Who do we sent the bill to ?

 Week Commencing 27th July 2026

Monday

3 of us on the Monday after the weekends Diesel Gala . One biggish problem was one of the locomotives ( not found out which one yet ) had a turbo failure and it carried on running .

The whole of platform 1 was covered in spots of oil , just like the running in board , the lamps, electrical boxes and the seats.

The platform where it stopped had a liberal amount .

Kevin applied some sand on the area and Ian and Myself got the old towels and gave everything we could find a clean up . Which all took a few hours out of the day.

Little and often on the bank behind platform 2

Having given away one of our wheelbarrow ( as we have too many ) to Winchcombe , we then acquired another one . Peter K put a new wheel and axle on a found scrap one. Looking smart

Photo Charter pulled in to break the day up !

Wednesday

I got to the end of the wall before the sun got going.

The neighbours had the gardeners in cutting the hedge , and Kevin had a go on our side mainly cutting back the brambles and ivy .

Ian now in charge of our fleet of wheelbarrows had the idea of painting BMT on them in case they wandered off .

Due to the dryness of the trackside we are still running Diesels , today was the turn of 26043 and 47105

Over on platform 2 the blocks between the Joists were being fitted.

Dave

Gala week

 Week Commencing 20th July 2026

Diesel Gala weekend coming up so a quick tidy up all round .

Monday

3 again , myself , Ian and Chris.

Chris took to the car park garden , removing dead flowers and weeds .

Billy had a turn picking up the many pine needles on the drive and pavement , the hot weather makes the trees drop their needles more than later in the year !

Wednesday

Up to 5 volunteers today , day started cool but it soon got hotter.

Managed to get the bank behind the containers cut.

Kevin tackled platform 1 , Chris was working on a new project , whilst Ian did a few odd jobs around the place !

No Steam engines around today due to the fire risk so it was the turn of the Diesels .

Both should be out at this weekends gala .

Dave

More the Same !

 Week Commencing 13th July 2026

Both volunteering days started off the same coolish mornings and hot afternoons ! so it was a case of do the hard stuff first thing and relaxing jobs in the afternoon.

Monday

Myself , Ian and Mark .

Top of the bank for me 

Bottom of the bank and the drive way for Mark .

And the Fuel store Roof for Ian.

Wednesday

Myself , Ian and Kevin.

The signs needed taking down to gain access to the other side of the fuel shed roof .

Roof done now the sides in the future coming months ?

My effort was the back of platform 2 before the sun got going .

" steamers  " on today Betton Grange and 3850.

We are hopping to show our Model railway of Broadway station circa 1940 ish ( Little Broadway ) at the model railway show in September , there has been a few mods to it since we acquired it , one is the fitting of a back scene .

I know its not exactly correct but I think it looks okay.

Ps why does the camera decide to stop working on the day after we were there !!

I will be back on Monday to sort . Have patience

Dave

Getting warm again !!

 Week Commencing 6th July 2026

Monday 

Hot

Wednesday 

Even Hotter !

Four of us around on Monday , some managed it into the afternoon , it was warm .

A badger had been around on the platform 1 bank looking for a snack in the old tree stump !

Chris wont find the badger in that pipe! there is no water for 50 yards but the old mess hut had a sink which has long since been taken out but water is still nearby  so he had a go ta fitting a tap .

The 3 of us headed down to the embankment to give it a tidy up .

Weeds and wild flowers are a growing faster than we can cope with .

Wednesday

Up to 5 at least till lunch time when the heat got too much for some.

Takes awhile to water the flowers , some like the creeping Jenny done seam to need any watering !

Some flowers in the pots haven't survived the heat , and Kevin had a some spares which he swapped .

Chris finished off the 2 A boards , just ready to be sign written maybe ?

Neal was on his own moving bricks off the platform 2 , it was back to the old days of brick moving for some ! move this pile of bricks 2 foot to that pallet , just like we used to do.

Over on platform 2 , drainage for the stairs has been put in and the 3 Stanchions for the canopy have been erected.

 

Locomotives on duty today were the Black 5 and 3850 .

It was with great sadness to hear of the passing away of Margaret , a Wednesday stalwart in our shed for may years , our condolences to her partner and family .

Dave

Too Few

 Week Commencing 29th June 2026

Monday 

Just the 2 of us , the keyboard warriors are having an effect on volunteer numbers .

Ian and I after watering the flowers decided to give the Memorial garden a cut and tidy up .

But first a wheel barrow was rebuilt , what The steam department think is scrap we fix and after a few hours of work its virtually good as new .

Wednesday

Kevin and Chris joined us .

Chris worked on the 2 new A boards varnishing the legs and blackening out the centres.

The remaining 3 of us moved on past the garden to try and clear the embankment . 1 at the top 1 in the middle and 1 at the bottom.

Locomotives on duty today were the Black 5 and 3850 .

An interesting train at the end of the day , saw the 2 Class 37 pulling 3850 on its return journey to Toddington

Dave

Far Too Hot

 Week Commencing 22nd June 2026

Monday and only Monday

A Bit of a hot one this week caused the railway to shut up shop till the weekend .

Just myself and Ian on Monday the rest ???

Plenty of straw from the adjacent field had blow over the fence and landed on the platform . weird !

A gas bottle change on rake 2 at Toddington and we were back , the sun beat down and Neil said to Ian that he needed sun cream on top of his head  . A bit too much I think. 

The rest of the Morning before it got too hot was spent on the Drive way grass , by early afternoon the sun got too much and we headed home.

Dave