Thursday 2 March 2017

Many Hands Make Light Work!!

Wednesday 1st March

First an update from Saturday, seven volunteers on site working mainly on track bed clearance not only a lot of materials to move but lots of bits blown off the trees by that Doris. Peter K carried on with the production of the spear fencing.
Monday there were six on site and they worked mainly on the station building brick and blockwork with John C continuing with the arches.

 


On to today and an update from our four man painting team at Toddington. The Loco dept staff had turned over the trusses, which were started last week, with the tele-handler and delivered some more steelwork for the lads to prepare and prime. Seen here completed.











As it was a bright, although cold, morning Graham and Mike carried on with the priming of the spear fencing panels. Don't worry this isn't the finished colour.








 


Mike S who took the first four photos couldn't resist a walk into the loco shed to take this one. Three of the loco dept staff are using the riveter on yet another piece of the giant meccano set that is to be Broadway's canopy. Heavy, hot and noisy work, well done lads.







 



Hearing things going on outside of the shed a quick shot of P & O, in the morning sun, with a good head of steam. Part of the testing after winter maintenance, I think.










Back at Broadway nineteen volunteers carried out a variety of tasks. One of the first jobs was to unload the station doors that JC had picked up from the manufacturer. These can now be primed and stored until required. Terry and John getting ready to pass them up to the storage container.











As soon as the truck was empty Tony, Paul, Terry and Peter are loading the latest batch of spear fencing, fabricated by Peter K on Saturday. John C is watching that they don't scratch the paintwork.
He then delivered these to Toddington for the painters and returned the panels that had been cleaned and primed.










At the station building the brickies were hard at it. Bob W is pointing up some of the detail bricks he has laid between two of the windows.









While John S carries on building up the live chimney, sealing the liner into the blockwork as it rises up.












Brian and Peter Q carried on with the fitting of the rafters. Brian checking the correct spacing. Blocks will then be cut and cemented into the spaces.













 



Further up the site, Gordon, Keith and Ian were placing a line of twenty plus markers up the track bed. These will have horizontals placed on them to assist Steve the JCB driver with his levels when the Permanent way team start laying the ballast shortly.












Straight after tea break whilst everyone was still together, a concerted effort was needed to move the Broadway painting shelter. This had to be moved to a new location to facilitate the laying of a concrete base, off the north end of platform 1, for the ongoing maintenance facility for the station. When the area had been cleared Dave B measured up and put in the markers for the base.







 

A lot of tidying up took place today. The herras fencing was moved down to the track bed from the platform edge, this will allow additional scaffolding to be erected on the track bed when the brickwork is finished. The extra scaffolding will be required for when the canopy is erected.
Tony, Clive and John C are clearing away all the offcuts of blocks after the completion of all the internal blockwork, another tick on the list.








Rod W emptying another barrow load of offcuts into the dumper for removal to the car park area.









On the return trip I stopped on the Station road bridge, just inside the station site, to take this picture. So what you may ask, more track bed, but if you enlarge this picture, which is not zoomed in, the white line in the distance is the ballast of the extension. How good is that!   






 As always the sales shed was open and Julie talked to our visitors and continued to raise funds for the station.

Posted by Rod W, additional pictures Paul C and Mike S

11 comments:

  1. The station building is coming along great! ably assisted by the team outstationed at Toddington, in co-operation with the Loco dept. providing the canopy sections. Well done to you all. Regards, Paul.

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  2. Looking great guys keep it up

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  3. I must say I am in awe of John C's skill with those window/door arches. Fabulous! I wonder how many roof trusses have been completed now, and how many are required?

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  4. What actually goes on top of the rafters? Great to see the station coming along and congratulations to all the workers! It's a shame about the serious embankment problems on the final stretch into the station. I suppose that means the idea of having a short stretch of double track out of the station is permanently out of the window. Best wishes, Nigel

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    1. If I remember from seeing internal repair work at Toddington Station in 1981 (!) a layer of thick board goes above the rafters and thinner board below for the ceiling plaster. However, it was a long time ago and I may well be incorrect. Regarding the double track possibility, I understand that the imminent embankment repair will limit the Broadway extension to single track for now but that the embankment could be widened with new material and associated drainage later on when enough people cough up enough funds to get it done. In this respect, I guess heritage railways seem to be like the good ole USA, you can have what you like but you must pay for it! Broadway Station is a shining example of what people get when they do pay for it. Toddington Ted

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    2. Sorry for the slow reply I needed to speak to the right person. The rafters will be covered with tongue and groove boarding and eventually a thin steel sheeting in case of any stray sparks, Rod W

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  5. Another great report, although we do miss the Saturday report on the Monday morning, some of us have been quite worried about not getting that report, we need our Broadway "fix"! Now does the tamper machine actually be classed as a train? if so then then there's a £10 donation to the Broadway Station fund going in the box as some us have said that it is! Any way all good work by the team, we love the pictures as well.
    Regards
    Paul & Marion

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    1. When I was working on the SVR. As a signalman, we termed any vehicle(s) that could move under their own power and was capable of travelling through the section WAS a train. Regards, Paul.

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  6. It's great,to see the walls of the building,nearing completion!.I'm looking forward to seeing the steelwork,for the roof,and canopy,going up!.I,see the share issue,has speeded up,again!.Less than 100,50k,to go now!.All the Best!. Anthony.

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  7. Can we have photo taken from the signal box of the station building please

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  8. There was a blog on either the s&t or the extension page that included a good recent picture from the signal box viewpoint.

    Great news if the share issue is close to target. A measure of how much people really believe in backing a winner. Can't remember who said it but you can't stop an idea whose time has come.

    Just curious to ask, as would be terrible if the job list infront of you all got too short... but by how much would people need to over cook the share issue in order for you to decide to go all out on completing the stairs and waiting room and cannopy for platform 2?

    Can't wait to have a holiday in broadway next year to board a scheduled steam service to cheltenham for lunch.

    Well done for all the amazing efforts theough the worst months of the year.

    If i can ask for one thing on behalff of blog land, please can you give an update on drive side also next update? Would love to know how that sides coming along, as isn't covered by the camera.

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