First Frost Of Winter

 Week commencing 22nd November 2021

Bit of a chilly one on Monday , just the four of us , plus the 7 pheasants roaming around the top of the drive as we arrived !

A few Pheasants on the drive and a few in the shrubbery

The frosty weather had caused the Deciduous trees by the car parking area to drop their leaves

Dave and Brian had the brushes out and the big bag.

2 big bags were filled from just the parking area and looking up there were still plenty more on the trees to come down.

Brian had a nice job in the sun, giving the kiosk a spruce up. windows wanted a clean inside and out, handset and imitation telephone equipment a good wipe over and paintwork also given a wipe over.

Pat gave the area a final cut of the year , and Vic was tidying up the gardens.

At the end of platform 1 another tree was dropping its leaves , Dave made a start on the clearing up.

Wednesday

Even less people today just the three of us , Peter, Dave and Pat.

Peter and Dave did a bit of gutter clearing then Peter headed down the drive.

Over on the platform 2 side a number of trees and branches had been removed . not being able to take them away they had been ground down to chippings . a very large heap of them was being racked flat by Pat , this was his second go at the heap it was that big !

And where does all the leaves etc. end up , on the bonfire of course.

Elsewhere our away team were down at Cheltenham station helping the relaying of the platform slabs.

 about 260 slabs had to be relayed, and with the help of outside contractors they virtually had been relayed by the end of Wednesday.

  Day1

Day 2

 Just the fiddly bits to do after Wednesday !

Again no Trains on the GWSR but a worthwhile trip down to Gloucester on the Tuesday gave me an opportunity to see one of the LMS's finest Locomotives . 

Some Stay at Home.

 

Monday 15th November

Vic was at home in Broadway whilst others were at Toddington. One of the gardens tided up and cut back.

Dave , Peter, Brian and Ian headed to the Old Garage at Toddington , trying to do as much as they could to wrap the job up. But before that, more of putting the station to bed until after Christmas. As there were four of us ( its easier moving stuff with more than 2 ) the station seats were brought under cover .

Then the picnic tables / benches etc.

By lunchtime we had done as much as we could at Toddington , and retuned to Broadway to do a bit of tidying up outside and around the station building.

Brian and Dave on the Brushes whilst Ian was the wheelbarrow man.

Wednesday

A quick trip down to Toddington to hand back the keys and pick up the remaining tools and kit, then back to Broadway.

 A P way gang were on site doing a bit of grinding where the new rails had been installed and further down another gang were replacing the crossing rubber inserts .

Peter Q was inspecting the area where the tree had been cut down , a few of his plants had taken a hit but nothing that can`t be replaced.

Dave and Ian finally found the cover that we have previously used to cover the bench in the small picnic area , after a wash down it was left to dry and then covered over.

 

Peter K joined Peter Q in weeding the bank.

Whilst on top of the bank Ian cleared up after the tree Surgeons !

 Pat join the group giving the drive a brush .

Elsewhere Julie and John were having a end of season sort out in the shop , every so often a small heap would appear outside for Dave to dispose of. ( Bin or Bonfire ) .

At the other end of the line were the  Broadway Away team,  they had also started on Monday . Their job was at Cheltenham Station all they had to do was lift and relay the slabs on the platform ! I will copy Terry's email that gives a description of what they were and had be up to.

 " Work started on Monday for our project to remove all the slabs at CRC and relay them to remove a potential trip hazard. 

On Monday, Rod and Paul collected a truck from Winchcombe to collect various items of equipment from Broadway and Winchcombe that we needed for the job. Keith, Bob and I went straight to CRC, and we were soon visited by Fairview, who delivered 5 tons of sand and 15 of 25 bags of cement, which will be used next week when the slabs are re-laid. 

After this, we started lifting the slabs and storing them on the coping slabs. We managed to remove slabs as far as the halfway point of the station building, and then Bob and I regraded the sand, removing the excess, as the slabs will be re-laid on a mortar bed.  

On Wednesday, we had a larger team of Rod, Mike S, Bob, Paul, Keith S and me, so we split into three teams, one removing and stacking the slabs, one regrading the sand base and the last removing the excess sand and storing it for possible future use. By the  end of the day, all the slabs (about 250) had be removed and stacked and about 80% of the sand base had been regraded. "

 

Photos from Terry and Rod.

No Trains today on the railway but over the previous weekend I had a trip to Hereford .

Not a GWR locomotive but on GWR lines .

Dave

 

More Away Days

 Week Commencing 8th November 2021

Monday saw Peter , Dave, Brian and Ian head back down to Toddington to continue the work converting the old garage into a store room. 

Peter was on the door whilst the rest were Insulating the ceiling and fitting plasterboards to the joists.

Which left Vic and Pat at Broadway , gardening etc .

Wednesday

Peter , Dave and Ian were at Toddington , eventually joined by Peter K . More Broadway workers on site were Bob and Paul finishing off the blocking up of a door and fitting of  new Air Bricks

By the end of the Day the Door had its lock fitted, ceiling was nearly done except for one corner , lighting had been replaced by a new ( second hand fluorescent tube ) , and the brick work done.

Meanwhile back at Broadway we had the Tree surgeons in to remove several trees ( 2 or 3)

Pat was on site doing some lopping himself to take these pictures.

All gone

The machine that turns 100 year old trees into chippings !

Another one gone !

No trains until after Christmas but whilst we were down at Toddington we saw Dinmore Manor being loaded on to a low loader , apparently its on its way to  " The South Devon Railway " for pre Christmas duties .  The Polar Express ?

  

Dave

Away Days

 Week commencing 1st November 2021

Firstly a bit of a belated Birthday wishes to our two new Octogenarians , over the last couple of weeks both Vic and Keith have hit the magic 80, congratulations to you both and keep on volunteering, they are beginning to show us relatively youngsters up.

Monday saw Peter , Dave , Brian and Ian head down to the old garage down Toddington, this time  to install a door frame with door and a bit of Stud wall as a filler.

By lunchtime Peter and Ian had dressed the door and Dave and Brian had finished the frame and surround, mustn't rush the job , so after lunch back to Broadway.

On returning we we found Pat trimming the hedge , Brian and Ian headed down the drive to down a bit of tidying up , whist elsewhere Dave gathered suitable wood up for the next trip to Toddington.

Wednesday

Just the three headed to the old garage at Toddington.

Peter and Ian fitted the door , whilst Dave completed the surrounding , just a bit of paint needed to tidy it all up.

Next week we start on the inside , insulation , the ceiling and electrics etc.

 

Back at Broadway the Wednesday gang were at the bottom of Platform 1 ramp , they had done the edging strips and were laying the second of the slabs. It will be great to see that area at the bottom of the ramp tidied up.

No trains today but they are back this weekend on our 40th Anniversary Gala.

But what we did have at the end of the day was rain shower which gave a double rainbow to the north.

And Terry caught the downpour passing over the station.

Dave