Alex has left the building

 Week commencing 5th October 2020

The Bloggers are back from Yorkshire , so we can bring you up-to-date with what goes on at Broadway station.

Storm Alex blew in over the weekend  and we thought it would be more of the usual . But it wasn't as bad as expected.

The gang of volunteers would soon get the Brushes out to give the drive a good clean.

But first a bit of a warmer up , after we had had a  delivery of more slabs last week, they needed to be taken  down to the storage area . One at a time as they are quite heavy , Ron below showing the way.

After it was all hands to the brushes to clean up  the drive way.

Then to the platform and Station Guttering.

Dave meanwhile in the workshop was giving the Bench ends a first coating of dark brown.

The Trellis had sat in a pile underneath the bridge stairs for a few months now , it was decided to re-erect it behind the seating area . 

A welcome return from his painting of the Winchcombe foot bridge saw Mike start on the painting of the legs of the finished spear fencing panels.

Wednesday

Peter K was back to construct more panels , whilst outside Clive and Mike applied red oxide and undercoat .

Peter Q found himself a nice steady job down the drive tidying and weeding

Over the other side pat was mowing the grass , until the exhaust fell off , needing repairs .

 

A job for a smaller person than Dave and Ian, saw poor Ron having to Squeeze behind the sales shed to fix the remaining  trellis panels.

After the last one was done all that was then needed was the fitting of additional fixings and brackets .

Later it was the hunt for the tub of  wood treatment .

I should have taken a picture of a before ,but I found this one from a while ago.

To the right of the lamp a short distance up the bank is a lump sticking up .It consists of a 90 degree bend of a pipe and a surround of edging stones .

our idea was to see if we could remove or change it so the mower could freely glide over the top  !

The picture below shows what we found when we dug out the pipe.

 You can see the 90 degree bend that stuck out of the ground and the other pipe shows roughly the route and angle of the new pipe . All we have to do is insert, easier said than done . its a 68mm pipe and the range of fittings are not as widely available as it be would be for smaller pipes.

We are up for a  challenge.

Locomotive of the day was 4270

Dave

Storm Alex

Saturday 3rd October 

Your two Bloggers have been up in Yorkshire a lovely place. Vic is back and on Station Assistant duties and took a few photos.

Loco 4270 running around its train.

                                     Lady Driver and an admirer!!

A large flower with two more stems on the way.

Vic.

Last of the Summer weather ?

 Week Commencing 21st September 2020

The last days of Summer saw a slight change in the weather , the sight that greeted the 4 who turned out on Monday saw the grey skies over the station. The first signs of Autumn ?

As I said just 4 today ( plus Jo doing his own thing with a bench ) , most taken to going on a last minute holiday whilst the weather is good.

As per the norm , its down to the drive for a quick Tidy and brush up.

But first a bit of wheelbarrow Maintance, one flat Tyre too many  saw Ian bring in a supposedly a non puncturable one to try out . Ron Fitted the said wheel and tyre . Okay its different and we will always spot you in the fog .

There it is !

It does what it says on the can , we will see.

Also down the drive was Brian on mower.

He was trying to give that side of the drive a quick cut but we had visitors in the shape of the tree surgeons ,

 Their task for the day was to remove one of the dying ? trees and trim some branches from one of the trees at the bottom of the drive. 

One of the problems they created was by letting large lumps of timber fall from a great height, was the when they did land on our nice grass patch it left sizable holes.

More on Wednesday

Back at the workshop, Dave was continuing removing the paint off the two bench supports.

We had been donated  an ex GWR bench , which was the 2 ends type , wood on the seat and feet was beyond saving  , the back two pieces will need a rub down and repainting. above shows  work in progress with the rubbing down.

Brian , Ian and Ron returned to the shade of the embankment to carry on with the on going Ivy removal.

Wednesday 

5 volunteers , rain and two trains .

Removing years of ivy and debris revealed a rather large lump of concreate , looks like this area was used as a dumping ground from when the station and platforms were demolished.

What started as one large lump turned into 2 wheel barrow of similar stuff , more will probably appear as time goes on.

Early  morning also saw the shifting of 4 completed spear fencing panels up the area by the signal box .

Peter K had a dry spot in the Portakabin today  he built more,  ready for the painters, who today were absent mainly due to the weather.

Getting a nice collection going , maybe next month we might start installing them.

Ian carried on with his  task of repairing the wheelbarrows , we have now got more working wheel barrows than volunteers to use them ! 

Ron and Ian surveyed the area where the tree had been removed and set about repairing the holes in the ground . Sourcing a bit of top soil ( not an easy task ) they managed to fill 2 or 3 of the worst ones then applied grass seed . Hopefully the area will recover.

Dave also in the dry , completed the bench ends . A bit of cure rust on the worst parts then a coating of red oxide. eventually to be painted Dark brown to match the existing benches that we have on our platform.

Two Locos today 

It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Monday 14th September 

Well every picture tells a story. Is there a mist down the line?

No it's Dave's bonfire, which with a Southerly wind should have floated the other way.

The usual team was down the driveway, clearing pine needles, removing weeds and cutting grass.

Four lads trying to make their arms longer, moved several spear fence panels down to the signal box.

Ian set to and cleaned out the station telephone box. Which spider did that? Cobwebs galore!

Chris was soring out some of the wiring in the Bric a Brac shop.

Jo was painting another bench.

Vic was also doing his usual looking after the flower beds and watering the plants.

Wednesday 16th September

Me and my shadow, Clive and Ray painting two more panels of spear fencing and Peter K welding a further panel.

Tony and Dave are working on the foot of another GWR bench.

Pat who darted all around the station today looking for a piece of grass to cut.

Ron and Ian off to collect said grass that had been shredded.

Peter Q with a barrow full of equipment is going with help to dig a hole. Aha that's where there are!

They were re-erecting  a warning sign at the bottom of the railway access track.

Whist waiting for the first train catch up on todays news. The Station Master at rest then sending off the train on time.

The locos today were Dinmore Manor and Foremark Hall the latter being watched and photographed by passengers.