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

Daisy your time is up !

Week Commencing 15th June 2026

Monday

4 around today , usual 3 plus Chris 

We have had over the past couple of weeks quite a few donations of plants and terracotta pots , all to brighten up the station. Kevin and Ian and Chris were seen potting up.

Myself was playing with the brush cutter behind platform 2.

Then mowing behind 1 

Bit further down Ian and Kevin started on the platform 1 embankment .

Its a case of platform 1 on Mondays and Platform 2 on Wednesday when the station is open.

Wednesday

 A wet start to the day , just the 4 again .

a couple of hanging baskets now hang next to the bridge stair case.

Mark and Ian had a go rubbing down the Fuel shed roof .

This was our mission today , time for the daisies to go .

Daises we going over , hidden within are the brambles , Ash trees and other weeds all getting a foot hold . Both Ian and myself with the brush cutters tackled the job.

More clay pots were filled with flowers and distributed around the station.

In his small greenhouse area decisions were being made , what and where .

Locos around today on a red timetable were " Manston " and 3850 .

Dave