Six men today, and lots of progress. Despite a very dreary start, and at one point the gang's refusal to leave the tea hut in the rain, we laid 41 slabs, with which we are well pleased. As we laid the final 3 slabs, the sun burst out and we left the scene on a high.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work they go. John O and Keith march down the new platform...

...to find JC with a hired in mini digger lowering the infilled platform surface slightly, and more importantly, the line of slabs still to be laid, which was a bit too high (and very difficult to dig out by hand, with all the clay and roots)

Then a quickie left over from last week, laying a missing slab around a duct that came in at just the wrong height. Have you got a large diameter angle grinder handy, with a diamond cutting wheel?

Thought not.

We did today though, so the slabs were cut perfectly to size and this bit was signed off as finished. That's the southern half all slabbed up at the rear, and a good start made on the northern half.

Then, before we could carry on along the second half, we had to set out the next lengths of rear slabs to be laid.

We measure the distance from the platform edge, then the height using this long piece of 2x4, and a level. Adjust the string accordingly, and don't step on it. Yes, you there!

Is it going to stop anytime soon? Nah, mate...

An impromptu boot scraper, frequently in use

While we do this, the rain continues to drizzle down. This has two effects: those who are doing hard work end up with giant clogs of clay round their boots, which is very irritating. Those that aren't doing much work huddle round the container with cups of tea and discuss what they would be doing, if it weren't raining quite so much.

Then, a glimmer of hope. After last week's dark picture of the Malverns, a beam of light lit them up today. The rain became episodic, then eased off, and work became quite pleasant.

For those not living in the UK, this is the valley of our second largest river, the Severn. Those Malvern hills represent the other side of the valley, then comes Wales.

We laid 20 lengths, then stopped to set out a further 20. You can see where this would take us - only two lamp posts to go if we finish there today. JC and Keith check the height of the new string.

The height of the string above ground level has to be checked carefully, otherwise the bed of lean mix and the edging slab won't fit. If the ground is too high, that's when the poking around in the gluey underground and the roots starts. Bob has a special gauge - a piece of ply, with a stripe on it. Works every time!

Once the ground is at the correct height, we can start slabbing again. Keith has just brought up another barrow full, while Bob is picking up an slab, which JC, who spent most of the day on his knees (no, not in front of the Finance Director!) is bedding down on the mix. That sign on the right seems to indicate 18 slabs to go, 111 laid. Nearly true ! We actually laid 41 slabs today, and have 31 to go out of the original 200 to be laid. One more good day should see us through.

During the idle hours in the rain, we calculated some statistics about the work we have done so far:

50.000 bricks laid
2000 concrete blocks laid
1200 barrows of mortar wheeled down the platform
240 Km of barrows pushed
90 tons of mortar made up
2 tons of cast iron planted

And only one work related accident. Paul pushed a barrow wrong. Yes, you might well ask yourself, how can you push a wheelbarrow in the wrong way? It's simple technology, no certificate required. We now know that it is possible, because Paul managed it!
In a fit of enthusiasm, he came rushing up with empty barrow and gusto, lifted the handles a tad too high, the front wheel guard dug into the ground, the barrow stopped dead, and Paul - sort of scrambled over the top of it. Ah. The injury in question was to his pride. Now healed, as he is still regaling us with his tales. Many tales. Many, many tales...

From the inner home signal, a view of CRC2 towards the end of the day, showing how far we got. 41 slabs laid in all today, just 31 to go. Nearly there. After that, the ramp to the level crossing remains to be done.

A last look of the day, at rural Gloucestershire. Sheep may safely graze. The sun has lit up a nearby hilltop. Imagine our surprise when a Chinook turned up one day, and deposited a group of soldiers on it!

As last week's historical picture clearly gave pleasure, here is another from the collection of Broadway photographer John Diston.

The picture was taken in 1959, and shows Jubilee class 45667 Jellicoe leaving Cheltenham Lansdown station with a Newcastle - Bristol train. This loco was scrapped in 1965 in Liverpool, its last shed.
The junction in the picture is where the rival Midland and GWR lines met, just south of the Cheltenham town centre. Our Honeybourne line is the one on the right. Malvern Road GWR station was just out of sight up our line, and is a builder's yard today. CRC is a couple of miles north of here.

As last week, any comments and additional information are very welcome. I have been allowed to borrow these pictures from John Diston's brother, and it would be nice if I could give them back with more details on them. Thanks for your help!