A day of heavy showers was forecast today, and it was true. Cleeve Hill was enveloped in low cloud, but as I came over the top by the golf course, a marvellous view opened out below - Cheltenham race Course, bathed in light ! It was wonderful.

If you can't see Cleeve Hill.....

Looking back up the other way after arriving at CRC2, this is what you could see. Moments earlier, I was in those clouds. Down here, all was sweetness and light. What a great day.

Great merriment ensued upon the return of John O, fresh out of hospital after an operation to parts we can't mention, this being a family blog. We were really pleased to see him back, and clearly in excellent form. Restricted from lifting any thing heavy for a few recuperative weeks, John busied himself around the site, clearing out the storage container, and giving freely of his advice on how to achieve a dry mix that doesn't stick to the side of the mixer drum. Needless to say, we disregarded this but, hey, how nice to see him back again!

Bob too was back among us, and it wasn't long before we got into the old token problems again. You'll never be an engine driver like that, Bob! You're going down the up line here.

Meanwhile, the weather window we had down at CRC closed and soon we were working in the rain. We carried on a bit, thinking it would surely blow over, but it didn't. Tea then.

We sat inside the cabin for a good half hour, plotting our next moves. This would be rear slab laying up to the CRC2 toilet block foundations, and then beyond, clearing out the container as much as possible, with a view to relocating it elsewhere on the railway, and laying out the second lot of 100 slabs along the platform edge.

During a brief, rain-free spell we ventured out again, to see this evil looking cloud moving NW wards over the Malverns. There was even a clap of thunder, but luckily we missed that one. Stunning colours.

We continue to struggle with poor quality tyres on the wheelbarrows. The walls are made of string and eventually give way, allowing the still intact inner tube to bulge out. You won't pass an MOT like that !
Luckily Keith, the Wheel Doctor, made a welcome return and soon sorted us out. Here he is fitting a wheel that he found at Broadway. It has a history - it came out of a skip in my garden, where the builders working on the house had unceremoniously dropped it, as the barrow had broken. I fished out the good wheel and tyre. Note the lump hammer, for fine adjustment to the wheel bearings.

The slabbing team was soon up to the old toilet block foundations, and started on the next stretch north. Here is Brian, chiseling out the very tough old GWR foundations, so that a new slab can be fitted.

Job done, Brian stood back and let JC carry on with slabbing. He does a very neat job of it, so us others just stand back and admire.

Look at that sky - another near miss.

One of our objectives, as mentioned above, is to start clearing out the container of stuff we will not need here in future. In the picture the gang is loading some concrete reinforcing, surplus from when the platform founations were cast here. We can use this at Broadway for the floor of the signal box tunnel.

Matting, black for mortar, battens, spikes, tools etc. all went in.

We aren't finished here yet, but this is stuff we won't be needing here any more.

Temporarily unemployed while JC loads up his truck, the slabbing gang take 5 and chew the fat. Did you see that Rapide fly over Broadway the other day? So slow.

The trench on the right is as far as we got today - 20 slabs laid. Rather less than usual, but there were interruptions and heavy showers to contend with.

Back at the container, two Johns were having a heated discussion. John O proposed that we ran the shuttles down to Pittville using a coach converted to electric traction, and battery powered. John S is explaining why this wouldn't work, and how GWR was that?

What exactly did they use at the hospital to put you under, or have you been smoking something, John?

Then, more rain. It rattled down on the roof, as we all took shelter in the container.

How about a friendly photograph of the gang huddled together out of the rain?
I'll take that as a 'Maybe' then....


To conclude today's posting, how about a little history?

Here is 1024 County of Pembroke drawing the 10.35 Paignton to Wolverhampton Low Level out of Cheltenham Malvern Road on 31st August 1963. In a few minutes it will be accelerating hard past the spot where we were working this morning. Eight months later the loco was withdrawn, and scrapped at Swindon, one of only 30 built after the war.
This was a typical holidaymakers' train, from the Midlands to the south coast and back again. It was replaced by the M5, and our line closed. This is what we are trying to preserve on the GWSR.

Wouldn't it be great to welcome 1014 County of Glamorgan, the replica being built by Didcot?

If readers can add anything to the information about this photograph, we would be interested to hear. The photographer was John Diston, one of the gang of schoolboys that used to stand at the horse dock at Broadway in the late 1950s - early 1960s. John took many photographs at Broadway, but occasionally he would venture south - this is one of those occasions. Enjoy the picture!