More ballast

Today was the third day of ballasting, i.e. laying down an 8 inch layer of newly delivered ballast on top of rolls of Terram.

The day started with three of us, but soon Steve was called to Toddington with the JCB, leaving just Adam on the mini digger and yours truly on the 6T dumper. This Adam loaded surprisingly quickly each time, so the pressure was on, running up and down the extrension between the ballast heaps and the 'coal face' where the ballast was being dropped. This slowly moved northwards, about 6m at a time.

Here is the opening shot of the day. We're working from the ballast drop near Little Buckland, and in the distance, now into the curve, you can see some uncovered Terram, where worked stopped on Friday.

Although it's only a mini digger, it managed to fill the big dumper surprisingly quickly. It's got an expert driver! (you owe me now, Adam)

Our supply at this point was 120 tons, or 6 lorry loads. These come first thing in the morning. Adam has parked himself on top of the pile, which is a very efficient way of loading the bucket. Not so far to reach up each time either.

Soon we had covered the remaining Terram roll right up to the end, and it was time for a new one.

Before you can roll it out, the mini digger rectifies any unevenesses that have occurred, and the big roller then gives it a smooth surface, so that there are no projections that might puncture the sheet.

Here's a view from the ballast stockpile the other way, looking north.

In the distance, you can make out a telegraph pole - that is the site of Little Buckland bridge, the target for this first piece of track extension. It's a total of 800m from Laverton Loop. We've got all the kit for it. We should end up just beyond the bridge, with the rails we have in stock.

A couple of hours later, the piece of Terram Adam was rolling out, two pictures above, looked like this.

Lots of neat little dumps, which Steve still has to even out, and spread to the correct depth.

We have to be very exact, as this new ballast is expensive and we do not want to waste any, yet have enough thickness for the tamper to pass over it, without puncturing the Terram. A delicate balance then.

Before we roll this bit of Terram out any further, the mini digger has to even out the trackbed one final time (it's already been done once, but with all the traffic on it, more lumps seem to occur). Then back to the vibrating roller.

I've got an automatic watch, which is now wound up into the middle of next week ! Some vibrations, that.

You might be interested in this snapshot off Little Buckland bridge, looking towards Aston Somerville. Bottom left is the mouth of a drain, which Andy P has rebuilt most beautifully (a few more bricks due to go on, by the looks of it) and the most impressive thing is the channel leading away from it, by the hedge, which has seen a lot of dedicated spade work. It must have taken ages, but now the water will run away again, and not undermine the embankment any more.

Well done, that drainage gang !

This picture shows the new Terram roll fully unrolled, and with ballast tipped right up to the end of it. This is in fact the final dumper load of the day.

We are some way round the curve, as you can see.

Can you zoom in on this?

The picture shows, from most of the way round the curve, where worked stopped today, and in the distance on the left, you can see the starting point with the Pway wagons parked on the headshunt.

Today's last picture, work stopped here. That telegraph pole looks a lot nearer now. The next roll of Terram (each roll is 100m long) is ready for laying down, and the last thing we did was regrade the next 100m stretch, and roll it, ready for tomorrow morning. After that, we will need one final roll to get over the bridge.

Noted today: two Merlin helicopters (big jobs, they are) and a fox, 100 yds away, stood on our ballast dump, completely unconcerned by our activities. He even came back for a second look, very casually.

Tomorrow, we should all but reach Little Buckland bridge with the Terram/dumping. Steve will probably even out to the correct depth that which we have already dumped, and then...... there was talk of track laying !

Soon we shall be laying down the first 5 panels. This is what it's all about, and we hope to show you this milestone event.

The first ballasting

Ballast started to arrive today in larger volumes, but it seems to have been a bit of a 'dawn raid' and by 9am today's supply had already been delivered on site. Note to self: get up earlier !

Yesterday's comment that an extra 100m of Terram had been laid was true, what a dedicated team!

The initial run now stretches away out of sight, into the start of the curve. It's all been weighed down by an initial thin covering of new ballast, to keep it in place.

Looking back the other way, the Terram stretches back to the end of the headshunt, with a line of levels to the right to guide the digger driver about the heights required.

This was the end of the works this morning, with a pile of freshly delivered ballast ready to be spread out along the line of the future track. It's much longer than it looks, this is a telephoto shot.

As the lorries were unable to deliver all the way down to the railhead, this intermediate pile was made, from which our dumper ferried the stuff down to where it was needed. At least this way, we can spread it in a more measured way, rather than all 20 tons at once. With all the levels needing checking, hand measurement of the first layer and subsequent adjustments, large volumes all at once would not really have been practical anyway.

Then, off we go. Tom drives the first dumper load, in an impressive 6 tonner.

At the railhead, Steve was waiting with the JCB to give instruction, and to spread out each load.

In the background, normal services were continuing. It's nice to see a service train in Laverton loop, this one being headed by 2807. Looking at the Flag & Whistle and the car park at Toddington yesterday, we are doing well, so here's hoping it generates a nice cash flow for our extension pot.

As Steve checks whether he has got the first bit to the right depth, Tom is already bringing the next load and dumping it a bit further along. The trackbed undulates a little bit and here and there there are also high spots difficult to remove, so it takes careful measurement to get at least a minimum depth under everything for the tamper to work on. There was a lot of walking about and measuring this morning, before we actually started on the job.
 

Due to a meeting in the afternoon your blogger was unable to stay on, so this was the situation at lunch time.

The important bit is to get the beginning set up right, after which the JCB, equipped with the reflector from the laser level, can get on with the job.

The ballasting will continue on Friday and into next week, when a further update will be possible. So far, so brilliant! Well done Steve, Adam and Tom.







Can I ask people posting comments to keep them friendly and helpful, and not post criticism, and certainly not anonymously. These guys know what they are doing, and would appreciate our support.

See you next week, and thanks for your interest.

The first steps to ballasting

Today saw the first work on the actual extension track work. This was in the form of 200m of terram, covered in an initial thin layer of ballast to hold it down. We started from the current headshunt.

Several rolls of Terram were positioned along the trackbed, and a pile of new ballast was positioned in the 60yd gap that the gang created on Saturday. Here are Alan and Steve getting the first roll ready. Luckily the wind, often notorious here, was kind today, with just a gentle breeze, which didn't make our material flap too much.

With the first 20yds rolled out, Steve was able to help himself to a bucket load from the pile down the track, and bring it round to the start. The laser level you can just see will help us get the depth right, but today's job was just to get enough down to hold the Terram in place.

The pile of fresh ballast is between the Pway train and the end of the turnout, and yes, there were trains running today. We are that close to the end of the line, but hoping to move away further and further...

We've got our Dogfish wagons ready too, some recently overhauled, so we're ready to go.

The Terram is wider than we need, so don't worry too much about the line we took - it straightens out as you can see.

Here is Andy doing a bit of 'manual labour' laying stones along the edge, in case the wind changes direction and gets under the textile on the Cotswolds side.

That's a nice row of stones there. Keep going, Andy! Just 2 miles left to do.

Here is the view from the Pway train, looking north. The trackbed has been further graded, and a roller brought in to compact it, so that the stones do not puncture the Terram from underneath.

After the first 30yds, there's a little site discussion to see how it's going.

The scrub at the start of the curve to Little Buckland in the distance will be cleared when the bird nesting season is over.

It was quite busy on the trackbed at one point. Volunteer's car, roller, contractor's van, second roll of Terram. Not half as busy as tomorrow though, when the real ballast starts to arrive. This will be emptied on top of what we put down today, for a depth of 8ins, required for laying sleepers. There'll be loads of large lorries running up and down here tomorrow.

In this picture quite a bit of progress has been made (given that Steve is getting his supplies of fresh ballast from a fair distance away) and a new roll of Terram has just been opened. In all 200m of Terram were put down today, more is due later.

Once again - after CRC2 on Monday - there was lots of dust, especially if, like Neil, you stood downwind from it. At least it was dry. On Saturday, having walked to Little Buckland, the entire Pway team of 15 was soaked to the skin by a downpour while walking back to their cars parked at Laverton. It's quite exposed on this embankment, but at least the views are fabulous.

Hey, you said it was my turn on the roller now!

We hope to be able to give you a brief update tomorrow, after the lorries with the ballast drop have been in.

June update

Slowly but surely the extension work is gathering pace. The lizzards have been carefully removed from their lodgings in the former gallops, and today the PWay gang was out at Laverton in order to take out three track panels so that work can start on correcting a small slip at the start of the extension. The slip is not very exciting to see - just an irregularity in the greenery really - but it has been spotted and will be corrected by contractors in the next few days.

As part of the Laverton loop, there is a headshunt of a few 100m for the storage of PWay wagons - you may have seen them from the Broadway road. To allow contractors access to the slip, 60m of track previously roughly laid was taken apart with the Telehandler and stacked.

Did you know a telehandler could go along sideways? It's called 'crabbing' and proved very useful in dragging the rails out of the way from the side, but in a straight line. Nigel proved expert at this.

Once the rails were off, the Telehandler was able to get at the sleepers, which were all stacked at one end, ready for relaying once the contractors have finished. The contractors will also be effecting a sizeable drain repair a little further along, where a small stream runs under the embankment and the ends of the little tunnel need rebuilding.

Given that the headshunt is now interupted, a temporary stop sign was put up by Andy and Ivor. Careful with that keying hammer, Andy !
In the background menacing clouds are drawing in. If you can see Cleeve Hill, it's going to rain. We could see Cleeve Hill....

Then a quick lunch while it was still dry. Lunch with the Pway gang is always a pleasure, as they often pull something interesting out of the hat. Today it was two tins of Mrs. B's most excellent Lemon Drizzle cake.

Neil was happy to be test pilot for the formal tasting. They passed.

After lunch Stevie Warren came down and there was a most useful discussion about the next few days, followed by a track walk to the end of the first track laying phase, Little Buckland bridge. With our current and initial supply of rails, we should be able to get to just beyond this bridge. (Bridge 5 in the prospectus)

The view above also shows how the embankment north of Laverton has been cleared along the sides, and more recently, the trackbed itself along the top. The cleared trackbed now extends all the way to Little Buckland, while shrubbery around the curve, in the distance, still remains to be cleared. This job is earmarked for after the summer holidays, but is not critical to track laying. So basically the trackbed is ready to go, once the slip and culvert repair are complete.

Further along at Little Buckland bridge Stevie Warren and Ivor Dixon on the photo discuss how much ballast is needed and where, the approaches to the bridge still being a bit low after the bridge repair works.

The curve round to Peasebrook Farm (bridge 4) in the background is also clear, and has most recently been receiving some attention in the form of new fencing.

The latest news is that some ballast is coming Wednesday, and will be dropped on rolls of Terram, starting beyond the headshunt.  Rolling the Terram out in this windy location could be tricky, so hands will be needed to hold it down. Pencil the date in your diary if you think you can help - Nigel will be confirming via the usual channels.

The ballast isn't coming until Wednesday....

May update

Laying of track has not started yet, but some more preparatory work has been undertaken, so time for a little update on the project.

You're probably wondering why there has been a delay to the start of track laying. Weren't we going to start, once the running season had relaunched? We were, but unexpected news came that there were lizards on site. As we have to adhere to the Countryside Laws, we commissioned a professional survey, which reported the presence of lizards in this pile of former horse gallop material, and others. I must say, I have walked this trackbed a few times now, and never saw any of these, but no doubt they are in there somewhere. (I have seen hundreds along railway lines in France, they love the warm stone ballast).
The lizards are due to be removed in May and and June, and then clearance can get on with the rest of the job (only a few 100yds are concerned).
Above is the view from just south of Bridge 5 (Little Buckland) showing the area affected.

This photograph looking south shows the end of the affected area, and the  limit of clearance today. We are in the curve between the Laverton Straight and bridge 5. Just a few steps further you can see a PWay train loaded with sleepers, ready to go!

This photograph looking north was taken looking in the opposite direction and shows a recently cleared area leading into the curve. All very neat and tidy.

Back at Bridge 5, a view looking north shows where a contractor has recently installed ballast retention walls to the left and right. The void in the middle, resulting from the deep excavation behind the abutments, has been further filled with ballast to give a level trackbed.
Beyond, the curve continues towards Peasebrook farm.

Further round this curve, the contractor has cleaned and leveled the (double) trackbed.

If you look carefully, you can see a little red dot in the distance. That is the former Broadway goods shed, now maintained by the Caravan Club. Not so far then! But the first track lay will be to put down the 800m of new rail we have in store. That will take us to little Buckland bridge, just behind the camera. We have sufficient concrete sleepers in store as well, but will have to put our hands in our pockets to buy the necessary ballast, at £20 a ton.

The clearance and trackbed grading have reached just beyond bridge 4, visible as a pale stripe across the trackbed in the distance. While the trackbed is almost at ground level here, beyond bridge 4 it runs along a substantial embankment all the way into Broadway itself. It's quite a structure.
Visible left of centre are the Broadway goods shed, the sewage farm at Pry lane (bridge 3) and a 360 working on the mouth of bridge 4.

Turning right, a view up the valley leading to Buckland village, and its fabulous Buckland Manor hotel. Treat yourself to a luxury cream tea here; it's OK to just walk in. The contractor building the Honeybourne line in 1904 liked it so much that he bought it, and moved in !

So much for the news. The jungle telegraph suggests that there should be opportunity for a further update in the second half of June.

March update

Spring is upon us, and trains have started running again. The PWay dept. has completed the relay of the Toddington loop.
It's also Mothering Sunday - lunch at the Crown & Trumpet, preceded by an extension trackbed walk, was an acceptable compromise. So here is the latest state of play:

On Saturday a delegation from the PWay dept. came to Broadway to survey the trackbed between the two bridges. Marker posts were set up along the Malvern side of the track at 20m intervals. The purpose is to be able to survey the embankment here, determine where the track will run along it, and get a picture of the condition of the side of the embankment at 20m intervals down to the future car park field.
Using a theodolite a straight line was established between the two bridges, and then by means of a table the curve was set out at 20m intervals using stakes.

The team was well prepared with a table and a drawing, and here we see Nigel explaining the MO before starting out.

The stakes then went in quite quickly, seen here on the right. This area of trackbed once had 4 tracks - one to the left, behind the fence, to serve the goods shed, the two main line tracks down the middle, and a siding on the right. Over the years a lot of material has been pushed over the edge here, and it is of interest to know which part supported the main lines, which the siding, and what is just accidental widening because stuff was dumped here. A survey will show us what's what.

It was really great to see the PWay gang at Broadway, the first signs that something is starting to happen.
Time for a walk the 2 miles to Laverton then, to see how things are going.

As far as Pry Lane the trackbed is relatively clear, and runs on a high embankment. Further south it is more overgrown, but with a good vehicular track down the middle. Arriving at Peasebrook Farm a large pile of brash has recently been dealt with, and from here onwards to Little Buckland bridge the trackbed is pretty much clear now. The light patch in the middle distance is the recently reconstructed Peasebrook Farm bridge (No. 4). This area will see the second 800m laid.

Andy P's drainage team has also been along, marking out the sites of drains under the embankment, and clearing pathways down for remedial action. Very efficient.

In this picture, taken between Peasebrook farm and Little Buckland bridge (No.5) you can see that the flail has been active here. This area was originally cleared by a contractor, but bramble and Ash tree shoots soon come up again.

Further south, beyond Little Buckland, there is a 300m patch of older undergrowth which has not yet been addressed. However, on the trackbed itself the flail has made a passage wide enough for track, with just the surface needing a final scrape. This area will see the first 800m of track laid.

This final shot, round the curve from Little Buckland and looking towards Laverton, both side of the embankment and the trackbed are fully cleared. In the distance the PWay train can be seen standing just north of Laverton loop.

After the major relay of the entire Toddington station area we are taking a short break from maintenance during the non-running season. A lot of stuff is going on behind the scenes to get us ready for the big push. News of this will be posted as soon as it happens!

Clearance doing well

A walk down the extension trackbed yesterday taught me an interesting fact.... you can do clearance while sitting down!

OK, OK, joshing time over :-)

I have to say, they do a neat job, and the short break they allowed themselves was deservingly comfortable. Here they are, 10 minutes later:

Gone !

Clearance is now working on both sides of the high embankment at Laverton at once, moving back towards the bridge.

Here is a view of progress, looking back towards the current rail head. With a crew of 11 today, several areas were being addressed at once, witnessed by the two fires going, left and right.

Our passengers will enjoy the views... in this case out west, towards the (Dumbleton?) hills. A line of 4 deer ran across this field only moments earlier. Beautifully rural.

Once the current stretch from the railhead to the start of the curve has been cleared, the gang will move northwards to clear the stretch to Little Buckland. Beyond that, the embankment is already clear for several hundred yards.