Even Fewer

Monday 24th May

When Vic arrived there was only one volunteers car in the Station car park. Where is everyone? Gone on holiday or sick leave.

Vic purchased some plants from a farmer, giving the locals a helping hand. So where to put them?

A Pink Phlox in the entrance garden.

A Pink Geranium in the flower pot under the Running in Board.

 

A Sedum Plant in Platform 1 flower bed and Box plants along the edge. Plus Aqualiga in the Picnic Area.

Dave, Brian and Jo took the finished Hayles Abbey Running In Board back to the Halt.

 

On the Footbridge Neal and John S were finishing off the Seal inserting and preparation for painting.

Wednesday saw the Wednesday gang appear , even they were a man down , so still low on the usual numbers .

They carried on with the installation of the gate posts an then carried on with the spear fencing down the slope.

Clive was right behind them on the brush .

Vic who was Station Assistant today got hungry in the afternoon. A cup of tea and a piece of cake in Broadway Station Cafe. Yummee!

 Posts almost ready for the gate !

A photo from Terry showing what was accomplished by the end of the day.

Two trains today , second train of the day was pulled by  " Dinmore Manor "

Friday 28th May

A Memorial Tree was planted today in memory of  Rodney James Stephens husband of Julie who manages the Friends of Broadway Sales Shop.

The tree is a Pyrus Salicifolia Padola.

Also today Saturday 29th Neal had progressed further with the panel boards on the footbridge.

Vic and Dave

Only the Few

 Week commencing 17th May 2021

There were 5 volunteers plus 2 others at Broadway on Monday 

Brian made a start on the mess hut , we hadn't had the use of the mess hut since the start of Lockdown no 1 , only has been used as a dry place to paint .

Mop and brush came out , the lay of dust on the cups was cleaned by the station dishwasher. Cupboards and shelves were all cleaned , and there was a general tidy up . Ready for when were are allowed to use it again.

Mid morning the peacefulness was broken by E 73129 ,pulling a newly extended rake of coaches.

Its was probably one of its last journeys to Broadway as the Owner has now sold the Locomotive.

Ian gave the  " Hayles Board another coating of white on the board surround.

Whilst Later in the day Dave fixed the lettering back on  to the board , just a bit of touching up to be down before we re-erect it back at the halt .

Wednesday 19th May

Five volunteers were placing fence posts where the gate will be installed. Terry, Peter K, Keith, Ian and Clive. were busy.

The Blogger  ( Dave ) was on family duties today , so a lack of pictures. Back next week .

Update.

Luckily Terry sent me some details and pictures of the gate post being erected in between the showers. Peter K after the posts had been manhandled into position ,marked and drilled the concrete . threaded bar was then siliconed into the hole , nuts underneath the post allowed the post to be adjusted height wise. 

Sunshine and Very Heavy Showers

 Week commencing 10th May 2021

Monday saw a total of 6 plus 2 plus 1 volunteers attend a sunny day mixed with very heavy showers. the reason for the odd way of putting the number of volunteers at Broadway today is as follows. 

6 of the regulars ,stayed at  the actual station site , which were Tony, Brian and Pat on Grass cutting , strimming , etc . Vic on Gardening Mike was painting more fence panels and Ian also painting.

Sorry no pictures as the 2 , consisting of Peter Q and yours truly headed to Winchcombe Station to do some work on the Station windows.

This the state of most of the lower windows on the car park side , many years of no Maintance has seen in places the putty dropping out , frames rotted away and generally in a poor condition.

No money is available to replace or even do a proper job, so Pete and Dave with their  " make do " knowledge , removed as much of the remaining putty they could , made some beading out of old wood , and even made a new window sill !

First window nearly finished , lots more to go.

Back at Broadway we had Ian painting up more beading and strips for the next batch of windows to be done , Pete and Dave will be at Winchcombe on Mondays and back at Broadway on the Wednesday.

At least Ian  was in the dry as throughout the day showers continued to stop play ( work )

The other 1 was Neal working by himself on the Footbridge , on completing the frame work on the platform side he moved over to the car park side working when the weather would let him . He apparently returned on Tuesday with John to virtually finish the car park side.

Its beginning to look like a proper footbridge .

Wednesday 

The weather held off and for the early birds a bit of hard labour !

The 4 gateposts needed taken to where they were going to be needed.

3 on to platform 2 and one into a storage area.

7 volunteers per gate post that's how heavy they are ( well most of us are in their 70`s ) , after the 3  had been taken over to platform 2 the last one  was taken using one of the station trolleys down to the other end of platform 2 into storage .

The gap in the fence are where two are going to be erected , and first a sizable hole has to be dug.

Terry , Rod and Keith were up to the job as usual. 

The hole dug,  it was then filled to a certain level , Peter K will drill suitable holes in it and then the gate posts will be bolted down , hole filled with more concrete and then back filled.

 

Picture showing the the finished level of concrete in the hole.

Elsewhere around the Station . The un wanted vegetation grows ever upwards.

Here's the man for the Job , Pat and his strimmer , he did a bit on the drive and then behind the steps on  platform 2 and eventually disappeared towards Springfield road bridge to start down there.

Peter K was on Panel making.

Mike after putting Red Oxide on the newer panels , gave the erected panels a second top coat.

 Dave and Ian gave the  " Hayles board " another coat of black , just the white border  and letters to go now.

Loco of the day was " 4270 " here arriving at Broadway pulling the the first train of the day .

Another short week

 Week commencing 3rd May 2021

Blue skies and heavy showers were the order of the day for the volunteers that had turned up.

The high winds of the previous days had loosened a few cones and needles from the trees on the drive , so it was out with the brooms, brushes,  wheelbarrow and shovels.

 

A good place to start for Peter Q and Dave was down the bottom of the drive , later joined by Tony and Ian .

A strange banging noise was heard on the bank behind platform 2 , we found that Pat had brought in some Bluebells and was in the process of planting them , with a hammer ? 

Maybe its something that Monty Don should look into doing !

Mike continued the applying Red Oxide to the newly created panels , whilst inside the container Peter K constructed yet more.

Monday had seen the delivery of 4 more newly cast fence posts ready from when the gang get back

from a small job at Winchcombe

 

Which was to relay about 30 uneven slabs .

After Lunch the heavens opened , most volunteers called it a day , 3 stayed on , which included Pat for a while or until he had filled his wheelbarrow with needles.

Dave and Ian were the other 2 , Dave gave the back of the  " Hayles Board " a first coat whilst in the mess hut out of the rain too Ian gave the window beading a coat of undercoat . 

Elsewhere Julie was in the Broadway Goods shop sorting out the many donations. the problem we have now got,  is that we have been in lockdown for over a year and the shop has been unable to open and sell the donations . the donations have kept on coming but we now have no more space , so can I asked you to please wait until we can reopen again before you donate anymore . You will hear it first on the blog when we will be able to open , which could be in the near future  ( government willing ).

Oh I forgot to mention that the footbridge team have been on site for the last 2 days , much fixing has been achieved , I haven't taken any pictures , but Jo`s  blog will probably have more information .

If you would like to watch them at work I have managed to swing the camera slightly so if they are there you can watch all the action !

P and O was on duty today here seen leaving Broadway at 12.09 pm just before it started to rain.