Block laying accelerates.

Friday at Broadway.

A half day, but a good one, on Friday morning at Broadway. John laying Thermalite blocks - he's got the bit between his teeth now - and Yours Truly in support with mortar and block cutting.

 

 

 

John and Neal also had a go last Wednesday, and the wall under the tarpaulin shows that work.

We're working our way along the front at the moment. 

 

 

This is the look of the fireplace at the staircase end at the moment, just to show you. We have approached an architectural fireplace supplier for a quote for a replica slate one. Let's hope they come back to us with a price.

Friday was one of our Steam & Ale days, with three different locomotives in service. Both our class 47s were seen on trains during the morning, and...

 ... one steamer, in this case 2807, in black. It must have been hot on the footplate, even with the very limited cab these veteran 2-8-0s have. We suffered on site in the sun, without having a roaring coal fire right next to us as well.

Once the steamer had left we wandered over to the cafe, to watch the blue 47 come in, the second man having his arm hanging out of the window, very relaxed. No roaring coal fire here...

As we watched the goings on at the station it occurred to us how good the recently refurbished coaches look, with their Ferret & Dartboard, crimson red and yellow first class stripe. Excellent work there, at Winchcombe!

Guard Christine, a volunteer for 4 years now, looks very proud in her uniform. 

 

 

Late morning saw John on the last section of the front going south, with still the store room to do.

Instead, he turned right round and started on the back, and headed back the other way.

We shall see what he did on Monday, when we will be dealing with the logistics of having building materials for P2 arrive on P1 ! All hands on deck there then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were recently able to look at a couple of original GWR timetables.

This one is the earliest, from 1921. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rummaged through the pages and here, on P53, we actually found our own line, Honeybourne, Broadway & Cheltenham. By then the line had been fully open for 15 years, and it is interesting to see that the steam rail motors, introduced soon after opening, are still in service.

 

 In 1939, with another edition of the GWR general timetable, the timings were altered once again.

 

Strangely, there was a quite a bit of difference to the 1921 arrangements. Was it changing traffic patterns, or was it the onset of the war that drove this?

This one, dated 1920, was quite unusual, as it refers to the 'Consequence of Labour Troubles'. After the end of WW1 there were several strikes in the UK, although we couldn't pinpoint the exact one which caused Paddington to change its timetable on 17th October 1920.

 

 

 

 A lighter note, issued on October 28th 1909 (or even 1869...?) shows the cost of getting caught sneaking a second class seat between Audlem and Nantwich, when you've only got a third class ticket - fourpence ha'penny!

 

Saturday, out with the gang.

Nine of us on Saturday, quite a good turnout. Evil tongues linked the good attendance to the nature of the weekend's services - Steam and Ale. It was very popular with our customers too, the stations were crowded.

 

 

 

We loaded up the truck from the GUV, the long standing stores vehicle that has been part of the PWay train when we were still building the line. Loading is still awkward, as you can see, but we have a better idea, shipping containers on the ground, and are clearing an area for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday's destination was the south end of the yard at Toddington. Half the group began to jack & Robel the main line nearby, while the other half was given the job of clearing an adjacent strip of land, enough to lay down a panel of track to store diesel dept bogies. 

 

 

 

 

The strip of land had all sorts of detritus in it, woven into a tangle of brambles and nettles. 

At least some of it was leftovers from the installation of two turnouts here 5 year ago, we never cleared up the remains.

 But you have to eventually.

The first find was 7 or 8 rusty steel plates. We think these might have formed part of the walkway across the former Ashford turntable that we gave away a couple of years ago. 

As it was Steam & Ale weekend the main line was busy, with 3 trains on the loose. We kept stopping to let them by.

 

 

The next find was a big coil of fencing wire. Definitely not ours, but still ours to clear up.

There was so much stuff that we decided to engage the services of a second Telehandler. 

 

 

It was quite warm on Saturday, so enforced pauses to let trains through were kinda welcome really. We sat down in the shade and watched the green Growler.

 Just when we thought we could get on with the job, a steam engine emerged from the yard.

Well, that wasn't on the timetable. We stopped again, but in fact it didn't go by, but retreated again. A bluff !

After removing all the metal that we could find, we were finally able to address the real issue, a long line of semi rotten sleepers in the place where we wanted to put the new track panel. 

The bigger Telehandler started to scoop these up, and start a more orderly pile at the other end of the site.

 

The scooping depended on the sleepers lying in line, but then there was a section still chaired with throughbolters, and they were all over the place. They were also too heavy to carry and sort by hand, so STEVIE was  drafted in to lift them out.

This was a fascinating job for some, who, for reasons of safety of course, stood to one side (in the shade) to watch the goings on from a distance.

Steve lifting the throughbolters clear.

Another metallic find emerged from the undergrowth (together with more fencing wire).

We couldn't say for sure, but we think this may also be connected to the turntable that we used to have. 

Our lifting gear seemed to be attractive to a certain kind of very colourful moth.

Wonder what it's called...

BTW Dave from the Usketeers drew our attention to a brilliant app for your phone. 

Launch it and let it listen to a bird's call, and it will tell you what the bird is! Amazing, and it really works. 

The blue Growler was out as well, giving two diesels and one steamer in service that day. Many beer glasses were seen in windows as the trains passed, people seemed to enjoy themselves very much.

 

Again we stopped and stood to one side dutifully. Just beyond where we were working was the end of station limits, and what a great sound when that Growler finally opens up !

At the end of the afternoon this was the result:

The site was cleared of all detritus, with quite a bit making a useful contribution to the scrap skip. The site still needs strimming, and a little back filling to achieve a perfectly level foundation.

Below is the NG line, and more than once the blast of their diesel's horn made us think there was a train coming. Well, there was, but... 

Back at Winchcome the place was humming. Both platforms were full of visitors holding drinks and enjoying themselves. 

 

 

 

 

This was the inside of the 'beer tent', the ground floor of our Bradstone visitor centre.

We snapped a moment without a queue, it  didn't always look like this. Nearby there was a frantic hunt for more buns for the griddle. Things were going well.

 

 

 

 

 In some places the platform looked like the back garden of a pub, and in a way it was.

 

 

The PWay gang managed to squeeze on to a bench under the canopy, glad to be in the cool at last. We all had tea, sadly, being on duty still (the Transit still had to be unloaded)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday at Broadway.

An interesting day, as we were expecting a delivery of building materials, but to the wrong platform. While the RRV can easily deliver all sorts of stuff on its little trolley, getting it actually on a particular date is more difficult, mostly due to conflicting personal and operational issues. The earliest we can have the RRV bring stuff up is August, but we need sand, building blocks and insulation now.

 

 

 

Our interim solution is to bring up one lorry load to the P1 side, and manhandle it across ourselves. That will at least keep us going. We have accepted the August RRV offer, and will use it to release also the bricks currently stored on a wagon in the headshunt.

 

A temporary bridge to get our concrete blocks across.

 

So on Monday we had delivered a bag of sand, a pallet of concrete blocks (1.4 tonnes!), a pallet of Thermalite blocks, and 8 rolls of insulation. That should keep us going until the RRV and its wagon come along.

 

 

Ordinary work continued with John, as Neal, Yours truly and Kevin from the station maintenance gang wrestled with the supplies. John mainly worked on the blocks for the rear wall.

 

 A course was also put down along the front, using blocks cut by Neal and assembled dry.

 

 

The hardest part of ferrying the supplies was getting the sand across. This was done with shovels and wheelbarrows, and the sand from the new bag was run across the temporary bridge, and tipped into two empty bags

 

Sadly, it became apparent that we had not specified the colour of the extra sand that we wanted, and red sand was supplied where we had previously used yellow.

To get round this we decided to only use red sand for the mortar intended for the Thermalite blocks. These will in due course be hidden from view.

 

 

Tuesday at Broadway.

With this lovely warm weather, we are really putting in the hours. So, another day at the coal face. Another due Wednesday, Thursday a day off, then another at Broadway on Friday.

 

 

This is the building as it looked on Tuesday. We were getting compliments from the station staff; we don't usually see it from this side and, yes, it does seem to be getting on with it.

 

 

What we were doing on Tuesday is blockwork on the rear wall, which is getting quite high here. Where the blocks intersect, or where they fit into the uprights, they need cutting to size or shape, so that occupied quite a bit of our day.

Neal was at Toddington, on the final stretch with the canopy steelwork.

 

 

In view of the very dry weather we also gave the new pine trees some water, about a bucketful each. The trees in question are the ones grown from seeds about 10 years ago. We planted them to continue the original pattern along the extended platforms. Others were planted in between subsequently by someone else.

Those seedlings along the higher of the two rows are visibly smaller than those in the row half way up the cutting. This is because the upper reaches of the cutting are drier, so that is where we have directed our watering activities. Let's hope they survive; about 80% of them have so far. Some died because of drought, others because they were strimmed to death by (over) enthusiastic clearance.

 

We took this picture to give an update of the view from above. You can just about make out the grey blockwork along the back of the building. 

 

 

When the afternoon train came in, the platform was filled with people sitting on benches and licking ice creams. The railway looked very busy on Tuesday.

 

 

The last train that we saw was headed by Growler 37215. Here it is leaving, with a toot and a bellow:

 https://youtu.be/3xCDSpVAP4E

 

 

 

 

Wednesday with the Usketeers.

 

 Three Usketeers on this very warm day.

 

 

 

We came, bearing 4 large boxes containing the new heritage downpipes and accessories for the weighbridge. They filled the car to the top, we were lucky to get it all in. It's basically a complete new set of downpipes, front and back. The old front one was made of grey plastic, and the rear one was broken. The weighbridge will look better, and be drier, for them. 

 

Now park your car.....

 

 

Winchcombe was very busy on Wednesday, with no fewer than three coaches, all with school children for our wartime experience. That takes most of the day. During this time they are parked outside on the forecourt.

 

 

Getting three coaches to turn around is not easy, given that the car park is invariably full, and Halls may be busy outside their own yard. Some coaches do a three (or more...) point turn outside the station, others go down into the yard and hope there is room to turn there. 

Notice how the canopy projects beyond the edge of the pavement outside the building, and how high the coach is next to it. Sooner or later the parking there, or else the turning round, involving a reversal right up to the canopy, are going to result in the canopy being hit. What to do?

 

Our suggestion would be a wider pavement. It's just a thought.

 

Dave, fitting a replacement brick by the door.

 

 

Today's job on the weighbridge was to complete the replacement of bricks below ground level, around the door. There are spalled bricks on both sides. That will allow us to make a start on the ACO drain in a trench outside.

 

 

 

 

Having done the right hand side, Dave attacked the left one with his chunky SDS drill. We thought just one brick needed replacing, but it always gets worse once you get into the job. Several had to come out.

 

 

 

Growler 37 215 was out again today - Green timetable, meaning one steam and one diesel.

Here's a nice handover of the token to the signalman. 

 

 

After lunch, Dave fitted replacement bricks cut to size by Yours Truly. This one is just being 'buttered up', as they say in the trade. We also did the other side, with one brick left to place next week. Then that job is done, and we can look at drainage.

 

During the day we had a look around the site, and found... 

 

 

Andy, cleaning up freshly sawn rail ends, to make them ready for sale. These are still going strong, so if you want one, get in touch. It helps our tool fund no end. We just took delivery of a fabulous set of Milwaukee tools - result !

Over by the gate to the Usk hut we found the clearance gang busy with their chipper. This is good news, as our site clearance in that area, clearing the fence line of elder and brambles, had resulted in a large pile of brash. As of today, it's no more. Great ! This area is used by the PWay to turn round the Transit when we load up our tools.

 

Lastly, while passing through Toddington we noticed the fruits of Neal's labour on the last intermediate trusses for Broadway.

Here he has assembled two new ones, and laid them across an existing truss (that Neal also made)  In the background is a third, and in total we believe that there are 4 to be made.

 

 

 

 

 

Infrastructure blog.

Just a brief mention to say that this blog, dormant for a while, has been reactivated by our new Infrastructure Manager, Sarah.

So here is her first report:

https://bridgestobroadway.blogspot.com/2025/06/cheltenham-racecourse-bridge-43-works.html

Blogging is kinda a personal thing, some people can't do it, others don't want to, but Sarah is up for it, so we look forward to further news. Give her all the support you can.