Maintenance Week 11

 Week Commencing 27th January

Monday

4 of us braved the cold but dry Monday .

The last of the refurbished bins was placed under the stairs , showing off its newly painted lid !

Vic was down the drive after using up the last of the wood treatment on the fence, then decided to clear some of the debris away from the last weeks storm.

Mike decided to give the platform edge a good clean off .

And Kevin was working on his edging to the small garden. Myself was in container 1 sorting out the life expired paint .

Wednesday

Down to 3 volunteers , sickness in the air .

Over on platform 2 , no brick laying , days and nights are too cold still . But Neil and Jo have been at work clearing the rear of the building and transpoting the soil into the trucks.

Mike got way past the station canopy with his edge cleaning , you can tell the difference from the photo .

Later he went back to the Spear Fencing and gave a couple of panels a coating of light stone paint.

There was a big unloading at the end of the day , the delivery of the Door and window frames, and glass  for the platform 2 building . just need to find a proper storage place until its needed !

Dave

Maintenance Week 10 and a sign of Spring !

 Week Commencing 20th January 2025

Monday

Usual 3 out on the Monday.

Over on platform 2 , nothing going on this week the wagons have returned waiting for more spoil to be dug out .

The first signs of Spring are appearing 

PRIMULA

SNOWDROPS

Too cold to do much outside , so Ian and Kevin rearranged container 1 , throwing out anything not used anymore and paint that had gone off ! , also making room for more garden tools.

Myself  headed to the warmth of the Ladies toilets to paint the lids on the refurbished bins.

Coming out of the toilet the door hit the frame ? The top hinge had come apart !! job for Wednesday .

Wednesday

First job fix hinge ! Had to remove hinge to fix it , still cant find the top cap .

4 today and Peter K popped in for a visit

Mike was way down the other end of platform 1 on the spear fencing.

Which meant Ian , Kevin and myself could make a start on the hedge .

The height on the platform side is not the same as the height on the neighbours side. Ian on this side is using the hedge trimmer with an extension . me over on the other side can cut it at less than shoulder height. Many wheel barrows headed to the bonfire area that day and we only did about a tenth of it !

More sad news. The passing away of Richard Green.

Richard worked for Fairview building suppliers , and delivered most of the materials to the station , he also helped with laying of the platform edge slabs and occasionally go on foraging trips with the other volunteers to collect useful stuff for the railway.

Our condolences to his family.

Dave

Maintenance week 9

 Week Commencing 13th January 2025

Monday

4 around on the Monday , Mike ,Ian , Kevin and myself .

A piece of poly sheet was just the right size to cover up the platform 2 running board. Time will tell if it was a good idea.

Mike was on the fence rubbing down ready for priming.

Kevin after a few weeks of volunteering has been promoted to chief ( and only ) gardener ! was at the bottom garden with Ian.

Ian had some bother with one of the sack trucks .

Wednesday

Over on platform 2 , more bricks had been laid at the rear and side ,service pipes to the building had been connected.

The installation of the rear of the shed was being done by Chris and young Dave. The books having been removed it was the shelving next.

Vic was with us on the fence.

Over the break the mess container had leaked again , so having a pile of unused corrugated sheets handy .

Ian checking that Chris was doing right ?

Mike was on the spear fencing this time with the primer .

End of the day the mess container had been sheeted , just got to wait for the inside to dry out now !

Talking of the inside , Chris fitted the final sheet to the rear of the shed , with some left over to start one of the sides. More next week ?

and finally , in case I haven't told anyone.

Dave

Maintenance Week 8 and some sad news !

 Week commencing 6th January 2025

Monday

Forget it ! been raining all weekend and raining and cold first thing , so nobody turned out .

Wednesday

A small turn out on a cold and bitter day .

Over on platform 2 , more bricks have been laid at the rear and sides and quite a bit of work in front of the station on the service ducts and waste pipes.

First Job , The station furniture was returned back under cover for the rest of the winter.

Ian and Kevin are enjoying them selves too much. One bin was put in the warmth of the ladies toilets to dry out , one of the top pieces has started to rot and will have to be changed .

An idea  ! to use up the old posters , cut them down and use them as covers to keep the worst of the weather off the running boards.

Couple of problems needed sorting out , leaking cistern in the ladies . copper pipe to plastic pipe failure.

plus the boiler needed serious attention , need the professionals , they came out on the Thursday to fix it . 

More attention was needed on the notice board down the drive. The plastic sheet holding the timetables in was broken and needed removing . It used to hold the timetables but now it will be replaced by laminated ones ( which will may disappear, just like before  )

Sad news over the Christmas period was that Pat had passed away , One of the more practical people we had on our team . Very good at fixing things and using them to keep the vegetation at bay. Both at this station and Hailes Abbey Halt.

Pat fixing one of the Petrol Strimmers

Our condolences to his Family , he will sadly be missed.

Dave