Contractors' progress

A quick look-in at Broadway today, to see the carpenter measuring up in the box, and then on to Laverton to see how the slip and culvert repair works are going.

Quite a lot of attention is being paid to drainage. This pipe, the exit of which has been cleared, actually drains the bridge in the background. A proper ditch has been dug for it at the outlet, which should allow it to run clearly now.

Turning through 180 degrees, the rest of the ditch is underground to stop it from filling up with debris from the embankment. It now leads all the way to the stream in the distance, where the culvert exits are being repaired.

So that the underground pipe can be maintained in the future, manholes are being installed at intervals. Here Richard is bedding down fresh concrete that has just been poured into one of them.

The Malvern side culvert exit has been cleared, and a start is being made on rebuilding it. Gabions will be placed here to strengthen the sides. While this work is done, the contractor needs to divert the water and to this purpose a sump has been installed - the vertical pipe in the back. Very neat.

Can you see the other end yet, John?

A Broadway volunteer inspects the good remaining part of the culvert. Of the two pipes that pass through it, one is redundant and will be removed, the other is being used by the neighbouring farmer, who has been very helpful.

This is the view of the end of the culvert, before the damaged part was removed. You can see the shear point quite clearly. This has now been dug away (see previous pictures) up to the point where the brick is hanging down.

Last week, the remains of the broken end were still on site, but have since been removed. Good, solid GWR brickwork; shame about the foundations though.

On the site of the slip, as start has been made on back filling the bottom with good material. The digger has paused for a moment while the next lorry is awaited. Next week should see a lot of this hole filled again, so here's hoping we can put the track back again soon.
The still useable material from the top (old ballast) has been stored topside, visible in the piles at the back. It looks to be about 2ft deep, before the embankment fill becomes the original clay.

 The other excavated material is being stored here, on top of a pre-existing shelf, and compacted.

An interesting diversion then appeared, as we waited (fruitlessly) for the arrival of the lorries with stone, in the form of 45 149 with a driver training special. This is an impressive machine, with a handsome train and a very 'BR' look to it.

It trundled past and screeched to a stop by the Pway stop board. How many axles in this bogie? Four ??? Never seen that before..... with a weight of 135 tons, this would give an axle loading of only 16.9 tons, which is quite low. As the outer axle is mobile, this would be a 1 Co Co 1.
Interesting.

We'll take another look in a week's time, with more progress to show for you.

Contractors at work

The contractors mentioned in an earlier post have now started work.

There are two jobs:

- Repair of a small slip on the Malvern side.
- Repair of the mouth of a culvert under the embankment, both sides, a few yards further on.

The contractors are expected to be on site for 5 weeks or so, but after only 3 days progress was already quite impressive. Here is a view of the two sites today:

Just to recap, where we are is a 3 panel gap in the Laverton headshunt, Malvern side. The temporary gap in the track was created just so that this work could be carried out, and in the distance you can see the headshunt continue, with the PW train on it. Now you know why we can't get any more concrete sleepers - for a while.
The side of the embankment has been cut away in steps right down to the bottom. While the top end of the embankment is made of ballast and ash, the lower half is clay, excavated in 1904 from the cuttings north and south of here.
The black line across the field on the left indicates the brook,which crosses under the embankment and whose culvert is also being repaired.

This is the culvert, Malvern side. It's a brick arch on a bed of Cotswold rubble. PWay train of ballast hoppers above - we will need a lot of ballast hoppers!

There are two interesting pipes that have been placed in the culvert. I wonder how they came to be in there?

The brook then flows into large concrete pipes under the camera, to dive under a farm track parallel to the embankment.

The damaged section has already been removed, so these guys work pretty fast.

Here the excavator is removing a line of fence posts between the two jobs. A French drain will be laid at the foot of the embankment. No doubt we have built up some experience after tackling the larger jobs at Chicken Curve and at Gotherington.

It is a hot and sunny day today. The chap in the yellow vest is in an unusual pose, and no, he's not looking at his wrist watch.

This is the reason ! The yellow colour attracts swarms of flies, as you can see with this Hi Viz vest left on a fence post. Yours truly, in an orange vest, wasn't unduly bothered by them, so perhaps give them a change of colour, or a big beer tonight? They will have deserved it.

A last look at the work on the slip:

Seen from underneath, the steps are quite striking. A bit more spoil removal, and then this area looks ready for back filling with good material.

We'll take a look from time to time, and keep you posted of progress.

They're off!

Yes, today was a milestone - the first day of actual track laying on the 2 mile extension to Broadway.
A small team of 11, supported by the JCB and the Telehandler, laid the 125 concrete sleepers we had previously stocked on site, and completed the job with 5 pairs of new rail. The extension has kicked off with the first 100 yd stretch laid.

Here's how we did it:

First of all, a quick overview of the site. This is taken from the road leading to Laverton halt and bridge, looking north. In the centre you can see a number of Dogfish and Catfish ballast wagons, and two wagons loaded with concrete sleepers. The extension starts to the right. As you can see it was a beautiful day, 'good track laying weather' except for the fierce sun.

This is the railhead as was. The old LT bogie flat serves as a bufferstop; behind it, two wagons of concrete sleepers. Three have just been retrieved from underneath it, and are the first sleepers to be laid on the extension.

To the left and right you can see a pair of home made spacers. How these are used, you can see in the next picture.

We have a jig that holds 4 sleepers at exactly the right spacing for laying down on the track. However, they do dance about  a lot, so to keep them the correct distance apart, and to form the correct spacer from the previously placed sleeper, the home made spacer jigs are used.
Two men guide them in, calling out the required movements to the JCB operator: Tod - Broadway, and Cotswolds - Malvernside. Two men stand by with bars to inch them finally into the right position, called out by the ganger in the rear of the picture. Those sleepers have a mind of their own, and, despite the spacers, they like to hop sideways just before they make contact with the ground. Dang !

We're using 25 sleepers per length of rail, and we had a supply of 134 on the two wagons you can see. There are always a few with bent hoops that escape detection, despite the vigilance of the two gangers on top, so it's good to have a reserve.

Here Alan is using the Telehandler to tease out another load of 4, which later became an ambitious load of 8 - the result of practice making perfect.

After a while a rather pleasing row of perfectly spaced sleepers lies there for admiration. We're proud of our work !

Thoughts then turn to placing the first rail on them.

The first rail on the extension to Broadway is then dropped in ! The whole gang enjoys this special moment. Two miles still to go.

Here is the second length going in. If you get the sleepers exactly in line, the rail drops in perfectly, with an all round sigh of relief. Often though, there is a 'bad boy' among them, now which one is holding everything up?

A few words on method. The extension will be built in continuously welded rail, with the next expansion joint (or 'breather') not occurring until the Childswickham Road bridge. The rail now being placed is therefore in a preliminary fixing position, just using the SHC clips, but not the 'biscuits' nor the pads underneath. The rail joints have no fishplate holes, and will be welded, then stretched, then ballasted, and then properly fixed down with the complete set of fixings. So no thoughts of railcar shuttles up and down the bit we have just laid, it's temporary track for a while still.

The first joint is also temporary, as it occurs between two sizes of rails. Once the first 800m of extension are laid, and indeed the contractors have finished with repairing the small slip and culvert, we will return to swap the 200m or so of headshunt with the higher weight new rail, the lower weight being earmarked for the station area in Broadway, together with the Laverton loop points.

Then it was lunch time, and we had laid three lengths, just two to go.

A panel of newly laid track is ideal for sitting on face to face, for a good chat.

Here you can see the entire team today.

A big omission today was Mrs. B's exceedingly good cake, caused by a very recent return from holiday. OK, just this once then. But they are lovely, something to look forward to after working all morning without a break.

After lunch, a small group split off to fix the rails together, using these special clamps instead of fishplates. They will be replaced by a weld here indue course.

It also became apparent that, while the sleepers were in line to allow the rails to dropped in, the new railway line wasn't quite going off in the required direction. This can best be corrected once everything is plated up, and the JCB is able to move the whole track. Nigel gives instructions inch by inch. If only Steve was listening, but he's on the phone. Is that strictly legal?

Even Alan on Telehandler duty is having to wait. 

Where have I seen that 'bored gargoyle' look before?

Then the final panel is built. At the end of this track laying session, we were about half way down the straight leading to the curve at Little Buckland. There will now be a pause in track laying, while the contractors handling the slip and culvert occupy the site, and our PWay train is blocked from going to get more materials.

The reward for this day's hard work was a round of ice cold beers on the platform at Winchcombe, followed by a 'track inspection' behind the class 20, on the cushions. Yes, we like to enjoy a ride on our own efforts, you can proudly say: I helped to build that.

We expect the next track laying session in around mid - August. Further ballast fettling and fencing will continue behind the scenes in the meantime.

Deeper into the jungle

A final working day on the extension ballasting today, with most of the action actually taking place in the jungle towards Broadway, and just a little ballast levelling remaining to be done nearest to the bridge.

Lots more ballast arrived today; for a moment, I thought that the drivers had neatly tipped all the way round my car, but there was an escape route after all. Phew !

The opening shot today shows the area just north of Peasebrook farm bridge, where old piles of greenery were partly cleared yesterday. You can see now that it was indeed once double track.

Further into the jungle then, looking back south from the vanishing point in the last picture. The trees left and right have to stay until the bird nesting season is over, and possibly longer, as this point is only stage 3 of the 3 stage track laying programme. If you want it to happen faster, the clearance gang will be delighted to hear from you, I can supply an email address.

The mini digger was slowly working its way backwards up to Pry Lane bridge, clearing grass, brambles and old bits of Terram. Just visible on the left is the sewage farm, destination of traffic under Pry Lane bridge. Although this (exceptionally brick built) bridge was the least damaged of the 5 'bridges to Broadway', a local resident explained that it was hit nonetheless by lorries going to the sewage farm. There is no escape from lorries, and this road is a dead end too!

The muck so collected was dumped further up the trackbed, allowing this view on the return journey, with the sewage farm now on the right. Nearer the Childswickham Road bridge the embankment is a lot clearer, as a result of earlier clearance work at this location.

In the afternoon the JCB was used to scrape the down side (instead of the up with those piles of greenery on it) and this activity was particularly dusty. The brown material in the foreground is a mixture of dust and a sort of peaty material, put down many years ago for a horse gallop along here. Lift this up and drop it into the dumper, and the dust flies on to the driver, who cannot escape, as the dumper needs moving every 2 minutes or so. The dust is also inhabited by flying ants!

We scraped away about 100yds of this, until we reached Pry Lane, in the picture above. The rest of the trackbed northwards is clear of this 'gallop' material.

You can see the Broadway goods shed peer out from in between the trees, this location is now quite close to it.

Looking the other way from Pry lane, you can see the strip on the down side that we have just cleared.

Running back along here with the dumper, very bouncy when not loaded, I suddenly heard a 'CRACK' . She doesn't usually make a noise like that, I thought.... it turned out that my plastic sandwich box, a gift from Mme, had worked its way loose, fallen in between the wheels and immediately got run over by 2 tons of steel and rubber. Those wheels are merciless, the beautiful sandwich box is no more. Alas.

Now to sell this when Mme returns home ! What will she say?




Seen along the trackside today:

Sparrowhawk
2 buzzards
A beautiful orange coated fox
Pheasant
Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, rabbits...... why doesn't the fox eat the rabbits?

At the end of the day, Steve returned to do a little more levelling, and that was the end of the ballasting week. We have enough level ballast to make a start on track laying, and will report as soon as it starts. Shouldn't be long now.

Down in the jungle

At last the heat receded today, to be replaced by a dribble and a refreshing hint of a breeze. The small gang, three contractors and a volunteer, continued with levelling, and made a forage into the (further) Broadway extension.

Today the lorries bringing in the ballast arrived during the day, so we can now see how they did this. They bring in 20T at a time, the source being Clearwell in the Forest of Dean.

You can see form the small pile that remains that we almost got through the deliveries yesterday, by covering the last stretch of Terram, and adding 6T here and there where various low spots were identified after initial levelling.

The drivers took quite an interest in our project - not being from around here -  and several stopped for a few moments after their long trip for a chat.

It was lovely to hear a new accent, this driver being from the village of Clearwell itself. Forest of Dean talk meets Gloucestershire burr. Arrrrrrr.

A few then carried on up to Naunton for a return load. Cotswold stone, while nearby, is of course completely unsuitable for our work, as it soon crumbles (viz my drive, after several skip lorries had been up and down it, the stone is now crushed to a  fine dust)

Whoa - things are starting to get a  bit crowded up here, as another lorry backed up the slope, not realising that the top was already occupied. But there is room to pass.
We still have several more loads to come, and are now stockpiling it on the Broadway side of the bridge, ready for top ballasting the track after it is laid. We saved quite a bit of money by getting the order in just prior to a rise in the price.

A couple of extra dumps were made in the curve, which Steve levelled out to make up to the required 8 inches.

Incidentally, the laser theodolite does not send out a single beam, but has a revolving laser source, so you can pick up the signal from anywhere around it, until you are out of sight round a curve. You then move the theodolite to the next point, and recalibrate. That is the time consuming bit.

With the 4 of us on site, work was split into 2 activities today. A second work site was started up this morning just beyond Peasebrok Farm bridge (Bridge 4). Standing at the bridge, we noticed the beautiful new fencing put up by our contractors. This is of course our obligation, as a railway. Nice job though.

Beyond Peasebrook farm, no clearance work has as yet been started - until now.

Making good use of the hired in dumper, it was decided to move some piles of greenery that have been an eyesore along the trackbed for a number of years.

Tom and Adam are on the job here, and you can see from Tom's Hi Viz vest that it's been raining.

Tom vanishes out of sight, in the direction of Broadway.

This is the trackbed, and that's after the dumper has been through several times.

This is an abandoned railway track in its purest form. Are we really going to be running trains along here in 3 years time? Just watch us !
Note the ruined platelayers' hut on the right.

Just for interest, here is a picture of the same site, taken 2 years ago. That hut's been abandoned for a very long time, there is a tree growing out of it through the roof. More trackside pictures on my Flickr site here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/73536293@N02/sets/

At lunch time, we had pleasant company to visit - the drainage gang, consisting of Andy and Alasdair. They were well equipped, with sand, cement, a genny, wheelbarrow, and - a picnic box. First things first, here. Bridge 5 makes a handy support for a lunchtime rest, the gang having already worked at another site in the morning.

Today's job was to complete the cross drain exit (it brings water run off from one side of the track to the other, following a gentle slope, and carefully avoiding the 6ft deep pit that is the road going under bridge 5)

Alasdair made a barrow of mortar, and then came a choice - walk it down the lorry approach road, under the bridge, back up the other side, and then along the field, or Geronimo, straight down the embankment?
It was 'Geronimo'.

The ditch mentioned in an earlier dispatch will be further dug out by Steve and the JCB, to ensure the water really does avoid the bridge and flow into a ditch a bit further along.

Andy seems surprised when Alasdair told him that the barrow was now empty of mortar. Have to make up another load then!

More digging tomorrow, and a further report should be available.

Nearing the end

A good day today, as the dumping and ballasting activity inched its way up the trackbed, and finally came to a halt near Little Buckland bridge.

Here is the last roll of Terram, which ran out just before the bridge, first thing in the morning. It's another hot day, up to 30 degrees, but with thunderstorms looming. The rails we have in stock should reach to just over the bridge in fact.

Before we start the dumping on Terram, Steve needed an extra three loads down by the beginning of the curve, where his laser guided measurements had detected a low spot. The overnight ballast lorries have now (on instruction) emptied their loads a little way into stage two of the extension, where a stockpile will be made. This will be used later to pack the newly laid track on stage 1.

Looking the other way, the curve continues towards bridge 4 at Peasebrook Farm, and then a straight line towards Broadway. It's all pretty level and clear around here, ready for the next jump.

Steve was working at the railhead end, putting some final touches on to the initial prepared length, which currently stretches up to the trees at the start of the curve. After putting three extra loads into a low spot in the middle, Steve was finally satisfied and we gave it a go with the roller. This has got to be the smoothest surface ever for track laying!

We have enough FB sleepers on site for an initial 5 panels. More are available elsewhere along the line, but the PWay train at Laverton will be isolated for 5 - 6 weeks while contractors sort out the small slip, and repair the culvert in the same area. The contractors are now expected to start on Monday. So there will be an initial burst of track laying, and then a pause.

Steve had the Laser receptor attached to the JCB again, and this really works quite well. Here you see him backing away from the railhead with a final pass. The roller has been shunted to one side to give the theodolite an uninterupted field.

While we were doing this at one end of the site, Adam and Tom were working at the other end. The sheet rolled out in the first picture is here being covered in ballast, with the pilasters of Little Buckland bridge just visible behind. Nearly there! The sky has now darkened and a thunderstorm drifted along the Cotswold Edge, and a bolt of lightening was seen to strike a field adjacent to the line! It remained hot and humid.

One of the last dumps of the day. Little Buckland has been reached, just two more dumps are needed.

This picture was taken from the same position as yesterday's on the bridge- the ballast dumping is almost completed. Tomorrow should be a wind up day, with no work here on Friday (could change, we are flexible!).
Steve has roughly levelled out most of the new ballast round the curve, but the area in the picture still needs fine tuning.

Another update should be possible tomorrow.