Herewith our Monday update, but without any pictures. On no.... ! What happened?

Cameras don't like the dusty environment at Broadway and CRC2, and eventually your blogger's refused to function, with dust/grit inside the lens mechanism. At great personal expense a new one was acquired. Today was to be its second day of use, and it rewarded us with a short message - battery empty ! This is a bit of a puzzle, as it normally lasts several picture sessions, and this time only one. Possibly this is a bluetooth issue, we will find out, but next time we will have to check that it is indeed still fully charged before leaving home.

Another problem today was the closure of Hyde lane for resurfacing. All participants coming from the north (at least 3 of us) reported long delays round Bishops Cleeve, arriving up to half an hour later than intended.

At least the delay meant that once we had all arrived and started work, the almost freezing temperature of 0.5C at the start of the day had risen enough to permit some brick laying. Six regulars set to work on the 140, 150 and 160m sections. John O once again made vast quantities of brown mix, enabling our expert block layer - yes, Peter Q had heeded the call, God bless him - to lay a full line of 90 blocks on the 160m section, behind the two rows of blues laid at the front the previous week.

At the rear, Tony was busy laying reds and at the front Bob, our sole blues expert today, laid a double row of blues on each of the 140 and 150m sections. Both of these are now only two rows away from corbelling. So good progress today, and we have been very lucky with the weather, which so far has offered little hinderance. The sun shone gloriously all day, and we even took our tea outside of the cabin.

Fairview then appeared with fresh supplies. We unloaded and stored 20 sacks of cement, and placed a pallet of blocks straight on to the trolley, which we wheeled down to the 170m section. Although it has not yet been set out, we agreed that unloading could proceed straight on to the working area in one long line, so that they can be tipped straight into place once we move into this section.

All the time this was happening, we were treated to some cheesy Christmas music through a loudspeaker.... luckily we kept our milk in a refrigerator in the cabin, so that it did not curdle.

Later in the morning some contractors came and sprayed the newly graded cutting side with instant grass seed. We think. At least the area is now covered in something green. Maybe it will fool some people.

As we have no pictures today, here is one from the archives, and a puzzle for our readers:

Where was your blogger standing in the picture above? It wasn't taken recently, as you might surmise from that flat tummy and plentiful head of hair. Yes, it was taken in ...1977! Happy days.

For those interested in GWR gates, isn't this a post for one?
Seen lying at Winchcombe a couple of years back.

But - put your money where your mouth is :-). The current gates are brand new.

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! It's December, and only 6.5 degrees this morning, with a fine mist/drizzle all day. It never really got light, but strangely enough we had a really productive day. You can't see a lot on the pictures, but with 5 brick layers at work today, and three others in support, we laid 1100 bricks today, pretty near a record.

At the start of the day, the brick layers are strung out in a line on 4 different stretches at once. The completed part of the new platform stretches into the distance....

On the 130m section, JC finished off the last row of corbelling (see the counterweight bricks lined up behind him) and then laid a useful row of headers along the 140m section. Doesn't that platform behind him look long !

Bob laid a similar row on the next, 150m section, and also two rows of blues on the end section at 160m.

Behind them the massed armies of red-brick-layers: Tony, John S and Pete. For every blue brick laid, they have to fling down two reds, all perfectly level, mind. This team backed up the blues in front, and more. You can see the quantities of mortar involved in this exercise - there are 4 wheelbarrows of mortar in the picture.

The wheelbarrows with which we have been issued are not really up to the job. Although the label says 'a genuine high quality product' you can see that they have become all twisted from carrying the heavy mortar down the platform. What's in a name?

Behind JC's corbelling on the 130m section there was still a void. This was filled by Pete with reds (we counted those little ones as a 'quarter' in our grand total for the day!) and Paul provided the slop. It's faster by shovel than by builder's trowel, we discovered...
JC and Tony then covered the whole job with a runny mix on top to complete this next section. Job done !

This allowed Bob a long awaited and proud moment - ticking the job off our little list. Ha !

In other news today:

The user crossing has been completely renewed in brand new material, and a jolly good job they made of it too. Just the approaches still to go, and we sincerely hope there won't be any heavy lorries going over this one now!  It looks a tad wider than before, no doubt some cunning plan there.

The contractors were still on site to complete the grading and drainage of the embankment by the ramp. You can see that a lot of material has been removed, the gradient eased, and cross drains built in. A number of pine trees have also been put back in their place. At the end of the day they were cleaning away the clay lumps that had fallen on to the platform, to make the site nice and  tidy.

Here is a last view of the site at the end of the day. Brian is there with his wheelbarrow of slop, while JC spreads it out over the top to complete the 130m section in the foreground. Then tidy up the site, clean the tools, and cover up the work against rain and frost. Yes, rain - yours truly spent a merry old time with a battery tester bulb sucking the water out of all the little holes in the bricks, so that mortar can be laid on top of them.

A quick count of the remaining pallets of bricks still on top of the cutting shows we have:
20 pallets of blues: 8000 bricks
1 pallet of reds: 500 bricks.

This for approximately 60m of wall to build (160m - 220m).
Just about enough then (if you don't care about backing up in blues)

In the dog house today: 
Brian, for climbing on to JC's newly laid row of bricks in their wet mortar.
Flowers only please.

An icy start today - the water butt had frozen over! First time this winter. This meant that we could not lay bricks immediately, as we wanted to wait until the sun had come out and warmed the site up a bit.

Our activities on site were intermingled with those of the PWay dept, who were reinstalling the level crossing. With all the rain and to-ings and fro-ings of the JCB, the area outside the container was one huge glutinous mess. Not to mention the challenge of a JCB parked outside the container, with a flat battery.

Mud, we don't care, we 'plough' on.

While waiting for the sun to dry the site, we decided to mix up some loads of concrete to launch the last of the current three sections in work, the 160m stretch. With the distance to the coal face getting ever shorter, we managed this in a relatively short time. Very pleasing to see that concrete going in.

In charge of the barrows were Tony and Brian, while John S was on hand with the trowel and the level to smoooooth things out. The front of the pour was secured by a line of blues laid by Bob last time, while the rear is a temporary row of blocks.

Next week then the block laying starts again. We are hoping for Peter Q to come down and help. Are you reading this, Peter? We need you ! You do it so well....

 As is now plain, the level crossing had been stripped out, and this left Fairview chomping at the bit with 5tons of sand, and no way of getting across the tracks to dump it. We secured another entrance for him, off the main road and across the field. Have sand, will deliver, is Fairview's motto.

 Then John C reversed his truck up to the container, to deliver a pallet of quick drying cement. A bit like the 7 dwarfs in their mine, a line of volunteers quickly formed to carry the bags, shoulder high, from truck to cabin.
We got through a vast quantity of paper bags from the cement, which your scribe was eventually requested to incinerate. By inserting a couple of broken bits of pallet into the fire and it being a very damp day, a considerable cloud of white smoke ensued, which enveloped the brave 3 building the level crossing. Bad idea! A bucket of water, well aimed, cured that problem, and happiness soon returned.

Here is an overview of the current state of play. Bob is putting a row of blues on the 150m section, while the others are putting down a lot of reds on the 140m and 150m section, to keep up with him. In the distance we can see John C on corbelling - the second row on the 130m section. One more, and we can tick this one off - see the end of this report for a handy tool for our readers!

Elsewhere at CRC, the diggers were still working on the cutting side. They have now removed a considerable quantity of clay, and eased the slope. That work appears to have been completed.

During your scribe's site inspection, they were digging a drainage channel along the bottom of the slope, to relieve the pressure on the slagstone wall at the foot. Amusing was how the mini digger, working on an extremely slippery slope, was attached to the arm of one of the large diggers on the platform at the top of the slope via a strap, rather like a young dog on a leash. With hand signals, the mini digger was then hoisted up, down and along as the ditch progressed. Neat !

Due to a minor finger injury (one should not play throw the stick with Cerberus without thick gloves) your scribe is now somewhat hampered for a couple of weeks, which accounts for the larger than average number of pictures on this posting - my camera finger is one of the ones still working fine, thank you. So here is a shot of the works, in the full mid-day sun, showing John C corbelling on the 130m section, Tony and John S laying reds on the next two sections, and Bob running a row of blue facers down the 150m section. Behind him, the concrete is drying on the 160m section, and in the distance we can see work progressing on the new level crossing.

Here is a shot of Steve Warren lowering a new concrete element into the centre of the trackbed. At the end of the day, they had laid about three quarters of these elements, with the rubber inlays still to follow. Pretty good progress, with only 3 men on site. Does the signal box remind you of the one in the wooden Brio set, or is it my imagination?

Looking the other way, the coal face looks rather distant.... is that really all we've done? The barrow is standing next to the end of the 160m section, so that is just 50m to go (or 60m, depending on who you ask). Two lots of three, and we are there! Then back for drain laying, the infill, ducting, lamp posts et al.

One final look at the end of the work site, with John S filling in with reds, and Brian in charge of a barrow of mortar. We sure got through a load of that today!

And then here is the promised gadget for our readers who want to follow our progress. Bob very kindly made up this chart, which shows all the different sections involved in 220m of new platform wall, and the dates that we have completed each one so far. Now you too, dear reader, can follow us, and fill in each section. With only one more row of corbelling to go on the next, 130m section, you may be able to fill the next line in by this time next week, if the weather plays ball. Enjoy!

 

Tuesday was the day that replaced the very wet Monday yesterday, and what a beautiful sunny autumn day it was too. Bob and four others managed to get down to CRC and advanced the wall quite a bit. In fact, this is a two-in-one report, as Bob also came down on Saturday with John O, and together the valiant duo got two courses of blues on the 140 and 150m sections, meaning that we could continue with the blockwork today.

Bob 'in flagrante'.

Each brick is carefully checked for level.

In the picture above, you can see that the back up team was faster than Bob last time (he was working on a different section) and have laid 'red' bricks higher than the blues in front. Today Bob laid the first row of corbelling here on the 130m section (the last of the first three started after the half way mark). behind Bob is the site of the platform 2 shelter, which we have now well passed.

Tony confided in me last week that he didn't really like laying blocks, and here he is again!

Feet up, and crack open a beer tonight, Tony.

These two pictures show Tony and Pete finishing off the concrete blocks on the 140m section started last week, and then on the 150m section as well. A row of blues has already risen in front of them. Red brickwork can start here next time.

150m section in front, 160m section behind.

Mortaring in the joints between the blocks - Tony, Pete and John S.

The picture above with the signal box shows just how much (or little :-)  ) distance there is to go before we get to the end. How much more manageable the project seems now, than on day one with the start of the first 10m section way, waaaay back at the other end.

John O once again valiantly mixed mortar all day long, not only for the bricks, but all the liquid brown mortar that needs to be stuffed down between the newly laid blocks. Well done, John. At least the journey is getting shorter. He worked so hard that we have again run out of sand and cement, so need another delivery next Monday.


We had two pleasant visitors on site today - Andy P, and 'Father P' .

The joy of S&T.

They were removing some kit from CRC box, ready for use at Broadway. Isn't that robbing Peter to pay Paul, Andy ? Oi !

Nice to see preparations for our Broadway box !!!

Our usual Monday session was cancelled today, due to the steady rain forecast for this morning. Instead, a team will be on site on Tuesday, so with a bit of luck there will be an update on the platform works tomorrow evening.

In the meantime, a question to our readers. A few years ago, a member bought the clock below at an auction, with the intention of installing it at Broadway. It originally came from Chippenham station, so is likely to be authentic GWR. Who can tell us more about the clock?

Clock face, with winding hole

Interior, showing mechanism.

The clock sits in a metal drum, and was suspended from inside the canopy. The pendulum ran inside the drum, and it was driven by a spring, winding taking place through a hole in the face. There is no obvious maker's name (unless on the mechanism itself, which was hard to see) but there is a 5 figure serial number inside the hatch. (visible on the photograph)
The name of the manufacturer, and a date, would be of particular interest. Plus anything else readers can suggest. Were they common? Any others still in existence? etc. The figures in red are probably not original.

A few months ago, we published the picture below of a GWR steam rail motor at Winchcombe, showing a proud stationmaster in his uniform. Winchcombe at the time was a brand new station, after all.

The picture was probably taken in the period 1908 - 1912, when the SRMs were painted in lined brown - the earliest models were brown and cream. Slightly later models such as this one also had a sliding window removed, and replaced by a special water filler cap.

During this period, the Winchcombe station master was a chap called William Edwards, who lived in the station master's house with his family and a booking clerk as lodger. 

Subsequently Graham Peel, one of our readers, wrote in to say William Edwards was his uncle. Having done a bit of family research, he came up with the following details about his life, which we are permitted to share with you:

William Edwards:

a) Born Cassington (nr  Oxford) 1866. 2nd child (of 10) of Joseph Edwards, Railway Platelayer.

b) 1870 - family moves to Lower Oddington, Glos.

c) 1871, living at Lower Oddington.

d) 1881, Railway Clerk living at Shipton under Wychwood, and presumably working at the station there.

e) 1891, Railway Clerk, living at Bourton on the Water, and presumably working at the station there.

f) 1895: Married Martha Downes at Bridgnorth, while presumably working at the station there.

g) 1901: Railway Station Master living in the parish of St Philip and St James, and therefore presumably working at St James Station.

h) 1911; Railway Station Master at Winchcombe.

  Where else he worked after that and when he retired is not known. I believe it likely he died between 1920-1930. He had only one child, a daughter.

Apart from his father, at least two of his siblings worked on the railway, as did one of his brothers-in-law - my grandfather, who lived at Over Norton when working as a ganger.

We are always interested in historical facts about the Honeybourne line in GWR and BR days, so do not hesitate to send us (electronic) copies of photographs, or tales of your family members.