looked like in the corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bricks for the floor are stacked outside. On further examination they are all surrounded by very hard mortar, probably poured into the cracks when this (second) floor was laid. It has to come off though, before we use the bricks again.

 

Lunch was taken inside the weighbridge hut, with the mizzle continuing outside.

The Usketeers were delighted when lunchtime was announced...

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we started on relaying the actual floor. You can see how it fits inside the protective Damp Proof Membrane.

 

 

 

 

 

We forgot the end of the day shot, but it was a bit further than this. Paul was laying the bricks as fast as we could clean them, and at the close of play on Wednesday we were about a third of the way there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A little bit of news on the Winchcombe entrance canopy - two members of C&M were taking down some of the end of canopy woodwork, so that it could be extended.

Before re-erecting the canopy brackets, we are waiting for the fixing holes to be drilled into the new castings.

 

 

 

 

 

Also at Winchcombe, something negatively affecting our aim to be a 'living railway museum'.

Sadly, it's another example of operational needs/wishes pushing aside our desire to be the 'Best heritage railway in the country' ( a director quote from a shareholder meeting). The undisguised plastic meter and junction boxes have now been joined by a gas store and new electrical terminals in the middle of the lawn, which itself has been part urbanised with concrete paving and pub type picnic tables.

We are not singing from the same hymn sheet.

 

 

 

More work between Didbrook 2 and Hayles Abbey Halt.

 

 

 

The welders completed the welding of every other rail joint 

Here they are grinding down the excess weld material, and giving us a perfectly smooth ride, with no jolting dipped joints.

Every other joint will still be fishplated, but with cropped ends, also to give a ride without bumps (and cracked fishplates). 

 

On Wednesday the gang freed off the ends of the sleepers, after Monday's ballast drop.

This is necessary, so that the tamper operator can see the sleepers he is supposed to lift. 

And the tamper has arrived! It's an old friend, Bob and Rick do all of our tamping on this venerable machine.

In the picture is a PWay briefing about the job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, during Wednesday a tractor-trailer was hired in to remove the spent ballast.

 

 

 

 

Here it is removing one of the piles. The spent ballast was taken to Winchcombe. We have several ideas for what to do with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We also still need to remove the piled up 'wartime economy' sleepers.

These will be stored at Toddington, but not for long, as we have plans to re-sleeper 'siding 2', and they are ideal for that.

 

 

 Finally the 'cube' was taken off site and to Toddington.

The trackbed is ready for Bob and Rick, with their tamper.

We have one more job to do for the welder, and that is to weld in an insulated joint at Gotherington Skew, in place of a fishplated insulated joint, which was giving us trouble on that curve there.

That is for next week.