A Walk to Honeybourne ( and back )

 Its Lockdown 2 , there is no volunteer work until December ( hopefully ) It had been raining for days and I needed a walk .

The weather looked okayish for Monday and the call of  Broadway and the Honeybourne line pulled me.

I have walked most of the route in bits and bobs , so lets go from Broadway to the Main line railway bridge at Honeybourne in one go and make a video, looking at the condition of the track bed and see what's left .

This is my short video of the route starting at Springfield lane , the quality is what you would get after 2 days of learning how to use video editing software so don't moan please.

The distance is approx 4.2 miles ( and 4.2 miles back , plus walking from the station ) and I was joined  ( as per government guidelines ) for part of the route by Pat . 

Below are some of the more interesting finds from our walk .

The Start the other side of the fence from the station.

A small brick hut , not far from the West loop sidings , it had redundant electrical boxes , scatted outside.

Remains of the signal box lay not far away

 

Plenty of old electrical boxes hidden in the undergrowth

The Site of Western Sub Edge Halt was given away by the nearby Corsican Pines

About a mile from Broadway station , what I thought was a trig point turned out to be a marker for Water !

Not much else around , the usual few old fencing rails and old bits of sleepers , any signs of Willersley halt looks to have totally vanished.

 Must go back and have a good look.

Shutting up Shop

 Week Commencing 2nd November 2020

With the news of 2nd lookdown happening on Thursday then the possibility of no trains till December it was decided to put the Station into Hibernation so to speak . A bright Morning saw the usual suspects at Broadway today , it was going to be their last Monday anyway as the Winter days draw in, the jobs around the Station get less and less. It had already been decided that we were only going to attend on Wednesdays till the spring.

First job was to get the all our benches under cover .

Sack trucks out.

Brian and Peter doing the driving , Tony and Dave doing the lifting.

Benches first the the bins all put under the canopy , out of the ravagers of the winter weather.

One bench we cant move ( as its bolted down ) is wrapped up.

Pete having a rest !

and its only 9.30am

After the recent storm over the weekend it was on to the drive for a quick brush up .

Tony , Peter and Brian on the brushes , Dave on the wheelbarrow. 

Many hands made light work and it was looking a lot better by lunch time , for now at least.

Elsewhere Mike and Ian were continuing the painting of the various types of fencing.

The wind had brought down an old Hazel bush at the top of platform 2 embankment , Dave and Tony armed with loppers and saws headed to tidy the area up.

Funny how the people with the log burners suddenly turn up.

Wednesday started with a frost, the team that were putting up the spear fencing were there early and soon on the go, once they had signed in.

Its signing in on your phones nowadays.

First Hole of the day , Terry with his arm down the hole, Rod on Auger , Ian and Keith the lifters and fetchers and Tony making sure everything is going to plan .

 They managed to fit 3 spear fencing panels on that side ,stopping where a gate post will eventually go. and after lunch and after Peter K had manufactured some attachments to the existing post , they started on the other side of the signal box.

Rods picture at close of the day , three panels on the left and five on the right.

Cue Mike with his pot of paint ready to touch up the parts missed.

He also gave the new post a lick of paint.

Down the drive and on platform 1 , Peter Q and Dave were giving the area a final tidy up ready before lock down , I wonder what its going to be like in a months time. Pat was down the track with his bush cutter , heard but not seen.

So that was it on our last day for a month !

Stay safe everyone .

See you in December

Dave

Anniversary Time

 Monday 26th October 2020

Two volunteers Tony and Vic had celebration time over the weekend (wedding anniversary and a birthday) so there was that bit of celebratory cake and the morning break.

Cleaning Up.

Ron and Vic set to sweeping and barrow loading leaves and pine needles from the platform and driveway.

Alterations

Dave and Brian were requested to swap the door hinges on a fridge and take preventive measures to stop debris falling into a drain.

Painting

Mike and Ian were swinging the brush today. Mike on the spear fencing and Ian coating another gate.

Mowing

Pat was out with his mower trimming the grass until the exhaust fell off. Tony, Dave and Brian were trying to dismantle the machine, so on Wednesday we will see if they were successful.

Wednesday 28th October.

Well it would appear from info given that the lads were successful with the exhaust repair. Pat then took the beast home, for like F1 cars, it was being given upgrades. So we will see Pat roaring around the circuit possibly next week.

Spear fencing

Tony and the gang, Terry, Rod, Keith, Peter K and painters Mike and Ian were all busy. Three more panels erected.

Station

The station staff arrived as two trains were running today. Here the station master opening up and checking all is ok.

Alterations

In the cafe kitchen the freezer now opens the correct way and the cover added to the sink will prevent pine needles from entry.

Clearance

Peter Q, Dave and Vic were working on the embankment and garden plots.

Rain Storm

The wind did blow and down came the rain, so it was shelter or go home.

By for now.

Vic

A few hardy souls ! stuck out the weather all day . Dave and Ian repaired a few broken electrical items and then as the rain eased went to help the spear fencing erectors .

A bit of rain hadn't stop them , by the end of the day they had installed fences beyond the running in Board .

Next Wednesday,  weather permitting , should see them reach the platform ramp and then its all down hill from there on . Peter K who was in the dry had started constructing the panels to suit the slope. Now it gets interesting .

It was a two train day , out today was first  P and O and then Dinmore Manor.

Dave

And Now For Something Completely Different

 Week commencing 19th October 2020

Monday was a nice pleasant sort of a day , it saw volunteers spread far and wide around the station doing various tasks.

The first thing to do is always more physical it seams than the rest of the days work.

A few finished Panels to shift up to the box , Brian and Ron eager to move the next one , soon wore off after the third !

Dave and Ron resorted to something more gentle .

 

Clearing the track bed of the build up of Pine cones and needles

 

And where did they all end up , on Tony's fire. A steady flow of wheel barrows kept it alight all day

Ian was back on the trellis until he ran out of  Wood preservative.

Pete and Brian had a nice steady job in the sun on the slope  , Ivy and weed removing. In places its beginning to  look quite good as the grass has begun to spread into the areas where the weeds have been removed.

 

Dave and Ron having tidied up the track bed moved over to platform 2 , the pictured just shows how much rubbish has been swept up just from the gate post.

 

Ian having run out of wood preserver then moved over to help Mike on the Spear fencing. 

Wednesday

We should have stayed in bed looking at the weather forecast , rain all day .

but the number of volunteers who turned up to brave the weather were higher than normal.

No painters , no point , no Gardeners , too wet , no sweepers of the drive .but what we did get was Volunteers willing to do a bit of grafting.

Peter K had constructed a new gate !

The gate will be fitted at the left of the signal box at the top of the stairs leading down to the locking room . First you need a post to hang it on , a sturdy post. Which by chance had been lying on the floor outside the signal box for ages.

The volunteers to do the task comprised of  Keith , Rod , Terry ( Can I Say Broadway Veterans and welcome back ) and also had the help of some of the usual  Broadway team.

Then after a great deal of measuring the post was in.

Why stop there , we have Spear fencing panels waiting to be fitted .Out with the tape and the motorized auger.

First the one

Then another

and finally a third .

I'm sure that if we hadn't have run out of bags of post create they would have gone farther but an excellent days work considering the weather.

Only other small job was in the workshop where Dave and Ian rubbed down and undercoated the wood for the GWR seat . The new gate had been too wet and cold to apply a red oxide coat of paint.

Only the one Train today " Dinmore Manor  " on duty, under grey October Skies.