12 volunteers on a day that started a bit dull but later turned into a warm and pleasant afternoon, would have been a great day for laying bricks but unfortunately the guys had other commitments.
But the show went on in other areas....
Worth the trouble to get the right tool for the job! This was the position just before backfilling started with the drain in place and looking good.
Keith and Peter's job was to provide Clive with bricks of the requisite shape and in sufficient number to complete the slope except for the edging slabs which will have to wait for another day.
Peter Q and Dave spent the day on the dagger board production line, Dave is carefully cutting the slots between the boards in the right hand photo. In the other shot Pete is cutting the angles and it appears that Dave is having a slight problem figuring out how they go together.
Roger must have been slightly warm in the chainsaw kit but nonetheless made some more progress on the removal of the old tree stumps on the cutting slopes. John B spent the day in the bric-a-brac shop but still found time to remove last year's Christmas tree which had finally given up the ghost.
And finally a view of the station building from the southern end.
Just a reminder that the Broadway Area Group open evening takes place at the Broadway station site on the evening of 27th May from 6;30 to 8;30. This has become an annual event and is very popular with local residents, supporters and other volunteers. We would love to see you there so please come along if you can and help us enjoy the conversation, the hotdogs & burgers and some liquid refreshment to help it down. There will also be raffle tickets available with around 10 prizes including one for Sunday lunch for two at Broadway Hotel.
It's interesting that the GWR used its own trackbed storm water drains, rather than connecting to the drains under the nearest road. Even the station master's house at Toddington (which is some distance from the railway) is connected to the trackbed drains.
ReplyDeleteI know this because as a teenager at the very first Toddington working party in 1981 I was given the job of clearing out the chambers, which had all become full of ballast. I was working away when the owner of the station master's house came rushing up, shouting "What are you doing? Those are my drains!"
I said, "I'm clearing them out."
He seemed oddly surprised by this answer, and after a puzzled pause said, "Oh. Well, that's all right then. As long as you're not blocking them up."
He thought I was shovelling ballast INTO the chamber - which would have been a daft thing to do, of course. But in those days the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Society was frequently regarded as a collection of eccentrics who didn't quite know what they were doing, and I think some people were just waiting for us to make some sort of silly mistake.
We who love our living history are all called eccentric! But would it not pay to future proof the drains and connect them to the Mains drains even though a longer pipe and trench would be needed? Excuse me asking the daft question, but also where does the water eventually drain too? I am now determined to get to the open evening but have to drive down from Manchester as i have a job to do up there on the Friday, I will then have to drive home after the event to Bletchley! I really want to meet this amazing group of volunteers and to see first hand the work they have done so far, so looking forward to meeting you all there .
ReplyDeleteThe Lineside Drainage team were hard at work all last week clearing the chambers and pipes north of Broadway Station which takes most of the water in the track drains out into a stream. Note, it is only the surface water from the building roof that will run into the track drains. All foul water will follow the normal route into the sewerage system.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the Lineside Drainage team's progress at: http://bit.ly/1WzbCYA