Hand packed

A pleasant day for once, just one shower, and getting warmer at last. We had a goodly gang together, and spent the day at Toddington south finishing off the second of the two turnouts there.

The day started with a hissing sound behind the mess coach - what's going on here then?

Dinmore was raising steam, and 2807 was being used to serve tea. Great !

These are the fire raisers (hell raisers?) for Dinmore Manor, and it is thanks to them and their getting up very early indeed that you might have travelled behind steam today.

Respect. And tea.....





The Pway had their mess coach, with seats to sit down on. And doughnuts. So civilised. But eventually we had to abandon the coach and face the work.

Last week we decided to give this short panel of plain track some stronger, concrete sleepers. We might as well, we are there, we saw a dozen spare concretes lying about, and the few wooden sleepers here looked poor. We tipped out the rails.

Steve the scraped the bed clean of 'ballast'. This must date from the earliest days, as it was all ash and occasional stones, with a big dip where the fishplate was. And yet, locos exiting the yard travelled over it every day. We'll sort this out OK.

Then Steve went to get the spare sleepers we found lying about. Some in the loco yard, and some in the bushes nearby. Not the finest quality, but good enough for loco manoeuvres, certainly better than the spent wooden ones that were here..

A quick pause for the first train of the day to pass. Our second new turnout is in the foreground, it's almost finished now. New rail on new sleepers, this turnout will take anything.

After the concretes have been laid in we straighten them up, and then put the rail back. It's only a short length. You're going to say, that stop board is in the wrong place, but we work so quickly that this bit will be finished before any more locos come out of the yard to play.

Our new husband and wife team join John and Bert Ferrule in fishplating the rail just put back into place.

Another stop to let a service train go by. This time it's 2807, the heavy freight. Rods down too, a photographer's ideal. Thank you, driver !

The smartphone camera though is playing up again. While it does not have issues with dirt getting into the retractable lens (there isn't one) software issues now arise. See how the front buffer beam didn't make it into the picture? You activate the shutter, and the camera goes: 'Ah, did you want a picture now, I'll just calculate that'. And when it has finished and finally clicked, the subject has moved on. Bad luck. On top of that the zoom function was lost today, hence a bulging loco in the default wide angled lens shot. It took your blogger all day to work out that Google had sent a software update to the camera, and changed the way the zoom operates. And now the camera crashes every time you take a picture. Sheeessh !

During the day both Alan and Stevie brought supplies of ballast, which we shovelled into and under the sleepers. Hard work for retirees!

Alan was directed to approach the track from the end, and when his boom no longer reached, from the side (a bit more difficult, no room behind)

Stevie also brought ballast, from a pile he 'prepared earlier'. Not such a long trip, but together he and Alan (his pile was in the car park, not helped by a passenger parking his motor home too close) kept us well supplied.

Before we put too much ballast in, we had a quick 'tweaking session' of the short length of rail to make sure it was nice and straight. Bert's hand says: Stop! Enough already.

Then we put back the fishplates using the 'Animal'.

This is a somewhat back breaking machine, so we let everyone have a go.

Here's the fishplate going on at the other end.

We like the umbrella stand.

(and my daughter Ella, Ella Fantsfootumbrellastand)

With the rails back in place and joined up, Stevie dragged away the longer bullhead rail that used to be here, until we put the new turnout in.

The old headshunt siding was already connected up, and we spent a brief moment packing the end joining the turnout so that there was a gradual slope back down. Sleepers not brilliant here, OK, but 'it's only a siding'.

2807 back from Winchcombe, on its way to 'Return to Broadway'. We saw lots of faces at the windows, good news.

In the foreground the short length of rail, just resleepered, has also been ballasted. Looking good.

Did we mention that today we did a lot of shovelling? This is 'hand packing', using shovels to move ballast that is designed not to move. Very hard work, you need a bit of youth around here.

Our new bit of resleepered track was tested mid afternoon by 37 215. Why not something really heavy to see how well we packed it? The loco was on its way to take over the last train of the day from the 'kettle'.

The driver and second man got down to inspect our fishplate. Did it pass muster? A picture says 1000 words.... The rest of the gang stand by, hopeful.

Here's our end of the day picture. All the metalwork in both turnouts is in, we have basically done it. Looking pretty good, no? There is still a gap in the middle that needs filling with ballast and hand packing some more. Stretcher bars need fitting at this end, and the point motor and operating levers need fitting.

We felt we were allowed a treat.

''I'm going to start singing now''. ''Please don't''.

We packed up our tools, and decided to take the 16.00 from Toddington to Broadway. Why not? We have never been on a public service train along the line we built. Go on, then. Also a chance to try out the special Return to Broadway ale brewed for us. Did you know? Its tasty, and 4.7% proof, so just the one bottle. Treat yourself when you come down.

During the opening ceremony a young student Kate Rendell, a volunteer in our loco shed, did a little video of the day. She's made a few amateur films, and here is her view of the opening day:

https://youtu.be/sC42Fc3udKw


A bit of Broadway news.

A little round up of stuff seen at our new station. The stationmaster today said people love it, she got lots of compliments. Every train, we heard, was well filled.

Given that we haven't got a car park yet, some useful new signs have been put up to direct passengers to where they can park, and then walk to the station in about 10 mins.

There are two GWR lamp huts at Broadway. One is as is, with this 'works plate' on the door.

Can you read it?

The other was re-skinned in the early days of the project.

The 'works plate' was saved and handed back to us a few days ago.

Here it is, back in situ. There's still a Samuel Taylor at Birmingham today, are they perhaps the same?



One of the two lamp huts is due to be moved to next to the footbridge tower, where it stood until the station was knocked down in 1963.

On Friday - a non running day, and hence a new BAG working day - Clive and Pete were putting up the plasterboard against the ceiling of the kitchen. There isn't much money around at the moment - we've spent it all on the extension - so this is a low cost way of moving the cafe forward. In the week we've been open to Broadway people have been asking for one.

Our C&W carpenters have beautifully restored this original GWR waiting room bench. Its origin is said to be a pub opposite Swindon station, and it was heavily butchered. It only had 5 legs when acquired. Didn't they do a brilliant job? Such lovely upholstery. The same leatherette was used to restore the cockpit of a Dakota aircraft, we read on line.

It fits nicely into the niche behind the doors.

Thoughts are now turning toards the 'V boards' over the doors.

A small group of heritage enthusiasts at Broadway have been sourcing V boards at auction over the last 5 years, and a few key ones were also gifted to us. Now is the moment to sort them out.

It's a tricky thing to get right. For example, the original 'GENTLEMEN' was a single sign attached to the wall of the building at the south end. That is now the kitchen entrance, and Broadway can have quite strong winds, not good for a sign attached at one end only.

We had two such single GENTLEMEN signs, and thought about combining them to make a V board. We laid them out to compare, and found that they were different. So much for standardisation on the GWR... The larger one is an original bought at auction, and as the gents is now at the other end of the building we decided to use it, unaltered, suspended from the truss adjacent to the entrance, with two attachment points.

The BOOKING OFFICE V board we have on the other hand is complete. Here John and Peter are measuring up the double booking office door to see how it might fit. It needs two brackets and a rod that suspends it from the sharp end of the Vee. Peter has the skills to make this.

The V board is an original, from Bletchington station. It was donated by a member who found it on the platform, while the building was being demolished. It will get a little refurb but will otherwise be used unaltered.

At Toddington we have the remains of the original V boards still visible. Two wall hooks L and R can be seen, as well as the anchor top centre from which the sharp end was suspended.

The signage today, just visible on the left, is not authentic.

The correct signage for Toddington would be this one, here photographed at Broadway after purchase at auction. In fact there are two like this at Broadway....is that an opportunity to get things right?

Mid week - back to normal

After the hullaballoo of opening, we were back to normal today, purple timetable running. But on a Wednesday we also work, so it was ducking and diving with trains going this way and that. They looked quite well filled, with lots of children visible - this is school holidays, after all.

The 'Return to Broadway' headboards are a great success. The one in the picture above has made it safely back to Broadway.

The loco crews are also enjoying themselves. There's a new stretch of track, in excellent condition, and it's a bit uphill just before you arrive, so you could give her bit of welly.

Only you can't. Just as you arrive at the Childswickham bridge, there is a 10 mph speed restriction. So there is no steam at all escaping from Dinmore Manor as she coasts up the hill, slowing down to respect the sign. Nice colours though, and lovely views of the Cotswolds around Broadway.

Now back to th rubbish that we have picked up along the extension. It's all been piled up on two bogie flats and parked up at Winchcombe. Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to clear these trucks of all the accumulated debris.

Dave P and Peter picked up this task as far as the Telehandler was concerned, with  Dave D and your blogger on foot, clearing the metal scrap that was interspersed with the concrete sleepers left over.

A second larger, indeed the principal team were busy spot resleepering the last few 100yds leading to Winchcombe from the Chicken Curve direction.
The first sleeper needing removal was right by the crossing here. We were just getting going when Dinmore came by with the first train of the day to pick up lots of passengers from CRC, where there seems to be quite a demand for trains to Broadway. We hear of queues forming at the booking office.

Here is the sleeper in question. It's right in the running line, but we can replace it easily enough between trains, with the help of a lookout, attention to the signals and a timetable pinched from the booking office.

In this area, possibly fitted with original sleepers laid in 1987, when they were aleady second hand, the sleepers are mostly GWR type 'through bolters'.

While normal people like the Southern Railway (ducks to avoid flying pieces of ballast) use a system of chairs with three screws secured top town into the sleepers, the GWR had two bolts instead, inserted from underneath, and then tightened from above with a nut. This was exposed to the weather and soon rusted on. Impossible to remove 30 years later.

Now the only way to remove them is to split the sleeper in two. Should be easy enough, as it is meant to be rotten anyway.

They may be rotten, those sleepers, but they sure resist any attempt to split and remove them.

Eventually we resorted to using bars and wedges from above, and the heavy sleeper ended up as a kit of parts in a quickly summoned wheelbarrow.

An hour later the new sleeper was in, equipped with nice 3 screw chairs from any other railway, except the GWR.

The GWR through bolters are not scrapped, but put to one side for use by the 2807 group, who make up the boot scrapers that you can buy.

We suggested charging extra for GWR ones (they also have all sorts of other pre nationalisation chairs) but this was felt to be too complicated for the retail outlets, so if you buy one (and support 2807) you might be lucky.

On a mission up the line in the Landie, we met this interesting remote controlled flail attending to our undergrowth. It's an amazing machine, and ideal for the brambles and young tree shots that grow up again so quickly.

We also met Andy P and his drainage gang, working under this bridge on the (Defford) straight a little beyond Hayles Abbey halt. It's an occupation bridge, just used by a farmer but as the road is not tarmaced it soon clogs up with mud and grass, leading to blocked drains. Here Alasdair is doing the hard work, while Andy P supervises and Dave D enquires politely whether they could perhaps please move their van, parked squarely on the roadway above. In fact Mr. Flail's truck was also in the way. Both said the same thing - help yourself, they key's in the ignition, move it yourself, we are very busy here.

Here we must stop to congratulate Dave D, hero of the day. He moved both trucks, one with a trailer, and exposed himself to the dangers of a guard dog left in each. Andy P's guard dog was particularly keen. While it cowered in a corner as Dave climbed in and set off, it soon became a little more confident and eventually tried to lick him to death just as Dave was getting up speed. Those aren't guard dogs for nothing, you know.

Lunch in the mess coach at Toddington.... time for a quickie (if you see what I mean) behind the DMU, where Foremarke Hall is just picking up the token from Toddington signal box. The risk here is that if you are late, you incur the wrath of Paul, and that is not something you want to incur. We took the risk, just so that you can see this GWR scene. We are after all, a 'living museum' as it says in our folder.

Back at Winchcombe, we had a bit of trouble coming up with a good, second hand sleeper for the sleeper changing team.

All the rotten ones were on top, so the one you want is that one, the one near the bottom. There, see it?




Foremarke Hall was followed an hour later by Dinmore Manor, heading in the same direction. They crossed at Winchcombe...

... where a few minutes later Foremarke Hall left again for Broadway - see the 'Return to Broadway' headboard on the tender. Ominous skies? Yeah, we had them all day. It was wet again.

In between all the fun we ran the Landie up and down and delivered second hand sleepers to the spot resleepering team, which was working its way towards the curve.

There was a big lake here. Although we are high up on an embankment here, the water no doubt collects due to the clay in the ground, dug out of Winchcombe cutting by the steam shovel in 1905.

The resleepering team had to skip round this lake.

When this big sleeper was dropped off the Landie, it fell into the lake with a large, pleasing splash.

Here it is, fished out again, and pulled part way into the crib of the one they removed.

When Andy P and his team came back, we thought they'd be pleased at the sight of this 'drainage issue'. Not so - more work for them later on. At least they were gentlemen enough to drive slowly through the lake, and not splash us. Which cruel person would have this thought in his mind?

Then came Dinmore's last trip north for the day, out of CRC. We were still resleepering here when she came by.

They look down at us, and we look up at them.

Remember that on the Frost programme?

I look up to him

We look down respectfully.

Round the back of this carriage siding there are some interesting things on the ground. We rather liked this 'Self reversing lever with still handle', made in Darlington.

And how about this:

A hatful of crockery. GWR, and LMS. Chucked out of a race train parked here before the war?

''And what made you choose this occupation, Mr. P?'' '' It was the people you meet out here''.

A final trip out to where Andy P was working earlier. This one is a steel bridge, but did you notice that the other one had a concrete deck? Evidence of bridge improvement works by BR before they gave up on the line. Should we replace our steel decks in the same way?

Last but not least: the final train out of Broadway is replaced by a diesel in Toddington, before it continues to CRC. Here we see the blue Growler (or Tractor, which is it?) aka 37 215. With its 8 carriages in tow, this could have been a train on this line before closure.

Taken just south of Hayles Abbey halt, with the Cotswolds edge in view behind. That's the beauty of our line.

Easter Monday

A quick visit to Broadway to set up the booking hall clock with its pendulum, and a chat with people to see how things were going.

The station was busy, even platform tickets were being sold, perhaps as souvenirs? It's too early to say how the Easter weekend went, as tickets sales come from different stations and online, but the platforms were looking good.

All 4 benches were much in demand, with one seating 6! A fair number of people were carrying take away coffees, and one group was consuming a take away meal on the platform, a sign that the cafe will do good business. A couple from further up Station Road wanted to know when it was going to open, and no, they weren't travelling, they just lived there and wanted to drop in.

Outside Graham ran his Routemaster double decker from the station to the football ground car park, and into the village centre.

Graham's free shuttle double decker is just performing over the 4 Easter days, after which there will be a smaller capacity single decker with a modest fare.

But did people actually go into Broadway, that was the interesting question. The answer was yes! That's a relief.

Graham reports 120 miles run, and 1000 people transported up and down to the village and back. Once he even took a group to Toddington, as they had missed their train. How's that for service?

We learned that the Routemaster has a capacity of 77, and on one occasion it was full and had to turn people away. He usually drops people off in front of the station and then does the 3 point turn, as the temporary road surface is not well settled yet, and a full load of passengers weighs an extra 6 tons.

No parking signs have been put up along the station approach to leave the bus a clear run, especially with traffic potentially going the other way too.

Here he comes with another, almost full load. You can see faces at every window.

Cars were once again parked along the Evesham road right up to the top of the rise towards Pennylands bank, but how this will pan out during normal running days, and when the shuttle bus charges a fare, remains to be discovered. We are learning fast here.

Broadway gang members were on hand to fit armbands and manage the flows. Station staff were settling into their new roles, and getting used to the same two questions being asked all the time - when are we going to Honeybourne, and is there a cafe? The reply is the same - when we have the money. First we need to replenish our cash reserves again.

During the afternoon the clouds briefly cleared to reveal a warming blue sky, just as Foremarke Hall rumbled over the road bridge.

Moments later Foremarke Hall set off with its long 8 coach train. When the train pulls into the station, it seems to take forever until enough coaches have trundled by for the locomotive to stop at the far end of the platform. It feels like a big, mainline station.

The passing shot shows the train accelerating past the site of the goods shed.

And there it goes, heading south. You could hear it for at least a mile, with a distant whistle for the foot crossings at Buckland. In the foreground you can see one of the GWR style quarter mile posts recently planted along the extension. That's 5 miles from here to Honeybourne, where the counting starts.

Finally, a screen grab taken yesterday at 15.06, when the weather was a bit more clement. You can just make out the loco with the next train coming in. Just look at all those passengers!