Bye Bye to old Friends

 Monday 21st November 2022

Miserable Morning an even more Miserable Afternoon , rained most of the day , but it didn't stop 4 of us volunteers turning out to see the arrival of a large team of Tree fellers.

Vehicle's and kit all over the drive,.6 Old trees had to be removed, down the drive and one by the Signal Box.

A small tracked vehicle made light work picking up  smallish branches and putting them in the chipping Machine.

Further down the Mobile Crane was helping in the chopping down of the larger stuff.

I would have taken more photos but it was pouring down by now, so of I went to find shelter and leave them to it.

There are quite a few videos from Michael Peers on the GWSR Facebook sites of the days action.

Back to team of 4 , Brian was giving the Bench a second coat of the brown stuff. Dave had finished the refurbishment of the first of the waste bins, and sent it over to Cabin 3 for the winter.

Ian refitted the sign on the newly painted post.

Peter Q was making more handles for the Truggs

Out of the rain in the afternoon Dave and Ian were working on the running in Board,

On my way home , and down the drive a few gaps had appeared where there once were trees , also a bit of damage was seen to the fence. Leave in to the Maintainace gang on Wednesday !!

Dave

A Nice Surprise

 Monday 14th November 2022

Over the many years of sweeping the Driveway , Platforms etc. is was a pleasant surprise of a delivery of 6 new Brushes the old brushes were getting a bit short in the bristle area.

4 volunteers first thing , hang on 2 spare brushes , anybody out there want to help ?

Tony was first on the job today , brushing up nice heaps of leaves on the car park side before the cars turned up.

Ron and Brian were on the brushes and Dave was on the wheelbarrow.

After a while the brushes always need a rest , must not push them too hard, just yet , besides there was the drive to do.

By the end of the morning we were at the bottom of the drive, job done. ( again )

Pat arrived to give the road side grass a cut.

Ian too had turned up and he and Ron gave the platform a sweep.

Two different types of brushes , saw Ian on the sign post applying black top coat , whilst at the other end of the platform Ron rubbed down the other post and then applied Red Oxide..

Elsewhere Dave was on bin refurbishment.

Dave

Heading for Winter

 Monday 7th November 2022

6 volunteers around today , the weather was overcast and there was dampness in the air , no good for painting as Mike said.

Brian started with the bench which lives in the small garden , looking worse for the fact that it is under a tree that many birds sit in, .but with a lot of rubbing down it was ready for being primed.

Ian and Ron fitted the new hose bracket to the spear fence on platform 1 , stops the hose pipe being laid out along the fence , much neater job.

Chris was hiding in the undergrowth

And later .

Brian having done a bit of primming, took to removing yet more old branches and debris from the embankment.

Ian and Ron later were going through the wheelbarrows trying to find out which tyres were flat, could be pumped up and fixed.

Elsewhere Dave was refurbishing the first of the waste bins . Flaking paint removed and the rest rubbed down. But as I said earlier too cold and damp to paint.

Wednesday is now a working day there could be more !

Dave

End of another Season

 Monday 31st October 2022

Last weekend we saw our final event of the year , the Mixed Traction Gala , after a few early hic-ups it seamed to run rather well and was well supported

That means its now time to put the station to sleep until the 27th of December.

After a brief chat about what to do first and what had happened at the week end we set about gathering up the benches to place them under the canopy out of the worst of the weather.

After Years of practice and it runs like a well oiled machine " Not ". Brian in front , Peter behind , Dave and Ron the lifters and shifter.

One of the benches will need repainting , due to the birds !! It too headed under the canopy to dry out.

And of course we have to have a sweep up , not as much as the previous week,  so Ron took to doing it by himself. 

The Gala poster down the bottom of the drive got replace by the " Journey Though Steam " poster . A 7 month exhibition at the Broadway Museum. Telling the story of the Stratford  to Cheltenham Railway. Opens next Friday until May next year.

Vic was back in the Garden , giving it a general tidy up.

One of the Jobs for the winter months was the refurbishment of the Broadway Running Board on platform 1.From a distance it looked fine , but water had found its way into various parts and it needs to be refurbished.

First job was to remove the old and peeling paint from the back , Tony tried his hand with the heat gun whilst Ron had a scrapper , but Dave used a Belt sander., Most of the paint removed the board was put in the container, hope fully to dry out.

Sharing our bench were Brian and Neal trying to sort out a  drive issues with one of the mowers .

Mike as the weather wasn't too bad was top coating another Spear fencing panel.

Some of us pop in on Wednesdays to do a bit . As it was a running day our little shop is usually open manned by Julie and John ! sometimes they do a brisk trade sometimes not , but they are always good for a laugh , we will miss them until next year when the shop reopens.

Dave

Where have all the Volunteers gone ?

 Monday 24th October 2022

After my Monday visit to Toddington to make sure the gas bottles on the Dining and Buffet coaches would last the week and the Gala weekend , I arrived at Broadway Station to find a grand total of 2 volunteers .

Was it a case of sickness , holidays or the weather, who knows. Never mind there is always something  to do.

Tony and Ron decided to give the mess hut a clean out , it was beginning to live up to its name.

Dave finished of putting a decent spring on the south barrier to stop the wind blowing the gate part open.

Pat popped in half way through the morning , to see if the grass could be cut on the embankment , but he found the gras was still too wet.. 

After lunch only Ron and myself left  ! so we headed down the drive to give it sweep , only the 2 wheelbarrows full this time. 

We always try to finish off the day with a bit of painting , Ron on the new hose reel holder and Dave on the Bin.

And don't forget that this weekend 

Dave

Autumn Days

 Monday 17th October 2022

I missed last Monday due to family duties , so things hadn't got back quite to normal .

Whilst I was away a clock had appeared under the canopy , 

Until it is connected it will only tell the correct time twice a day , but its a fine addition to the Station.

The previous nights wind and rain brought down a far amount of needles and twigs , its a constant battle but Peter Q and Brian were on the Job and eventually Dave were on the case.

Many wheelbarrows headed to the now lit bonfire.

Back down at the northern end of platform 1.

Peter K and Ian were wrestling with the hose wrapping it around a hose holder that Peter had constructed and attached to the fence.

On the opposite side , Neal and Jo had fitted a stop cock onto the pipe feeding the water to said pipe. Jo had the task of burying the pipe out of site in the hard ground.

Elsewhere Ron and Chris had a go at cleaning out the guttering on the car park side.

Mike repainted a few more spear fencing panels.

Whilst Brian was giving the driveway grass a final cut of the season ??

Coming to the end of our running season, there are a few jobs that need to be done whilst no ones around  , mostly repainting of the items that the customers see everyday . one is the Running in board on Platform 1  . the back which needs a serious go at , the weather has done its worse and it needs stripping down and repainting.

Another are our once unique  waste bins most need now freshening up ready again for next year.

Before all that can happen we needed to create a space to do all this, out of the worst of the weather , so over the last couple of weeks Dave and Ian have been having a good old sort out in the portacabin number 2 , we didnt know we had so much stuff where has it all come from !

Dave

Nearly back to Normal

 Monday 3rd October 2022

What with a State funeral and an Holiday, Mondays at Broadway seamed a distant memory , but this week saw a grand total of 8 volunteers turn out.

The heavy rain and blustery conditions of the previous weeks saw the approach to the Station looking grubby to say the least.

Tony was on the blower , whilst Ron , Brian , Peter and Ian were on the brushes and wheel barrows

The view from above , lots and lots of needles from the trees yet again.

Afterwards the drive nearly back to normal , we headed up to platform 1 and started there.

Tony took to trimming the bushes , whilst Chris  did a spot of weeding.

Peter and Ron went back down the drive and cleared the embankment by the fence , just the one bag full .

Mike was trying to keep the spear fencing panel's looking good with fresh coat of paint.

Elsewhere Dave and Ian were working on the new barrier.

In the container our newly Donated Pillar Drill was being fixed to the work bench ready for use , just needs PAT testing now.

Dave