Friday on the road.

 

Friday on the road.

Three of us on a Friday special.

The first job was to deliver 20 second hand sleepers to a supporter of the railway.

 

 

 

This was done in a slightly unexpected way - over the fence, and away. 

Apparently, the neighbour agreed to this. We didn't hang about to find out, but did have one happy punter.

 

 

 

 

We then returned in the truck to Toddington for a second job, pausing on the way for a quick peep into the loco shed.

Neal was there, making more brackets for Broadway P2. 

But also this thing was being manufactured, funded by your blogger - anyone know what it is?

 

 

 

 

Job no.2 was the removal of a pallet of heavy turnout base plates from the lineside.

They were very heavy indeed, but we did get them on the back of the truck eventually, with the help of the Steam Dept. Telehandler. They are now in store at Winchcombe. 

 

The third job was to take a truck load of scrap sleepers to our LT storage site at Working Lane. Care was advisable here, because a previous load was now inhabited by nature, that is to say, a wasps's nest. 

As we were busy taking away our truck load, Young David stayed behind with the Winchcombe Telehandler and re-arranged the spent ballast so that a level site became available. This is due to receive one of the empty containers from the garden centre site, also in the drive to tidy that up. PWay were willing takers!

 

 

Looking over our PWay storage site, we realised that we had a dumpy bag of surplus new Fastclips and associated pads.

 

We can't use these - does anyone want to make us an offer? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, for Friday, an amusing snapshot in our local village.

A visitor studying the bus timetable, with a notice promising a maximum waiting time of only 10 minutes.

How nice that would be..... 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday at Broadway.

Grey, with drizzle. That made it rather hard to carry out the intended jobs, i.e. primer 7 planks and clean and primer 4 brackets that Neal made.

We were alone to start with, as Neal's car had a battery problem (which turned out to be caused by an incompletely closed door leaving the interior light on) 

 

 

 

While assembling the kit for painting, we noticed that Neal had fitted the 8 brackets at the rear, that we had cleaned and painted earlier.

Here they are, all in a row. You can see how the supporting timbers will be attached. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The planks that needed painting in wood primer were in the container, and with a little juggling we got some painted, put them outside to dry while we did others, and then quickly brought them all back in as the drizzle intensified. 

Here they are, done. On the left are some prepared spearhed fencing panels, and at the back is the second of the large canopy lamps, the first of which is on the canopy extension on P1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During a quick brighter spell we had a go at Neal's next lot of brackets. These are four that will go on the northern end, to stabilise the bottom of the end panel.

Neal made these up out of some of the angle iron that was thrown next to the skip, but recovered.

Our angle grinder then failed with brush issues. Neal was able to effect a repair, and we continued the job in the garage at Blogger Towers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At lunch time Neal did appear, having worked out what had drained ghis car battery. Luckily it was nothing serious.

Here he is test fitting the same 4 brackets, and drilling holes in them so that they can be bolted on in due course (after painting...) 

Tuesday at Broadway.

 

A rainy start, then great sunshine, and ideal weather for painting, and building.

 

 

 

It was a mixed steam/diesel day, so while Neal is sawing an angle on to timbers that will carry the sloping roof sheets, the 'Bubble Car' is waiting patiently in the background.

 

 

At the same time Yours Truly was painting the 7 planks that were put into primer yesterday - steady progress, as usual. There is lots to do, but every day we are getting a bit further.

 

A quiet moment at Broadway - very BR branch line !

 

If you bide your time and wait, passengers will eventually board their train (or wander off) and then you can catch quiet moments like these.

 

The train will then leave, station staff will have their tea, and Neal, John and Jo wander over to the cafe for a coffee and a piece of cake. 

 

 

Neal carried all the sawn off roof support timbers to the top and laid them out, ready for primering as well (along the freshly cut edges).

 

 

 

2807 was the loco in steam on Tuesday, and on a particularly long stay (some are longer than others) it ran up and down the loop with, we think, a couple of guests in the cab. How nice.

 

S&T were also on site, and expressed confidence that the signal box will be trialled for the first time in November.

 

We can't wait. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, with three Usketeers.

 

The Lurgi has struck, and Paul is home in bed with flu. 

 

Three Usketeers carried on, first at Winchcombe, to clear out the weighbridge. It was a sad moment, it felt like we were leaving home, but the FoWS wanted it empty so that they could redecorate, after our repairs.

 

 

 

It was 2807 and the Bubble Car on services today, and with two coach loads of school children departing from Winchcombe, the fireman of 2807 was keeping a careful lookout. 

 

 

 

Then, finally, the off. The GWR 2-8-0 disappears in a cloud of steam underneath the road bridge, heading for the tunnel and the steep climb through it to the summit at the other end. Always a good spectacle to see, and hear..

 

 

 

 

The ground frame hut at Gotherington has two levers inside it. One is attached to a small signal a few yards away, and it works too. People love to pull the lever and see the signal operate. Only, to raise the hut, we had to disconnect the arrangement and push a sleeper under the hut's frame, and it occurred to us today that this might affect the cable run. 

 

Dave got down on his hands and knees to see what was going on under the floor. Hard to see. Shoving a camera down the didn't help either. Dave suggested putting the camera's torch function on while taking a picture down there, and we said: Dave, that's called a flash. Ah.... 

 

 

 

 

This overview shows how the T&G boards are rotted away at the bottom, and top right is a (loose) cable wheel that allowed the cable run to do a 90 degree turn in front of the hut. At what height did the cable come out, and was the sleeper now in the way?

 

After much delving underground we worked out that the cable came out exactly under the original internal frame, i.e. it would have to be above the sleeper. With a bit of skulduggery we got the cable threaded through again, but it became clear that the front of the frame had had it, and we would need to replace it. Luckily we were able to source a spare length of 4x2 at Winchcombe, amidst some timber that had been saved from the skip. Well done that man!

 

 

 

As it was a nice bright day we got the chairs out and sat in the sun, under the tree. We called Paul at home, miserable, and told him what fun we were having. 

 

He said he hoped to be back next week.

 

 

 

 

Trains have to be waved at, it's an unwritten rule. So work stopped for a moment. Everyone waved back enthusiastically, perhaps we are well known?

 

 

 

 

When Bryan came to pay us a visit we showed him the rot in the T&G at the front, too big to hide with some gravel boards that Dave had brought. He very kindly agreed to buy some new examples, enough to do up the front. We took one board off, and it was this that got us to realise that the lower front frame member was shot. It does need replacing, and we will do this.

Meanwhile Julian and Dave looked at the downpipes. These used to end just by the corners of the hut, so contributing to the decay, and the alarming inclination that brought the Usketeers in for the job. We are considering re-routing the downpipes, both joining at the back, and lengthened to take the water away, down the embankment. But we don't have the necessary parts, or money to buy any.

 

 

 

 

As the hut was now well jacked up and secured on new pedestals, we started to fill the surrounding trenches again. That was very satisfying. We stopped filling at a level just below the new supporting sleepers.

 

 

 

At some point 2807 also came by, so another stop to wave, mostly at two carriages filled with school children. They love it.

 

 Julian didn't have his own chair, so borrowed Paul's folding canvas chair. That did not go well.

 

 

 

 

Amazon? Yes, Hello, do you have any chairs that don't rip.....?

 

After the unfortunate chair incident and a lot of banter upon poor old Julian, we decided to do a bit of landscaping and replace the two slabs that we had pulled up to dig the trenches.

 

 

 

One slab got broken earlier, but Bryan was fine with it being re-used. We might treat him to a second hand example from the pile at Winchcombe next time.

 

 A bit of stomping revealed a wobble here and there, but that was easily fixed.

 

 

 

At the end of the day it looked like this. Quite respectable already, don't you think? But there is plenty more work (luckily, we are always on the lookout for the next project)