Slabbing at CRC2, Part 2.

The third day of slabbing at CRC, Wednesday 11th June, started with just 22 slabs to go.

This fish eye view from Mike Best illustrates the work perfectly. Most of the slabs have already been laid, and the platform extends way away into the distance, almost to infinity!

Just a few more yards to go on the right, then we go down the slope.

Having reached the end of the level section, a new start is made at the bottom, building up to the break point, where the last slab is cut to size. Clive, Bob, Brian and JC are on the job, while Gary waits with the next slab.

We then move on back to the break point, where the last section of slab is cut to size to fit.

Paul is applying a nice layer of mortar, while Brian is looking pretty pleased with himself, having been given one level for the straight bit, and one for the slope....

Also on the Wednesday was the last bit of pea gravelling.

You can see that when this is finished, there is still quite a bit of infilling left to do.

Up to now, we had always filed in the pea gravel using two barrows on the trolley, and a big yellow bucket to scoop it over the platform wall.

Now, with the road-railer available, and all the pea gravel shovelled into dumpy bags a few weeks ago, a new method was devised. It involves the use of a Stanley knife...

Very clever, guys, but I call that cheating a bit!

Testing the clearance - part II. Take one 100t diesel locomotive, run it the full length of the platform... the driver is checking the clearance carefully, but there was nothing to report. We passed with flying colours.

Just for comparison, here is the 'before' picture, taken in 1995 when I was on holiday in the UK as an expat. The RH wall had a pretty obvious lean on it, and I wondered how they were going to cure that. Little did I know...

After the slabbing, the availability of the road-railer was used to pick up all the original York stone slabs that were piled up on site some years ago.
Here the pile by the former CRC2 waiting room is moved on to the trolley.
A standard slab of 3ft or 4ft length is very heavy indeed, but these are of varying lengths and some are as much as 6ft long, so the road-railer was crucial in getting them shifted and the site made tidy.

 Along came another service train, this time hauled by 2807. The road-railer scurried into the head shunt, and GWR's 75 ton heavy freight loco tried the new coping slabs for size.

They were fine as well.

On the final day, June 11th, the road-railer was back in action and collecting more York stone slabs from the old platform, this time from a large stack on the other side of the signal box.

Here you can see where they went. On the right you can see the fully slabbed platform, with the exception of a short piece at the bottom of the northern end.

In order to mimic the appearance of CRC1, a short flat stretch was laid at the bottom, on a new concrete base.

Once the concrete base had gone off, the final two slabs were laid here.

Brian and Tony look on.

Tony then got on with the laborious job of filling in all those little diamond shaped holes that are left when you join two new slabs together.

The special sealant will be used on the gaps between the slabs.

From the depth in which Tony is standing, you can see how much more infill is required. More of that tomorrow.

The last job on the 11th was for the road-railer to park itself and the trolley outside. This is how they did it.

On Monday 15th June, a mini digger, two dumpers and a roller stood outside this gate. What we did with them will be posted tomorrow, then we're back up to date.

Slabbing at CRC2 - Part 1

On Monday 8th June, the actual slabbing of the new platform wall started. A big day ! The 'crowning' of almost two years' worth of brick laying. We had hired in for the job a special road-railer, which was supported by a trolley on which it would pull along a supply of slabs.

To refresh our memories, and give an idea of the size of the job, here is a picture of the slabs arriving, back in March. There were two lorry loads, with 220 slabs in total. It was a big pile.
Because the old CRC2 slabs, made of York natural stone, were in many cases spalled or damaged, and because it proved impossible to acquire over 200m of second hand concrete slabs, it was decided to buy new. The old natural stone slabs will not be thrown away, but either sold, or the best ones reused elsewhere on the railway.

Here is the road-railer fully loaded and ready to set off with its 'train'. Although the trailer is fully loaded, the stacks visible in the background don't seem to have diminished at all yet. Lots of work to do then.

The road-railer then trundled down to the southern end of the platform to lay the fist slab.
One of the unanswered questions before your blogger left for his hols a fortnight ago was how do you get the mortar all the way down there? Would it also go on the trolley, or would we barrow it down?
The answer was barrowing.... brave men they were who did this. At least the platform wall surface was nice and level. Later the Pway trolley was also pressed into service, but you can't beat a 'barrer'.

Here is the first slab going on. The question on everyone's lips was - how easy is this going to be? We have laid many slabs at Broadway, but always on a wall built of all sorts of recycled imperials, with lots of different heights to juggle with, if you want a level slab. Slow and tricky that.

The tools of the trade lie roundabout - mortar, trowel, a level and .. a big rubber hammer. The road-railer, expertly operated by Gary, carefully places the first slab. There are lots of variables - height, orientation, level, alignment with the platform edge. JC keeps a careful eye over this first placing.

With the first slab successfully laid, several more went on without too much trouble - a big sigh of relief!
Bob, on his trusty rubber knee caps, has put down a thin bed of mortar, while Terry with the bar responds to JC's instructions for the fine adjustment.

Because the CRC2 wall is new and made of new, modern bricks, it has a nice smooth and level surface on top. Once the team had gotten into their rhythm, progress began to accelerate and only a thin bed of mortar was required for each slab. Here we see the gang just over the half way mark, beavering away. The speed of laying down these slabs was considerably increased thanks to the expert manipulation by Gary in the road - railer. A big thanks, Gary!

Once the pace of slabbing settled down, the team could relax a little and there was less pressure on them. Time for a cuppa then, and one of Bob's famous Mini Swiss Rolls.

While slabbing continued near the half way mark, Tony started pointing the underside with the mortar on the spot there.
The joints in between the slabs will be filled with a special sealant, and the diamond opening between the slabs on top will be filled with mortar to ensure there is no movement possible.
The replica running in board is in the distance, new replica lamp posts are also in place.

On the first day, the team laid an amazing 120 slabs out of the 220 in total. Well over half way, after only one day. We exceeded our own expectations. A good day at Broadway would see 10 or 12 laid.

On Tuesday 9th June, the team returned for a second day of slabbing. This was a service day, so the road-railer had to juggle the arrival of trains, parking up the head shunt out of the section. This slowed progress down a little bit, but with the back of the job already broken on day one, day two saw another 78 slabs laid.

Now there comes a moment of nervousness - how about the clearance? If you want a wide engine, take a GWR tank. But it got through fine, check out that cylinder on the front, no scratches, right?
Here is 5542 easing back up to the front of its train, having successfully passed the first line of slabs. More tests will follow later ! What sort of locos could we throw at this clearance business?

Photographs by Bob, Paul and Mike - thank you lads. Had to shake the cement dust off though.

Tomorrow: the final day of slabbing.

Back from hols, and there is good progress to report at CRC2. There have been three different activities (broadly speaking) so I will report in chronological order over the next couple of days.

 

The exciting prospect was the laying of some 200 new platform coping slabs using a road-railer and trolley, but before this could be done, the northern half of the platform had to have it's drain completed and be at least partially back filled. Day one, June 1st, therefore covers this activity.

It was a grey day, and 8 volunteers came to help. 

 

Before you start, you need some material to back fill with, so Elliott's came with 3 loads of 20 tons each. JC is making sure it hits the right spot. 60 tons duly delivered.

 

Then you can start loading the dumpers. They only take one ton each, as they have to be small enough to wriggle in behind the wall, and alongside the rear drain. Here you can see Ron loading the first dumper up with rubble. This can be a very dusty activity, but not here, as it was such a damp day. Yesterday (June 15th) was a different story, but we shall come to that later.

 

After a short run down behind the wall, Tony is seen here unloading in front of JC and John O, who will spread the load to make a level surface, approx 9ins deep. We don't fill the wall all in one go, but add several of these layers, compacting each one in turn. For the lower 2 layers, we also add a drain and above it a second layer of pea gravel. You can see JC standing in a trench made ready for the second layer of pea. More scaffolding boards and bricks have been laid along the wall in readiness.

 

Once the material is dumped and the eager volunteers have jumped on it to shovel it away, Tony has the tricky task of reversing back all the way to the beginning, without hitting either the wall or the cutting side. With 60 tons delivered and two dumpers on site, that's 30 reversals for each operator. Per layer! You can see the tight clearances involved by looking at Tony's wheels by the scaffolding board. But by now we are a well oiled machine, and things have gone very well indeed, and nothing untoward to report.

 

With the second layer of back fill and pea gravel completed, the space behind the wall was wide enough to accept the vibrating roller. This is a rather meatier machine than last time (on the southern portion), and it could be heard some distance away in our car park.

Ron and JC returned on Tuesday June 2nd to complete this job. This gave the slab layers, due on June 8th, a level surface to stand on all along the rear of the platform. 

 

A start was also made on clearing the site. We have now finished laying bricks, but two pallets of blues remained on top of the cutting side. Stevie Warren came along with the JCB and picked them up out of the long grass, and after a temporary placing next to the box, they are now by the car park, waiting for transport to Winchcombe.

 

Next: The slabbing adventure! We will provide a full report with pictures tomorrow.

 

Work continues at Broadway, and with the original blog 'frozen' I thought I would post a few pictures of work that went on today. I hope the Cheltenham guys don't mind me 'borrowing' their blog.

This is a photograph taken a few days ago and shows Peter Q starting on the T&G boarding inside the SB. At the end of the day he had done the area above all 6 windows, except for 4 boards that he didn't have. Below him is the floor, as yet open. This will be boarded over later, when there is less risk of damage from activities above. Scaffolding planks suffice for the moment.

Today, and up above, Tony and the two Johns cut and placed the ridge tiles, seen here on the northern end.
A small, interesting fact: They do not go down on a bed of mortar, but are attached to each other with mortar. This is to allow for expansion of the roof to take place.
Just visible on the centre ridge are the tops of the two cast iron ventilator tubes. The ventilator cowls are shoehorned over the top, and have wide skirts that go over, and grip under, the edge of the ridge tiles. These are of a special pattern, rounded over the top, not pointed. Typical for a GWR box.

Because our roof is fitted with insulation sheets to meet today's building regulations, the tops of the cast iron tubes do not stick out far enough, and we plan to extend them to the correct height. This will then give the cowls enough to hang on with.

One or two minor jobs remain after the ridge tiles. After that, the plan is to wash down the exterior brickwork with a special cleaner, to remove remaining traces of mortar. The joiner can then come and fit the remaining windows, after the scaffolding has been taken down a level. As the scaffolding is rented, it is in our interest to take it down as soon as possible.

Here is a glimpse of our new bric-a-brac shed. It's only a temporary building, so don't worry about the architecture. We will move the bric-a-brac from the old shed out into the new on a date yet to be decided. The old shed can then be taken down and the station building footprint fully revealed. Today's activity centred round the placing of the patio slabs and further sand around it.

There were only 11 volunteers today. That's a bit on the low side, but there was strong competition at Toddington! If you listened carefully, you could hear foreign whistles...

In this picture above you can see Phil painting some marker posts that were placed this morning. It's not much of a development, but represents a big step. These 4 posts designate the area for the footbridge tower foundations, and on the far left you can in fact see the first riser of the original footbridge. It's still there! This area needs to be marked so that a test excavation can be done on behalf of our consultant engineer, who will be designing the new foundations. We are also talking to potential fabricators for the new towers, but nothing has been decided yet. As extension money is limited, we need to prioritise and the BAG committee is currently considering this tricky issue.

Earlier in the week, the BAG committee met to elect a new chairman. We are very lucky that a committee member has indeed agreed to take on this challenging role, and we therefore welcome Roger Brindley as our new BAG chairman.
The position of project manager for the station rebuild, a separate job, is currently vacant, and the search for candidates is on.

Elsewhere on site brick cleaning continued using the remains of  the station foundations, and the new catch pit covers were given more coats of paint.

On Friday the annual BAG open evening was held, and there was a good number of guests, many brought in by London double decker bus from Broadway centre. The beer ran out within a quick 45 minutes, resulting in an urgent trip to the supermarket for some ad hoc bottles. There was an ample supply of beefburgers, but almost all of these went too. People were clearly hungry for refreshments, as well as information about the project. There was a steady stream of visitors to the footbridge centre span where explanations were being given, and at the end of the evening the platform 1a lights came on, and someone had even rigged a light in the shell of the SB. Very atmospheric, that was. All this was accompanied by live music from Mike S and his friends.

At the end of the day today the SB looked like this - the ridge tiles are all up, except for a short stretch in the middle. The name board is off centre, but it's a dummy made of wood, hanging between two window posts. We'll use a tape measure for the real, cast iron one later.

A small gang of 2 will continue on Monday, while a further expedition to Wishaw is planned for Tuesday to recover the last of the wooden planks for the footbridge centre span. Busy busy busy! Wednesday is the next normal working day then, and the last for your blogger, who will take a long awaited holiday in Italy.

Today was the day that the new platform 2 running in board was located on its new posts.

Two members of the Broadway gang joined the B&S team from Winchcombe, after loading the rather substantial looking sign. It even sticks out over the end of the van!

With a bit of a struggle the large wooden board was manhandled down the long ramp, and across the track. Well, no, not quite, because when we got to the bottom of the ramp, someone had parked a train in the platform, 7 coaches long. Oh.
Following a smell of freshly brewed coffee, we traced this to the waiting room where £1.50 secured us a large cupful each.
Eventually the train left again, well packed. Good to see! We manoeuvered the board across, and on to a set of supports, ready for mounting.

Can you see what it is yet?
Your blogger, after sourcing, ordering, fetching and planting the posts was understandably a tad nervous - would the board fit as well?

It did!
The fit was perfect, a good example of collaboration between the Cheltenham and Broadway area groups, and B&S, who made the board. Keith, Pat, Pete, Ron and Anon proudly stand by their work.

The letters used here are made of plywood, but a set of genuine GWR cast iron letters has been located since, and will be used when the platform 1 board letters start to delaminate (as plywood eventually does).

For Broadway, a replica set of letters has been ordered from a small foundry, with the help of the SVR who very kindly allowed us to borrow some samples. Thank you guys !

Now let's just check with the original.....

CRC2 in 1966

Yep. That's what it looked like OK.




Back to Broadway for the afternoon, where we noted the following activities:

- Work on the relocated bric a brac shop on the drive. The cabin is now up, and some paving slabs were being laid around it, to make it an attractive place to linger and buy some stuff to help the project. We can't say for sure yet when the stock will be moved from the old building to the new, but one or other will always be open on working days, so do come along.

- Weed removal and strimming to tidy up the site for the Broadway open evening on Friday - are you coming? There will be food and drink, and the opportunity to see the signal box and catch up with the latest news.

- Work on the signal box continued with the placing of ridge tiles, and inside the matchboard paneling above the sliding windows was almost completed (ran out of boards with only 4 left to do!)

- The dumper was back in action at last, delivering 2' x 2' slabs to the new shop area.

- Vic continued his gargantuan task of shovelling Mythe dirt into barrows, and wheeling this out of the car park field, along the road, up the drive, and using it to make up ground under the new steel paling fence behind the new shop. A brilliant effort, Vic!

- More catch pit covers were being painted - the existing ones, only 2 years old, are either delaminating, or have been pushed into their pits by the numerous vehicles we receive on site.

- Members of the BAG committee met during a large part of the day, and another meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, with a large number of issues being addressed. Will we have white smoke on Friday? You'll have to be there to find out... hope to see you there.

The last brick - again !

It was a lovely sunny day today, and 5 volunteers made it down to CRC to fine tune the completion of the platform wall.

At the bottom of the completed northern ramp a little extra brickwork was need to help set out the footpath to the barrow crossing. John S did the honours here. It was hot today; CRC2 stalwarts have long memories of the cold and rainy winter, and keep their woolly hats and jackets on !

Here you can see the nicely finished slope down to the ground at the northern end. Almost all the stacks of bricks on the left have gone, and now it's time to lay the remaining drain pipes to the end. They fit inside each other, but you put some silicone gel on, and here we see JC give the end of the pipe a little prod so that the other end slips in nicely. Lots of banter about that in the cabin !

After the pipes are laid, they are boxed in with scaffolding boards and the void is filled in with pea gravel. In the bad old days we used to have to load two barrows' worth on to the PWay trolley and trundle it down the track, but now that 'the end is near' we can just wheel a load down to the place it's needed. So easy, it's making Brian smile. And he's found a barrow without a flat tire too.

After pea gravelling, the team set out for the other end of the wall to build the next step. Now that is a long walk, so the trolley was pressed back into service. Here are Keith and JC with a barrow of fresh concrete on their way south.

On arrival at the southern end, this is what they did with it. Having built a foundation and the first step last week, a second step was cast today. While Keith looks on, JC gives the step a nice smooth finish.

While the step casting was going on, Brian was on painting duty nearby. The new running in board posts needed a final topcoat for extra protection.

Once this is dry, it is ready for the board itself to be bolted on. It has already been fabricated off site.

Rumour has it that Pete from B & S has this 12ft board secreted somewhere behind the sofa at home. You can bring it now, Pete !

Amazingly, the gang had done all this by 10 am, so after a short tea break, they moved on to Broadway. What they did there will appear on the Broadway blog in an hour or so.




So what happens next at CRC2? We need to organise some good quality infill material. Initially we thought we could get some leftovers from the contractors building the new stand at the racecourse, but they have passed the demolition stage and that source has now dried up, alas.

As a number of key personnel will be on holiday and there is a bank holiday Monday coming up as well, it is likely that the infilling will take place in early June. The slabs will follow shortly after. The remaining Mondays in May will therefore take place at Broadway. So try the Broadway blog on Mondays for a while.

The last brick!

The last brick went in yesterday ! One year and 7 months after we started this 200m long wall, the last brick was laid yesterday. What an achievement. Well done our little team from Broadway! Two jobs at once, but our labour saved the GWSR a bundle of money on contractor's fees.

I'm sorry this post is a bit delayed (I can see a lot of clicks on my blogger dashboard yesterday) but while making the marital bed on Monday night, my back went into spasm and I am 'off the road' for a few days while this sorts itself out. Problem of an old war wound, set off 20 years ago while digging out sleepers on the PWay at the K&ESR.

Due to this, and a few hols, there were only three guys at CRC2 today. We've never had only 3, but look at what they did. Here is our opening picture as they take the plastic sheets off the job. It's been raining (but then stopped) and there were high winds. There's just one more layer left to go, now on the final 200m section, aka the slope.

Johns 'O' and 'C' and Bob did the honours, and here we see Bob, having put on the last row of corbelling bricks with JC, pointing up his work. It's a bit tricky when your nose gets nearer and nearer to the deck!

After the corbelling it's the backing up, which is a bit more laborious, as it uses three times as many bricks. Here we see JC Just starting the backing up at the bottom end. This always needs plenty of mortar, so he's using two spots.

Then the last brick goes in, and it's time for a celebratory photograph. If that is meant to be a selfie, you forgot the camera, John ! All that is left to do on the wall now is a nice layer of 'slop' on top.

Oh, but they did that as well! Here it is, the new platform wall on CRC2, finished! All this while dodging the trains too, as Tuesday was an operating day, with 4270 and the DMU out on patrol. John O, on mixer duty, was put under a bit of pressure as they wanted a lot of 'slop' and they also wanted the wall finished by lunch time. This they did, and then it was time for:

What a charming cake - too good to eat, surely?

THE CAKE !

This wonderful creation was lovingly made by Bob's wife Sue. Aren't our wives wonderful? Thank you, Sue !

What a shame the men put a knife to it.. and then proceeded to eat it up too. I am informed a slice has been put in the fridge for me, next to the mouse trap bait. Ah.

Seeing the lovely cake on offer, the signalman quickly threw his levers to 'danger' and came down to scoff a slice! 

So the wall is now finished, but that is not the end of the job. 

What still has to be done? Here is a non-exclusive list:

Finish the drains at the rear, cover in pea gravel

Part back fill, then raise the pea gravel to a second level

Back fill the rest of the platform

Build a pathway to the level crossing

Reconstruct the brick catch pit by the former waiting room

Plant the remaining GWR lamp posts, set out electricity supply for them

Place the copers, over 200 of them, a major job involving a road-railer

A final top layer, then tarmac

Repair the rear wall of slagstone in the southern half

Approach ramp from the road bridge - not sure what the intention is with this.

The running in board posts need a second coat of paint, then the name board can go on. Anyone fancy a go?

Finally, we received a request to put a set of steps at the southern end of the platform.

Here on the left, this is where they will go. On Tuesday, they were able to put in the first one, at the bottom end. Must have been a hell of a walk with a 90Kg barrow load of concrete. Can you see the other end of the platform from here?