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.