Maintenance Week 4

 Week commencing 25th November 2024

Monday 

Not much maintenance on the Monday for the 4 of us that turned up on a cold but sunny day , more of a tidy up after  Storm Bert .

Platform 1 had the usual big puddles and debris which Ian and Myself ( the early birds ) had a go at

I'm sure this puddle below gets deeper and deeper !

The drive was next , quite a bit of debris here too . It was too wet for Billy so we did it the old way with brushes and brooms !

Pat and Kevin ( the late comers ) started on the end of year, hedge cut back . No less that 10 wheelbarrows were taken away and only about 20 foot done..

We finally found where somebody had hidden the cover for the garden bench and finally wrapped it up for the next couple of weeks. 

More leaves and more clearing up on the northern end of platform 1.

Just before going home , the running in board had its top painted black , one side done , next week over it goes and a start made on the front.

Wednesday

Rained most of the day , so  we all stayed at home !

Dave

Maintenance week 3

 Week Commencing 18th November 2024

 Monday

Just the 4 today , weather well !

Over on platform 2 the digger has been to work on the building surroundings  and more rows of bricks have appeared at the back.

Back to the exciting stuff , another coat of light stone on the leaflet holder .

The station signs under the canopy were looking a bit grubby so out came the clothes and soapy water .

Whilst Ian was making a start on the signs , further up the platform and on the bank , Pat was planting more daffodil bulbs and in the fore ground Vic was on the fence with his preservative..

Ian cleaned all the hanging boards then afterwards cleaned the notice boards on the walls.

Pat was seen later strimming the bank first with the battery strimmer and later 

On the far side with the petrol Strimmer .

Wednesday

A totally different day , the Tuesday had saw a change in the weather , nothing happening on platform 2 this week .Just Ian and Myself on a bitterly cold snowy day .

Signs of activity at the station , but not of the human kind.

One job we could do in the warmth of the ladies toilets , was the second coat on the back of the running board .

Ian did a bit of sorting out in the shed and by lunch time with nothing obvious that needed to be done we called it a day. Brrrr

Dave 

Maintenance Week 2

 Week Commencing 11th November 2024

    Monday on platform 2 saw the wagons waiting to be filled with spoil , more rows of red bricks will be added today and on the Wednesday.

5 volunteers turned out on a cool Autumn day , including our new volunteer Kevin.

2 new benches for the station had been delivered . That takes the total to 4 now , 2 in the mess hut and now these 2 . After a bit of deliberation on what should be put where for safe keeping , it was decided the new ones would be put in the mess hut. 

One of the 2 in the mess hut could be put under the station canopy and the other in the signal box , Ian and Kevin shifted the 2 two to the mess and the platform 2 lads moved the lighter one to the box .

The left hand one is a GWR bench and the one being lounged on by Ian is of the Midland type

Afterwards Ian and Kevin took to the track bed racking up 3 wheelbarrows of pine needles

Vic was on the driveway fence again. Mike was also on the spear fencing.

Myself headed to the warmth of the ladies to rub down and prime the worst of the running board.

Afterwards fixed the sticking station masters door handle.

Wednesday

Just the 3 of us Ian , Mike and Myself.

The board was good enough for the first coat of light stone .

Whilst the can was open one of the rubbish bins had its side repainted .

Ian finished of the day giving the tops of the benches a coat of preservative.

We actually had a Locomotive at the station today.

Foremarke Hall was seen on a test run after having had work done on its cylinders , first run saw it stop outside the station and on its return it picked up the 2 trucks which were now full of spoil and take them down to Toddington for disposal.

Dave

End of Season Maintaince part 1

 Week Commencing 4th November 2024

Monday

An healthy 6 of us turned up on the first Monday after the last trains of this years season .

The Tuesday being Bonfire night it was decided to have one of our own .Unfortunately it was a bit of a damp squib , too much wet stuff underneath it just smouldered all day and created a lot of smoke. Sorry to the neighbours !

This time of year sees the platform furniture get moved temporarily undercover . Viv did the bins .

Myself and Ian did the benches.

Pat was seen planting Daffodil bulbs on the bank behind platform 2.

One job that needed to be done was the treating of the wooden fence up the drive , luckily Vic doesn't mind the smell and so he started at the top , it should keep him out of mischief for the next couple of weeks.

A new board was being filled in by Ian listing the jobs we hoped to do over the 2 shutdown periods , weather permitting.

Below saw Pat giving ( hopefully ) the grass behind platform 1 a final cut. The running board post , to the left is without its running in board . The rear of the board has some areas that need attention so it has been removed to the Ladies toilet to fully dry out , then it will be repainted.

All quiet on the station platform, all benches except 1 are now undercover.

Nearly forgot Mike and Peter , they were way down the other end of the platform , giving the spear fencing a new lease of life , paint wise.

Over on platform 2 looks like more rows of reds have appeared ,, mostly at the front.

A little job before we went home was a quick refurbish of the leaflet holder from the board at the bottom of the drive , a strip down , a rubdown and a repaint with undercoat all in less than an hour.

I had things to do on Wednesday so I don't know what happened and nobody has kept me informed .

With none of our Locomotives around this week , there is nothing to show, but last weekends, I a visit to the Avon Valley Railway , and I managed to see this little beauty , fresh from its overhaul .

Dave