Some Summer ?

 Week Commencing 31st July 2023

Both days saw the rains come and go , so in between we did jobs around the station , when we could.

Pat was on the hedge with his trimmer , whilst Chris elsewhere needed a bigger bucket for his weeding.

Our shed open sign was getting a bit worse for wear , the edges were beginning to curl up , Ian tried gluing them back down , but with no luck .

Whilst glue was attempting to go off , Pat and Myself headed down to Toddington to change another set of gas bottles on the Restaurant coach.

Returning to Broadway and the rain had started again , Pat doesnt mind the rain so he carried on Brush cutting behind platform 2.

We decided to make a new shop open sign for the Broadway goods shed , new letters were cut out and then primmed up..

Wednesday

Down to just the 3 of us.

Trouble with the Gents toilet door lock ! Dave removed it , took it apart , looked okay but when the key was turned it only sometimes worked, worked okayish upside down !! very frustrating . 

We had some spare locks so we changed it over , also the ladies door lock had started to go , so Above Ian swapped that one too.

Pat cut the top of the drive grass then went back to the platform 2 bank.

Some of the volunteers many also work for other groups on the railway , below Vic is also a member of the railway station staff.

Here Vic is guiding our visitors into the booking office .

Locomotives on duty today and as it was a Pink Timetable,  was the Class 26 D5343

And 7820 Dinmore Manor.

Dave

And Then There Was Two !

 Week Commencing 24th July 2023

Whether it was the relentless rain that put them off or everybody had better things to do , but only Myself and Ian turned out on Monday.

We soon retreated into the container into the dry, to make some new handles for our fast selling Trugs.

Our home made wood turner works well , once you get past turning a square piece of wood into a round piece of wood.

The rain slowed down mid morning which gave us an opportunity to remove an old tree . It had become a bit of a liability when the wind blew , it tended to bash itself against one of the lamp tops . to prevent any damage to the lamp top it was decided to remove the tree.

Afternoon saw more chopping , turning old decking into wood to be used for making Trugs Etc.

Wednesday 

Still only 2 of us !

There was early Morning activity with some contractors doing a bit of weed spraying.

Chopped waste wood was being recycled , cut up to useable lengths for lighting fires , below was our third box full !

A bit of tidying up before the rain started again , intermingled with walking around the station talking to the visitors , always a pleasure.

Locomotives Out Today , were the  " Standard 2 " and  " P and O "

John and Julie were on duty in the Broadway Shed , they had found a new use for one of our Trugs !

A handy holder for your Miniature Shih Tzu !!

Dave

More the same.

 Week Commencing 17th July 2023

Monday

A hard core of 4 volunteers today on a bright summers day . A bit of the same old routine, but first a new poster , this time for  " The Go Wild  "event at Winchcombe next month.

Brian was down the drive Strimming the bottom of the bank.

Pat before heading with myself down to Toddington did a bit on the bank at the back of platform 1.

Ian painted the new locking mechanism on Container 1 and forgot to tell Pat it was wet when Pat got the mower out ,

Down at Toddington changing the bottles, with myself and Pat.

The racks of coaches get swapped around for cleaning purposes the Restaurant car is parked next to platform 2 , and below this is the gap we have to work with and change over the Gas Bottles !

Back at Broadway we did something more suited to our age , picked up yet more cones from the drive.

Brian was on the other side pulling out debris fro over the fence , which was cleared up using the Billy Goat.

Wednesday

Down to 3 now. weather looked changeable. 

A source of wood from some old decking appeared !

Take off the edges , remove the rot and we have a nice supply of good wood for maybe more trugs !

Pat was here there and every where ! on the bank behind platform 2.

Julie in the shop was posing for some visitors with the last of the Trugs,  with the Aunty Wainwrights sign !!

The 2 Locos on duty today were the Standard 2 and Foremarke Hall.

Don't forget to watch Thursdays " Great Railway Journeys " , where it will feature the  " GWSR " with a few shots of Broadway Station.

Dave

Going Up In The World

 Week Commencing 10th July 2023

Just the 3 /  4 of us today , Pat was the half day man, just leaving Brian , Ian and Myself in the afternoon.

First job was to take down the banner for the Diesel Gala , It had been very changeable weather wise over the 3 days but in spite of that it seamed to be well attended.

Down came the banner, and only a few months till the Mixed Traction Gala !

We did notice before the Gala that when it really poured down the gutters were over flowing. one of the down pipes was blocked , quite easy to sort , but the rest of the unblocking required the three of us to take turns in  going up the ladder and clearing the guttering. 

A good mornings work !

Just the one wheel barrow full !

Afternoon saw Brian get the Billy Goat out to pick up needles that had fallen since last week.

Pat had cleared a largest area behind the containers on platform 2

Brian thought the Billy Goat wasn't working to the best of its ability , it was tending to miss picking up some of the cones. 

Never mind Ian and Dave followed on behind picking them up manually.

Wednesday

Sorry nothing to report ! Brian and Ian , both who had never been to the Dean Forest Railway and myself decided to go on a Jolly.

Have a day out on the other Heritage railway in Gloucestershire  and see how well they run and what they have to offer.

We all had a good day out , and rode behind a well turned out Pannier tank pulling some equally well turned out Maroon coaches , well impressed.

Dave

Gala Preparations No 2

 Week commencing 3rd July 2023

More showers today for the 5 volunteers who turned out at Broadway on Monday.

a few little jobs to be done.

A new notice to be put up , showing what else the Broadway area had to offer.

First shower of the day saw us head to the container 1, to continue the drilling of screw holes for yet more Trug construction..

Outside Pat was changing the oil on one of the mowers.

Over on platform 2 , Peter K was measuring up in preparation of fitting a new lock to container 1 as the old lock was showing its age and being awkward to use. 

Whilst it was raining Pat tried to remove some Coffee or Tea stains from the station platform.

As platform 2 will be open for the gala the barrier had to be replaced to stop the Public wandering ! 

Pat again under the stairs cutting the grass. 

End of the day Peter had fixed the new lock , and had applied Red Oxide to the new metal parts.

Wednesday

Just the 4 today. more showers

Brian , Ian and Dave headed down the drive to give it final tidy up.

Didn't we do this last week ?

Brian had official business down at Winchcombe and one of the perks of being a volunteer is that you can ride the trains for free , so we couldn't let him go alone ( he might get lost ) plus its nice to talk with the customer's on the trains.

When we arrived back after our Jolly Pat had cut a large area of  grass from behind the containers and was now cone picking on platform 2.

Julie and John were hiding in the shop out of the wind but still doing a brisk trade . They tell me they as desperately looking for more volunteers to help in the shop, so If you are interested please pop in or get in touch.

Locomotives of the day were P & O and below the Standard 2

The Diesel pulling the 15.35 back out was the Class 37 D6948 which will be out on this coming long weekends Diesel Gala.

Dave