Saturday and Monday volunteers carried on with various tasks on site. Peter K manufactured some more spear fencing panels which were transported to Toddington for the painters to prime in between working on canopy parts. More work was also done on the station brickwork with John C completeing another arch and preparing several others.
Today, contrary to forecast, started off very wet for the 18 volunteers on site, this delayed work on the station and driveway, but eventually it turned out to be a pleasant day.
There were also four volunteers on the painting team at Toddington. Today's work included cleaning up and priming parts that had been riveted in place of the temporary bolts. Also the spear fencing panels delivered this morning were primed and the legs bitumined. Panels primed last week were returned to Broadway.
Graham and Mike priming more of the giant meccano set.
Back at Broadway on the driveway it was decided, whilst it was too wet for concreting, to pre position some of the kerb stones for the front of the footpath. The easiest way was one at a time with wheelbarrows. A total of 60 was moved in to position by end of day. Paul and Keith loading the barrow, definitely a two man lift, Terry waiting to go.
Happy in their work in the wet, at least it's downhill. These kerbs will eventually be laid 2 metres from the back edgings, which is roughly where the Heras fencing is at the moment. The finished path level will be 75mm above the drive.
"There is definitely concrete in there somewhere". Mid morning it was decided that the laying of the back edging could be continued.
Terry, Keith, Rod and Ian waiting for the concrete to get started.
Terry setting the penultimate path edge. This is as far as we can go until the gap is filled in the platform, the infill is done and this area graded to the correct level. We now go back to the bottom of the drive to lay the front kerbs.
At the other end of the site, at the end of platform 1, Steve with a small 360 digger had pulled an exploratory trench to expose the depth of spoil that had been put in the entrance to the old horse dock. This has all got to be removed to facilitate the siting of the maintenance facility.
When the original cutting profile is reached our engineer will decide if any further support structure is required.
The decision having been made as to how much to remove Steve waits, bucket full, for the dumper to return from taking the spoil down to the car park area.
By the late afternoon much had been removed but there is much more and the work will continue tomorrow. Eventually this area will be raised up to trackbed level and a concrete slab laid. Two of our existing containers will be sited here, fenced of from the platform and running line.
On the station building Brian and Peter Q carried on positioning the ceiling joists. By end of play every joist was in place bar one. This last one has to be adapted to fit round some of the steelwork. There are still some blocks to be cut and positioned between the joists.
Back to the arches, the bricks at each side of the arch need to be cut to an angle to accommodate the first brick of the arch. Here John C is marking this angle on to each brick so they can be cut, Bob waiting to do the cutting.
Bob now pointing up some of these cut bricks he laid earlier, you can make out the angle on the left side.
This shot shows the first brick each side of the arch set in place. These are allowed a couple of days to harden before the arch is finished.
As always other work was going on, our colleagues from Permanent Way were on site working on the levels and calculating the amounts of Type 1 and ballast required for the northern end of the station to our boundary. Deliveries of which will be commence shortly. Julie manned, or is it personned, the sales shed and had some visitors even though it was not a nice day earlier.
This final picture shows JC assisted by Tony and Bob casting the hearth for the signal box fireplace. This involved some shuttering with the slate up stands being filled with concrete. When this is set the slate top, left foreground will be bedded on to the slab.
Posted Rod W additional photos Paul C, Mike S
All great work by the team, progress is moving forward a great pace. Despite the poor weather conditions you are doing extremely well. The brickwork maestro continues with an excellent work, do you sub him out at all? BTW, when are the steps for the passenger bridge due to go in?
ReplyDeleteRegards
Paul & Marion.
I,re member seeing the horse dock,back in1960,or '61!.It was usually seen from the footplate,of a Collett 0-6-0,or a Churchward Mogul!.I,saw in the latest issue,of The Cornishman!.a photo,of the original signal box!.I,remember that,too!.
ReplyDeleteSiting two modern containers just off the end of the platform after having spent so much time and effort in recreating an authentic station seems rather at odds to the projects ethos to me, surely they can be sited out of view or replaced with more authentic looking railway style structures. It only takes one miss placed item to create an eyesore that ruins the overall appearance.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, they won't be sited "just off the end of the platform." In any case, public trains won't be passing that location until the Line extends to Honeybourne by which time I guess most of us won't need to worry about it! Painting "boxy buildings", that could seem to be out of place, dark green colour can go some way to making them less conspicuous. I guess we'll need to wait and see. Of course, to be absolutely accurate, all visitors to the GWSR would have to wear period clothes! Indeed, when this happens, such as wartime weekends and such like, the effect can be quite realistic. Toddington Ted.
DeleteI was wondering if you could make the containers somehow look like horse boxes complete with wheels and track, which doesn't have to be connected to the main track work with points, but would make the scene more in keeping. Just a thought. As one station master on the SVR once said to me a while ago now. "If it looks like it should be there, the public will believe it to be original". Regards, Paul.
ReplyDeleteI think disguising containers to look like railway wagons would end up as a rather complex job - certainly, more complicated than simply using real wagons.
DeleteThe GWR does have a selection of (apparently) unused vans in the Toddington headshunt, plus a motley assortment of stock in the long-term restoration queue at Winchcombe.
I'm sure it would be possible to place a few of these vehicles on a reinstated horse dock siding at Broadway. This would provide storage space while also keeping up appearances - and would also restore another original feature of the station, something of interest in itself.
Is there any reason why containers MUST be used?
I'm sure that the eventual positioning of a siding with appropriate rolling stock is something that the GWSR might consider favourably in future, particularly if such a development is sponsored. However, as I have already posted here, the station site won't be completely finished when it opens next year and I quote once again the time taken to bring Cheltenham Race Course station (for example) to a mature state. However, I think a reinstated siding at Broadway could be a good project, but for the future. Security (sadly) is another issue that has to be considered - perhaps containers are more secure than some other methods. Toddington Ted.
DeleteThere are some great photos of the horsedock on the broadway station page on disusedstations.com, with funding available in the future it could be recreated further up the headshunt from its original position, it seems like there were various little huts and carriages stabled there at one time or another with would look authentic enough that you could store equipment in.
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't the whole of the track bed been cleared to allow the 20 tonners, straddling the central drainage system, to tip directly at the rail head? If scaffolding is needed for the canopy, less than 50% is constructed, none pre-assembled, this can be erected at a later date. To run 6 ton dumpers from the car park along a very narrow passage is a waste of valuable time. The proposed container siting will detract from a brilliant station.
ReplyDelete20 ton trucks surely wouldn't get up onto the embankment nor over the Evesham Road bridge.
DeleteIndeed, you're right, if it was all as easy as suggested then it would probably have been done! Toddington Ted.
DeleteThe tipper trucks could enter through the existing platform 1 gap, it would save time and dumper hire costs
ReplyDeleteTo answer a couple of points Broadway station site is long and narrow, mainly on an embankment or in a cutting, with little spare land. Much thought was given to the placement of the required secure containers, for valuable equipment that would be needed for future maintenance, and a staff facility. Other areas looked at were rejected for various reasons, even more obtrusive, difficult to get utilities to and staff safety on an operational railway. The site chosen was the least obtrusive and best option. The containers will be painted to blend in, fenced from the running line for safety and shielded with either fencing or greenery from the platform as best as possible.
ReplyDeleteAs far as using dumpers to move ballast to the site, again much thought was given to this and again it is the best option. It would be extremely difficult for the delivery lorries to manouvre through the station area. They would have to reverse as there is nowhere to turn in the site. As the deliveries can start as early as 0500 it is not fair on our neighbours, six private houses and a B&B, to have the continuous beeping of reversing lorries at this time. Also the driveway which they and we use is not designed for or in a condition to use this route.
Rod W
Many thanks for your detailed explanation. Being a good neighbour is crucial. After all, most people still think that heritage railways are solely for the entertainment of sad men of a certain age who can't put their train sets away. That's not true but it's still what many people think so keeping everyone on side is crucial, especially if you're asking for lots of money! I think it's also worth pointing out to some readers and blog commentators, who seem to have perhaps forgotten, that Broadway Station will not be finished when it opens to the public, although it will be as finished to the best operable standard I'm sure. Platform 2 still needs its waiting room and the footbridge may not have its stairwells (ISTR that this depends on how much additional money above the £1.25m is raised) although all these things will come to pass. So materials & equipment will still need to be stored somewhere and the Platform 1 station building will not be an option as it will be serving our visitors. It is worth reminding ourselves that Cheltenham Race Course Station opened for GWSR business in Spring 2003 but only in very recent years has it begun to look like a complete station and I understand that work on that eventual goal is still ongoing! Toddington Ted.
DeleteThanks for the clarification, its easy to be an armchair critic, there has obviously been a lot of time and thought gone into the planning for the track work, good luck
ReplyDelete