Where have the trees gone !

 Week Commencing 24th April 2023

On my arrival back to Broadway station from changing the gas bottles on the Restaurant and Buffet coaches,  I discovered the car park full of tree fellers !

The two willows were deemed to be giving trouble to the neighbors house !

Just the 4 again today , sourcing more wood gave Peter chance to make yet more Trugs. Dave had brought in a redundant flower box and was in the progress of being refurbished.

Brian was fighting a loosing battle with the weeds on the embankment.

Middle of the day in the car park , not just 2 trees gone but bushes too . Not looking good either .

Ian had painted the flower box with the only tin of primer we had left

A striking colour if we were a Southern Station.

Wednesday

A little job that Dave started on Monday , was a slight problem with the Telephone Kiosk , it had a tendency to rock if somebody was trying to get into it.

The chance of somebody pulling it over was a cause for concern ( It weighs over 13 CWT or 675 KG ) so Dave made some brackets and bolted it to the concrete floor. It still rocks but its not going anywhere.

Elsewhere Chris was sweeping the car park after Mondays mayhem , whilst Dave and Peter were doing more on the embankment,

 Pat was on the opposite side with the mower and then the Flymo.

Dave had made a box for the trolley out of scrap wood, and before going home gave both it and the flower box a coat of undercoat.

We learnt today of the passing away of a 4 legged friend  !

Peter K^s Dog  " Tilly " She always seamed to be around in the early days of the building of the Station , a very friendly dog , until an incident with a volunteer ( It was his own fault ).which saw her barred.

Guess who was 70 today ?

Happy Birthday Julie here seen posing with John and Dave outside the Broadway goods shed.

Locomotives on Duty today were  " Braveheart " and  " Dinmore Manor " below, running around its morning train , before heading back to Cheltenham.

Dave

What No Rain !

 Week Commencing 17th April 2023

Monday

The usual suspects were around on a dry Spring day for a change.

Good enough for working outside again.

First Pat was able to mow the top of the drive embankment.

Peter , guess what was making more of the ever selling Trugs .

Over on Platform 2 , Ian was finishing off the top side of container 3

Just before I had to leave early a strange vehicle appeared on the horizon , the little machine that's sprays out  the weed killer !

Wednesday

Just the 4 of us , and another nice day

On Monday Ian had not only finished the end but also painted the door of no 1 , just the bottoms to do now.

Pat was over on the drive picking out stones and pebble from the area where the slab had been removed and replaced with soil.

A proud Pat with his collection of debris,

With the success of  making rubber feet for our bins at Broadway and as we had also made similar bins for Toddington. It was decided to do the same for their bins. So a quick jump on the next train for Dave and Ian. 8 bins had new feet put on them and then jump back on the next train back to Broadway.

Back at Broadway.

After Dave and Ian had put some new swing hinges on the barriers it was Peter K turn to try and fix the barriers so they wouldn't keep blowing over in the strong winds we get down the platforms here at Broadway. 

Our Broadway Goods shed pair of Julie and John were doing a brisk trade all day .

The seating area where the new shop will go,  always seams to be full with passengers, where will they sit when the new shop arrives ?

Pat sent me a picture of his Flymo having a rest ! It had had a hard morning !

One of the Locos today at Broadway was the Standard 4 " Braveheart " here arriving with the first train of the day .

Dave

Just the Wednesday !

 Wednesday 12th April 2023

Easter Monday saw no volunteers working at Broadway , so it was only the Wednesday this week . 4 out on a day with very heavy blustery showers throughout the day. 

In-between the showers we could work outside , no painting was forecast.

 So Peter Q was able to cut more wood up for more Trugg making.

Pat disappeared off down the drive to give the grass a cut.

Dave and Ian had sourced some thick rubber ! which they then created some round feet to put on the bottom of the  legs of the waste bins. Standing in water had made the legs look a bit soddened , hopefully the rubber feet will help !

Having quite a bit of rubber left over , it was decided to make some more feet for the Bins we had made for Toddington station . After a bit of a discussion  over the exact amount of bins we had made , and a large rain cloud appearing we hopped on the next train down to Toddington to have a count ! 

Our lift arriving.

Dave

More Sunny Weather

Week Commencing 3rd April 2023

Another lovely Spring morning and the sun was shining on the containers , warming them up ready for painting.

Brian started of by wire brushing the loose paint off Container number 1.

Whilst Dave used the electric wire brush on the end of No 3 container.

It also was a trip down to Toddington for Pat and Dave to change the first of the gas bottles on the restaurant coach. 

The 4 bottles seamed to last a fortnight before changing , that's an awful lot of bacon being cooked for the rolls , which do taste very nice.

Back at Broadway , Brian and Chris were painting N0 1 and Dave painted the end of no 3

By the end of the day container 1 was nearly done on the 2 sides , just the door to be done !

One thing I had to do was to test out if the gas was working on the Tuesday , by having a ride and a bacon roll on the Train up to Broadway and back.

I can say everything is working and tasting well !

Dave

On the Brushes again !

 Week Commencing 27th March 2023

A lovely start to the day again ,the sun was beating down and we had 5 volunteers turning out.  

Our neighboring Ravens sat on top of one of the pine trees. making a hell of a racket  Its that time of year for them !!!

On such a good day what's to be done , maybe a bit more painting.

Brian and Ian started by scrapping off the old flaky paint , whilst Dave started to paint.

Peter headed down the drive to tend to the never ending debris from the trees.

Dave had started by doing the middle 3rd of the container , but by lunch time and with everybody's help it was done and looking very smart. good for another 5 years !

Another job that requires doing is the sorting out of the bottom garden , Ian and Chris were deciding what to do ! 

The flower bed is too close to the fence making it hard to mow the grass in front so we have decided to move it back up the embankment.

But first the concrete from the old posts had to be dug out, which Ian and Dave eventually did. whilst Brian was in the same area keepin the weeds down.

Wednesday

What a miserable day ! Another why bother day raining when we arrived and still raining when we departed !

But for the 4 who turned out it was a case of staying indoors and stay dry.

There was a brief respite of the rain so Peter could cut some more sides for the Truggs which seam to be selling well in our shop !

The reason Peter had the ear defenders on was not because of Ian, but because Dave had just finished drilling the new bolt holes in the rails. The pillar drill in the container makes a bit of a racket when it was drilling through 1/2 inch of steel !!

When its raining our breaks tend to be a bit longer , one our discussions usually revolves around ailments , the latest one was Pat`s swollen knee which has slowed him down considerably , I did take a picture but putting it on the Blog would probably contravene some rule about decency! 

Anyway you cant keep a good man down ! he was out in the rain removing more moss from the platform.

Pat and Peter disappeared around lunch time , Dave and Ian put everything away and went down to Winchcombe on the scrounge for useful stuff .

Dave

The Sun Shone for Awhile.

 Week Commencing 20th March 2023

We turned up on Monday  , No wind , no frost and no rain ! What's going on , is it still Winter ? The Morning then saw a flurry of brushes !

But first Dave fixed the handles that Peter Q had previously made onto this seasons Truggs, ready to be sold in our shop.

Vic gave platform 1 a sweep down. Whilst below Ian was fighting with the hose to get it back on its holder.

The weather was warm enough for Mike to apply Dark Stone to the Paneling outside the Kitchen Door.

Outside the Mess hut Chris was giving the Barrier a coat of Fence Life.

Pat was doing some thing Different ! taking ash from the fire area to somewhere , he did say but after a few days I have now forgotten !

One of his success stories was the area on platform 1 ramp , which was covered in moss . 

Pat sprayed the area with cheap vinegar from, he said Tesco's and look at the result , just needs brushing down when it eventually dries up.

The weather was so kind that Brian and Dave with brushes and paint headed to the office.

I wasn't sat down having a rest . Brian did the middle 3rd and I did the Bottom 3rd,we then both did the top 3rd. by the end of the morning we had turned the corner , which was timing as it then started to rain again. Ian looked on having rubbed down container 3 , it too will get the same treatment on a dry day. 

Rain stopped play again ,but mission accomplished , looking much better now.

Wednesday

Weather was dry and bright, most of the day , 5 turned out ,  but after last Mondays effort with the paint brushes there wasn't much enthusiasm to do Portakabin 3 !

Never mind,  Peter carried on with the Trugg construction. Whilst Dave and Ian spent most of the morning cutting an old Rail we had found into 1 m lengths, they will be used to hold the new board at the bottom of the drive.

Ian then removed the rust , and then treated the cut lengths of rail in red oxide.

 

Chris was out in the car park , whilst his son Dave swept around the benches, on platform 1.

Dave