Happy Anniversary

Wednesday 27th March 2019

Tomorrow it will be ten years since the first Blog was written concerning the rebuilding of Broadway Station . In those days it was called " Steaming to Broadway " then  " Broadway Station Rebuild " and now " Broadway Maintenance Team " Bill Briton wrote the first one and many more after , and below is the link to the first blog .

http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/broadway-first-working-party-day.html

It shows the two original Portakabins , one which is still the mess hut and the other which eventually became the office , also the request for yet more volunteers. 

If you have more time click the Button  " Newer Blogs ",  and read and see what has happened  over the years to get where we are to today .

Our lovely little Station Basking in the spring sunshine .

But work still carries on.

Monday saw a healthy amount of volunteers attending ,most headed to bottom of the stairs on Platform 1 to carry on with the laying of the paving slabs. 

It looked like Neal had been busy erecting spear fencing from the gate post towards the wall , a smaller panel needs to be constructed now to reach the far post . But as soon the gang arrived all was taken down as it was in the way of the  " slabbers ".

But first all these slabs needed somewhere to drain too !

Rod and Terry provided a covered gully on the left hand side of the stairs which drains into the existing feed from the down pipes from the footbridge.

 

Wednesday saw the right hand side have edging slabs placed to square of the area under the stairs , this follows the line of the spear fencing.A steady stream of slabs made the way to where Paul did the cutting , Keith and Paul took them back to the slab layers and edging gang , I am sure it kept them fit.

Paul Cutting under Tony's watchful eyes

As I had mentioned early Pete K set about making the smaller panel.

Pete doing what Pete does best .

After he had finished  it was handed over to Mike who had a rest from the cleaning and undercoating of the roof panels for the stairs , and primed the new spear fencing panel.

Mike on the undercoating

Over the other side of Mike, The Carpentry team were putting together the two remaining GWR Benches. They had been stored in the container for quite a while now  , slowly being painted and waiting for a not so busy day to be put together and finished.

They are not the easiest things to put together , first you need somewhere flat  , then you need to lay down to drill upwards through frame and wood and then they start to get heavier so moving them around soon becomes awkward .

As seen in the first picture Dave is pointing out poor Brian laying underneath .

Second Picture they have to be tested for Rigidity as Peter is now demonstrating . The embankments having been cut back left two large mound of old trees and bushes which on Monday and Wednesday became large bonfires .

Lower down Pat was cutting down what the Brush cutter had missed.

Elsewhere Vic was creating a new garden and doing general tidying

John B was in the Friends of Broadway shop sorting out all things donated .

During the day the scaffolders arrived to erect the scaffolding around the stair cases , they started on the Platform 2 side, which all you armchair station watchers will see has interfered with the camera view of the station.

Please bear with us until I can re position the camera to a suitable position, it will be moved as soon as possible.

The Return of Old Friends

Wednesday 20th March 2019

Firstly John B sent me a picture last Friday of " Dinmore Manor "  , pulling one of the first ever race trains to run from  Broadway.

Back to Monday and Wednesday,

A welcome return for a large group of Volunteers that were the backbone of Slab and Bricklaying at Broadway for many years . they had returned from doing similar work at Toddington and Winchcombe.To start on the slabbing around the base of Platform 1 stairs.

Clive seen here surveying the area to be slabbed .

Later the team of Rod, Terry, Clive, Bob, Keith and with Paul doing the cutting had made a good start.( lots of fiddly bits around the end of the stringers and posts )

Somewhere along the platform edge Mike was nearly finished repainting the white line .He has probably been in the last few blogs doing the same thing !! They are long platforms .

Interrupting Mike once in a while on Monday , was the Class 73 Electro Diesel doing a spot of shunting .

One of the many passes this time with a wagon with old slabs .

Pete and Dave changed the Surround on the Running In Board to a more traditional one that were made up by our good friends in Carriage and Wagon .After fitting more paint was applied at the rear of the Board by Dave whilst Pete gave the Surround an extra coat of white . Only the black needs a touch up and that will be another job done.

Peters coat is showing signs of what he has been up to.

Elsewhere we left Ray all alone in Cabin 2 painting the New timetable holder and then he started on painting the new bench legs, all in Chocolate .

The new Timetable Holder ,temporary put up for the weekends trains.

On the Drive , Peter K and Tony was clearing tree debris and sweeping up more needles , same as the previous working days .afterwards Tony cleaned out and tided the tool store .

Better keep it this way lads or else !!

Over the past week we have had the contractors clearing the undergrowth from the embankment towards the Springfield road bridge.All this is done by one man and his remote controlled tracked brush cutter. Below is the contractor heading down the west side and the second picture high on the embankment deep in probably 2 to 3 years growth since the volunteers did it by hand .

This is what it was looking like as we went home , the contractor is still at it ,somewhere in the distance but it looked like a very good job well done .

I have found a picture of when we last did back in October 2014 !

I have been told by John Blofield that next weeks Blog could be 10 years since we wrote our first Blog regarding the start of building of Broadway Station .I will check it out and post some picture and information from the past in our next Blog .

Off to the Races

Wednesday 13th March

Only seven Broadway volunteers in today, but we did get a number of visitors.

Gold Cup Train 

One of three trains running on Friday, two from Toddington and one from Broadway. Lots & lots of Champaign.

That should help the Race Goers know where they are sitting.

Running in Board

The board nearly complete was placed back up on its columns. Just the finishing touches to do.

Driveway

Tony and Peter Q took a tape measure between them and measured the completed tarmac area.

Carpentry

Peter, Dave & Paul discussing the requirements for the finishing touches in the kitchen.

Storm Gareth

As usual with the high winds and rain, lots of debris around the Station. Vic, Peter Q and Paul pushed the brooms and collected all the bits and built a bonfire. Vic also found a fallen tree and with the right tools cut up for transportation.

Visitors

The P/Way team were making sure the turnouts were in good working order. Also Graham tried his London Bus over the new speed humps. Shook him and the bus.

The Pine trees also had a follow up inspection to gauge how they were fairing.

The 'Goods' Shed

Steve was in checking new deliveries and preparing for opening this weekend. If you can visit he would warmly welcome any new deliveries or purchases. Proceeds all go to The Friends of Broadway Station.

Cheltenham Race Course

Vic after a mornings work at Broadway when to man one of the pedestrian crossings, do not want any one getting run over by a train. Two locos were on duty P&O and Foremark Hall. Doesn't she look well polished.

Finally

The signs of Spring with Daffodils out, the Snow Drops fading, we now have Primroses in full bloom.

Vic (your blog reporter)

Getting Ready

6th March 2019

Mondays shot of the Station Area

With 3 days to go before the opening of the Railway and Station for the 2019 season, meant there was still many out standing jobs to do in and around the station.

3 volunteers on Monday did some general housework , Tony cleaned all the windows , Dave finished off some odd jobs in the kitchen and Mike the painter also touched up the paint work in the same area.

After Mike gave the white line at the end of Platform 1 a fresh coat of paint.

Also around on Monday and Tuesday were Neal and his team replacing the bolts holding the hoops to the stringers with rivets.

Platform 2 staircase , metal work virtually finished

Wednesday saw more volunteers attending , a lot more clearing of the drive and station platforms needed to be done.Ray swept the ( now finished ) drive and pavement whilst Peter did the same on the Platform.

Pat meanwhile took to the task of digging the area by the entrance , ready for the sowing of grass seed .

Mid morning was the first of two deliveries of wood to be used on  the Stairs. 

The best place to store it in the dry was on top of the station ceiling, this delivery is the wood that going to be used for the dagger boards that will be coming down the stairs. wont be needed for a while. so time to dry out properly. The second delivery is the wood that links the top of the hoops to each other , to which the dagger boards are fixed to.

We had hoped to refit Platform 2 Running in Board , but on examination of the actual posts it was found that they had actually never had a top coat of paint applied. 

We found a man for the job

Anyway it gave Peter under Graham watchful eye to apply another coat of white to the letters on the Running in Board.

After that Pete and Dave turned their attention to putting together two more benches which have been in storage since before Christmas.

Weather brightened up later so all the platform furniture which had wintered under canopy was cleared and put in there respective positions on the Platform.

Leaving the Station cleared and ready for the new season, hope to see you soon !