Thursday 15 March 2018

Don't Panic

Wednesday 14th March 2018

With 16 days to Good Friday, opening day, we find there are still many things to do to make our new station presentable to our visitors.
We were able to get on with several tasks as the day remained dry, although turning dull & windy - a bit like me!

First a few shots taken by David H on Monday 12th, showing the contractors laying tarmac on Platform 1 & the driveway footpath.



Inside Work
Mike T & Mike S were busy rubbing down paintwork and putting a final gloss coat on window frames.
Graham  is seen also adding a final coat to the hatch frames in the booking hall.
Later Graham is putting more top coat on the frames of the main entrance door.
Contractors delivered furniture & installed it in the booking office.
Neal C is seen preparing one of 4 cast stands, to receive it's circular steel base. 
 This gives you an idea of how the stands will look in the booking hall with their lovely moulded wooden rails. The picture obviously shows a pair of unpainted stands. Painting to the GWR tradition will be an intricate job for our painters! The stands & rails, when installed, will be crowd barriers positioned 3ft back from the ticket hatches in the booking hall .

Outside Work
Clive brushes the kiln dried sand into the expansion gaps between slabs, front of building. Graham progresses with top coat on the frames to the main entrance.
Bob W is bedding in the frames for the inspection covers, front of building, making sure the covers will be flush with the paving slabs.                                                                                                                     
Mike S carefully replaces all the glass in the lamps lining the driveway footpath. Not one breakage here today with the platform lamps !                                                                                                        
 Now that the tarmacking is complete it's time to smarten up the white line on the platform edge. Before repainting a good clean with Bob's pressure washer is in order. It's doing the trick nicely.
 Our painters worked on the running in boards, with filler in some screw holes & tidying up the lettering, generally getting them to a nice finished state. Peter Q on platform 1 , north end; David H on platform 2 , south end; Brian T on Platform 1, north end.


Our Man for All Seasons contactor, Stevie W, came along to do a quick bit of landscaping on the slope between  platform 1 & the driveway footpath. Steve & his mate were very careful not to disturb our new tarmac surface!


Last but not least:- Terry, John S, Rod, Keith & Hong Kong Ron toiled all day laying more paving slabs to the north of the station building. They made great progress, with time slipping away always at the back of their minds.
 First pic. shoes a section of platform prepared with blinding sand, levelled to 3" below required surface level & nicely compacted by Clive with the whacker plate. All ready for slab laying.
 Second & third pics. show careful levelling of slabs on beds of special mortar mix. Special because I made it, o.k.?
Final pic shows Keith & Ron getting the final area down to the right depth to receive some blinding  sand, the occasional high spots being encountered.

The Permanent Way gang can be seen at the North end of the railway, behind Keith & Ron. They were busy tidying up the ballast around the sleepers - a tedious job. No doubt Jo R will have covered their operations in detail.

Finally:
BAG have often been asked by the general public what were our jobs before volunteering at Broadway, & what is the average age of the group. I am conducting a survey amongst the 40 or so BAG members to help answer these two questions. It may take another 2 blogs before the results are available.


Paul Carter


6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the news.

    The tarmac surfacing has made a huge difference to the Station Approach and to the platforms. A great move forward.

    I suppose the biggest job to complete is the paving to the north of the station building. The interface between the paving stones and the tarmac looks to me a bit of a challenge. Good luck with it.

    The weather forecast doesn't look too good, does it ? Let's hope your work isn't seriously delayed.

    Peter

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  2. All looking great!

    Is there a plan to get the 2 running in boards to match each other in terms of letter height and spacing?

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  3. The special mix by you must be good! The deadline approaches and yes some of you are starting to worry, however we all have faith in you to get the station ready. It must seem like painting the Forth Bridge with no end of little jobs to be done, then some have to be done in a certain order before the next job is done and then if the volunteer is there to do the job! Panic not! However far you get to the opening with the jobs we must all remember this is done by volunteers giving up their own time whenever possible. You have all been inspirational in your efforts to complete a huge project. Very well done to all and your work is being admired by all, many thanks for all your efforts.
    Regards
    Paul & Marion

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  4. Excellent progress. The platform looks so much better now - helps keep the weeds away too! Pea gravel would have been a continual maintenance task.
    Looking forward to seeing the barriers painted and installed. They are wonderful replicas.
    The platform seats look great too; well done C&W.
    Well done to you all!
    Regards, Paul.

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    Replies
    1. Two of the barriers are originals found in the rubble at. Broadway which makes it even better.

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  5. The crowd barriers,will look lovely,when installed,and painted!.The SVR,have some good ones,at Kidderminster,and Bewdley!.I,do remember seeing them,at stations,back in the 1950s/60s!.The platform 1,running in board,really looks the business!. Anthony

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