Maintenance Week 2

 Week Commencing 11th November 2024

    Monday on platform 2 saw the wagons waiting to be filled with spoil , more rows of red bricks will be added today and on the Wednesday.

5 volunteers turned out on a cool Autumn day , including our new volunteer Kevin.

2 new benches for the station had been delivered . That takes the total to 4 now , 2 in the mess hut and now these 2 . After a bit of deliberation on what should be put where for safe keeping , it was decided the new ones would be put in the mess hut. 

One of the 2 in the mess hut could be put under the station canopy and the other in the signal box , Ian and Kevin shifted the 2 two to the mess and the platform 2 lads moved the lighter one to the box .

The left hand one is a GWR bench and the one being lounged on by Ian is of the Midland type

Afterwards Ian and Kevin took to the track bed racking up 3 wheelbarrows of pine needles

Vic was on the driveway fence again. Mike was also on the spear fencing.

Myself headed to the warmth of the ladies to rub down and prime the worst of the running board.

Afterwards fixed the sticking station masters door handle.

Wednesday

Just the 3 of us Ian , Mike and Myself.

The board was good enough for the first coat of light stone .

Whilst the can was open one of the rubbish bins had its side repainted .

Ian finished of the day giving the tops of the benches a coat of preservative.

We actually had a Locomotive at the station today.

Foremarke Hall was seen on a test run after having had work done on its cylinders , first run saw it stop outside the station and on its return it picked up the 2 trucks which were now full of spoil and take them down to Toddington for disposal.

Dave

End of Season Maintaince part 1

 Week Commencing 4th November 2024

Monday

An healthy 6 of us turned up on the first Monday after the last trains of this years season .

The Tuesday being Bonfire night it was decided to have one of our own .Unfortunately it was a bit of a damp squib , too much wet stuff underneath it just smouldered all day and created a lot of smoke. Sorry to the neighbours !

This time of year sees the platform furniture get moved temporarily undercover . Viv did the bins .

Myself and Ian did the benches.

Pat was seen planting Daffodil bulbs on the bank behind platform 2.

One job that needed to be done was the treating of the wooden fence up the drive , luckily Vic doesn't mind the smell and so he started at the top , it should keep him out of mischief for the next couple of weeks.

A new board was being filled in by Ian listing the jobs we hoped to do over the 2 shutdown periods , weather permitting.

Below saw Pat giving ( hopefully ) the grass behind platform 1 a final cut. The running board post , to the left is without its running in board . The rear of the board has some areas that need attention so it has been removed to the Ladies toilet to fully dry out , then it will be repainted.

All quiet on the station platform, all benches except 1 are now undercover.

Nearly forgot Mike and Peter , they were way down the other end of the platform , giving the spear fencing a new lease of life , paint wise.

Over on platform 2 looks like more rows of reds have appeared ,, mostly at the front.

A little job before we went home was a quick refurbish of the leaflet holder from the board at the bottom of the drive , a strip down , a rubdown and a repaint with undercoat all in less than an hour.

I had things to do on Wednesday so I don't know what happened and nobody has kept me informed .

With none of our Locomotives around this week , there is nothing to show, but last weekends, I a visit to the Avon Valley Railway , and I managed to see this little beauty , fresh from its overhaul .

Dave

Week before the Showcase

 Week Commencing 21st October 2024

Monday

Just the 3 of us on the Monday, and after yet more wet and windy weather the drive way , which the custoners first see was looking a little bit grubby .

Before anybody arrived a big sweep up of the carpark.

Leaving Ian at Broadway with " Billy " .Pat and Myself headed to Toddington to do a Gas bottle change on rakes 1 and 2 ready for the weekend . Of course they were round the awkward way , as you can see below Pat has to lie down to attach the gas pipes to the new bottles  ,its awkward on both rakes , at least it wasnt raining like last time we did it !

Ian was still at it when we arrived back at Broadway

Drive way done it was on to the platforms .

Wednesday

Over on platform 2 , the other false door way had been erected , the blues had been finished and the rows of reds started. plus a delivery of some of the window sills had appeared.

5 around today , but not much to do , so we had a last ride on the DMU which will be moving on after the Autumn Showcase this weekend.

The weather stops the lighting of the bonfire which grows higher every week , we can only have one on the none running days and when the wind blows from the south , maybe next week.

Locos around today were  " P and O " and of course the DMU.

Im spending my Saturday and Sunday as a crossing Monitor down at Cheltenham , so if you want a chat regarding whats happening at Broadway I will be glad to answer any questions Etc .

Dave

They`re Back !

Week Commencing 14th October 2024

Monday 

Just the four of us , and we were amazed to see the station clocks were back , it must have hapened last Friday when the station was on a none running day . Anyway its nice to see them back and working.

One of our on going jobs was to fix our neighbours post , which had been hit and broken by either the dustbin waon or a coach ! a replaceement post had been sourced and the old one dug out and replaced.

Around the damp station worked continued !

Pat and Ron on his last day  ( before returning home to Hong Kong ) took to the track bed and platform 2 clearing away the pine needles !

Wednesday

A gloomy wet day , saw just Ian and Myself pottering around the station.

Over on platform 2 some more Plynth headers at the front had been laid and a few reds had appeared on the far end .

Scaffolding had returned first thing on Wednesday ! The hour hand on the one side was out of alignment ! All got sorted before the station opened.

Having a sort out in the mess hut revealed an old photograph of the station drive way from back in the day , it looked much nicer and had that country station feel ! Shame it had to change.

Locomotives around today were "3850 " and the DMU.

Dave

More volunteers for a change !

 Week Commencing 7th October 2024

Monday

Sunny start to the day compared with last week , 4 of us around , plus some action over on platform 2 !

Ron and Ian were still sorting out the drains around the station , some still needed a good clean out .

Drain covers were lifted and given a clean out too. 

Wednesday

Not a pleasant day , very overcast and the threat of rain in the air , but we had a good turn out !! What to do on a miserable day ?

Bob did a bit of weeding and tidying up on the bottom garden

Chris did the platform edging

We all did the garden at the end of platform 1 , giving it an extreme make over .

Spare grasses were taken down to the bottom garden , just need a bit of colour down there now .

Pat was heard cutting down brambles and shrubbery in the distance , only drowned out when the trains appeared .

Which today was " P and O " and the soon to go to new  pastures the DMU

Dave