It ain't half hot

 Week Commencing 4th September 2023

Weather was totally different from the previous week , first thing warm , last thing Hot , but the 4 of us who turned up did our best .

New posters were put up at the bottom of the drive , an extension of the " Journey Through Steam exhibition " poster and " The Santa Express " poster.

Ron had returned from far off lands which he said was far hotter than we were having , the sun seamed to pick out the spiders webs around the entrance and he attacked them with a brush !

Ian delivered more made up Trugs to our shed .

Pat was in the shade using the new hedge cutter.

Dave , Ron and Ian headed onto the track bed and back in the shade to tackle the many pine cones that had accumulated since our last clean up. we managed to fill 3 wheelbarrows just in the morning.

Plus the 2 bag fulls from the hedge , it will soon be bonfire time again.

Ron and Ian finished off the day by giving the wings of the new board a coating of black..

Wednesday

Where have all the volunteers gone ? 

Just the 2 of us  , even John was on his own in the shop !

Dave was also only on a half day and first thing he turned a few handles for the Trugs.

Alex from the Carriage and wagon dept had kindly sign written the new board , so nothing much happening at Broadway , we hopped on the next train to Winchcombe to collect.

First train of the day south and our lift to Winchcombe.

Collection of Sign written board. just got to gather pictures to populate it now.

Dave

At Last a Fire was had !

 Week Commencing 21nd August 2023

No rain and wind in the right direction so lets have a bonfire !

over the last couple of weeks the pile had grown and grown with grass cuttings , pine needles and windfall .We reckoned it was about 5 to 6 foot high and bigger around the base .

A good old bonfire for the 4 volunteers to keep warm , not as we needed to keep warm .

Brian had sourced out a hedge trimmer to keep the large hedge behind platform 1 under control and was giving it a run out.

later as the batteries on the new  devices only seemed to be lasting 20 to 30 minutes at a time he was seen using the battery strimmer below the hedge.

What the strimmer was picking up was the grass missed by Dave then Pat with the Flymo .

A strange train shot through the station !

Brian gave the bench a clean up , his idea of giving the bench a couple of coats of varnish seams to have worked as the bird droppings a wiped off with a damp mop.

Elsewhere Pat took to the back of platform 2 with the brush cutter , Ian broke the Flymo on a hidden rock !

And Dave gave the new board a second coat , just need it sign written now.

Wednesday

Just the 3 of us now.

The little Flymo is so old we are struggling to find a new rotor for it , Pat thinks we can covert it to cut grass without the need to hover !

Brian and Pat did some Maintainace on the smaller lawn mower . Noisy transmission , just needed a bit of grease applied here and there.

Pat looks like he is off to feed the chickens.

Is he looking in the hedge for chickens ? no he was grassing the bare patches on the embankment and later removing an ash tree in the hedge.

Dave working on the new board has worked out the number of pictures he would like to use regarding the history of Broadway Station exceeded the space so its now going to grow a couple of wings .

Locomotives on Duty today were " Foremarke Hall " and the "  Class 47 " both looking immaculate in the sun.

Julie was in the Broadway Shed on her own today , she asked again if anybody would like the help out with the manning of our shed !

Dave

Brightening Up !

 Week commencing 14th August 2023

Monday 

A very bad start to the week , tipping it down first thing , who would turn up ?

Well myself for a start , who headed out of the rain into container 1 to give the new board a coating of black paint.

Ian hid in container 2 working on Trugs.

Pat outside braved the weather to do a mod on the large Flymo .it tended to be more of a Bulldozer mo instead of a flymo , the engine didn't seam to run fast enough to get it off the ground but having found the limiter and adjusted it , it became a different machine , still a bit of a handful on the banks though.

Pat testing his newly tuned machine. 

Rain stopped and we could do a bit of Trug construction outside.

A small problem that will need sorting out , a branch bouncing on the overhead cables !

Wednesday

 A different day altogether , warm , bright sunshine from the off.

Dave took the board into a sunny spot to give the back a second coat of brown paint , which in the sunshine had dried by mid afternoon !

Below a rare sight nowadays  3 volunteers in one shot , a grand total of 6 volunteers today .

Young Dave gave the front of the station a tidy up.

Whilst his dad Chris was weeding the small garden,

It was dry enough to get " Billy " out on the drive , footpaths and platforms.

a good bag full was collected in just the morning.

Brian and Pat were doing their stuff .

Locomotives on duty today were P and O and 78019.

Julie from the Broadway shed has asked me to do a shout out for bubble wrap and any donations of childrens toys , bit short on both thank you.

They were also looking for volunteers to man the shop , they have had to resort to this young fellow !

Dave

Just the three of us

 Week Commencing  7th August 2023

As the title says it was just the 3 of use on the Monday and on the Wednesday , after going through the usual 3 Musketeers , the 3 Amigos , 2 company 3s a crowd we finally settled on the 3 Stooges !! 

Anyway it was back to keeping the grass and weeds to a manageable height.

Dave was at the back of platform 2.

Pat was over the other side Flymoing the top of the bank..

Giving the grass cutting a rest , Dave was working on his new board , to replace the 2 that hang on the shed that depict the station reconstruction.

The rear of the board.

And its front.

Wednesday 

Lovely Sunny day for the three of us 

More grass cutting intermingled with board painting.

A new open sign for our Shop  !

Pat having back over on platform 2 with the lighter of the mowers.

The board got a couple of coats of primer and undercoats .

A duo of steam Locomotives were on duty today.

Dinmore Manor and the Standard 2.

Dave

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