A nice and bright day today. Bob, John O and Paul C got going straight away with laying blues. By the time yours truly arrived on site at 08.30, the third barrow of mortar was already being wheeled down the tracks. These people are keen !
After calling in at Winchcombe, John C arrived with his pickup and a further supply of scaffolding boards. These we put behind the current working sections, to keep the brick layers' feet dry. But slowly, we are working our way out of the wet part in the southernmost section of the site. The northern end is pretty dry.

Brian builds a platform of scaffolding boards to keep our feet dry. 60m section in the foreground.

One of our objectives today was to prepare the next, 70m section for its first course of bricks. As our followers may know, the platform is being built on both the original brick foundations, as well as a new concrete ons behind. To make it interesting, the brick foundations slowly rise on a slope, whereas the concrete ones go up in steps. Tricky to combine the two! To prepare the next section for its first course we had to take off any remaining mortar from the brick foundations. John C had very kindly brought his Hilti and this was just the right tool for the job.

So you thought you could just start laying bricks, eh?

This Hilti job emitted quite a bit of noise, so standing by it to introduce a new recruit wasn't the best choice of location...

John O gives new recruit Derek a tour of the site, while Brian rattles away

As promised last week, the Gloucester college lads came back, and their job today was to lay the first course of blues on the new 70m section, which Brian had prepared for them. The college lads are quite keen on a bit of practical experience, as most of their training is indoors. Only once you are on the job in the drizzle do you learn, from newly acquired experience, that mortar applied to a wet brick won't stick !

Luke explains that the lads need 40hrs of practical experience, and that thanks to us, he already has 20hrs under his belt. The others lay the first course of blues at 70m.

Another experience made by the Gloucester lads on site is that mortar is very heavy. Previously we had always supplied them with fresh barrow loads, but this time we thought we'd let them have a go too.

The long drag..... (no trains running of course!)

Of course the BAG members thought of a new wheeze to ease the pain of barrowing mortar down the site - stick the barrow on a PWay trolley! Brilliant ! 65 year old minds remain sharp as razor blades, oh yes.

Oh-oh....

The problem is that these trolleys have a brake lever you have to hold down to keep the thing rolling. If you ever let go, it comes to a dead stop. But the muck does not, alas. Drat !

Finally, a view over the work site as we left it at the end of the day.. Completed are sections 10, 20 and 30m. We added two courses to sections 40m and 50m today. The new 70m section is in the right foreground, with the foundations row of blues complete.

CRC2 in the rain.

A cloudburst came at 14.30, but the brick layers were already pointing their work, so we gathered up our tools, albeit in the rain. Brian reports that with the Hilti he has reached the half way marker at 110m, so one more day should see us finish this job of preparation.
Exceptionally, Bob W and John O will be working this Wednesday. Fairview will pick up the imperials we have recovered, and they will use this opportunity to put some more blues on.