Last of the Summer weather ?

 Week Commencing 21st September 2020

The last days of Summer saw a slight change in the weather , the sight that greeted the 4 who turned out on Monday saw the grey skies over the station. The first signs of Autumn ?

As I said just 4 today ( plus Jo doing his own thing with a bench ) , most taken to going on a last minute holiday whilst the weather is good.

As per the norm , its down to the drive for a quick Tidy and brush up.

But first a bit of wheelbarrow Maintance, one flat Tyre too many  saw Ian bring in a supposedly a non puncturable one to try out . Ron Fitted the said wheel and tyre . Okay its different and we will always spot you in the fog .

There it is !

It does what it says on the can , we will see.

Also down the drive was Brian on mower.

He was trying to give that side of the drive a quick cut but we had visitors in the shape of the tree surgeons ,

 Their task for the day was to remove one of the dying ? trees and trim some branches from one of the trees at the bottom of the drive. 

One of the problems they created was by letting large lumps of timber fall from a great height, was the when they did land on our nice grass patch it left sizable holes.

More on Wednesday

Back at the workshop, Dave was continuing removing the paint off the two bench supports.

We had been donated  an ex GWR bench , which was the 2 ends type , wood on the seat and feet was beyond saving  , the back two pieces will need a rub down and repainting. above shows  work in progress with the rubbing down.

Brian , Ian and Ron returned to the shade of the embankment to carry on with the on going Ivy removal.

Wednesday 

5 volunteers , rain and two trains .

Removing years of ivy and debris revealed a rather large lump of concreate , looks like this area was used as a dumping ground from when the station and platforms were demolished.

What started as one large lump turned into 2 wheel barrow of similar stuff , more will probably appear as time goes on.

Early  morning also saw the shifting of 4 completed spear fencing panels up the area by the signal box .

Peter K had a dry spot in the Portakabin today  he built more,  ready for the painters, who today were absent mainly due to the weather.

Getting a nice collection going , maybe next month we might start installing them.

Ian carried on with his  task of repairing the wheelbarrows , we have now got more working wheel barrows than volunteers to use them ! 

Ron and Ian surveyed the area where the tree had been removed and set about repairing the holes in the ground . Sourcing a bit of top soil ( not an easy task ) they managed to fill 2 or 3 of the worst ones then applied grass seed . Hopefully the area will recover.

Dave also in the dry , completed the bench ends . A bit of cure rust on the worst parts then a coating of red oxide. eventually to be painted Dark brown to match the existing benches that we have on our platform.

Two Locos today 

It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Monday 14th September 

Well every picture tells a story. Is there a mist down the line?

No it's Dave's bonfire, which with a Southerly wind should have floated the other way.

The usual team was down the driveway, clearing pine needles, removing weeds and cutting grass.

Four lads trying to make their arms longer, moved several spear fence panels down to the signal box.

Ian set to and cleaned out the station telephone box. Which spider did that? Cobwebs galore!

Chris was soring out some of the wiring in the Bric a Brac shop.

Jo was painting another bench.

Vic was also doing his usual looking after the flower beds and watering the plants.

Wednesday 16th September

Me and my shadow, Clive and Ray painting two more panels of spear fencing and Peter K welding a further panel.

Tony and Dave are working on the foot of another GWR bench.

Pat who darted all around the station today looking for a piece of grass to cut.

Ron and Ian off to collect said grass that had been shredded.

Peter Q with a barrow full of equipment is going with help to dig a hole. Aha that's where there are!

They were re-erecting  a warning sign at the bottom of the railway access track.

Whist waiting for the first train catch up on todays news. The Station Master at rest then sending off the train on time.

The locos today were Dinmore Manor and Foremark Hall the latter being watched and photographed by passengers.

FINDING THINGS TO DO

WEEK COMMENCING 7TH SEPTEMBER 2020 

2 reasonable days weather wise saw the volunteers in good spirits for the tasks in hand.

Firstly on Monday a little warmer up.

last week saw the delivery of paving slabs of all sizes and weights , some had been taken down to be stored for future use but the majority had been left in the compound under the stairs.

Get the  " Shifters and Movers " out.

 Peter , Brian and Ian were all on the sack trucks , a nice little warmer upper at the start of the day.

Afterwards Peter and Brian headed down to the drive  and with Daves help on the barrow started clearing away the weeds  and Ivy which are trying to take over the embankment.

Pat at the top of the bank was mowing the grass , keeping the area neat and tidy for the many visitors that pop in to stand and watch the trains on running days.

Elsewhere Ian and Dave were giving our salvaged gate a good going over with the wire brushes .Its been on site so long that nobody knows where it came from. its just been lying against one of the tool huts rusting away.

Wednesday saw a few more volunteers turn out , not that you would notice them . I think they were taking social distancing  to the extreme . 

Peter was again down the drive on the embankment, Ron was also somewhere down the drive sweeping up.

Peter K was in his container ,making more spear fencing, whilst Clive and Ray were out side painting said fencing.

Dave and Ian were finally finishing rubbing down the gate and then all that was needed was a coat of cure rust before handing it over to the painters.

Late ish afternoon saw it over with the painters.

Wednesday was a running day and 2 different locomotive were out . First of the day was  " P & O " , second was  " Dinmore Manor " both seemed to be well supported .

After the Holiday

Wednesday 2nd September 

First off two items of news. 

The Broadway Goods Shed Shop is currently not open due to Covid 19 restrictions, so we are unable to accept donated items.

The Broadway Station Cafe will be open on Thursdays and Sundays with restricted seating.

Peter Q was busy cleaning making sure everything would be ready when our customers return.

 The morning was fine and dry but rain arrived for the afternoon. Vic was pleased that the rain arrived as he had worked on Platform 1 garden and planted six new donated shrubs.

Three volunteers were busy on the Spear Fencing Peter K assembling, Clive painting and Ian preparing a gate by removing all the old paint.

On the grass cutting, Tony had the lawn mowers out and Pat was strimming. Ron assisted by collecting fallen debris and wheel barrowing to the bonfire.

A shiny new manhole cover replacing the one broken by a careless driver. Dave working other side of gate.

Saturday 5th September

The locos today were P&O and Dinmore Manor with 3 well filled trains and slightly less on the final train of the day.