Thursday 7 September 2017

Round the Bend !

Wednesday 6th September 2017


The day started overcast and we had an odd shower but in the end it was quiet a pleasant day for the 18 of us who turned out today, a bit low on numbers as it must still be holiday season for most.

A photo from the one of the previous days work, shows that the all the shuttering from both chimneys has now been removed.


Soon the scaffolding will be removed from around the chimneys to allow for the commencement of the installation of the roof sheeting.

Talking of roof sheets, today we saw them finally delivered.



Luckily Steve and his trusty "JCB" was close by to help with the unloading or we could have been in for a long day !


Later the Telehandler arrived and placed the first pile onto the top of the scaffolding in the anticipation of start soon.

Before that can be commenced the guttering has to be fitted,plus the woodwork needs yet more second and top coats

 Mike and Graham giving the dagger boards another coat and above their heads Neal has been installing the brackets to hold the guttering.

Graham giving the gable end now a top coat .



Before the sheets go on Brian also went around the both sides of the roof structure fitting an angled wedge of wood to help with sitting of the sheets not on an edge, but on a more flatter surface.















The arrival of more tongue and grooved wood meant the carpentry team of Peter Q, Dave H and Brian T could start the construction and fitting of the remaining dagger boards on the platform side. Below Pete is seen cutting the drip slots in the last 9 dagger boards.







As we approached the corner a bit of fine adjustment for the corner boards to make sure they will look right, after a bit of head scratching the first of the northern dagger boards has been fitted, we are now ready to start and complete the temporary north gable end. We have now gone round the Bend !!

Down the bottom of the drive Rod, Ron and Vic completed the previously started drainage troughs.



Vic is digging the trench for the pipe from the end of the trough, and then Rod created a suitable hole for it in the manhole, afterward everything was sealed with liberal amounts of concrete .Ron in the second photo has the job of diverting the BT cable duct over the drainage pipe.


Later John C assisted, putting the final lid on the trough, then more concrete was applied to hold everything in place.

Elsewhere around the site .


Previous working days saw the last of the GWR style lamps erected on platform 1, this position was were the carpenters temporary hut was.
They have now found a new home in the semi dry in what will be the canteen .










Pat and Brian continued the never ending task of cutting back the vegetation on the embankments.

Pat on the East Bank.







Julie and Steve were present in the shop with a steady stream of visitors.










Talking of visitors, can we thank Paul who visited our station today and brought us all a selection doughnuts. Paul is a regular Blog watcher, and comments on our progress and is an occasional visitor to our railway when time allows.

By the look of his face Paul "volunteer" is extremely happy to accept a doughnut of our visitor Paul.

And finally a view from the partly completed switch back to the station, in the distance Steve has been removing and leveling old ballast up to and around the end of the platforms .



The new ballast had been laid up to our mess huts, are they finally going to start between the platforms soon?













10 comments:

  1. Those chimneys are looking CRISP! Very nice. And good to hear that the sheeting is soon to be installed. Hope that the glazing follows shortly after!

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    1. Yes indeed, as you probably know, there was some disquiet on a certain railway preservation internet forum and also on GWSR sites when the original Broadway Station chimneys started to take shape and, whilst it is easy to dismiss some internet critics, no doubt some had put their money where their keyboards are and were not happy with non-GWR type station chimneys. Such criticisms should now be silenced as these new chimneys look superb and, as far as I can tell, very accurate. I concur with Peter's statement about the roofing sheets and I bet the Broadway Team can't wait to make the building weatherproof and get that expensive to hire scaffolding down. Winter will soon be here but, in the meantime, well done to the Team (again!).

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  2. Yes!The chimneys look very authentic GWR!.Of course!.Ballasting through the station,will have to wait,until the scaffolding,has been taken down.Hopefully,you'll be able to get the roof sheets,on before long. Anthony.

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  3. Hi the station is just looking amazing. I remember the first section of platform being built just great what's been achieved.
    Their must be a lot of rainwater runoff from the station building. In the future would you be able to channel that to an RO unit for a potential watering facility at broadway? ... free water

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  4. Click on the large image of Mike and Graham giving the dagger boards another coat and look past them; the tops of the window brickwork, and the canopy ironwork, look like they've been there 100 years! Hard to believe there was nothing there little more than a year ago! Fantastic work, all!!

    Noel

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  5. Are gutters cast iron or plastic?

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    1. If I remember the blog when the footbridge guttering went up, I believe it to be either cast iron or steel. Heavy at any rate. Regards, Paul.

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  6. I echo the already mentioned comments. The chimneys DO look good and are sadly missing from many so called restored buildings. The Canopy end boarding looks great too. But do not forget the drains and the shop. They are essential too. Regards, Paul.

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  7. Hello All, just back from our break and a big thanks to the team at Broadway. I checked in at 10:30 to see how many volunteers on site and arranged to return with the enough supplies at lunch time. On return Ron, Vic and Rod lent me a hard hat, I always have hi vis jackets in the car, and led me down to the mess hut and at the same time calling volunteers to lunch, some needed a second call! that is dedication to the cause. A mug of tea, a quick chat and they are all back at work! There is no time to loose at Broadway at the moment so it is all hands to the pump. So thanks one and all for allowing me the pleasure of meeting you all very briefly. I would not recommend just turning up at Broadway and hoping to have a look around, it is a building site with all the usual rules and reg's of a building site and the volunteers are all very busy, so there is no time to show people around, after all there is a deadline for them to meet! Keep watching the blog for the best views from the pictures and of course a fine commentary to boot! If you do pay a visit don't forget to go into Aunty Wainwrights for the latest in bargains and say hello to Julie and Steve, they also have the latest news for the day as well about the site. Again thanks for the time and tea last Wednesday on my flying visit to make the delivery promised last June! Keep up the good work there and see you all again soon.
    Regards
    Paul & Marion

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