End of Another Year

16th  December 2020

A hardy bunch of volunteers turned out in atrocious this Wednesday , it rained most of the day but there was still work being done around the station .

But first to Monday .

Bit of an emergency !

Water had been heard running below one of the electrical service boxes .The pipe had somehow become disconnected below ground. The pipe was pulled out ! with the water turned off Dave managed to dig down to the fixing but was unable to unscrew the collar.

Next one to have a go was Tony , still it wasn't shifting , finally Brian with his vice like grip managed to slackening it of . It was was all cleaned off and reinstated , water turned on and after no leaks were found the stop tap at the bottom of the pipe was turned off ready for the winter. 

Over on platform 2 Mike and Brian were undercoating the latest panels . 

 

I did notice the gate had been hung at the top of the stairs leading to the locking room. Peter K is in the progress of making the latch side.

And so to Wednesday , it was raining when we got there it was raining when we left !

But first we had to do a bit of shifting , the station will open for customers from the 27th December to the 3rd of January so out comes all the Station Furniture

First the benches and then the bins.

No time to rest when we had a delivery of aggregate.

Vic was the filler of Barrows

   Dave and Peter the Movers 

All this was taken to the end of Platform 2 where Ron, Terry and Keith were working on the installation of the edging slabs.

By the finish of the days work the previously dug trench had been dug a lot deeper and 3 off edging slabs had been installed. Next time its the beginning of the ramp.

Elsewhere out of the rain Ian and Dave were doing a bit of Wheel barrow Maintance, and Peter K was in container number 2 making a special sized spear fencing.

And outside in the rain Pat was doing a bit of Brush Cutter Maintenance, and down the drive Peter Q was weeding

Well that was about it come 2 o clock , people had started to drift away ( was it because we had had enough of the rain ) it was time to pack up for another year .

But finally the ones that were left decided to give all our readers a Wave.

And wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.
 

One More Week to go!

 Wednesday 9th December

Pat our maintenance man was checking out the motors and as can be seen by the short grass on the embankments he has been very busy.

Terry, Rod and Tony were again on platform 2 working on the South slope. Digging out a trench, placing slabs as a stop edge and filling up with concrete.

The  Finished edging at the bottom of the ramp

 

 

The trench dug ready for the slabs up the slope to the existing edging.

Pete, Vic & Brian were on the drive embankment removing unwanted plants with Dave & Ian moving the wheel barrows with rubbish to the bonfire.

The station looking very quiet.

Mike and Peter K were erecting more palisade fencing and adding paint. Sorry no photo the camera played up.

Finally someone regaining his childhood, jumping in puddles.

See you next week.

Back To Broadway Pt 2

 Wednesday 2nd December 2020

A cold and damp Morning greeted a healthy group of volunteers back to Broadway station, after a while  the break of 4 weeks just seamed like as a memory as there was plenty to do. everybody carried on with their previous jobs.

First there was a job for the lifters and shifters , the delivering of the two finished spear fencing panels up Rod, Terry and Keith. 

 Meanwhile Rod was checking out the Motorized Auger after its rest.

 Panels delivered , post crete delivered ,  they were soon erected.

The rest of the team had the brushes and brooms out . Brian ,Dave and Ian down the station drive. Chris and Dave on the Station car park.

After the drive Brian and Dave headed onto platform 1 

Where did all the debris end up , on the Bonfire manned by Tony

Peter was in a world of his own digging out weeds from the embankment. Pat was somewhere to the North of the station with his brush cutter.

Peter K was constructing the new slopping spear fencing panels  for the south side of the fencing , these will follow on eventfully down the ramp. Mike then applying the red oxide.

Talking of the ramp . After they had finished Rod, Terry and Keith moved over some slabs in readiness. The area around the ramp needs tiding up before the fencing can be erected , that's next weeks job , weather permitting . 

We had decided before the lockdown that we were only going to attend on Wednesdays so the blogs will be short and sweet.

But lastly a Xmas Quiz , or a Quiz for Christmas .

20 questions relating to Movies with a railway touch , name the Movies ( or films  ) from these contrived clues.

1.  Stuck in rural Cornwall.

2.  Home is the Gare Montparnasse.

3.  2 girls and a boy.

4.  A monster on board.

5.  Keeping the line open.

6.  Chasing the Union.

7.  CSX8888 incident.

8.  Going home the hard way.

9.  Was she on board ?

10. Buggleskelly

11. A trip to see Santa.

12. Hijacking a Freight train.

13. Romance on a Northern Station.

14. 88 MPH

15. They all did it !

16. Save the Art

17. Subway Train Hijack .

18. Suicide train to Hastings.

19. Over and over again .

20. Exchanging Murders .

First prize is a Mince pie of your choice 

Second prize is 2 Mince pies of my choice.

Its just for Fun , good luck.

A Walk to Honeybourne ( and back )

 Its Lockdown 2 , there is no volunteer work until December ( hopefully ) It had been raining for days and I needed a walk .

The weather looked okayish for Monday and the call of  Broadway and the Honeybourne line pulled me.

I have walked most of the route in bits and bobs , so lets go from Broadway to the Main line railway bridge at Honeybourne in one go and make a video, looking at the condition of the track bed and see what's left .

This is my short video of the route starting at Springfield lane , the quality is what you would get after 2 days of learning how to use video editing software so don't moan please.

The distance is approx 4.2 miles ( and 4.2 miles back , plus walking from the station ) and I was joined  ( as per government guidelines ) for part of the route by Pat . 

Below are some of the more interesting finds from our walk .

The Start the other side of the fence from the station.

A small brick hut , not far from the West loop sidings , it had redundant electrical boxes , scatted outside.

Remains of the signal box lay not far away

 

Plenty of old electrical boxes hidden in the undergrowth

The Site of Western Sub Edge Halt was given away by the nearby Corsican Pines

About a mile from Broadway station , what I thought was a trig point turned out to be a marker for Water !

Not much else around , the usual few old fencing rails and old bits of sleepers , any signs of Willersley halt looks to have totally vanished.

 Must go back and have a good look.

Shutting up Shop

 Week Commencing 2nd November 2020

With the news of 2nd lookdown happening on Thursday then the possibility of no trains till December it was decided to put the Station into Hibernation so to speak . A bright Morning saw the usual suspects at Broadway today , it was going to be their last Monday anyway as the Winter days draw in, the jobs around the Station get less and less. It had already been decided that we were only going to attend on Wednesdays till the spring.

First job was to get the all our benches under cover .

Sack trucks out.

Brian and Peter doing the driving , Tony and Dave doing the lifting.

Benches first the the bins all put under the canopy , out of the ravagers of the winter weather.

One bench we cant move ( as its bolted down ) is wrapped up.

Pete having a rest !

and its only 9.30am

After the recent storm over the weekend it was on to the drive for a quick brush up .

Tony , Peter and Brian on the brushes , Dave on the wheelbarrow. 

Many hands made light work and it was looking a lot better by lunch time , for now at least.

Elsewhere Mike and Ian were continuing the painting of the various types of fencing.

The wind had brought down an old Hazel bush at the top of platform 2 embankment , Dave and Tony armed with loppers and saws headed to tidy the area up.

Funny how the people with the log burners suddenly turn up.

Wednesday started with a frost, the team that were putting up the spear fencing were there early and soon on the go, once they had signed in.

Its signing in on your phones nowadays.

First Hole of the day , Terry with his arm down the hole, Rod on Auger , Ian and Keith the lifters and fetchers and Tony making sure everything is going to plan .

 They managed to fit 3 spear fencing panels on that side ,stopping where a gate post will eventually go. and after lunch and after Peter K had manufactured some attachments to the existing post , they started on the other side of the signal box.

Rods picture at close of the day , three panels on the left and five on the right.

Cue Mike with his pot of paint ready to touch up the parts missed.

He also gave the new post a lick of paint.

Down the drive and on platform 1 , Peter Q and Dave were giving the area a final tidy up ready before lock down , I wonder what its going to be like in a months time. Pat was down the track with his bush cutter , heard but not seen.

So that was it on our last day for a month !

Stay safe everyone .

See you in December

Dave