Thursday 22 December 2022

A Mystery and a a new Toy !

 Week Commencing 19th December 2022

Monday


No Blog from last week , the reason as the picture below points out is plain to see.



But this Monday it was totally different , snow gone in a flash and the 5 volunteers who turned up had a  of a mystery first thing.


The Finial from the post by the Kitchen entrance was on the floor. Its not something that could be blown off by the wind  !!


It was replaced and later in the day Neal drilled and plugged it so it couldn't be removed.

By now our new toy had arrived.

One our Blog readers had given us a very generous donation to allow the purchase of a " Billy Goat " a machine that would help us with the picking up of the pine cones and pine needles.


Brian soon got it working after a short reading of the instructions , worked a treat on the end of platform 1.


One thing it would never pick up would be large piles of dead Ivy left at the bottom of the drive.


3 volunteers drifted away about lunchtime which left Dave and Ian to find something to do in the afternoon. they turned there hand in making a ramp to get the Billy Goat into container 3 where it will eventually live .


Wednesday


Last working day of the Year , so its a case of tiding the station in readiness for next week's  "Mince Pie Specials "


It was too wet to try out the Billy Goat on the platform , so out came the faithful brushes for a big sweep up , and then out came the platform furniture !  


One thing that we couldnt put back up was the running board , the cold weather has prevented us from finishing of the painting , but in the afternoon Dave and Ian managed to apply the first coat of Black.



Something that had been going on in the station building was the connecting of the station clocks to the master clock. , Brian pointing out the hands actually moving by themselves.
Nice addition to the station building.

Again Dave and Ian were left on thier own in the afternoon






So it was back to the waste bin paining and refurbishment.


















So that was it for another year , all that remains for me is to Wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year from us the Volunteers  at Broadway Station.




Wednesday 7 December 2022

Christmas comes to Broadway

 Wednesday 7th November 2022


Two at Broadway on Monday , Myself and Ian . The rest had headed of  to the Ye Olde Hobnails Inn for a Christmas meal .





Looks like a good time was had by one and all.

Pictures from Rod and Vic

Back at Broadway Dave and Ian worked on the running Board untill the chill in the air prevented anymore painting.

Wednesday, and it was time to put the Christmas tree up in the Café.


 Although there wont be any trains at the station before the Mince Pie Specials start on the 27th of December , it always nice to get in the the Christmas spirit beforehand.

Dave


Thursday 1 December 2022

Pottering around.

Monday 28th November 2022


The usual  suspects turned out on a cold dismal Novembers morning..
things to do ?

Replace manhole cover broken by lorry , done. by Tony


Apply preservative to newly repaired fence down the drive Done  by Chris


Apply another coat of  Chocolate brown paint to the bench, Done by Brian.



Make and construct  more parts for the Truggs, Dane by Peter


Try and tidy up the area on platform 2, Done by Brian and Ian.

Moved the running in board out of the mess Hut ( no room ) into Portakabin 3 for top coating , Done by Dave , Ian and Brian.





Carried on with the refurbishing of the waste bins , in progress by Dave.

Wednesday


Cold Morning lets have a fire to keep warm.


Done !!

Dave


Tuesday 22 November 2022

Bye Bye to old Friends

 Monday 21st November 2022


Miserable Morning an even more Miserable Afternoon , rained most of the day , but it didn't stop 4 of us volunteers turning out to see the arrival of a large team of Tree fellers.


Vehicle's and kit all over the drive,.6 Old trees had to be removed, down the drive and one by the Signal Box.



A small tracked vehicle made light work picking up  smallish branches and putting them in the chipping Machine.



Further down the Mobile Crane was helping in the chopping down of the larger stuff.




I would have taken more photos but it was pouring down by now, so of I went to find shelter and leave them to it.

There are quite a few videos from Michael Peers on the GWSR Facebook sites of the days action.

Back to team of 4 , Brian was giving the Bench a second coat of the brown stuff. Dave had finished the refurbishment of the first of the waste bins, and sent it over to Cabin 3 for the winter.





Ian refitted the sign on the newly painted post.


Peter Q was making more handles for the Truggs


Out of the rain in the afternoon Dave and Ian were working on the running in Board,


On my way home , and down the drive a few gaps had appeared where there once were trees , also a bit of damage was seen to the fence. Leave in to the Maintainace gang on Wednesday !!

Dave

Tuesday 15 November 2022

A Nice Surprise

 Monday 14th November 2022


Over the many years of sweeping the Driveway , Platforms etc. is was a pleasant surprise of a delivery of 6 new Brushes the old brushes were getting a bit short in the bristle area.

4 volunteers first thing , hang on 2 spare brushes , anybody out there want to help ?


Tony was first on the job today , brushing up nice heaps of leaves on the car park side before the cars turned up.


Ron and Brian were on the brushes and Dave was on the wheelbarrow.


After a while the brushes always need a rest , must not push them too hard, just yet , besides there was the drive to do.


By the end of the morning we were at the bottom of the drive, job done. ( again )


Pat arrived to give the road side grass a cut.


Ian too had turned up and he and Ron gave the platform a sweep.






Two different types of brushes , saw Ian on the sign post applying black top coat , whilst at the other end of the platform Ron rubbed down the other post and then applied Red Oxide..















Elsewhere Dave was on bin refurbishment.


Dave

Tuesday 8 November 2022

Heading for Winter

 Monday 7th November 2022


6 volunteers around today , the weather was overcast and there was dampness in the air , no good for painting as Mike said.

Brian started with the bench which lives in the small garden , looking worse for the fact that it is under a tree that many birds sit in, .but with a lot of rubbing down it was ready for being primed.


Ian and Ron fitted the new hose bracket to the spear fence on platform 1 , stops the hose pipe being laid out along the fence , much neater job.


Chris was hiding in the undergrowth



And later .

Brian having done a bit of primming, took to removing yet more old branches and debris from the embankment.



Ian and Ron later were going through the wheelbarrows trying to find out which tyres were flat, could be pumped up and fixed.



Elsewhere Dave was refurbishing the first of the waste bins . Flaking paint removed and the rest rubbed down. But as I said earlier too cold and damp to paint.


Wednesday is now a working day there could be more !

Dave

Tuesday 1 November 2022

End of another Season

 Monday 31st October 2022


Last weekend we saw our final event of the year , the Mixed Traction Gala , after a few early hic-ups it seamed to run rather well and was well supported

That means its now time to put the station to sleep until the 27th of December.



After a brief chat about what to do first and what had happened at the week end we set about gathering up the benches to place them under the canopy out of the worst of the weather.



After Years of practice and it runs like a well oiled machine " Not ". Brian in front , Peter behind , Dave and Ron the lifters and shifter.


One of the benches will need repainting , due to the birds !! It too headed under the canopy to dry out.


And of course we have to have a sweep up , not as much as the previous week,  so Ron took to doing it by himself. 


The Gala poster down the bottom of the drive got replace by the " Journey Though Steam " poster . A 7 month exhibition at the Broadway Museum. Telling the story of the Stratford  to Cheltenham Railway. Opens next Friday until May next year.


Vic was back in the Garden , giving it a general tidy up.

One of the Jobs for the winter months was the refurbishment of the Broadway Running Board on platform 1.From a distance it looked fine , but water had found its way into various parts and it needs to be refurbished.



First job was to remove the old and peeling paint from the back , Tony tried his hand with the heat gun whilst Ron had a scrapper , but Dave used a Belt sander., Most of the paint removed the board was put in the container, hope fully to dry out.


Sharing our bench were Brian and Neal trying to sort out a  drive issues with one of the mowers .


Mike as the weather wasn't too bad was top coating another Spear fencing panel.


Some of us pop in on Wednesdays to do a bit . As it was a running day our little shop is usually open manned by Julie and John ! sometimes they do a brisk trade sometimes not , but they are always good for a laugh , we will miss them until next year when the shop reopens.

Dave