Bit of a Leak !

 24th November 2025

Monday

Bit of a disaster over the days since last Wednesdays attendance , Water had been seen coming out of the mess hut door ! by the time one of us got to the stop cock it was Sunday . nobody knows how long it had been flowing ?

The Units weren't in the best condition as it was ,  now they were trashed , time to remove the lot .

Fridge , microwave and kettle all taken away .

Last Friday we were told , the bridge had another strike , a lot of damage to the warning sign and the underside of the bridge !

Mean while back at the camp , Ian rubbed down the notice board , 

Kevin and Chris helped me in the tidying up and removal of all signs of the ever being a sort of a kitchen in the mess hut.

Some rubbish bins are in need of attention , this double one needs a new lid .

Made and then primed.

Wednesday

6 turned up today on a bitterly cold Morning.

Jobs to do inside .

Chris and young Dave started in the sales shed .

Ian painted the notice board in the warmth of the Disabled toilet !

Sun came out so Chris could cut the insulation board

Once cut it was down to Dave to fix the batons to hold it in place.

Kevin and Mark worked on the ever expanding gardening area , this time a compost bin and a table area.

Dave

At Last

 Week Commencing 17th November 2025

Monday

  3 regular volunteers today and a newcomer Mark joined our merry bunch .

Time to put the station to sleep until the mince pie specials after the C word.

Wrapping up the running in boards worked last year , this one on platform 2 has a coat of old posters wrapped around it to provide protection from the wind and rain.

Benches live under the canopy !

The bins , some of them are going to need attention over the coming weeks were put in the warmth of the ladies toilets.

Over on the bench , Ian , Kevin and Mark put together a type of cold frame .

On the other bench , I put the glass into other cold frame.

The Station at rest .

Ian found some Black paint and gave the shed ramp a new coat .

Wednesday

Another cold and wet day but 5 volunteers today .

Over on 2 nothing has happened since last week , I think all the activity has moved down to Toddington until the special bricks come.

The notice board by the booking office door needs a freshening up , warming itself up in the disabled toilet.

Kevin and Ian were making an area behind the mess hut for gardening paraphernalia . 

Chris and young Dave made a start on insulating another wall of the shed.

Kevin has a new area with the cold frames .

Dave

Still not quite !

 Week Commencing 10th November 2025

Monday and Wednesday

All intentions of putting the Station furniture under cover was thwarted yet again by the running of 2 Charity Santa trains from Broadway to Toddington. 

Maybe next Monday ?

Just Kevin and me on a showery Monday , too wet to do most things.

In between showers Kevin tried out his new extendable hedge trimmer 

Mike and Sue came in to decorate the Café for the excepted Sunday visitors !

Myself kept out of the rain rattling up the new cold frame.

Wednesday it tipped it down , not expecting anyone to turn out , but on one of the worst days for a long time , 4 turned out .

The neighbours tree had had a serious pruning, some debris was left on the grass which Kevin attensed to .

Chris and young Dave were in the shed preparing for the installation of more insulation on the door side.

Myself finished off the cold frame top with a bit of varnish.

By lunchtime the rain had beaten us again , so we all drifted off home.

Dave

Not Quite

 Week Commencing 3rd November 2025

Monday

This time of year its usually time to put the station furniture under the canopy , mainly to save it from the ravishes of the winter weather. But they have decided to run a Saturday Fireworks train from Broadway to Cheltenham , so everything got put on hold.

Rainy Monday for the ones who turned out , not much we could do.

Except remove our 2 leaning trees !

The 2 trees were chopped down , then cut up into smaller pieces , the bigger pieces seam to vanish maybe to be used as a winter fuel supply ? The bonfire area is at its maximum height so a new pile at the end of the platform was created.

Wednesday

My first job was a gas bottle change on train 2 , which was eventually found hiding in platform 2 at Winchcombe.

Back at Broadway.

Kevin was moving around a few shrubs , with Ian's guidance . Chris was measuring up , in readiness for installing more insulation into our Broadway goods shed.

We also had a visit from Mark a potential future volunteer !

Using old scrap timber I turned my hand into making a cold frame for Kevin's seed trays.

Over on Platform 2 the notrh wall has been raised to corbelling height and work is now on the south wall .

More sad news, was the passing away of Roger Johnson ,

A volunteer at Broadway for many years, here seen beating up the mixer and then after he moved on to Construction and Maintenance , our condolences to his family.

Dave

Last Week of the season !

 Week Commencing 27th October 2025

Monday

A few around on a Autumnal day.

Quite a few books went over the weekend at a £1 a book .Maybe we could try again over the coming week  ? So instead of taking back to the office for storage they made their way to the mess hut.

Ron took " Billy " for a walk on the drive. 2 of the most useful things at Broadway Station.

Down came the signs . Last of the galas.

After many weeks since we aquired it , Ian finally got the adaptor to fit and stay on the hose.

Kevin took to the start of removing the 2 overhanging trees . 1st branch of many .taken down to the workshop area , chopped up for the bonfire or peoples wood burners.

The 2 offending trees leaning out of the hedge ,photo doesn't show how much they are leaning , time they came down.

Over on platform 2 , brick work up to the first corbelling .

Wednesday

It was raining when the 3 of us arrived  , and it was the last working day we would see the trains until maybe next year.

Too wet to even put the books out . Maybe on Saturday

 

So lets have a train ride .

Locomotives on duty today were " Betton Grange " and on its last week "P And O " seen below at Toddington.

Dave

Gala Weekend

 Week Commencing 20th October 2025

Monday

3 of us on a wet Monday , with the gala weekend coming up it was time to have a sort out of all the books that were in the office . and then box them up ready for the £1 sale !

Not a book but Ian has a plastic truck for sale if you are interested ?

Another day another broken manhole cover and 3 slabs , right in front of the station building ! What was a skip lorry doing on the pavement ?

Wednesday

A bit brighter and more volunteers .

Time to put the sign up showing what's on this weekend. 

There was a trial run with the books over to the shed and due to the bad weather forecast for Thursday it was all put back ! ready and waiting for the weekend.

Afternoon saw the final undercoat for the dagger boards.

Elsewhere Kevin was attacking the overly large hedge behind platform 1 , helped by Chris and Dave.

Not much happening on platform 2 , mostly internal block work.

The 2 Locomotives on duty today , which of course can be seen at the Autumn Showcase Gala were " P and O " and " 3850 "

Finally its with sadness to report the passing away of Robin Elliott 

Robin used to travel many many miles to work with the Broadway group in the early days , I could say he loved cleaning bricks because he certainly cleaned more than his fair share . Saturdays with us and Sundays as a booking clerk at one of the stations .

Our condolences to his family.

Dave