Another Season nearly over

Wednesday 30th October 2019

That is it for the Wednesday gang this year for watching the trains pulling in and out of the station. No more till next year , we will miss them , and the station too has just 3 more operating days until the shut down .

Dinmore Manor was on duty today, here getting ready to run round the train on its last visit of the day.

On Monday a handful of Volunteers saw Tony trying out his new toy.

Why have 2 or 3 brushing the pine needles when you can blast them into heaps with the aid of a 4 stroke engine powered blower. but as ever you need a trusty man with a wheelbarrow , to ship them back to a potential bonfire.

Pats turn !

Only other person in was Dave.

First he gave the barriers a coat of dark stone around the outside and then the new Hayles Abbey running board a first coat of black.

Wednesday the usual suspects attended , A bit of a tidy up job was being carried out by Keith and Clive.

It involved taking soil from the soil heap on the drive and infilling the trench that had been created by the S and T behind the sign on Platform 2 

Several journeys through out the day were needed sure they both got their 100000 steps in !

Peter Q having delivered the portable screens to Winchcombe met up with Dave , Brian and Ray at Hayles Abbey Halt to collect the sign . The sign had to be cut into 3 pieces for transport ease. And then brought to Broadway for deconstruction.

You can see how much the wood had started to deteriorate and the paint had peeled off several sections. All that needed doing was the recovery of the letters. The letters we found had been attached by security screws , no challenge there then. The rest of the sign was consigned to the bonfire.

All letters removed , they were given a rub down and a fresh coat of paint applied. We just have to remember which order to put them back !

As its Halloween tomorrow , has anybody noticed our Broadway ghost ?

About halfway down the Station building , the white shape stands forever waiting for the train.

Or is it just a trick of the light ?

Spooky Saturday

26th October

Yellow warning rain/rain and more rain, would it be a spooky day. The station had mist about it.

There was a strange thing in the Booking Office alias Rob D, will it frighten the passengers away?? I was dressed as Count Dracula and this was my Monster.

It did not happen most trains were reasonably filled.. Course there was more going on down the line at Winchcombe. First train in at Broadway was hauled by 9466 perhaps this was the Ghost Train

The other Steam Train was 4270 with the chocolate and cream rake. Who do I find in the buffet car but Mike S, perhaps he flew in from Hogwarts.

Vic

Wet & Dry

Monday 21st October

Not many in at Broadway Station today. 3 volunteers who according to the weather forecast were expecting a dry day got thoroughly wet.

Tony and Peter K fixing the fence supports to the container compound, that is for recycle and rubbish that is collected when the station is open. Vic trying to move some of the top soil around the drive area.
Other team members were at Winchcombe and Toddington.

Peter Q, Dave and Brian were at Churchward house, Winchcombe doing a bit of stud wall erecting, no pictures of the before but one of during and one of the final work.

Wednesday 23rd October

Today was very misty to start with but eventually the sun came out, also a large contingent  of volunteers.

An area was cordoned off for grass seed to be applied which will have picnic benches. Also later a sweep of pine needles was made to clean up the drive.

Painting

Ray was the painter today whilst Dave and Pete were working on a running in board.

Brian was sorting out one of the storage containers and Pat was cutting the grass on platform 2.

It was a busy day passenger wise, keeping me busy as Station Assistant meeting and greeting folk as they arrived. The "Goods Shed" had many visitors and purchased a few items to help FOBS in their fund raising. (Thank You).

Vic

Change in the air

Wednesday 16th October 2019

Weather was very changeable over the last two volunteering days . Monday saw three attend on a wet and blustery day . 

Dave hid himself in workshop container painting the crowd barriers and cutting wood in between the showers for the New Hayes Abbey Halt Running in Board. Pat was somewhere around the embankments destroying vegetation as per norm.

During the day we had two visits from 50035 Ark Royal, I was told it was for the benefit of the owners group, shame it wasn't a better day for them .

Wednesday the volunteers split between vegetation clearing and wood working / painting.

Keith and Dave , and elsewhere Peter K were seen on the embankment of platform 1 removing the weeds. Its a bit of a knee and ankle killer so later they started clearing up the drive.

Same wheelbarrow but different motive power,Keith instead of  the usual ( Ron and Clive )

All delivered to Tony on  bonfire duty

Dave having fitted feet to the barriers handed them over to Peter for undercoating.

Outside the tongue and groove had been fitted to the frame and that too had been primed

By going home time Pete had finished the first coat and they were  all parked up drying nicely.

During the day and during a clear spell in the sky ( makes a change ) we heard the familiar noise ( for some ) of a pair of B 52 `s heading north , a quick grab of the camera I managed to catch the last one.

Just the one Steam engine today which was 7903  " Foremarke Hall  " here arriving at Broadway with the afternoon train.

Only the Few

Wednesday 9th October 2019

Monday saw a grand total of 3 volunteers on site , but at the most only 2 at one time , must be a sign of things to come.

Dave finished putting the frame together for the new Hayles Abbey halt Running board , and then primed and undercoated the one side. Called away on an domestic errand that then left Tony on his own ! But later Pat turned up, to carry on with the clearing of the excess vegetation.

Wednesday , a nice day weather wise and we were up to 6 volunteers , it saw Tony and Chris tending to the hedge behind platform 1 

Whilst Clive was doing the long walk from the southern end of platform 2 to the bonfire.

As well as the frame being painted on the other side , the three chippies had a project to make a removable barrier for Winchcombe Station .

Dave did the cutting , whilst Peter did a bit of grooving and Brian pointed out the error of his ways.

4 panels later it was time to paint them.

The weather changed and the panels were taken inside to be  painted, Peter shown doing number 3 and on the right the frame for Hayles Abbey Halt , a lot longer than the Broadway sign but a lot narrower.

And that was about it , you can only do so much with that amount of  volunteers . but at least we had a Steam engine to watch.

Needles Galore

Wednesday 2nd October 2019

The weather on Monday always threatened to do something , which is why only 4 of us turned up. It was the usual sweep the platform and drive by Tony and Ron of the pine needles and fallen twigs etc.

The  heaps started to appear on the drive  after the platform 1 had been done.

Heaps got bigger further down the drive.

Dave had given one of the bins lick of paint on the missed bits and then used his wheel barrow to carry the fallen needles away. 

To the great bonfire

This was only the aftermath of a huge pile , it was way above the height of the old table .

And on Wednesday we did it all again !

Elsewhere on Monday Peter Q took to doing a bit of tiling in the kitchen .

Filing in the gap between the unit and door up to height of the existing tiles.

Wednesdays weather was better and more volunteer's turned out. and my cameras battery went flat so apologizes no pictures from today .

Dave and Brian were working out how to make a new running board for Hayles Abbey Halt , which has got the weather attacking it in various places.

Peter completed the grouting on his tile work.

Various volunteers had their line side examination.

And more pine needles and vegetation was cleared and sent to yet another Bonfire.

One picture that I took from my Phone was of Dinmore Manor running around its train .

Just a quick note , I have seen a lot of comments regarding the Cameras sometimes not working. first they are not security cameras , the Station has its own security system and cameras. The cameras on the Blog are only there to watch the action at the station. Secondly the service provided by the host " IP Camera Live " needs to be authenticated by me every so often to keep them on line and working through the blog. I get emails from them requiring me to say do I still want the service. I okay it and away we go for x amount of days. Sometimes I may miss one of there emails so be patience ! I do try and check everything is working most days . Dave