Wet Wet Wet but The Band of Boys Played On Regardless!

Wednesday 29th June

24 hardly volunteers braved the very wet weather at Broadway, as experienced by most of this part of the world, but it did not stop good progress being made.

Today we took delivery of the roofing material for the footbridge span. It was delivered in 3 tightly packed lots which was very deceptive. Was the total area to be covered really here? When it was unpacked and separated indeed it was.

A team of Mike, Paul, Martin and Peter H under the professional guidance of Graham  separated the the corrugated iron sheets and first job was to apply a de-greasing agent to both sides, allowing it to work for a while and then washing it off with clean water..

.
Graham is seen here applying the de-greasing agent to one of the panels with a spray bottle.

The nest stage is to apply an etching solution called T-Wash,which prepares the metal to take the etching primer. Graham and Paul are applying this solution to the material. While they were doing this Mike, Martin and Peter H continued with de-greasing and washing down the many sheets of corrugated iron stored in the shelter.

These are the curved top section units having been washed down. As the etching primer has to be applied within 48 hours of the T-Wash process being carried out it was decided to prepare 5 top sections and 10 flat panels to be ready for Peter Q and his team to start fixing to the footbridge roof span next week, weather permitting of course!

Graham and Paul in the wood store applying the etching primer to the selected panels.

Up on the footbridge span the guttering was fixed into place in readiness for a start to be made in attaching the roofing panels.

Peter Q and Brian attaching the brackets on which the cast iron guttering sits.

Most of the guttering on the south side is now in place.

With no bricklaying possible today due to the weather the opportunity was taken to get John C on the mini digger to load the dumper with more spent ballast for infill behind platform 2, Many loads were moved from the car park up to platform 2, to be spread out by John S (who also drove the dumper) together with Peter Q and Dave having a "break" from their usual work on the footbridge, Once spread out evenly it was rolled by Rod on the vibrating roller.

At the entrance to the driveway Terry, Ron T, and Keith dug a pit to locate the main foul water drain, This is where to drains from the station building will connect to the drainage system. After encountering very difficult working conditions the pipe was located, the pit enlarged and made secure. An inspection chamber and reinforced cover will be placed here when the connection is made.

Other work in progress today included Dave B and Rod testing out the new motorized auger which will be used to make the necessary holes for the posts of the new eastern (Cotswold) side boundary fence.

Alongside the driveway the original Broadway station sign made by volunteers about 6 years ago is still looking a picture, with John B's flower border at it's base.

To cheer us up on what was a very wet day Ron T's wife Lucy very kindly baked an enjoyable coffee and walnut cake. It disappeared very quickly during our mid morning break.

Many thanks Lucy, it was much appreciated by all the volunteers at Broadway today and helped us make light of the very wet weather. Let's hope next week will be Dry Dry Dry!