Ballast, and a beauty revealed

We split into 4 teams today:

- One at Winchcombe, chairing up wooden sleepers
- One on the goods shed embankment, preparing the levels for the track there
- One at Broadway north, clipping up the track laid Saturday
- One small one on ballast running duties at Broadway

Winchcombe:

A vital part of the track lay is the chairing up of the sleepers, which today were confirmed as Jarrah. Quality stuff then.

As from Saturday we are going to be laying these, so a good supply following on behind is critical.

At Winchcombe the gang was busy chairing up, as well as loading the extension train.

Here it is, half loaded just after lunch.

The chairing up is repetitive stuff, with a bit under 750 sleepers to be done and us about half way there at the moment.

The sleepers are drilled at the supplier's, but the wood around the hole is hard and quite a bit of force is need to get the chairscrews in an initial bit, to give the nut runner a purchase to get started.

The Telehandler hovers nearby, ready to pounce and take a set of 4 away.

At lunch time, the gang had done 48, perhaps double that for the end of the day? At least the weather was fine for this work, so that it could proceed speedily.

At the end of the day, the extension train was taken to Broadway again.




Broadway goods shed:

Two members of the gang worked on determining the levels of the track to be laid here.

 
This is the site of the through road. The gate is redundant now, as it and the fence panel need to go to let the track through.

A fence will be erected along the LH edge of the site. The bits are in the middle distance.

The ballast loading mini digger was purloined (we think 'borrowed' was the term used) to drive in two stakes at the bridge end, where there was nothing to which the lateral bars could be attached.

At the end of the day the two stakes were in, lateral bars attached and painted white, and these stretch all the way along the fence. From here downwards the future height of the rail and ballast level can be measured.

Broadway north:

An optimist was still in summer shorts. Well, admittedly it was unusually warm, some people were seen in shirt sleeves.

Lovely boots too. Hope they don't get dirty.

That damned contact lens has fallen out again

A vast array of tools was extracted from the site safe, to lift sleepers, bar them across and pull in the Pandrol clips. You can't have enough tools.

Clipping up then got going with a vengeance. To do this, you need one man on the Pan Puller, and an observer.

At the end of the day, the three panels laid on Saturday were indeed fully clipped up, except for the short stretch across the barrow crossing.

Eleven Broadway volunteers assembled to stare intensely at one PWay gang member laying out clips. There's something about Pandrol clips that is really interesting...

Ballasting crew:

Steve is on furlough this week - he does have another life beyond the railway, and yes, another customer. Adam therefore filled the dumper today, and we ran it up and down the loop side of the track through the platforms.

We have now almost finished, as you can see here in this gloriously sunny shot. We have not yet levelled this area, and more will be needed once the piles have been flattened. They represent a first pass.

Lunch - always enjoyable with the gang, and noisy Maitre d' Paul.

What's cooking today, Paul?
FAGGOTS !!!
I don't like faggots, can I have sausages instead?
NO !!!

Back at Broadway, the huge piles of ballast (remember how they stretched all the way to the gate?) gradually disappeared, until there was none left. We called the quarry first thing to order more, also for Stanton where the Dogfish will be loaded again.

The first wagon came just in time. Behind him a large flatbed artic with a large brand new tractor on top stopped dead in front of the bridge, then reversed slowly back up Station Road towards the town centre. That was a close one! Don't they read the signs?

The 20 tons of stone rushed out of the trailer, and were soon loaded and brought up to the platforms.

At the end of the day we were close to the southern end. We should reach that tomorrow, then go over the low spots.

This is where we were at the end of the day, as the sun was going down.

With no more ballast to load, Adam brought the mini digger up and started to level off the piles.

After a while, stones got under the rubber caterpillar tracks and one of them came off as he turned. That was the situation at the end of the day. Let's hope we can 're-rail' the little machine tomorrow morning.



Looking the other way just before the sun went down, we can see the station building revealed further, as another layer of scaffolding was stripped off today.

A see of fresh ballast takes up the foreground. This area still needs work on the levels, but at the northern end it's now ready to start laying bullhead track on wooden sleepers.

Here are a few more sunset photographs of the building, with most of the scaffolding trackside now gone.

From left to right the rooms are:

Gents', Disabled, Ladies', Store Room, Ticket Office, Booking Office, Refreshments, (Kitchen)

A close up of the Ticket and Booking Offices, with the foundation stone covered by the sheet of blue plastic.

The play of light illuminates the arched ridge purlins which characterise the heritage canopy. In the foreground the platform will be covered in 2'x3' slabs, as at Toddington.

In the last shot from the other direction the sun has gone down, but we do not want to deprive you of it, as all the scaffolding poles have now completely gone. The arch accommodates the doors to the Ladies' and Disabled toilets.

The exterior is a superb heritage effort, let's hope they do the interior with the same care and attention to detail.