Past the PWay hut

Another gloomy day today, with mist to start with, so much so that you could not see the destination with a dumper full of ballast. Just follow the trackbed then, that will get us there.

 It's quite pretty really, this mist. On the way back from the first load, the Cotswolds Edge could be seen peeking out from the mist over Broadway village. Can you see the dark stripe in the middle of the mist? Amost spooky, that.

Two things influenced our activity today:

The puncture on the 6T dumper, seen here with a completely flat tyre. We were down to one dumper all of the day.

The tyre people came to have a look, but decided the damage was so great a new tyre was needed. That will happen tomorrow at the earliest.

This is the sort of reinforcement steel that caused the problem. It sits under the surface, with a sneaky bit sticking out which slashes the tyre. As everything is brown it's virtually impossible to see.

The second thing that influenced us was the ballast deliveries.

Six loads had been ordered, and at the start of the day one was already there, with a second load just being dropped.

Very cheering, that. Now we can get on with things.

The second lorry hadn't left yet, as the third one turned up. Now you can see why we had to increase the size of the gate, and the turn-in outside.

It's all go here!

Unfortunately the third lorry was also the last one. Some problem with the crusher, we heard.

More deliveries have been ordered for Tuesday and Wednesday.


With only 60T of ballast delivered, but only one operational dumper, one problem sort of solved the other. It meant that up to lunch time we could ferry new material out to the coal face until the stock was exhausted. After lunch, we could level the piles taken down last week.

Here's a view of the site near the start of the day. The darker piles at the rear are those of Friday. Saturday was a Broadway day. Today, Monday, we resumed after leaving a gap, which we would fill with an expected excess at the far end.
The fencing material is for the field below on the left, and the gate is for bridge 4 at Peasebrook Farm. There's more to a track extension than just laying sleepers and rails; we also have to meet our responsibilities towards our neighbours. This is mostly drainage and fencing.

After 7 trips down to the coal face the 60 tons were all used up.

Here is Adam filling the dumper one last time (today).

The focus of activity then switched to the southern end of the piles, where Steve was doing a great job in pushing out the piles so that an 8 ins bed of new ballast on Terram was achieved. This is then ready for laying the track.

The excess is scooped off and into the 9T dumper, whose bucket is the same width as the JCB's, so that's very handy for filling.

It is then reversed up that track and re-dumped at the northern end, extending this further even though we've run out at the level of the stockpile.

The previous picture was taken with a zoom, which makes the goods shed look  really close.

This picture was taken with a wide angle, which makes the stretch of ballast already dropped look almost infinite.

All this bit still has to be levelled off by Stevie on the JCB. We did about 150 yds of it today.

At the end of the afternoon, in the falling light, we were well past the PWay hut, and as well as the 150yds levelled down south, we had extended the ballast in the northerly direction by another 100 yds.

All in all, we have done about 300 yds of ballast so far. The good news is that with every trip fom the stockpile, that is now 300 yards less that we have to travel, so gradually work will accelerate.

Here is Steve filling the dumper one last time today. As you can see, the PWay hut is now behind us, and we are approaching the sewage farm. Pry Lane bridge is our next 'objective', if all goes well.


For a change from lots of pictures of gloom, mist and ballast, here's a historical picture of a freight train passing the Broadway goods shed:

It's a picture taken by John Diston in 1959. It's of a freight train from South Wales heading north, and the location is near the Childswickham Road bridge. John had the opportunity of stepping back here because the embankment is wide at this point. Behind the loco you can just see the top of a telegraph pole. This was a very tall one, as it was planted down at the bottom of the embankment (where all the rubble is now) but the wires stayed more or less level with the track. There used to be allotments here; the word is that the allotment holders gradually gave up because with all the people using the railway's private road here, a lot of their produce kept disappearing...

The loco 90166 is a WD, built in 1943 as WD 7182 and scrapped in May 1965 after a fair career of 22 years, with a last shed of 36C Scunthorpe Frodingham.

Getting longer

Yes, the pile of ballast put down starting from Peasebroook got longer again today, as two of us on dumpers had another fruitful day ferrying the stuff out to the coal face. The weather remained kind to us, after light drizzle yesterday, and it was +/- warm and dry. You couldn't ask for better really.

We have an early start and here is John driving the first load into the gloom. The two dumpers cross pretty much in the middle.

By the time we meet John again, the day has broken and the weather looks kind to us. Here he is negotiating the Childswickham road bridge, while yours truly pauses to let him through. It is here that the track will swing from the right hand side (where it has been since Laverton) over to the left, through the section of the bridge here being crossed by John. It will run into Broadway station on the Cotswolds side, with the run round loop creating double track from just before the station road bridge. Alongside the Caravan club it will be single track, at least in the first instance (a cost issue).

Say: 'Ah'

A passing empty dumper was flagged down by Steve to receive this gift: a huge ball of redundant fence and barbed wire.

This was taken to Broadway and should eventually end up in a skip. All the fencing on the Cotswolds side has been completly renewed.

We were pleased to see Stevie on our job today. He levelled the trackbed some more for us, and then addressed the long row of ballast piles that have been building up since Wednesday. His location is just this side of bridge 4.

With the remaining ballast pile at Broadway diminishing rapidly (only one of the 3 fresh lorry loads ordered actually came) one dumper was detailed to assist Stevie to move the surpluses of ballast dumped around, while he graded the trackbed from bridge 4 onwards. We've got a bit too much here, so we can tip it on the other end and make it longer.

While unrolling the Terram, we came across a large tree stump and Stevie removed this for us.

You need to remember that this area was a jungle 2 years ago. In fact a picture of it will help remind those who haven't had  chance to walk the old trackbed when it was still heavily overgrown..

Here you are, Peasebrook Farm, recognise it? That tree stump came out somewhere on the right. We've already come a long way since this.

At the end of today we had done another 100 yards, being another roll of terram. In fact we could have done more, but:

- The ballast top up didn't fully happen
- The 6T dumper got a puncture.

Sadly this is the second puncture we have had at Broadway, and the cause in both cases is the same: Reinforcement steel from broken concrete brought to Broadway for disposal by other departments.

An atmospheric end of the day shot. In the failing light we reached the old PWay hut.

Ballasting work resumes on Monday and we expect to be doing this for several days yet, albeit with a pause over Christmas.

More ballast

We were back ballasting at Broadway again today, but armed with an extra hand, who was very welcome. This meant that we had two dumpers on the go, a 9 tonner and a 6 tonner. It all but doubled our productivity, so - high five!

All the fun with the weather was had yesterday, and today it was grey, gloomy and we had a light drizzle as well. In this picture the first dumper has just shed its load, and the practice was that the driver would roll out a bit more Terram for the other dumper, so that he could drive straight in. That worked well. John (a Broadway member, as is your blogger) and I did the driving honours; Adam loaded us and Steve was working on completing the new drain and fence Cotswolds side. This is taking a lot of time and effort, but the reward is good relations with your neighbour. Definitely worth while.

This picture, taken half way at Pry Lane, givs you an idea of the conditions today. In the distant gloom you can just make out a white stripe; this is the roll of Terram that we are heading for. The white bits on the trackbed are little ballast heaps that jump out of the dumper due to the unevenness in the trackbed; you really have to be on the lookout here but after a while you know where the rough spots are. Pry Lane bridge is one of them - slow to a crawl here.

Here's a snapshot of John on the 6 tonner, about to proceed empty down the steep slope to the ballast loading area. Can you see him?

You have to know your machine to get up there and make it through the gates in one go with a full load. We haven't hit them yet !

Shortly afterwards, we cross John with a fresh load near the old PWay hut, which is also where Stevie was working on the fences at the bottom of the embankment. You can make out the Broaday goods shed in the gloom behind John.

That PWay hut has had some attention, in a positive way, with a start made on dismanteling it. One side has been taken down and stacked behind it.

The sleepers are all rotten at the bottom.  Presumably the idea is to conserve them for pattern purposes, then start anew with good quality second hand sleepers eg from the Winchcombe relay that is about to start. Nice to see someone cares for the old thing.

Back at Broadway Adam was slowly reversing his way down the pile of fresh ballast, 14 lorry loads if we are not mistaken. We got through more than half of it today; more has been ordered for tomorrow and Monday. It looks like we will be here for a while doing this.

At the coal face the ballast pile on Terram is lengthening, albeit slowly.

At the end of the day we had done 16 trips each, equivalent to about 30 road miles except that this is no road. At 15 tons per trip between us, we moved 240 tons of ballast today. We are gradually leaving behind the trees that mark Peasebrook Farm on the left.

The row looks quite long now, doesn't it !

In fact we know the precise distance, because we used up exactly one roll of Terram today, which is 100m long.

So a day's dumping by two people gets you 100 meters. Oh well, with patience we will get there. After all, the distance to run is getting shorter all the time, so we will speed up gradually.

Here's John with another fresh load, chargeing up the slope. The top is the steepest bit, so it's a matter of skill to get up there, not too fast, slow enough to manoeuvre through the gate without damage, and fast enough as not to stall on the last and steepest bit.
We're good at this now ! It's very enjoyable to use your skills for the railway.

Here's John arriving and bouncing over the new roll of Terram that was dragged to the spot as the light began to fade.

Another load of ballast is added to the lengthening pile. Tomorrow Stevie is bringing the JCB to level it all out to the regulation depth, and then tell us whether we guessed the quantities right. We only have to get the drops right on average, not each one exactly right.

Canopy progress

We've got some action shots of the rivetting for you, thanks to Bob Locke. He caught the loco gang actually doing it (an activity that has always elluded your blogger, despite several snap inspections)

Here you can see the rivets being heated up on the right, with a fascia board being worked on on the left. The gigantic 'G clamp' of a riveter hovers overhead under an A frame.

Here you can see a rivet actually going in. It makes quite a bang, we are told. The next rivet is already being heated up on the right. To date, an amazing 500 rivets have been placed, all on the fascia boards so far. Well done that loco crew!

And this is the happy result: 11 card carrying fascia boards, all ready with the their rivets in. Together they give 44m of roof line, which is the distance of the canopy along the platform edge, all the way to the footbridge.

Ballasting starts

Out of the blue came a phone call yesterday, ballast lorries are coming, we are running dumpers down the trackbed to Peasebrook!

It was true. First thing this morning, 14 lorries had already come and created a goodly pile of ballast at Broadway. Adam was parked on top of the pile and ready to go. The 9T dumper was ready and the 360 had a 1T bucket, so work proceeded quickly. In 9 scoops the dumper was fully loaded.

With the creaking load out in front, the dumper manoeuvered up the steep slope and on to the trackbed.

Here it is just about to cross the Childswickham bridge, with the goods shed behind the camera.

The objective - Peasebrook Farm -  is so far away that it is out of sight. It's near the trees centre right, in the distance. Way to go !

After a 10 minute drive the dumper arrives at Peasebrook.

In the foreground you can see the first few loads dumped on the Terram, and just beyond the handrails of Peasebrook Farm underbridge.

Beyond is the railhead (100yds still to go) with the ballast train parked on it.

Then comes the long journey back again to Broadway, now very bouncy as the load has been discharged. The pace is modest as the trackbed, although freshly graded, is rough for a vehicle without springs.
During the absence, another lorry load has arrived. It's all rather relentless.

Tomorrow we will have two dumpers, and two operators. This will increase the efficiency enormously, as the second dumper can load while the first is on its way. Much less time for the plant operator to sit and wait, and twice as much ballast going out in the right direction.

We were very lucky wih the weather today, as it was mild and only moderately windy. Nonetheless there is a noticeable wind chill on the high embankment between the two bridges. We are in December, after all.

You can see it is windy in this photograph taken at the Peasebrook destination. The Terram is rolled out, and you have to drop you load on it quickly, otherwise the wind catches it and rolls it sideways. The Terram has to be kicked out for 10yds further every time you arrive.

More tomorrow.


In other news:

Today was the PWay department's Christmas lunch! A red mark on the calendar for this. How to give the event that extra 'twist'? It was decided to treat ourselves to a tour of the Broadway building site before the gastronomic event. Many people hadn't seen the size of the building now going up, or realised the extent of the track still to be laid. Yep, right through the station, in double track, and then on to Springfield Lane, there in the distance. By when, did you say?

The members dribbled in rather slowly, so a start was made with just 10 when this group photograph was taken. More members then arrived, but missed the photographic boat. Never mind, time was pressing, the site is large and there was lots to tell.

The accuracy of the reproduction GWR signalbox was much admired, and the visit coincided with Graham and Mike, our Broadway paining team, de-snagging the box and making good use of the dry weather to paint the two gate posts and some of the recently planted lamp posts.

Note the detail work going on the GWR lamp post. Graham is highlighting the decorations in dark stone here, the sunken areas being in light stone. Fabulous! All our efforts and troubles to get the reproductions just right have paid off. This is a corner to be proud of.

Behind Graham is one of two original gate posts, recently planted to make a gateway to the signal box steps. Spearhead fencing will proceed left and right from here. A first panel has already been made to see how things go. Well, is the answer, so now it's just a question of time.

Getting ready for more ballast

With the current track laying almost at Peasebrook farm, preparations are now being made to handle the ballast delivery for the next track laying session, from bridge 4 at Peasebrook to the Childswickham road bridge.

This ballast can no longer be delivered to Little Buckland, as track has now been laid there and there is no longer the room to receive the lorries.

The new ballast delivery point will be the strip of land to the SW of Broadway road bridge.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday a contractor was busy making the site ready, using a 360 excavator and a 9T dumper. A large pile of rubble and earth had to be cleared out of the way, and most of this was moved south to the other end of the site.

This is the area in question, seen from the top of the bridge.

The pile of dirty ballast in the foreground is infill still required for the station site. In due course it will also be removed.

The path down the side, leading to the Childswickham Road, is a 'Permissive footpath' over railway owned land.

Copyright: Brian Parsons

This is a picture of the GWR notice that stood there in 1969. If anyone has an example of this they no longer want, we would be interested in securing it for re-use at Broadway.

At the end of Friday, this is how far the contractor had managed to clear the site. It needs to be big enough to take a good dozen lorry loads of ballast, a loading area and a turning point for the two dumpers that will be used to shuttle the ballast down to Peasbrook farm bridge. It's quite a long journey, and each load will give you about 3m of initial ballast bed, on Terram. We will be very busy here soon.

Looking back towards the road the area cleared already looks quite effective, but we had a bit more to go behind the camera until a minor mechanical defect called a halt on Friday, just before it got dark.

Conditions were a bit testing - on Thursday the temperature at 8am was minus 5 degrees celsius, the ice had to be scraped off the dumper seat and the excavator was very reluctant to start.

By Friday close, about 700 tons of material had been moved.

It is hoped to start the deliveries of ballast in a week or so. The dumping site still needs a bit more preparation (final spoil removal, ground preparation, new double road gates)

A quick visit to Toddington found that the process of riveting the canopy roof sections had started in earnest.

With concreting the floor now almost completed, the opportunity was taken to move the riveting process out of the workshop into the main shed.

The photograph shows a fascia board with one row of rivets completed at the top.

The people in the workshop also felt the cold, but they had an answer - a genuine Romesse stove, from one of the former Honeybourne signal boxes. It has provenance!

It was lit during the visit, and clearly radiated a glow around for several yards.









At Laverton, the replacement tamper was out again over two days. It handled the section from the former loop to over the bridge (the recently jacked up area) and on the second day, up the straight and round the curve to Little Buckland bridge. The final section, from Little Buckland to Peasebrook farm, will be handled by the original tamper, once the gearbox is repaired. The CWR can then be stressed.


There was quite a bit of interest in the old picture of Laverton bridge after the last post, so here are two more pictures, taken at the same time:

Looking south

This one was taken trackside, and shows the view looking south (road bridge in the distance, telegraph poles on the Malvern side).

The halt has already gone, and the PWay hut on the left is also no longer there today.

Looking north

Looking the other way, in the period 1960 - 1976. You can make out the pilasters from the road bridge under, and the wider paths in the cess left and right hint at the timber built halt that used to occupy his spot. In the distance the double track will sweep right into Little Buckland curve.

The state of the track is remarkable - it is well kept, with new ballast and exemplary packing on the right. This was a double track main line, with heavy freight trains of iron ore and coal.

Thanks to Tony Harden for the use of the photographs