Tidying up for The Autumn Showcase !

 Week Commencing 23rd October 2023

Just 5 days to go to the Autumn Showcase , so the 5 volunteers who turned out on Monday turned there hands to a bit of tidying up.

It was decided to leave the drive until the Wednesday in case the weather blew more cones and needles off the trees , so we began to clear away everything from behind the containers on platform 2.

Over the years stuff ! had been dumped out of sight behind and the undergrowth had taken over.

All hands to the shifting of old scaffolding and sheets plus other rubbish.

Except 1 ! , Pat was on the other side giving the bank a cut.

Where did all the burnable rubbish go ,? to the bonfire area where Ron had a go at lighting it . but the wind was against him , the smoke started to drift to our neighbors properties so it was quickly extinguished.

After the big clean up we went down to the road by the bridge , the area of grass before the bridge is kept tidy by ourselves , and some rather large concrete blocks had appeared , that needed dug out to prevent damage to our grass cutting equipment. Ian and Ron were on the case and several block were removed..

Finally Dave had finished the new Broadway Station picture board , just ready for the Autumn Showcase , it shows a picture time line from 1904 through the various years to 2023

Wednesday

We arrived on Wednesday to steady drizzle , no chance we could use Billy to pick up the needles !

So it was back to the old fashion way.

Ron , Brian, Dave and Young Dave on the brushes and wheelbarrows.

Elsewhere Chris was back on platform 1 doing a bit of weeding. And Pat elsewhere cutting more vegetation down.

I was called away at lunchtime so I don't know what they were up to in the afternoon , but I'm sure the Station will look its best for the weekend.

Locomotives on duty today were " P and O " and " Foremarke Hall "

Dave

Having a tidy up !

 Week Commencing 9th October 2023

Just the 4 of us on a rain threatening day , just dry enough to have another bonfire , must be that time of year !

Brian had a mysterious parcel , which when opened had nothing in it !

Big job of the day was to tidy up the northern end of platform 2 , which had become the scrapyard of the station , after acquiring one of the flat bed trucks  , it was loaded up with scrap metal and no usable material and then taken down to the skips at Toddington. 

Below is a picture of the area after , no rubbish to see here anymore.

Whilst at Toddington we popped in to see how 2807 was coming on .

It looked as it had been out and a few things were in the process of being sorted out .

Wednesday

A bit of car bother on the way , so just caught a few things going on .

Weather not brilliant , so Pat did a bit of brushing up on platform 1.

Brian gave his new board more coats of paint.

Pat then deemed it dry enough to brush cut the back of the tidied up area .

Out today were  " P and O  " and the  " DMU "

Dave

Digging up the Past !

 Week commencing 1st October 2023

Just a month to go ,until no more trains will be using our station but a volunteers job is never done.

5 turned out today , Pat and Chris were on the big hedge , which is now at last getting thinner . What it is doing is reveling a lot of old debris from what we think was the old station !

Many of the old bricks and lumps of concrete can be pulled out , but this large bolt was attached to something more substantial and will need looking at later .

 

The biggest bit of debris was a piece of down pipe ! Not from the station itself ( it had square pipe ) but we think it might have come from the Footbridge .

Brian was Striming on the top of the bank , whilst nearby Ian was giving the barrier a fresh coat of wood treatment ready for the up coming winter months.

Painting completed for the day he was seen later enjoying 

 a piece of David's Birthday cake.

Wednesday

Before the customers arrived for the day Ron and Dave with Billys help gave platform 1 and the drive a quick tidy up.

Brian was a bit lower on the bank with his strimmer .

Dave gave 2 gates and the Booking Hall door a bit of Maintainace . Below the gate to the signal Box locker room , now with 4 washers on the hinge ! has the signal box grown or hinge post sunk ?

Whilst we were in the area the Tarmac in front of the signal box was given a brush down.

Pat was over on the bank strimming until the fuel ran out.

One thing that was buried in the bank was an old telegraph pole tensioner , not a nice object to hit with the strimmer . Unable to dig it out , we dug a hole by the side of it so we would be able to get the disk cutter in cut the top off , and remove the majority of it.

Locomotives around today were the DMU and Foremarke Hall.

Dave

Thank Goodness for Billy

 Week Commencing 25th September 2023

Previous Saturday saw Pat on his Todd having a go on the drive , 5 wheel barrow loads were dispatched to the Bonfire area.

 

Monday

After Saturdays and Sundays wind and rain it was surprising that the fire would actually burn, but as the picture below shows it lit first time and weeks of debris were soon aflame.

3 and a half Volunteers today , Myself ( Dave ), Brian  ( The boss ) , and Ron with Pat joining us half way through the day .

Not being able to access the car park on Saturday meant that we needed to have a go today , the state of the car park and platform 1 is seen in the pictures below 

Dave was on the brushes pulling the needles away from the edges whilst Ron followed behind with Billy vacuuming up the piles.

Just the 3 bag fulls , which kept the fire going !

Pat was on the hedge again , whilst on the opposite side , Brian was gathering up the parts ready for painting, these belong to a new station board going at the bottom of the drive.

Afternoon saw Ron and Dave back on the drive, mopping up what Pat missed .

Billy Goat certainly earned his keep today , hopefully storm Angus which is due on Wednesday wont create too much mess or next week will be another groundhog day !

Wednesday

Just the 2 of us , Pat and myself

Pat seamed to be everywhere  , first with the strimmer behind the benches.

Then on the hedge again .

Then on the drive or was he ?

Locomotives on duty today were " Foremarke Hall and Dinmore Manor "

Dave

Rainy Days !

 Week Commencing 18th September 2023

Monday started off dry but it soon turned showery ! Just the 4 of us today !

First thing we noticed was that the heritage boys had been and fitted 6 off Lamp tops on the posts on Platform 2 .

Jo had found a maker of lamps  " up north " they were a much better quality build to the platform 1 lamps  and looked the part.

Meanwhile back at the ranch as they say,.

Pat had sourced a new rotor for the hover and was trying it out. But the grass was too wet to give it good try out.

So he went back to hedge cutting , with Dave and Ian tidying up behind him.

One thing that keeps appearing are bits of the old station in the grassy areas , another full size brick was dug out the back , sourcing of more hover rotors were becoming hard to find , so we now have to inspect before cutting 

And another half brick.

Showers put an end to anymore work and everybody drifted away.

Wednesday

Forget it , pouring down when we arrived , did a bit of sorting and then went for a ride on the train , to test out the Bacon rolls cooked on the new grills of course .

Dave