Steaming to Broadway!

Wednesday 15th February 2012

2012-02-15T21:04:00.001-08:00

A milder day and the prospect of lots to do brought 19 Volunteers out today. The most important return to work was Ron Brizlin who had been off with pneumonia for 5 weeks. Welcome back Ron. The priority task was to complete the back fill of Platform 1A. In order to do this efficiently we hired a mini excavator to load our dumper truck. Of the order of 50 tons of soil were shifted during the day!

Here Ron explains that it doesn't take four volunteers to fill a barrow. The soil is being taken from the Platform 2A site and the signal box footing area specifically. By the end of the day the Signal box footings area was virtually clear down to ground level.

It was good to see Dot back in action having had her fuel lines and filters replaced she was on song all day. Dot was used to shift the remaining 1A old foundations down to the car park area and clean off the old 2A footings. We are in a position to do some measuring out of 2A and I will keep you posted as to how we will proceed.

Here Steve and John C manoeuvre a coping slab on to 1A. Steve can now take the top of a soft boiled egg with Dot and we are grateful to Bernard Dudfield for his support in getting Dot sorted out.

The end of day result for 1A was nothing less than brilliant! Here shown with a setting sun in the background the neatly contoured rear infill completed.

My thanks to all the visitors that came today. Your support is much appreciated.

Thanks again for the excellent pics Jo!

Saturday 11th February 2012

2012-02-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

One of those enjoyable laid back days, where the Saturday Gang set about a variety of jobs in the bright winter sunshine. This post starts with a great photo of Platform 1A. From this high level perspective you can see the fruits of everyone's hard labour over the past weeks, that include 20 tonnes of ballast shifted today!

As you can see the inner back fill is complete, bar rolling and then finishing with a top surface. The back fill behind the slabs is 50% complete with perhaps 50 tonnes of soil still to be moved in, compacted and profiled into the rear embankment. A job for Wednesday, perhaps!

The following set of pictures from Jo give a good feel for the bright day yesterday and the the sharp shadows which made for some excellent photography.

Steve and Dot removing surplus soil out of 2A

Just a Great Picture!

Two old lags shovelling the soil!

Robin Cleaning the the Wisley Bricks - only 2000 to go!

I managed to start the the task of setting out platform 2A, but this requires the western side of the track bed to to clear before this can commence in earnest.

Thursday 9th February - Day 3

2012-02-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

Terry, John and Clive in action

Six volunteer stalwarts turned up in the freezing weather for more punishment on the back fill line. The freezing conditions turns what is normally loose ballast into something akin to frozen concrete and consequently makes the task of shifting and levelling doubly difficult. But the team were single minded in their efforts and virtually saw the job done with just a few more slabs to go! Here are slabs in the process of being laid. They have to be spot on and great care is taken to make sure they're right.

Here John Crawford, who has work solidly for the 3 days, (along with Clive, and Jo), admires the handy work. John has been instrumental in masterminding this exercise and has been extremely helpful in Ron's absence.

The troops barrowing the top soil along must have got longer and longer arms - Its a 70m trip with a laden barrow from the dig by the planned signal box footings.

Finally Dot was back in action today, shifting more supplies of ballast over the wall - Ken at the controls.

A great job has been done over the past 3 days. I know dedicated GWR volunteers work long and hard all over the Railway and I acknowledge their dedication and enthusiasm where ever they are, but the hard graft that has taken place at Broadway this week has been extraordinary - I salute you all!

Wednesday 8th February - DAY 2 of the Big Push

2012-02-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Volunteers pressed on with the back fill and edging of the rear of Platform 1A. The last of the bulk ballast loading was completed and 1A starts to look like a section of the M1. Clive then set about rolling the ballast, starting at the southern end of the platform.

The next picture shows what happens when you get too close to a lamp post socket! It took Dot in the end to lift it back onto a level surface - we live and learn!

We decided to use 3x2 paving slabs as an rear edging to the platform - ballast to the front and soil to the rear. It works really well and this method will see us to the end of the platform.

Four barrows were on the go during the afternoon, shifting top soil from the signal box site to the rear of the platform. everyone work themselves to a near standstill. Here is the signal box area having the surfaced "levelled off" - just another 100 tonnes to go!

Here is the gathering of the clans on the new top surface. The Platform is going remarkably well and all concerned should pat themselves on the back for all the effort put in today and a fine result.

Finally a YouTube link from Jo showing Steve B shifting the 100 and something load of ballast!

Next report this time tomorrow!

Platform 1A - The Lads Press On!

2012-02-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

Much of our energies this week are aimed at finishing Platform 1A as soon as we can and a 3 day session has been set up to make this happen. John Crawford has been masterminding this effort (particularly with Ron B away) and here is his report from the trenches!

Hi Bill,

What a day it has been, with a small but keen gang we managed to get a complete layer of fill the full length of 1A by lunchtime and by knocking off time we had got the final fill up to platform level along three quarters of the length and that is ready for rolling by tomorrows gang, we have also concreted round three of the lamp post bases to within a short distance of the top of the shutters

Surprise of the day was a visit late morning by Ron who was pleased to see progress, needless to say the job stopped for a few minutes for everyone to have a chat and hand shake.

More Good news, no need for the gabions, we successfully built up the bank with earth to support the high level of stone fill, and where did we get the soil from, by starting to clear the base for the signal box and we also found one undamaged platform slab and a few bricks, but a lot more must be dug out before the final levels are achieved.

Finally, Dot is back up an running, poor thing had a fuel pipe blockage and the sediment filter was full of gunj, so she now boasts a complete new fuel line, cleaned filter and new clean fuel in the tank, and she is rareing to go tomorrow!!

See you tomorrow

Regards

John C

Here are a set of photos from Jo :

The Lads - Knackered but Happy!

And for the icing on the cake - A YouTube video

Thanks Jo and to everyone who worked themselves to a standstill today - what will tomorrow bring?

Saturday 4th February 2012

2012-02-05T02:23:00.000-08:00

A cold day with the prospect of snow understandably reduced the Volunteer contingent to a hardy group of eight. Nevertheless, a couple of key objectives were met and the troops were at least able to bask in the glow of some jobs well done!

We are mounting a final push on getting 1A completed and this will happen Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week As precursor to that the lamp post ducting and water supply ducting needed to be installed. It looks a pretty neat job to me, thanks to John C and Steve B.

In the car park the home fires were burning and it was no effort for me to hover around the bonfires feeding them with the branches lopped by the chainsaw gang. It was the right place to be on such a cold day!

Dave fixes box number 10
and Yes someone is holding the ladder!

The Broadway Area Group are conscious that in clearing the undergrowth, wayward saplings and small trees we are depriving the local bird population of some of its nesting sites. As a group we have an inherent conservation ethos and this extends to stewardship of the areas of land we are responsible for. To this end, Volunteer Dave Bowie has taken time out to source and build a variety of nesting boxes - 10 in all and has mounted them in suitable places along the footpath in the car park.

We would like to increase the number of boxes and if you would like to sponsor a box then a donation of £9 (using the donation button) will buy and maintain a box.

Lastly, a few weeks ago, Jo took a clip of the troops hand cranking the dumper and the jubilation when it was successful. Jo spotted this YouTube clip (A King Tiger by the Tail) of similar, muted jubilation, but on a slightly grander scale! A bit like cranking Dot by hand!

22 Platform 1A Coping Slabs Left!

2012-02-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

A generous Broadway Supporter has sponsored 12 Coping Slabs which leaves us with just 22 to go! If you want to help our cause then sponsor a slab for £20 by using the forms on www.broadwaystation.co.uk Thank you!

Wednesday 1st February 2012

2012-02-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Bitter cold weather did not stop 25 volunteers and students turning out today. It was too cold for bricklaying but, conscious of the need to replenish our brick stocks, everyone turned there attention to seeking out as many bricks as possible. The heap of Honeybourne spoil has been a source of several thousand bricks for us. I though the pile in the car park had been pretty much exhausted - but not so! Here the Worcester lads with tutor Martyn toiled all day to create several Drott(yes Drott) loads which were moved up to site for cleaning.

Here comes a load for cleaning. I have to say I have developed a warm love/hate relationship with Dot but here I am talking to Steve B who has a similar view as myself! What we didn't get in the Drott we got in many trips with the dumper (see below).

The brick cleaning gang expanded to 5 today, which was a great effort, because bricks were coming in from so many sources, including a team working on the old platform 2 Waiting Room. I know you will be thinking that maybe we will have enough bricks to be going on with - well I can only repeat we will never have enough to do the full platform build. I would like to thank all the people who have answered my call for brick sources (thanks Garry!). Please keep your eyes peeled everyone.

Master Brick Cleaner Chris Helm

Master Dumper Driver Rod Whitcombe

Volunteers Motto

"The Journey is the Destination"

Well done today everyone!

Saturday 28th January 2012

2012-01-29T03:04:00.000-08:00

I hate missing Saturdays at Broadway - it's a day full of the simple pleasures of being in company of like minded chums, doing our bit to bring Broadway Station to life, and generally putting the world to rights. This Saturday I was struck down with a bug and was unable to attend. Nevertheless I had loads of feedback on the progress made, and I thank everyone for their contribution and good wishes.

The generous contributions to our 1A Appeal have spurred us on for a final push to finish it off. The work this week has been focused on getting the lamp post sockets, ducting and cable routes sorted out. Here we see John C and Steve B concreting in the base of the plywood boxes that will form the "socket" for the lamp post bases.

More bricklaying was carried out on 1B, which seems to grow whenever my back is turned! Roger, now bitten by the corbelling bug, turned out today as well as his usual Wednesday. Together with Clive and Ken work continues and here is a particularly good "aerial" shot by Jo of the 1A vista.

The sight for sore eyes today was Dot the Drott back in action! Steve took the old girl down into the car park to start the levelling of the northern end. The plan is to get this end of the car park in a suitable state for the Volunteers to park their cars when building work starts on the Station proper.

I missed several visitors today. Sorry about that! Amongst them was Greg Wigg who brought us a super repro Broadway Totem.

I also missed my fellow blogger from Carriage and Wagon. Sorry about that Peter - hope to see you again soon.

Lastly the car park clearance has become a labour of love for a few and at the head of the crusade is Andy Protherough whose determined efforts over the Winter months has totally transformed it.

Andy sent me the following photo which nicely sums up the transformation. The other car park crusaders are Dave Bowie who whilst being chief fire starter and fire feeder keeps a close eye on our conservation strategy in this area. An honourable mention also for John Simms who has been ditching for us for the past couple of Saturdays. Thanks to everyone who came yesterday - I will be back on duty next week - wild horses won't keep me away!

Wednesday 25th January 2012

2012-01-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

A day continuing the brick laying on Platform 1B, and gathering all the bricks together from around the site locating them adjacent to 1B, ready for use. Here the two Peters take a rest on the dumper, waiting for Steve B the driver to return from his cuppa. I don't know what we would do without the dumper - its such a good work horse.

The Worcester College Lads pressed on with the 1B build - I would say it's 35% finished, which is quite remarkable- it is a 40m wall after all!
Of course the Worcester Students work along side our own team, who keep a watchful eye on things generally, and most importantly keep the mixer going!

Most professional brick layers have their favourite trowel - what comes a close second with Roger B is his mug of tea- always in arms reach!

A couple of nice videos again from Jo, one of the trials and tribulations of starting the dumper and a neat bit of reversing the dumper by new recruit Peter Young

Finally thank you to the GWSR Board Directors who visited us today - Bernard Dudfield, Neil Carr and Darren Fairley. It is always useful to chat about the issues of the day and of course the troops take great encouragement from the interest shown.

1A - We Move Things Along!

2012-01-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

A special team of volunteers turned out today in order to support the JCB with back filling 1A. This had to be done on a day when there were not too many bodies about to get in the way of the frequent trips the JCB had to make from the North end of the site, in order to skim the ballast of the track bed and dump it behind 1A. As part of this process we have incorporated "sockets" to install the lamp posts and ducting for the wiring.

Terry doing battle with the Roller

Levelling the ballast is extremely tiring work and I take my hat off the the lads who did it - they deserve medals. Here are a few of Jo's photos of the work in progress:-

Knackered - I should say so!
Peter and Steve

How big was that fish John?

And last but not least a couple of videos - Thanks Jo!

http://youtu.be/_S_47Oko1Vc

and

http://youtu.be/Z4IgnAi7Hdk

Thank You Broadway Parish Council!

2012-01-23T05:22:00.000-08:00

The Broadway Area Group have received a donation of £1000 towards the Platform 1A Appeal from Broadway Parish Council. This represents a great deal of money to us and will allow us to finish off 1A in its entirety. We will continue our Sponsor a 1A Coping Slab Appeal in order that supporters feel they have contributed to the fabric of Broadway Station.

Thank you Broadway Parish Council and thanks to all our supporters for their donations and words of encouragement.

Some Very Welcome Visitors.....

2012-01-22T01:32:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune to be able to chat to Audie Baker's Parents today, when they paid us a visit to see progress and browse around Margurite's Shed. Audie Baker wrote the book "An Illustrated History of the Stratford on Avon to Cheltenham Railway" which has been the source of much of my knowledge and inspiration for my work at Broadway.
Audie Baker passed away prematurely in 2009 at the age of 52(see tribute), but his love of the GWR is passed on through his book and remains for posterity. Maurice Baker, Audie's dad spoke lovingly about his son and his emotions brought a tear to my eye. It never seems right that a father out live a son - it is not the order of things. On an optimistic note, however Audie's unfinished "next book" is being finished off for a possible publication. Lets hope so.

Keep an eye on us Audie.........

Saturday 21st January 2012

2012-01-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

As you will have read in Wednesday's Blog (you have read Wednesdays Blog?!) we are beginning to run low on our stock of blue engineering bricks, and today saw half of the 15 Volunteers in attendance, collecting, cleaning and stacking as many blues as could be found on site. Here Peter and John manage to find clean and stack at least 250 blues from the debris along the site of Platform 2A (yes 2A!).

The ongoing cleaning up of the ex Wisley Sewage Works continues and extra hands required an additional brick cleaning bench. Chris Helm the master of invention, here 'knocks up' a new bench out of old pallets. David Helm is the man with the hat and the hammer.

Whist the brick recovery was going on Marcus Taylor (of Marcus Taylor Builders), who donated a day of his time was laying the bricks along 1B, almost as fast as they were being cleaned. Marcus was supported by a small team of volunteers who kept the cement mixer going and laid the red backing bricks.

Dave Bowie Chief Fire Starter

The hard graft continued in the car park, with several bonfires on the go. Andy P was feeling quite pleased with himself and his chainsaw, having virtually reached his target of clearing the the pathway as far as the Childswickham Road. It is really worth a visit to see the terrific job that has been done by all concerned.

John Simms digging himself deeper...

In the meantime Margurite's Shed is very much back in action and we had a steady stream of visitors. Please continue to support us - we can't do without you.

A Visitor's Request

2012-01-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

A visitor today asked for some panoramic views of the Platform - we try and please our supporters!

Wednesday 18th January 2012 - Dot teases us some more!

2012-01-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

Another record breaking turnout today with 25 Volunteers and Worcester Students hard at work.
Platform 1B continues to get the attention and is coming along nicely. It's worth remembering that this section of wall is designed to contain the movement of the embankment behind it and the sooner this is done the happier I shall be.

Roger in action

The infill of the reinforced foundation was completed and the brick laying teams set to with building the wall proper. This is another appeal for imperial blue engineering bricks - the rate at which our stock is being consumed is alarming - please keep your eyes peeled for potential sources!

The headline story of the day was that a new hydraulic pump was fitted to Dot and she was back in action. It was a sight for sore eyes (Dot in Action 1) and music to my ears(if I can mix my metaphors!) Dot is a vital work horse for us in moving ballast around and levelling ground. She has been sorely missed over the past 6 months. Here she is shifting the recovered brick samples behind platform 1A

In this YouTube clip Dot shifts some hardcore behind 1A(.Dot in Action 2). A great video clip - thanks to Jo again for his camera/phone work!
A sorry end to the tale is that Dot sprung an hydraulic oil leak after an hour and had to be returned base. Like all temperamental ladies, she lets you know when shes had enough!
Lastly Gord and Dave worked like Trojans feeding the bonfires down in the car park - it is really hard graft trying to keep the fires fed - once lit you don't want them to go out.

If you have not been Watching Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys you have missed a treat - takes a run on the Cotswold line and then down from Malvern to Cardiff, picking up on the Dean Forest Railway on the way. Really enjoyable stuff.( Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys)

Saturday 14th January 2012

2012-01-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Its difficult to imagine we are half way through January already. The weather continues to be kind to us with a glorious sunny, crisp day.

10 Volunteers split into two teams, one in the Car Park and one on site, salvaging bricks from the Vic Haines delivery on Wednesday.

The clearance work in the car park has been spectacular. This photo is from the south looking northwards. 3 bonfires were on the go. In the centre you see the pile of logs we we leave for local wood burning stove brigade to collect. They disappear each week so someone must value them!

The great progress made in the car park is largely down to Andy P and his chainsaw. He was in action on Saturday and he is setting such a good pace that the whole of the pathway will be cleared within the next month or two. Brilliant! Now all we have to do is to decide how we can sympathetically design the parking area to accommodate the maximum number of visitors.

On site the challenge was to separate out the good bricks donated by Vic Haines from the brick samples which were mounted on boards. The samples are to be used as infill behind Platform 1A. Here we see the diehards who worked all day at this task.

Robin here standing proudly beside his hard work for the day, probably a a ton of useful ballast for infill.

Steve and Clive nearing the end of a a very tough day of smash and grab. The bricks extracted from packaging were re stacked on pallets and equated to well over 1000 items. cheers Vic!

Lastly we had one of the regular visits in the afternoon from Bernard Dudfield the GWSR Estates Director. Bernard was a founder member of the Railway and, having been through it all before (several times!), is able to give us a steer here and there when we ask for advice. We welcome Bernard's visits. He is always encouraging, always good humoured, always has a story to tell and, above all, is a thoroughly decent chap.

Wednesday 11th January 2012

2012-01-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

Well we do manage to get the good weather and today was no exception. There were 25 troops on site today, including the Worcester College likely lads.

The main focus was the continuing build of the Platform 1B wall. Great progress was made. It is great to see the pride that the college students take in their work. If it were me I would be pretty fed up with laying these blocks by now, but no, they kept at it and by the end of the day, all the 1B block work was done. A fantastic job. Only a lack of ballast stopped them from completing the infill.

It was the first day when blue bricks could be laid on 1B, which was quite a milestone. Weather permitting, I think this section of wall will go up quite quickly now, with the possibility of seeing it finished by the end of April. We shall see!

Of course part of ensuring the weather is kind to us is morning prayers and here Steve Rod and Terry do the necessary.

At the other end of the site we were hopeful of getting some 1A coping slabs laid, but we were only
partially successful. The start of this work was hampered by some lorry congestion on site. A drop off of some free second hand bricks from Vic Haines Transport blocked the main thoroughfare. Although always grateful for donation of materials I will have to make a better job of the scheduling deliveries.

Nevertheless, 3 slabs did get laid including slab no 68 ,the last on the slope. Richard from Fairview was his usual ebullient self, steering the slabs with pinpoint accuracy.

The laying of the slabs has become a well planned team effort. Here Rod makes sure the gang on the ground are ready to receive the next slab. I am sure next time we will see a significant number laid.

Down in the planned car park area a remarkable transition has taken place. Its now possible too see clearly from the Evesham Road through to the Childswickham Road. Any P and a loyal team of fire starters has made this possible. Sitting Bull would be impressed with the neatness of that bonfire.

Finally none of this work is achieved without careful surveying and planning. Here Gordon, is action with theodolite checking on the ground levels northwards.

Thanks again to Jo for this weeks photos (and the extra one from Peter).

Steam Ringtones

2012-01-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

I have created a couple of unique ring tones for your mobile phones. In order to satisfy both LMS and GWR fans, one is of Princess Elizabeth heading across Greskine on Beattock and the other Earl of Mount Edgcumbe crossing Copy Pit. The sound tracks were supplied courtesy and permission of www.steamsounds.org.uk. Thanks David.
A £5 donation or more to our Platform 1A appeal will receive the two ring tones by email, which you can transfer to your phone by infrared, Blue Tooth or USB. Have a go! Also if you have recently donated and feel you've missed out on this offer, let me know and I will forward the files to you.

Saturday in the Winter Sunshine

2012-01-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

15 Volunteers on site today. What a glorious day it was with bright sunshine picking out the features of all building work completed in 2011. .
At the top of the list in terms of achievement was the return to normal of Marguerite shed, thanks to the efforts of Peter John B and Stuart W. It will be business as usual next Saturday - please come along!. Brilliant!

John C and Steve lovingly finished off the south end of Platform 1 and we will put some coping slabs on it next time Fairview are on site.

John Balderstone chats to John C on corbelling matters!
Always a welcome visitor John gives us a steer on all things structural

Work continued on Platform 1B. The Worcester College lads will be glad that the bulk of the hollow block work is done. They can start on the "proper" brick laying soon.

Here Mike and Ken check the levels - I hope that's not a worried look on Mikes face!

My roving photographer (Jo) did not reach the car park but 6 pyromaniacs kept the bonfires going, including Vic Smith on his monthly visit. A 180 mile round trip and he still comes back for more!

Brick cleaning continues - it never is finished. Robin was doing his bit - I don't know how he keeps going but his presence, with his wealth of knowledge and good humour, gives me a contented feeling of all is well with the volunteering world.

The brick cleaning regulars in the background - rarely mentioned but always working

A choice of photos to finish!

Here an end of day shot of Platform 1 with the sun on the horizon.

Nice one Jo

And lastly Clive now going in for the most muck on the overalls competition.

Wednesday 4th January 2012

2012-01-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

A great Team of 16 Volunteers turned out today. The number 1 priority was to repair the shed and get it back in a usable state. I had no expectation of the roof getting put back on today, but a remarkable effort saw a posse collect materials form Cotswold Building Supplies (they just about have everything in that shop!) and by fading light at 4 pm the job was just about completed. Marguerite will be so please!

Richard (Fairview) and Steve decide where the load is to go

Fairview Trading delivered some sand and cement to allow the building of 1B and the southern end of Platform 1 to continue.

Work on 1B continued today with the hollow blocks being filled with concrete

Blocks were also laid to the most northerly part of 1B. The 1B build going remarkably well and remarkably quickly. The Worcester College lads will be back next
week and they will be laying blue bricks before you know it.

(Don't worry those hollow bricks will get filled!)

At the southern end of Platform 1 Roger and Steve lay the final courses of corbelling. Its a mini project that they have really enjoyed doing - we just need some sponsors for the 6 slabs to go on the top!?!

Have you seen a Shed Travelling North Eastwards?

2012-01-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

The high winds today took the roof off Marguerite's Shed this morning. It was only Marguerite's determination and the help of Andrew Goodman, Steve Bucknall, Chris Helm and Rod Whitcombe that save a complete disaster. Thanks to them all and if you can assist in replacing any of the stock, please do.

Deliberations over the best method to repair the roof.

150,000 Visits to Steaming to Broadway

2011-12-30T05:07:00.000-08:00

Although not huge in Internet terms, it is quite rewarding for this milestone to be reached by the end of 2011.
As the regular followers will notice the format of the blog has changed slightly and I'm not sure I have improved it! As I was experimenting with some changes in evaluation mode, they suddenly became permanent! Anyway as any Web designer will tell you, the first priority with a website is content and the second priority is content and the third is... well you get my drift!.

In 2012 we, the Broadway Area Group, will press on with our good work and I will attempt to keep you updated as before, in my usual light-hearted way.

Happy New Year!

PS Andy Protherough has already had withdrawal symptoms and carried out some more work in the car park this week. He tells me some bonfires will be in order.

A Peaceful Christmas and Happy New Year to You All

2011-12-22T05:54:00.000-08:00

A Peaceful Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my Blog Followers, Broadway Area Group Volunteers, GWR Volunteers and Railway Enthusiasts everywhere. Everyone has been very supportive of our endeavours at Broadway and it is much appreciated. If I have missed responding properly to any comments on the Blog, please put it down to time pressures and I will try and do better next year!

As far as 2012 is concerned we are going to press on with our platform construction work, which will only be regulated by the funds that we can raise to support it. But our friends, supporters and followers have been generous this year and I am hopeful that the visible progress on site will encourage further investment in our Project.

Hope to see you next year!
Bill

Wednesday 21st December 2011 - The Shortest Day Hurrah!

2011-12-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

We planned to have a day off today, but a few urgent jobs brought a small posse in! The jobs were completed quickly and so the group dispersed by lunchtime. However a couple of die-hards worked on with Andy P in the car park. More good progress I think!

The "join" between 1 and 1B

Only one picture today - Clive is going for the most photographed Broadway Volunteer. This is not vanity - he just doesn't get out of the way quickly enough. The picture does emphasise the height of the platform wall.

Saturday 17th December 2011

2011-12-18T03:47:00.000-08:00

It's a terrible thing when the Strictly Come Dancing Final gets in the way of your blog report!

It was a very good turn out yesterday even though the cold weather put a block on any brick laying. The volunteers split into two groups - those who wanted to sweat it out by the car park bonfire, and those who wanted to continue construction, albeit with pick and shovel!

Here Ken and John set to with laying drainage pipes behind 1B. This lateral drainage peculates through to pipes that take water through the foundations across to a planned new centre drain.

Here the dumper unloads bricks ready to build the 1B wall proper. These are stacked in convenient piles along the length of 1B in order to keep the bricklayers going at a steady pace.

Here Clive's wishes the dumper could stack the bricks as well as drop them over the wall. All in all it was another great effort and will facilitate a fast start by the Worcester College lads in January.

Here are some very good shots from Jo who, as with all the photos today has a good eye for both candid shots and good perspective.

A photo that shows you everything that is good about volunteering

Four wheels off my wagon - Chris H barrows some items for refurbishment at home no metals are left on site

The extended Platform 1 nearing completion

Wrapping the pipe to keep the fines out.

A GWSR Young Volunteer eyes up the prospect for he and his colleagues in a few years Brilliant!

And the best picture of the day- Platform 1A from the south in the Winter sunshine
Never mind smell the coffee , smell the steam!

Wednesday 14th December 2011 - in Brief!

2011-12-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

Probably the final Wednesday working this year and the hardy regulars made the most of it. There was a concentrated effort at getting the 1B reinforced foundations finished and the combined efforts of the Worcester College Lads and the Construction Gang gave it their all. Work began on ballasting up the foundations in order to get a decent level surface to launch into the bricklaying proper.

We always have a string of interesting visitors on Site. Today my short visit coincided with a visit by Volunteer Mike T and a colleague who gifted us a superb Waterlow & Sons Edmundson Ticket Dater, which when re furbished can be use in the Broadway Station Ticket Office. The date in the machine of its last day of use is 24th May 1968 - I wonder what date we will have to set it to to start its new life????
If anyone has any info on these machines, please let us know - I think there is going to be a rush of interested volunteers to refurbish it as winter project - me included!

See one in use at on the Bluebell
http://www.ticketmachinewebsite.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=92347110

Jo R stepped into the breach with some great photos

Roger's labour of love on Platform 1

The Worcester College Lads getting it right!

Putting the World to rights

This is an excellent shot of virtually the whole of Platform 1.

It takes little imagination to visualise the station sitting nicely in the middle of it!

What shouldn't go unsaid is that my 3 chums in the picture are those who are on site fair wind of foul and are due several rounds of beers!

Steptoes junk yard? No 1000's hrs of hard work

Results from our new Fire Starter Jo R (and great photographer)

An Aside

2011-12-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

An appropriate card from my niece today! perhaps I should change my name to Broadway.

Car Park Clearance

2011-12-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

Andy P has sent me the following photos showing the before and after of the clearance along the ditch on the west side of the path.

Saturday 10th December 2011

2011-12-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well it was a different day for most us - On site in the morning and over at the Flag and Whistle to see the draw of the winning raffle tickets for Ian Gibson's wonderful water colour painting.

Great work was done in car park with Any P staying ahead of the bonfire gang with the chain saw. I will try and get some photos posted of all of the work that is going on in the car park area - its quite something.

Marguerite continues to work wonders at the Shed - here she sells an Australian Christmas tree to a suspicious customer (Fred Lea).

The water colour in all its glory with an old master
Photos by Jo

The Mayor talks to Ian Gibson and
his wife

Over at Toddinton the Raffle Draw took place withe Mayor(James Bulman) and Mayoress of Evesham taking time out to pick the tickets This raffle was well supported - thanks to everyone who entered - it takes us that bit further along the road.

It was a happy well attended gathering, with Ian Gibson and his wife were there to see the painting went to a good home! Here are the motley crew in unfamiliar circumstances - ie sitting down!

It's the Volunteers who make the Railway Great! (part1)

2011-12-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

This is just a series of snapshots taken over recent weeks. They have no relative priority or importance its just great characters who happen to get in front of my lense! I will get all the volunteers over the coming weeks so look out!

Bob

Chris

Vic

Robin (co Jo classic)

Clive

John

Draw for the Ian Gibson Water Colour Saturday 10th December 2011

2011-12-09T01:15:00.000-08:00

Please note that the draw will take place at 2pm at the Flag and Whistle at Toddington. It will be attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Evesham who will draw the winning ticket. Please attend if you have tickets or wish to buy a print of the original painting.
see you there!
Bill

Wednesday 7th December 2011 And a Cold Wind Blew(again)

2011-12-08T02:12:00.000-08:00

It was a great day yesterday in terms of work completed by the 20 volunteers and 5 students on site.
As a final piece of work for this year on Platform1A, Fairview Trading donated some HIAB time to set 9 coping slabs in place. It was not an enviable task as an icy wind was whipping over the Evesham Road Bridge and through the pines. here are a couple of the many photos taken:-

One of the early slabs being lowered
Photo Courtesy of Ken (in Yellow)

And Another
Photo Courtesy of new Member Jo Roesen.

And the end result
Photo Courtesy of Yours truly

The work continued on completing the end of Platfrom 1 and this section is just about at corbelling height. Here da do Ron Ron (jaunty hat award) inspects the hard work of of Roger and Steve.

Photo Courtesy of Jo

At the northern end od the site the Worcester College lads had there first experience of working in really cold conditions but I have to say they stuck at it and still had smiles on their faces at the end of the day.

Photo Courtesy of Jo

Last but by know means least was the task of keeping the home fires burning in the car park. Gordon and the rest of the Apaches kept the smoke messages going all day. Literally warm work, both from the point of view of heat from the fires but also the speed of work required to keep the wind fuelled bonfire going. Brilliant job and brilliant set of top quality photos from Jo Roesen!

Sitting Bull (aka Gord) in charge
Photo Courtesy of Jo

Platform 1A Sketch

2011-12-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of questions have been asked about how a uniform height will be reached on 1 A. This is a very rough sketch showing the profile looking South (top) and the profile looking North. The orange shows made up ground which will be a an acceptable method for containment, being 30-40 deg. The lower diagram shows the use of 1m gabions at the southern end. Hope this helps but I don't want to start a big debate here!

Saturday 3rd December 2011

2011-12-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

Another great day at the OK Corral with 12 Volunteers enjoying a fair amount of Winter sunshine.
Two main activities were on the go, which stem from having a mini digger hired for the day, donated by 2 Volunteers (Steve and Ron - cheers gents!) The main task was to excavate sufficient concrete blocks from a defuncted side drain at the North end of the site to complete the1B reinforced foundations. Sufficient being 350+ blocks! When these were stacked up the resultant ballast excavated out was transferred down to 1 A for infill and by the end the day another 20m of 9" deep infill was rolled in. A top job in anyone's book! John and Bob finished off another layer of corbelling on the ramp. It's always interesting to watch the masters at work.

A welcome guest Volunteer today from
Winchcombe - thanks Pete

Keith and Vic persevered with cleaning out the ditch in the main car park and pretty much worked themselves to a standstill by mid afternoon. Marguerite and Doreen continues to work wonders selling merchandise and memorabilia in the Shed. There are still a few tickets left for the Ian Gibson Water Colour Painting of the Coffee Pot pulling out of Broadway. Please help us if you can. The Mayor of Evesham will be on site at 2pm on Saturday 10th December to draw the winning tickets and we will be pleased to see the ticket holders on site.

It never ceases to amaze me that we get a regular stream of supporters from far and wide. Among our visitors today was a very keen Blog watcher (Andrew) from Wakefield in Yorkshire. It is always good to receive some praise for the lads efforts and we welcome visitors anytime to take a close look at work in progress.

A couple more video clips:-

Ron in his element!

Clive being taken for a quickstep by the roller!

Wednesday 30th November 2011

2011-11-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a picture paints a thousand words Post!
The work carried out yesterday on the infill for 1A was remarkable - there must have been close 100 tons of ballast gone in. Here Rod lovingly rolls in the the last bucket fulls(JCB bucket!). The end result would do justice to the M5.
The rest of the top corbelling was finished off and here the A team finish tidying up the residue of scaffold boards and blocks.

I would declare 1A wall finished, but there still remains the corbelling on the south ramp to be completed. John C here carefully puts the first row in. It will take two more sessions to do the job properly and then we can start the coping slabs.
Chris Helm has been cleaning up some of the Honeybourne slabs for the past week and there are probably 30 ready to go. As I said we will try and get these on by Christmas. Worth a few mince pies me thinks!

The work on the infill unearthed some of the old wall and this was chiseled apart brick by brick for use on 1B.

Tony, one of our many new starters(to Broadway) drew the short straw today and got landed with cement mixer duty. He didn't seem to mind and kept everyone loaded with mortar. Cheers Tony!

At the North end of the site the Worcester College Students(4 + Supervisor) set to on the block laying. Oh for the supple limbs and enthusiasm they showed. Here they are getting down to the job in hand, under Clive's watchful eye.

And lets not forget the brick cleaning gang - swelled to 4 in number on Wednesdays now. None of this would be possible without them!
Lastly Andy P was down in the car park with chainsaw and strimmer. There'll be bonfires on Saturday!

There are a couple video clips here to finish off today's report:

Tuesday 29th November 2011 -The Rain Rained and the Wind Blew!

2011-11-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

And still the A team, with the help of Stevie Warren and the JCB manage to put in another 9" of infill on the full length(that's 60m!) of 1A, and roll it in. Manual work had to stop at 1:30 because of the weather but Steve carried on and put sufficient ballast along the length of 1A for another 9" layer. Thanks chaps - it's another step along the way. Pictures tomorrow!

An Aside - Hitchin a Ride

2011-11-27T03:13:00.000-08:00

I'm always grateful for new followers signing up and not least when they have an interesting name like
The Hitchin Grade Separation! I'm not sure what its about other than:-
The Hitchin Grade Separation is a scheme proposed by Network Rail to eliminate conflicting movements at Hitchin on the East Coast Main Line, where the branch line to Cambridge divides, thus removing a major timetabling constraint and enabling increased numbers of long distance high speed and freight services.
And there is a blog
http://hitchingradeseparation.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your interest in our project
Bill

Saturday 26th November 2011 and a Cold Wind Blew!

2011-11-27T01:55:00.000-08:00

A keen wind blew up between the pines today and it was matter of keeping moving to keep warm! That's just what our 16 volunteers did - a great turn out for a Saturday.

There was a determined effort to finish 1A. It require a short section of the corbelling to be done and the ramp edges to be finished. The team working it were just beaten by the fading light - there is about 10 bricks to go! It will get finished on Wednesday. By then the infill will have been completed also The JCB is coming on Tuesday to move the contaminated ballast from the north end and deposit it into the void behind the wall. No small task - it will be interesting to see how far we can get!

The ramp at the Southern end is virtually complete - just the corbelling required. This is a great shot taken by Peter who kindly supplied all the other photos on this post.

On other fronts John B and Stuart did some pretty fancy carpentry work to box in an exposed water supply. It would have done justice to Moben Kitchens! It was a grand job and the pipe and tap can now be lagged to protect it from the winter weather. John B and Stuart aiming for perfection (below)

On other fronts the car park slashing an burning continued , but it was too windy for a bonfire which would have been very welcome on such cold day. The brick cleaning gang were joined my new member Mike today. Chris H set about chipping the excess mortar of 20 of the Honeybourne slabs in anticipation of laying them soon. We will try and get some laid before the end of the year, just to meet our target.

And finally the site paparazzi caught me inflagrante with the Christmas tree, putting the lights on. Marguerite is running " light a light for a loved one" which will be recorded on site. The charge is £5. Please come along and see Marguerite if you would like to do this.

Wednesday 23rd November 2011 Take 2

2011-11-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

I have started this post again - it went a bit off course - things should be "back on track" now!
Wednesday was such a good day for me, not because of a particular monumental happening, but because I saw it as a manifestation of things to come at Broadway. It was triggered by two things, a large turn out of volunteers, which included several new starters, and the first days work by the Worcester College lads. I hope they don't mind me calling them that but they all look so young!

I have always been a great supporter of helping young people get a good start in life in whatever small way I can. The youth of today always seem to hit the headlines for the wrong reason, and yet for the great majority they just want the opportunity to apply themselves in whatever way they feel is right for them. On Wednesday there were 4 students spinning their trowels and just dying to show us old timers what they could do - and frankly they did. With a gentle steer from their tutor and guidance from Ron and John Crawford (a new Volunteer) they set to on the block work for 1 B. It was great to see.

First Foundation Blocks laid on 1B

Therein lays my euphoria for the day. The various activities being carried out by the 24 people on site seemed to be energised by having the students there - if we could have tapped the efforts as electrical energy, we could have lit up the whole of Broadway.

In terms of jobs being carried out by the rest, they seem mundane but oh so important to the grand plan. Dumper loads of reds were brought up from the stash of Honeybourne bricks in the car park. When I looked at the heap of bricks when it was originally delivered it look fairly modest from a numbers point of view, but in fact we must have already got 5000 out of the pile and there is still more to come. Chris Helm, always a glutton for punishment, started to extract(with a pick!) the remaining surface bricks off platform 2 - I say glutton for punishment because he and David then have to clean them! Work continued also with clearance down in the car park - we badly need dear old Dot going to do some serious levelling. The DOT Doctor says she need anew hydraulic pump and because of her age, they are difficult to come by.

I had to leave early on Wednesday and I haven't yet received Peter end of day report - like myself he has been subject to some pressures at home and I know he will pass photos and information on as soon as he can.

As far as re stocking with bricks is concerned there is the possibility that we may be able to recover the old Railway Stable building by Ashchurch Station. If anyone has any old photos of it in its "hay" day please send them in.

Sorry if this is a bit of a hotchpotch of a post - the family attended the funeral of a grand old lady yesterday, who spent her life looking after the need of others and we shall miss her. RIP MR

Enthusiasts of the Future - The Likely Lads

2011-11-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Worcester College are collaborating with the Broadway Area Group in an initiative for Students on their Bricklaying and Construction Courses to gain some practical, on the job training, working alongside our Volunteers. This gives the students invaluable experience, and provides us with a modest additional resource.
Here Chris Stockman is giving the students some Health and Safety advice. Groups of 4 students, plus their supervisor start on Wednesday. Good luck with those 9" blocks lads!. More of this in subsequent Posts.

Saturday 19th November 2011

2011-11-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

A great Saturday turn out today with 14 volunteers on duty. Thanks everyone! I thoroughly enjoyed my day. We had a surprise visit from Andy Cavell, who was instrumental in setting up the Broadway Area Group 3 years ago. Andy recruited myself, and others of our existing membership and without him, and subsequently Jim Graham, we would not have progressed as we have. Andy is considering joining the Friends of Broadway and I hope he does - he is a great Broadway enthusiast and we need all the help we can get!

Our pursuit of having the best set of GWR lamp huts continues. The labour of love(and good deal of engineering skill) is going into the completion Lamp Hut No 2. Ken seem to bring a mobile workshop on to site and today saw the door fixed and mounted. The effort required just to physically move the materials around with steel sections fixed in place is worthy of the Weatabix award. By the end of the day the job was done and No. 2 is ready painting.

Farther down the track bed Greg Wigg was getting separation pains from lamp hut No.3 and brought some float glass along to fix a window. Another labour of love. Greg is getting us some history on this lamp hut which appears in books and on film. We have a star in our midst!

What a beauty - Job Done

Work continues on 1A and Peter's prediction that 2 more sessions will see it finished looks about right - we will see what next week brings. I can tell you that next week will bring 7 students from Worcester college, who are second year students on a bricklaying course. I am probably under describing this course and I will do another report in detail during next week.

All systems were go down in the northern end of the car park where further work was being carried out on clearing this area. New fencing was erected and (all but a couple rails) the fencing job was finished.

Dave, Peter and Stewart in action

John and Ron - Andy was hidden in the ditch!

Any P was back with his chain saw and good progress was made and of course the the bonfire was burning brightly. There is nothing like a bonfire on an Autumn day.

Ron leaning on a shovel - gaffers prerogative

Finally the brick cleaning work continues. Our progress has been so great on 1A that we are running short of red bricks. Please keep an ear to the ground for possible local sources. I'm afraid the transport costs are prohibitive if they are farther afield.

An Aside

2011-11-16T21:53:00.000-08:00

A wonderful Picture courtesy of Peter Zabek in this months Steam Railway Magazine of a group of ex enginemen at South Holt Station on the North Norfolk Railway.

Apart from being a fine picture I couldn't help wondering if this might be the Broadway Gang in a year or two, with the Broadway pines in the background and Earl of Mount Edgcumbe sizzling nicely, waiting to take us south! I think it just might........

The Friends of the Cotswolds

2011-11-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

The Friends of the Cotswold Website http://www.friendsofthecotswolds.org/node/91 have an article on on our work at Broadway. Its interesting to see how far we have come since the original picture of 1A was taken! The FOTC Society have been great supporters of our cause, making a very generous donation recently. I encourage local solidarity in this way, and urge you give them your support also.

Wednesday 16th November 2011 A Lamp Hut Obsession!

2011-11-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

I have been away from Volunteering duty this week, but progress on site has been none the worse for that!. My obsession with lamp huts knows no bounds as a third one was delivered today, thanks to Fairview once again. It came from Long Marston and will be used in a temporary capacity as a storage unit until we get time to refurbish it. I must thank Greg Wigg from the GWR Restoration and Archiving Trust http://www.gwrarchive.org/site/history.php %20who who facilitated this acquisition. Greg is a wealth of knowledge on all matters GWR and is great help to us.

At last the Honeybourne coping slabs have been delivered on site. The lads were thinking I had imagined them! Amey brought 2 loads (overloads??) and they have been stacked adjacent to 1A where they will be deployed shortly. Quite a significant feat I think - Honeybourne blues and reds in the wall and the slabs on top. That's what you call recycling, heritage style.

Platform 1A is nearing completion and what a fine sight it is. just a few more courses of corbelling to go. It really has been a remarkable achievement by the construction lads. One of our new construction recruits is Ken, who seems to multi task on so many things. He was the photographer's apprentice today and could not resist a picture of Lamp hut No 2 which he and John S have been working on. It is almost finished and will get pride of place somewhere on site. we just haven't decided where?

Bernard D managed to get our roller repaired and back in action. It was used to pack ballast into the ruts the slab lorries left. Nice one Terry and Rod.

Our roving reporter Peter has not filed his report to the Editors Desk but I'm sure more will follow on today's efforts.

Here it is!

We had a good turn out Broadway today 12 Volunteers I think. the Honeybourne
slabs arrived in 2 lots - we have plenty of slabs on site now! (photo
attached)

Rod and Terry continued their stirling work - this time getting the roller going and tidying up the entrance with ballast infill and using the roller to make a smooth finish (photo attached) In the afternoon they collected more bricks from the Childswickham road site - a great help as we are getting short of reds.

The construction team continued with more corbelling - I think 2 more sessions should see it finished. (Steve & I had to take time out to go to Long Marston I left at 4 o'clock but 4 or 5 members of the construction team were still going strong! Ken made a start with the ramp by the bridge.

What A beauty
(should have gone to Specsavers?)

Steve & I went to Long Marston and met Richard & Greg, the lamp hut was duly collected ok - it looks really in good condition, Greg will replace a window on
Saturday.

Saturday 12th November 2011

2011-11-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

It was a balmy sunny day at Broadway today and what a good turnout - 14 volunteers doing what volunteers do best, putting heart and soul into the job whilst good humour abounds.

As a result of today's efforts, Platform 1A brickwork is approaching completion, with approximately 25 ft of corbelling left. We will then set-to with the Honeybourne slabs. If anyone would like to sponsor a slab, please use the documents link on www.broadwaystation.co.uk website or come and visit us on site. Your support will be much appreciated, and a big thank you to those who have already sponsored a slab. The £20 sponsorship will go directly towards the 1A appeal, which will in turn pay for HIAB crane support for laying the slabs and gabion baskets for the rear wall.

The Lamp Huts refurbishment is making good progress (really good progress!). New starter Phil Sharman completed the paint removal from Hut No. 1 and is now ready for its undercoat. Ken and John continued with the fabrication of new corrugated walls for Hut No. 2. It really is a brilliant job! Here the manufacturer's tag has been rescued and refurbished by Ken. We will have a ceremonial mounting of the tag when the hut is finished.

Down in the car park the smoke was rising again from the bonfire. We badly need Dot back in action to level the ground. Lets hope that Bernard gets its sorted soon (hint hint)

At the northern end of the site the familiar the clink of the chisels were back, Robin once more in harness playing the lead and Andrew T playing the chisel harmonies.

Lastly for this week, Marguerite's was buzzing. Fred Lea brought our stock of wonderful Broadway based Christmas cards along for sale. Please come early to avoid disappointment as they say!

Wednesday 9th November 2011

2011-11-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Followers! I was not able to be on site today and Gordon has kindly posted this report:-

There were, I think thirteen bods on site, with Rod and Terry doing block moving duties with the dumper truck, myself and Peter H doing the final setting out checks with the offsets on platform 1B, I am now confident that the position of the rebars and blocks are ok, and the proposed platform setting out marks look true with the human eye. More cutting and burning took place at the proposed car park area, we really need the drot to do a muck shift, and level the area. More brick laying was undertaken on platform 1A, which seems to be coming along in leaps and bounds. Overall not a bad days work, as always.

I am hopeful of having some pictures also and will post these as soon as I get them. And here they are - Thanks Peter:-

A Trojan effort Rod and Terry!

A Load of Corbelling!

Attention to Detail

The Apaches answered back!

The Christmas cards with Fred Leas watercolour of the Cornishman at Broadway are now available. They are superb! Packs of 5 cost £3.50 and are widely available around the Railway, including Marguerite's at the Broadway Site. If you want to contact me I will arrange for packs of cards to be posted worldwide, having pre agreed the postage costs. Use the Contact Link on www.BroadwayStation.co.uk

Broadway Station Water Colour by Ian Gibson

2011-11-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

We have been most fortunate in being offered a water colour painting, especially painted for the Broadway Area Group by local artist Ian Gibson. It is a framed 29" x 24" study of the famous "Coffee Pot" Service waiting at Platform 1 at Broadway Station. It's a real beauty!

If you would like to own this painting, it is to be raffled off on the 10th December 2011. Raffle tickets can be obtained 4 ways:-

From any Broadway Area Group Volunteer

From the Information Kiosk at Broadway on Wednesdays and Saturdays

By Post - a form can be printed from the BroadwayStation Website at http://www.broadwaystation.co.uk/broadwaydocuments.htm

By donating £10.50(10 tickets) via Paypal on the blog Donate Button. Tickets will be sent to your Paypal Account Address.

Please chance you luck with this unique opportunity to own a beautiful water colour painting. It is worth at least £600 on the open market. The 2 runners up will receive a signed A3 and signed A4 print respectively.

Saturday 5th November 2011

2011-11-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Some days I come away from Broadway feeling totally elated and today was one of those days. For those who are contemplating joining us I would encourage you to sign up and join our happy band - you will not be disappointed. Today the whole site was buzzing - 12 volunteers working flat out - but all as happy as Larry.

We had yet another days bricklaying donated by Marcus Taylor and together with Bob White, our master bricklayer, and a first class support team, last of the vertical courses of 1A were finished. In addition 5 metres of corbelling were also completed.

The North end of 1A completed up to the corbelling

Marcus and Bob giving a master class in corbelling:

Work continues on the restoration of the Lamp Huts. John and Ken spent the day re cladding Lamp Hut No. 2 with corrugated sheet.

Angle Grinder (and Ken) in Action

Nearly half way - brilliant!

And just in case you think the lamp hut action is nearly over, there is another "6'x6' beauty" coming from Long Marston next week !

As we worked on site today a steady plume of smoke rose from the car park were a team (Dave, Vic and Stuart) were working to clear back the undergrowth covering the culvert by the Evesham Road Bridge. It's the first serious bonfire we have had this season and quite appropriate for November 5th.

Smoke Signals from the Car Park

What you can't see in the photo is Keith Gurr down in the ditch beyond the trees. Keith has been mounting a one man campaign to clear the ditch from the Evesham Road to Childswickham Road. This is masochism on a grand scale! This applies also to Chris and David who work relentlessly on brick cleaning.

Peter cleaning the tools!

A mention also for one of my 2009er colleagues, Peter Hickox, who cheers me up with his gentle manner and his ability to turn his hand to the most arduous or mundane job and still come back for more!

Thanks to Marguerite who now has an Aladdin's Cave of interesting Bric a Brac and it's well worth a visit. We still have some raffle tickets available for the Ian Gibson Water Colour. Please help our cause by purchasing at ticket.

One of those Milestone Weeks and Highly Successful!

2011-11-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

The Broadway Area Group decided to use their "rainy day" fund to build Platform 1B, in order to finally solve the slipping embankment problem, adjacent to the B&B. This consists of building 42 metres of platform wall on a reinforced foundation. This week (Monday/Tuesday) we put the foundation in.

Here we see the very first bucket being pulled! The work proceeded well until we reached the side drains, which took some pulling out by conventional means.

On Monday we see the the drain extraction in progress:-

On Tuesday the concrete was poured and the rebars inserted.

The Pour

The Tamping

Smooth and level

Job done!

Today Gord rechecked the position of the planned wall and the position of the rebars. It got a thumbs up! The 12 members of the Wednesday Gang continued with the building of Platform 1A - its coming on a treat.

The end in sight! (Steve, Ken and Clive)

4 metres going on to the end of Platform 1

Roger and Bob bricklaying and Paul who got the medal of the day for keeping both teams going with muck!

Finally we recycled the concrete extracted from the old 1A foundations. Here Steve loads the wagon with the old granite concrete and as if by magic we have 40 tons of 75mm chippings.

These ended up not being a suitable quality for the gabions but will do nicely for the infill of Platform 1A.

Here is young Steve Warren at the end of three very successful days.

Saturday 29th October 2011

2011-10-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I was unable to attend on Saturday but 9 volunteers came to do their stuff and I have had feedback from Dave B and John B as to the achievements of the day.

Photo courtesy of Andy P

The construction team pressed on with Platform 1A with Ron Briz leading the charge! As I said previously, it is very likely that the front wall of 1A will be finished by the end of November or thereabouts.

More bricks were recovered from the west embankment and we certainly have enough to finish 1A. However don't ever think that we have all we need - there is 1B and Platform 2 to consider!

More clearance work was completed in the car park. This is one of those jobs that you can spend a day at and not really see where you've been. Nevertheless by the end of the Winter it will be a different story.

More to follow!

Friends of the Cotswolds

2011-10-29T02:52:00.000-07:00

The Broadway Area Group has an unexpected and very generous donation of £1000 from the Friends of the Cotswolds for bricks and materials. As a charitable trust the Friends of the Cotswolds made the donation to the GWR Trust who will arrange for the funds to be made available to the Broadway Area Group through the GWSR Plc.

Friends of the Cotswolds is a charity, formed in 2006 to support the conservation and enhancement of the environment and landscape of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They also seek to raise awareness of its distinctive qualities which make it such a special place to live, work and visit. Bravo!

I would like to thank David Courtney of the FOC for the time taken to facilitate this donation. It is a great deal of money to the BAG and will allow us to continue with our endeavours.

The FOC have an excellent Website at http://www.friendsofthecotswolds.org/

Member No 60 Where are you?

2011-10-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 26th October 2011 A Herculean Effort!

2011-10-27T02:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in making the post - but it's worth it! As a regular follower you will have picked up on the fact that there has been a concern about the stability of the embankment adjacent to, what we are calling, Platform 1B. We considered the various options to solving the problem and have identified a good solution, which requires reinforced footing along the length of the problem area - 40+ metres. We are starting this job next Monday. In preparation for the trench digging Gord. and Peter pegged out the line of the trench. Unfortunately it follows the path of the redundant side drain and in order to preserve the concrete blocks within the drain, an in flight decision was made to dig out the blocks by hand! It is this task I am describing as a Herculean effort. Lifting and shifting these blocks is one monumental task - they are so heavy and awkward, particularly coming out of sodden ground.

Here Chris, David and Andy are removing the blocks to be subsequently moved by Rod and Terry and stacked farther down the track. These will then be used as part of the reinforced footing/wall. I know I have said it before and I will say it again - I take my hat off to them - It is not a task I would have asked them to do - I would have let the blocks take their chance with the JCB, but they decided to do it by hand, to preserve the blocks - brilliant!

They were under threat from Gord. if they disturbed the trench markers and here we see at the end of the day the line to be taken by the JCB next Monday - the jobs half done Steve W!
At the other end of the site work continued on building the Platform 1A Wall. A superb 3 courses of bricks were laid by the Construction Gang. If the weather remains kind to us over the next month the 1A Wall will be finished. It only remains for us to find the funds to build the rear gabion wall and then complete the infill and we will have a proper platform to finish off. What a milestone that will be! Here are the gang finishing off the end of the three courses, all level and true as the laser level in the background will confirm! They even found time at the end of the day to start work on the southern extension to the the main Platform 1.

Finally the Lamp Huts Got a coat of bitumen black on the roofs which takes them another step nearer to completion.Cheers Ken!

Thanks to Peter for the end of day photos.

The French Connection

2011-10-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Our colleague in Normandy, Jean Gohel, kindly sent me the Marc Isambart Brunel residence postcard shown in a previous blog report. He also sent a couple of other post cards, one of which was of an interesting railcar that operates on his railway. It looks full of character, much as the GWR Railcar (which I am hoping we get as a guest on the Broadway/Cheltenham run!).

Jean Gohel is a member of the Chemin De Fer de la Vallee de L'Eure, which departs from Pacy-sur- Eure. http://www.cfve.org/

You may feel this is an odd thing to include in the blog but I think it's an excellent example of the love of our railway heritage knowing no boundaries and it is quite remarkable that Jean should go to the trouble of making contact, doing his best with his English to explain a little of his background and posting this information to me at his own expense. Merci beaucoup mon ami!

Saturday 22nd October 2011 - What a Sunny Day!

2011-10-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

The weather today was brilliant in all respects - bright and cheerful which set the mood for the great turn out of Volunteers.

We decided to have a projects day today and the cement mixers were quiet and not a ping of a trowel was heard! Groups of two's and three's set to on tasks that we have been meaning to to start and/or finish but the construction work has been using most of the resources. Here the finished job of painting the fence - Started by Dave Brooks on Wednesday and finished by Dave Bowie today - it looks great.

Work started on re cladding Lamp Hut No. 2 but was halted by shortages in the "Stores" of some roofing bolts and disc cutter disc. Black mark to the procurement man (me) - just in time turned out to be just too late! Efforts (Johns Simms) turned to burning off the old paint from Lamp Hut No. 1 and this is virtually complete. We have the undercoat for it so this should get done well before any severe weather turns up.

The brick mining team continued to find blue bricks and Clive endeavoured to keep up with cleaning them - a nice try! At the other end of the site the air was filled with buzzing machinery as cleaning work proceed on a variety of materials.

Lastly, meeting the challenge laid down to turn up in the most interesting classic car, a beautifully restore Austin Atlantic (A90) paid us a visit - the car of the month I feel unless you can top it!

And finally, finally thanks to all of the visitors today, those who shopped at Marguerite's, those who brought more items for us to sell, and for those who came for a chat. Please keep coming on all accounts and keep us Steaming to Broadway!

Wednesday 19th October 2011

2011-10-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

An icy wind was blowing down between the Pines today and it was the first taste of what Winter will bring! It was not a day for standing around and a team of 15 kept on the move all day.

The work continued on the corbelling (sounds like something Morris Men would enjoy). Here is work in progress as at lunchtime with Clive (in the background) trying to keep pace with Ron Briz.
On the other side of the trackbed a brick retrieval exercise is going on from the the rear of the embankment. We continue to find a large number of blues in this particular section, which seems to be made up largely of the old Platform 2, bulldozed into the trees. There's a great deal of satisfaction in seeing an ex Platform 2 brick, reclaimed in the morning, ending up up in the 1A wall in the afternoon!

Brick Mining

On other fronts Gordon mounted a one man campaign to find the culvert that comes into the car park by the Evesham Road Bridge. We are continuing the task of clearing this area as best we can. We could really do with Dot back in action. Although the engine is working fine, a hydraulic leak is preventing us getting her moving. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

Chris and David continued with their relentless brick cleaning. They have halved the pile of ex Wisley Sewage Works bricks. The mortar on these bricks really takes some shifting and I don't know how they keep at it with such enthusiasm.

Dave Brooks spent the day putting the finishing touches to the railed fence by the B&B. The end result is splendid!

And finally, if the Devil cast his net now!
Henry Howard(Trust Chaiman) paid us a visit to look around the site. He was meeting up with Alan Bielby (pic) on their way to discussions with Wychavon Planners. Shin pads were at the ready.

Some great end of day shots from Peter H.

"We achieved good steady progress yesterday afternoon.
The original brick stack by 1A was cleared and the bricks stacked up ready for completion of this section of the platform ( picture 1). Andy, Dave and Terry retrieved and cleaned more bricks from Andy's mine and these too were moved to the wall. Even more were retrieved and are awaiting cleaning (picture 3).
The small extension to 1 is now complete and ready for brickwork.
We had a call from Ron saying a frost was forecast so on went the shroud and it covered up the corbelling progress! (picture 2)"

Chemin der Fer!

2011-10-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

A very interesting email and post card from a French supporter: - There are some wonderful Allo Allo 'ism in it, but the Colonels English is still much better than my French!

Dear Sir .I am very pleased to send to you a scan of an old postcard dating from the begining of the last century which represents the home where is born Marc Isembard BRUNEL In Normandie. You can read in french the following inscription i try to translate: Hacqueville (Eure) House where is born Brunel Marc Isembart, a french (its only a partially truth but as we say nul n'est prophete en son pays) ingeneer who was the first to built a tunnel under the Tames. Us Normand People does'nt forget that Isembard Kingdom was a pupil of the Lycée Malherbe in Caen where he attended a curse to prepare the examination for L'Ecole Polytechnique. Just a coincidence but the "Beau Brunel" died in Caen. if you enjoyed this card i shall be pleased to send you the genuine one.Sorry for my poor english.May be , it can be usefull for your archives or to sell. Best regards .Colonel(r) Jean Gohel.fouder and past secretary and presently a proud member of "Le Chemin de Fer de la Vallée de L'Eure.
Ps:what a fantastic job you are doing in rebuilding Broadway station §

Saturday 15th October 2011

2011-10-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Autumn day! We had a good turn out of 10 Volunteers today and the sun put a smile on everyones' faces, Volunteers and visitors alike. Thanks to all the visitors - Marguerite seemed to be doing a brisk trade.

The main concentration was on the 1A Platform with 4 lads bricklaying, including Marcus from Marcus Taylor & Son who donated another day of his time. Here is the action:-

Perpetual Motion today on Platform 1A

Another great job was done - the team laid at least 1200 bricks and another major section of the wall was finished, up to corbelling height. Once again none of this could have happened without loads of support. I'm not sure how Peter kept 2 mixers going all day - but he did!

The bricklayers ran out of red bricks during the morning and here Peter and Dave blaze a trail down from the North end where Robin was back in action cleaning some more reds.

The Wacky Racers

On other fronts, it was great to have Stuart Warnants and Chris Horn back, who continued with car park clearance, a task thats going to continue throughout the winter months.

Back to normal pics next time - just had to keep on the move today!

Another Milestone!

2011-10-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

It just flicked over 11000 - Cheers everyone!

Wednesday 12th October 2011

2011-10-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

1 meets 1A

An action packed day with 15 volunteers present and correct. I have to say Platform 1A seems to be going up before my eyes. Three teams were in action on it today - One on the north end, one on the south and a great support team shifting materials around.

Yes that's the corbelling going on!

Support Team in Action

Gordon and Andy with Bonfire
in Car Park - Quite Constablesque this pic!

Whilst this was going on Gordon Wood and Andy Smith (a welcome visitor from the P.Way Gang) started work on clearing the northern end of the planned car park. This is a daunting task by anyones standards as there is so much vegetation, rubble and general c**p it will take many 100's of man hours to get it anywhere near sorted, before proper levelling, drainage and top surface can be considered.

At the other end of the site we should not forget the brick cleaning gang. None of the brick laying would happen without their efforts.

Last but not least, Steve B took a trip with Richard and the Fairview Lorry to retrieve a platform trolley given to the Broadway Group by Bryan Merrett and his colleagues for us to use at Broadway. It looks as though it will need a major refurb. but when finished we hope to find it a temporary resting place in the Good Shed at Broadway. Steve also retrieved 7 lamp post from Winchcombe, some of which we will installed on 1A before too long. Watch this space as they say!

Talking of old artifacts, here is the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire boundary marker we retrieved. Its up for a make over shortly.

My Foreign Correspondent (Peter H) has filed his report! and here are couple of good shots:-
This picture already has a whiff of steam about it - with the Evesham Road Bridge abutment in the background it takes little imagination to visualise Earl of Mount Edgcumbe shimmering here with a south bound 8 coach, chocolate and cream rake bound for Cheltenham.

Full Corbelling in place at southern end of 1A

And finally that bloke from Fairview is at it again! Here unloading 7 lampposts pinched from Winchcombe. Thanks Richard and a big thank you to Fairview Trading who help us out at every turn and are so supportive to the Project!

A 4F leaving Broadway Station Platform 1

2011-10-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Whats Occurin'? No never fear it is only an excellent Bassett Lowkes loco, coaches and track that have been donated by a supporter Steve Q. What well engineered models they are. The donation included many Hornby O gauge items also which we are currently cataloguing for sale. If anyone is interested in buying these items - let me know.

GWSR Carriage & Wagon Blog it!

2011-10-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

C & W have started up their own Blog which is absolutely great! Please give them the same avid following and support. On the days when everything seems an up hill struggle, it's uplifting to know there are so many people out there willing you to succeed.

http://cwatgwsr.blogspot.com/

Saturday 8th October 2011 The Elite Squad!

2011-10-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

It was one of those few weeks when volunteers in attendance was well down - 5 stalwarts holding the fort today. However Marcus Taylor donated another day of his bricklaying skills and with Steve and Ron acting as labourers in the morning and Dave and I as apprentice labourers in the afternoon, another good section of Platform 1A was built. Cheers Marcus - we will try and do better next time!

In the morning Dave and myself did a bit of planning on the proposed car park area, with an emphasis on mature tree preservation, landscaping and drainage. Consultations with Wychavon Council Planners are under way and we needed to get our thoughts in order to ensure a mutually acceptable outcome. Bernard Dudfield, the GWSR Estates Director came along in the afternoon to gives us his advice and guidance, and I have to say that our thoughts are all pretty much in accord.

Marguerite was hor de combat this week but John and Marguerite's chum did a brisk trade and we even managed bacon butties. We have stolen a march on the Wednesday Gang here, so lets hope some of them will do some Saturday moonlighting!

We had many visitors today and they are always welcome - we can never have too many, so please come and see us! Top of my list today was Greg Wigg from the the GWR Archive Trust who manages to sniff out all sorts of GWR treasures and steers them our way. On his list for transfer is another lamp hut from Wolverhampton, some curved spear fencing and Toddington type square guttering and drain pipe. I know there will be a groan from the lads that I can't curb my Steptoe instincts, but I am unashamed!

That's it! - where are the photos you ask? - well even my camera had a fit of the sulks yesterday - it was just one of those days!

The Broadway Traders Association Comes up Trumps!

2011-10-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well what a great surprise today - the Broadway Traders Association, who are members of the Friends of Broadway Station, have donated £1000 to the Broadway Area Group to help with the building of Platform 1A. This represents a great deal of money to us and ensures that we can continue with our endeavours to deliver a first class Heritage Railway to serve the Broadway Community.
Thank you for your support!
Bill Britton
Broadway Area group Chairman

RIP Steve Jobs - The Master

2011-10-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 5th October 2011

2011-10-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

A sea of hi vis today - 18 I think! Once more Platform 1A got most of the attention. Steve W and the JCB began the long haul of infilling behind the wall. This is both necessary, and vital for brick layers behind the wall to achieve a comfortable working height. The objective was met by taking ballast from the 1B foundation line which has to be scraped down to soil level for a clean foundation trench to be pulled.

This was a bit of a slalom job for Steve, avoiding people and bricks along the way. I could hear him tutting above the radio in his cab!

Nevertheless the job got done and it was a fine effort from all the volunteers who shovelled ballast all day to level it out. The infilled strip was wide enough for Steve B to drive Dot along it! That happened after I left so I was unable to get an action shot. Sorry!

From the North

From the South

It looks as though you could land a747 on it!

On other fronts Lamp Hut No. 1 got more paint stripped off it and its really beginning to look ready for a coat of paint (Dark Stone me thinks).

We also had a very interesting visit from the Building Department (Rob Smith) at Worcester College of Technology and I am hopeful that we can enter into a cooperation partnership, which allows students to come along each Wednesday, learn some practical skills and in so doing add some value to our project. I am a great believer in this approach and I will endeavour to make sure this is a successful venture. This is being coordinated by Chris Brooks, the Regeneration Manager from Wychavon District Council.

Finally we had a very welcome visit from Senior Volunteer (experience not age!) Bryan Merrett from GWR Winchcombe who has offered us a few "goodies" for us to refurb. during the Winter months. Bryan is thinking about joining us also and we will of course make him welcome.

More pictures to follow when my Foreign Correspondent (aka Peter H) reports in!

Saturday 1st October 2011

2011-10-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

What a scorcher for the 1st October! It was the sort of day I like - a great group of Saturday lads and lots of interesting visitors - thank you all for coming.

We had a gang working the 1A Wall (Steve, Ken, Clive and Bob). we were joined for the first time today by Bob W who was a 1000 a day man(bricks not cigarettes!) and that wall certainly went up - we have passed the 1/3 of the way marker (an expansion joint) and beyond. I hope Bob will want to come back as a regular - we will have 1A done in no time!

My greatest pleasure today was having Robin back with us, on the dreaded brick cleaning. He has been off for while and has overcome a lot of medical stuff to be back with us. Robin, things seem back to normal for us now.

Is Vic There?

Yes he certainly was today! Vic Smith comes as regular as clockwork once a month on a round trip of 150+ miles. Here he does battle with the hedge line on 1B. This incidentally is looking in good shape now and request for quotations are in to dig and pour the footings. I will keep you posted!

Lastly I got my act together and got the masts installed that will take our camera system. It will be good to get images over the Internet so that followers can see the progress for themselves. This will take while - again I will keep you posted.

Marguerite has the Broadway Shed open for Bric a Brac business every Saturday. Please come along if you can. Finally a thanks to John B who chatted to our many visitors today. This gave me the chance to get the camera masts done. Classic cars this week - a pristine MG TC and a VW Beetle 1200 - bring yours along if you can better these!

The Thumbs Up for this year's GWR Christmas Card

2011-09-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Artist Fred Lea has painted a beautiful Broadway Station scene for this year's GWSR Christmas Card. It's the well know action shot of the Cornishman as it comes through Broadway Station in 1959. It's an absolute beauty!

Photo curtesy of Steve Sperring

Here the Wednesday Gang take time out to thank Fred and admire his work.
I will let you know all the possible sources of the cards - its not one to be missed!
Prints will also be available as we approach Christmas - what a splendid present this will make.

Hereford & Worcester in Broadway

2011-09-29T03:15:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Volunteer Ray Legault for his excellent interview on H & W Radio today. Ray is off on his vacation to Canada this week, trading an English Winter for a Canadian one - I not sure he's got that the right way round!

And On!

2011-09-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

Blessed with a beautiful sunny day and a fine crowd (yes I think 19 is a crowd!) of Volunteers.
I was on site in the morning but was faffing around and not able to take any pictures. My Front Line Correspondent Peter H filed the following report and took some great pictures at the end of the day. Thanks Peter.

With another excellent turnout today much was achieved in the very hot weather.

Ray & I completed the electrical work in the new hut. All tested ok. In the afternoon Ray & I had a good clean up of the mess hut and tool cabin. Ray expects it to be in similar shape when he returns in January!

Gordon and Roger marked out the footings for !B - sorry I did not get a photo of the markers. All looks very good.

Ken, Clive & Terry did excellent work on the blues - looks very impressive now.

Steve B did wonders burning off the old paint on the lamp hut, how he worked in the heat using a blow lamp I will never know

The block gang finished the last section of blocks so all set for the blues throughout the length on 1A.

Last but not least the brick cleaning gang slogged way in the heat cleaning more bricks.

Some photos attached, the first showing David and new volunteer taking a well earned break in the shade - rest pretty well self explanatory.

We Press On!

2011-09-25T02:52:00.000-07:00

We have a great momentum going now. 30 regular Volunteers turn out during the course of a month and I feel we owe it to our supporters to keep our shoulder to the wheel and deliver the bests results we can.

Yesterday was just such a day. The concentration was to clear the track bed for Platform 1B and to begin the work to stabilise the adjacent embankment.

In order to do this our entire store of bricks had to be moved to the opposite side of the trackbed, beyond the mess hut. I didn't realise how much stuff we have accumulated over the past year. Here Steve Warren begins the task of skimming the ballast off the track bed and shoring up the wayward wall.

In the foreground you can see the mountain of palleted bricks that have been moved. No Small task. The objectives for the day were met, which included the removal of a large tree stump and everything is ready for marking out the footings of 1B.

Here is a pic of the 1B vista mid afternoon and then by the end of the day.(Cheers Andy!)

On other fronts more brick recovery from the West embankment was achieved (I don't know where they're finding them!)

Last but not least John Simms continue the work on restoring Lamp Hut No.2. Having removed all the surface rust, John is well on the way to completing a coat of red lead paint. Brilliant!

Wednesday 21st September - Another Record Turnout!

2011-09-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all the volunteers that turned out today - 17 in total and the day was filled with hard work and camaraderie.

The Platform1A wall continues to be the priority focus for our construction team, and once more a just in time delivery of concrete blocks from Fairview saved the day. We have now virtually finished the layer of foundation block work and bricklaying efforts will be concentrated on the wall itself.

Ken kept the wall rising by laying the backing bricks for the next two courses - we are hoping that Marcus will be along on Saturday to finish off this section - Marcus I hope you're reading this!!!

We are now trying to get ahead of the game by doing the ground work for 1B (the Northern end of Platform 1). This is presenting us with a few challenges. The platform runs parallel to the old horse dock wall. The wall is now canted over because of back pressure from the embankment behind it. We have to urgently establish some new drainage holes to allow the free flow of water from the embankment. We are then going to reluctantly build the old wall in as a composite structure with the platform. I don't like wasting these bricks but there is no economic and robust alternative.

On other fronts the new "Broadway Shed" is having its finishing touches carried out before Marguerite takes up residence or starts renting it out. Chris Helm has done a great job on putting the finishing touches to it.

Again I would encourage you to come along to Marguerite's Bric a Brac stall on Saturday, if for no other reason than to see the progress being made with the 1A wall. I know I'm biased but it is very impressive!

Once more I am going home with a fist full of money from fund raising by the troops. I don't know how they do it, but, although modest in total, it keeps us going with sand and cement. I will add these funds to the thermometer on the our Website www.broadwaystation.co.uk. We still are some way off our target for 1A so if you have been hesitating to hit that donate button now's the time! Thank you to all the people who have donated money by whatever means. Our gratitude is equal whether it's £5 or £50.

Back in the Blogging Saddle!

2011-09-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I received a fine set of photos from Andy Protherough just before I left with a promise to publish them when I returned. Here they are as delivered - I will put some detail around them as soon as I can!

A view of the 46 lever frame for Broadway

Malcolm Walker assesses progress

Aussie Colin removing years of rust from another lever.

Carl Smart & Colin prepare to install another lever.

Comment from Ken:- I must say that it was extremely thoughtful
to have a visit from Teresa Ceesay, NR Cotswold Line Station Manager
(Sorry if I got the name incorrect), and her colleague.
She took the time to introduce herself to the various 'working groups'
and spent a few minutes chatting
on pertinent issues.The visit was greatly
appreciated.

Not just single bricks, but part walls!

A stack of blue bricks in the west embankment.

Hold Very Tight Please

2011-09-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

14 troops on parade today, determined to make the best of September sunshine. The platform 1A wall had the lion's share of the volunteers attention and great progress was made on laying further concrete blocks.

The Broadway Shed as it's now known now looks like new. Terry came in early to give it a coat of Ronseal and it looks very good. Clive persevered with the ground work around the shed and a window was replaced. Marguerite will be very pleased with it. Please come along this Saturday and have a look at the wide range of items that she is selling, the money from which add to the Broadway funds. Every little helps as they say on that telly ad!

Yes you can turn a bus in the driveway!

We had an experimental visit from Graham Smith and his beautiful Rouetmaster double decker bus. What a classic it is and in lovely condition. Graham has offered to run some "site" seeing trips from Broadway Village and Toddington next season so that people can see the progress being made. Graham who is "local" and a fountain of local information and we are pleased to have him on board as a supporter.

Fairview came up trumps again by collecting the final load of wooden sleepers from Stanton. Richard with Steve B got them unloaded ready for use.

And saving the best till last the mess hut portakibin was moved across the trackbed to a new resting place. It was moved with its electrical umbilical cord intact. Peter and Gordon (could be of the sixties pop fame!) slogged all day to assist Graham Morrison and his JCB in achieving a first class result. This will now allow us to do the preparation ground work and landscaping to allow Platform 1B to proceed.

And they said it couldn't be done!
Brilliant job.

Finally thanks to Malcolm Walker and Neil Carr for coming along to review the siting of the signal box. we now have an agreement as to where it should go and the general ground work requirements.

Thanks to everyone who paid us a visit today. Your interest keeps us going and gives us warm feeling about the future of Broadway Station.

I am out of circulation for a week but will enjoy getting back to the blog as soon as I can!

Donations!

2011-09-13T02:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all the generous people who have donated money to our Platform 1A Appeal. The money arrived securely and is being put to good use building the foundation layers of the wall.

And to the Russian Oligarchs and Lotto Winners - we don't mind some of your dosh as well!

Saturday 10th September 2011

2011-09-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

A different day today! A small on site team(Ron & Clive!) continued with brick laying on Platform 1A. Andy and Ken continued to rescue blue bricks from the West embankment. 140+ were dragged up the bank on a home made sledge made by Ken (innovation is our middle name!). I don't know how they're finding them, but this is a welcome haul indeed. Vic Smith continued his monthly brick clean - it was a grand lot you did, I noticed Vic!

John B and I dispatched ourselves up to the Broadway Horticultural Show and spent a a pleasant afternoon talking anyone who would listen about our plans. We had some generous donations and we went back to site talked out but happy. What a very pleasant, genteel group of people you meet in Broadway.

John B multi tasks acting as tent support (there was quite a wind!)
and talks at the same time.

Broadway Area Group - An Open Evening for the Broadway Business Community

2011-09-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Broadway Area Group invited the Broadway Business Community along to the Broadway Station Site on the 8th September, to have a look at progress and discuss opportunities for collaboration or funding in the future. A group of Volunteers were on hand to escort visitors around and then steer them towards a refreshment stand. A wide cross section of visitors came including the Chairman of Broadway Parish Council.

I think the evening was a great success - favourable comments came from all quarters. I think all the volunteers did a first class job and in particular I would like to congratulate Ray for his meticulous arrangements and Maria and Libby for their hostessing and raffle management. I was so pleased to be associated with such a fine team and an excellent evening.

Wednesday 7th September - Action Packed

2011-09-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

There was a great turn out of 17 volunteers today and focused their efforts on two major activities.
Platform 1A

Two cement mixers kept 3 teams going along the 1A Wall. Two teams worked on the block work and Ron and Ken worked on the blue bricks on the Ramp. Tremendous progress was made on all fronts, with Oz Colin Betteridge joining the block laying team and the combined efforts nearly saw us out of blocks (again) I am reluctant to say slow down chaps but Slow down!
Storage Shed

A 12x8 shed donated through the good offices of Andrew Goodman seemed to rise up out of nowhere, had new roofing felt put on and apart from a missing pane of glass is ready to use. It was a remarkable effort by the 4 lads who slogged away at it all day.

Finally the sign carefully made by Chris Bowles was lettered up with PLATFORM 1A and mounted on the bank. It certainly looks the part!

Finally thanks for visits yesterday by Mark Smith who brought a small stash of good blue bricks for us and Also Jo Roesen an avid railway enthusiast, who is returning from Belgium and hopes to join us full time.

Nostalgia from Leamington Spa

2011-09-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0eIXvP7Ms

With thanks to Ken Wilkins.

Saturday 3rd September 2011

2011-09-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Block work on Platform 1A

The elite force were in today. Marcus Taylor from Marcus Taylor and Son donated another day's bricklaying and Platform 1A is rising like the proverbial Pheonix from the ashes. Cheers Marcus.

Container nearly finished
in Battleship Grey

The other activity was the completion of the painting of the container - and yes to the wise guys it was quicker with a roller! I had to cut and run at lunchtime so John B. kindly finished the job off.

Finally a thank you to Roger who came and help with some brick cleaning and also our visitor from Basingstoke who brought some top quality blues up for us. More to report on Wednesday, but keep tuning in followers - lets see if we can break the 10,000 visitor mark for September!

9000 Visits for August Thank you!

2011-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now for 10,000?

Wednesday 31st August 2011

2011-08-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

Roger & Ray

Where did that month go! Here we are at the beginning of September with a determination to finish the Platform 1A wall before the the Winter sets in. Three teams set about the task today - two on blocks and one on bricks.

Steve, Peter, & Clive

Da Do Ron Ron

Great progress was made and it was particularly satisfying to see the Wisley Bricks appearing in the Wall. Robin Elliott will know which ones they are! I hope you're well on the way to recovery Robin -you've been missed.

Gord and Terry started the task of erecting an additional "shed" for storage next to the information kiosk. Having shifted the paving slabs for the base, they wished they had settled for block laying! Here they are at their labours and then the end result PDG

And last and least -

Should Have Gone to Specsavers

I had a go at painting the blue side of the container - didn't know that so many people could tell me how I should be doing it and pass on by!!! It will get finished on Saturday. Anyway writing this at 4 in the morning so apologies for any typos!

Donations

2011-08-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to the people who have donated money through the Donate Button. All the money arrived safely and is being put towards our Platform 1A Appeal. If you would like to see progress towards our Target of £6000, visit www.broadwaystation.co.uk

Thanks again and also in anticipation of donations in the future, which will speed up the return of Steam to Broadway.

Saturday Gang!

2011-08-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

The elite squad were in today! Two major activities were completed. In no particular order, a large number bricks were move by Dumper from the brick cleaning area at the North of the site down to Platform 1A.

The Dumper was loaded at least 8 times and the bricks stacked ready for brick laying on Wednesday. At least 1000 bricks were picked up and re stacked. On a parallel activity Andy P forwent his chain saw and delved in the south west embankment and retrieved 201(he count them out and counted them in!) near pristine blues.

On the other Western Font also John Simms finished off the re fabricating of Lamp Hut No.1 and its now sufficiently smart for weekend campers.

Attention to detail - shelf supports repaired

Had a welcome visit from Graham Smith (Master of the local Roadmaster) who donated his SDS Breaker to the cause. Graham works hard on behalf of the Railway and knows all their is to know about "local" Broadway. Thanks Graham.

John Balderstone and Bernard Dudfield called in by also and as a new boy I always end up a bit wiser for their advice, solicited or not! Cheers gents!

PS Jim, the lads couldn't find that mile post - they were very grumpy!

A Labour of Love!

2011-08-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a selection of photos taken by Andy Protherough of the lever frame and components being built for the Broadway Signal Box. Andy's text reads"These show the quadrants, lever castings, cams and levers in various states of renovation and rebuilding. The lever frame originates from Aller Junction signal box near Newton Abbot". I am so pleased to know that work is going on in the background to further the Broadway cause. Whilst not understanding the intricacies of the lever frame, as an engineer at heart I can see the care and attention that is being put into this work. Brilliant!

Wednesday Gang beat the Record!

2011-08-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

18 Volunteers turned out today which is the highest number ever. A great deal of work was planned for today and much was achieved. The major focus was moving our materials container to a new position opposite Platform 1A. This required a significant chunk of the west embankment to be carved out. Steve Warren (JCB) sorted us out! See photo right. The space chosen is the planned siting of the Signal Box and the excavating was effectively making a start on that job.

We need some more battleship
grey paint lads!

Having emptied the container of materials it was dragged up the trackbed from beyond the mess hut in pretty spectacular fashion. It remained to maneuver the container into place and the job was done. However this understates the complexity of the job and Steve and the lads performed a minor miracle in rotating it and pushing it into place.

Unfortunately this work did take longer than planned and rather than spin their wheels a second group set to at cleaning off the platform surface within the old station footings. This turned into the next major challenge of the day. Here Terry Andrews and co horts (named Terry.s TA for the session) set to at levelling the last section of ballast behind Platform 1. After much sweat and tears the end result is really excellent giving us an area we can utilised temporarily for exhibitions and open days.

Terry's Terrace

Last but not least the brick cleaning gang managed to keep going - I don't know how. Brick cleaning is now on the critical path. All the blues that we have will be needed for Platform 1A and there is still 5000 to be cleaned! We really need some more SDS electric chisel drills and scutch chisels, so if there is a benefactor in the trade out there, please help!

PS Dear old Dot the Drott is nearly back in action with the installation of a new engine virtually complete. Thanks to Bernard Dudfield for organising this. Steve B Dott's only driver will have a smile on his face when she is finally is fired up!

Honeybourne Station Platform 2

2011-08-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

I went along with a few of my chums to the offical opening ceremony of Platform 2 at Honeybourne. The reverse side of this platform (Platform 3?) has been set aside for the GWR to run trains into.

It was a happy occasion, being the culmination of much hard work by the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. Here Chairman John Ellis(right) pulls the ribbon on a commemorative bench donated by the CLPG.

Alan Bielby from the GWR congratulated Network Rail, CLPG and Amy, the contractors for a job well done. In particular Alan thanked NR and Amy for assistance in recovering the bricks and coping slabs from the old Platform 2 and their transfer to Broadway.

If I can mention a couple of grumbles!

The footbridge is enormous(by necessity) but a real monstrosity!

It's a puzzle as to why a main line signal post was but right in the middle of GWR tracked bed. When questioned NR said that it could be replaced in the future with a cantilever post. Why didn't that happen in this phase!?!

Nevertheless a great occasion and my thanks go to David Northey of Network Rail who has been so supportive of the GWR, and Broadway in particular.

Donation Button

2011-08-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Followers,
You will notice I have added a Donations button to my Blog. It is not intended that regular followers should start making donations - absolutely not! Nevertheless there are an increasing number of vistors to the site and for those who feel they would like to make a contribution to our worthy cause, they can, and it will be gratefully received. The donation facility is a very secure one, through Paypal and is as safe as any on the Interent. Thanks!
Bill

Saturday 20th August - A Day for Tinkering

2011-08-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Marcus(right) and Clive in Action

First of all a big thank you to Marcus Taylor who donated a day of his time to lay some blocks for us on 1A. Marcus, a builder by profession, demonstrated how quickly and easily it can be done! No worries troops, we will get better at it!

The Honeybourne Blues in the
foreground ready for action

Here the last available block laid and a third of the foundation wall completed.

On other construction matters John B crafted an excellent gate adjacent to the kiosk. Here the craftsman rests on his laurels so to speak. Last but least the Lamp Hut challenge continues with with George Forrest finishing off the framework of No2(cheers George, I know your busy!) and John S re-hinging the door and putting a new skirt around the base of No1. One of those worthwhile, enjoyable days.

New hinges and catch in place
courtesy of John S

Wednesday 17th August 2011 - The Power of the Bacon Buttie!

2011-08-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

Another great turn-out today with 12 Volunteers on hand. Efforts were concentrated on continuing with the block work on the Platform 1A wall. Part of the volunteering process that I like to promote is training volunteers in a new skill and encourage those who have a particular trade to share it with others. Although this may seem to slow things down, it does bring new talent to the fore, adds to the satisfaction of a days volunteering and delivers more resources for later in the project. Here Ron Briz. is giving Terry some tips on mortar laying techniques "on the the bench".

Photo from Peter H

By the end of the day everyone was pleased with the result of the block laying. Here is the emerging wall looking from the southern end northwards.

The Lamp Huts got a step nearer to their full refurbishment with the arrival of a large quantity of galvanised corrugated iron. This was obtained by Steve B good offices and thank must go to Evenproducts for their generous contribution. We would not have been able to retrieve it without the help of new volunteer Bob Jones who help fetching and loading in his super smart van! Here are the "goods" before being taken off site for safe keeping.

The last major activity was the finishing off of the white line on the main platform wall. Graham D brought his kit along and did a superb job of completing the last section and yer tis-

Photo from Peter H

Finally we had a welcome visit from Darren Fairley and his colleagues from Network Rail who spent 2 hours viewing progress and talking about the future. It was an opportunity to thank NR for their help in retrieving the bricks and slabs from Honeybourne. The new Platform 2 at Honeyboourne is due to open on Monday. Would that we could put our platforms up that quickly!

I left site today full of hope for our Project. We are still broke, have little chance of getting money from the operational Railway, but a great, unwavering determination to succeed against all odds prevails. We will continue the task, supported by the growing generosity of individuals and before you know it we will see steam billowing over Broadway Station.

Stats 2

2011-08-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

The Blog visits for the month of July 2011 were:
UK 7299
US 365
France 104
Australia 65
Italy 61
Spain 56
Germany 33
Ireland 25
Canada 13
Croatia 9
Total 8021

The Stats post seemed to corrupt itself in formatting so I have replaced it and copied the comments below:

Howard Said:
Have you thought of opening a bank account to which visitors, in their their thousands apparently, could donate? I mean just give account number and sort code. most of us who access online, have electronic banking, so we can transfer our donation in a nano second. If abroad, especially EU, we can transfer using SEPA at no cost or negligible cost (14 €ct maximum). So you need to open an authorised account (not GWSR but one specific for this extension) and also quote the IBAN number as well as the english bank codes on this blog.

If you don't know what an IBAN number is, just call in at your local branch and ask the manager to help you set it all up. There is of course Paypal for those outside the noraml realms, and you should get one of those as well. One word of warning. I have only found the Santander bank which will not charge for receipt of international payments, so I hope you can find a branch. NatWest, my own normal bank for instance, I had to avoid because they charge £25 for each receipt via SEPA - ridiculous! In fact, they can't really do it but Santander can.

I do hope you can get this going without taking offence at my suggestions (of which you may already be aware) but with such international enthusiastic support, the opportunity seems begging.

We are all so impressed with the efforts being made and you should not be in any doubt about that.

14 August 2011 11:44

Reply:
Howard all of your comments and the thought that goes into them are much appreciated. I am looking into the Blogger Monetise facility which works along the lines you describe.

Belgrade said:
Your Blog stats should include at least one from Serbia!
Reply:
Steve as the saying goes "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics!"
Bill

Platform 1A Starts to take Shape

2011-08-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

10 Volunteers turned out today to see Platform 1A begin to rise from the foundations. Following on from Wednesday's set up, the Construction Team set to at building the block piers that forms the base courses for the platform wall. On 1A an 18" bonded construction is to be used, but using English bond as per the main platform. You won't be able to see the join! Unfortunately electrical power was shut down to connect up the new line side cabinet and kiosk. The cement mixer was the victim! Nevertheless good progress was made.

It was good to see Steve Long back in action - he has been hor de combat for some time. As you can see he's been idle for too long - he will not get this year's rear of the year award. Needless to say he did the job perfectly and we now have power to the new cabinet and to our sales kiosk. Cheers Steve!

On other fronts the final push was made to finish off the sleeper wall. A combination of P Way ,Fairview Trading and and a fair amount of huffing and puffing got the final sleepers in place. Here is the finished article which really looks the part. Of course when your knackered with lifting the sleepers they make a good resting place!

Incidentally our new member Clive is the nearest thing we have to a JCB - obviously a 3 Wheetabix man.

Photo courtesy of Peter H

Whilst the power was off efforts were transferred to other tidying up jobs - here is Peter H's work of art on an access chamber to the cross track services.

In summary an excellent day. we had many visitors to site, some parting with the readies for items from the Kiosk. Thank you!. Jim Graham turned up to reclaim one of the P Way tools we had borrowed. I quick bit of banter and he was gone. I'll get him back with his trowel one of these days! Colin from Oz turn up at the end of a day spent with the track gang. He has offered to lay some more bricks for us before he returns home in 7 weeks. Great! To everyone please come along and see what we're up to. We are not seeking plaudits but the encouragement from you all keeps us going.

And finally a thanks to my volunteer chums who made it such an enjoyable day today.

Wednesday 10th August 2011

2011-08-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

12 Volunteers on duty today, all keen to get going on the foundation wall for Platform 1A.
A quick last check of the alignment and two teams of bricklayers began the block laying.

I had an urgent call that took me away from site so the pictures and full story will be updated on Saturday. Sorry about that!

Saturday 6th August - Normal Service Resumed!

2011-08-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

Much of the activity on Saturday concentrated on the finishing off of the fence line adjacent to the B & B.The job is virtually completed with only a few extra sleepers require to finish it off. Glynn Cornish came to inspect the work - I think we got the QA stamp!

We had a welcome visit from John Balderstone and had the opportunity to chew over the bridge situation between Laverton and Broadway. Although a significant amount of investment is required to refurbish the bridges it seemed to be a straight forward process and the lads ended up happier having had some of the black art explained. John also had a look at our proposals for 1A and I felt that our approach was generally sound. Thanks John.

Saturday 6th August - A Day of Reflection

2011-08-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

The BAG Volunteers continue to work away, and more of this another time.

I spent much of my time closeted in Lamp Hut No.1, drilling and bolting together some wayward panels of rusty corrugated tin. As I skinned my knuckles for the umpteenth time I wondered why on earth I was sitting on uncomfortable ballast, in semi darkness, trying breath life back into an old tin shed that should have been scrapped years ago. After all, didn't I have one hundred and one things I should be doing at home? My wife says so. As the Board have an away day and return having "unanimously" decide to reinvent themselves and the Railway's business operation, how is the dedicated, hard working volunteer going to fair in all this? The Board's preoccupation with the dire financial consequences of the slips has served to isolate them further from the very body of people who "own" the Railway and will see it through to success in the future - the Volunteers. (with due respect to the Shareholders who are often one of the same!) So as the afternoon wears on my thoughts seem to get gloomier, and then the ray of light - a volunteer chum comes along and offers to help me tidy up the tools, and roll in the cable that I have strewn around. I then realise why I am here - it's the camaraderie, the common sense of purpose and the certain knowledge that the determination of the volunteer's "can do" ethic will win through and deliver a successful outcome to our venture.

GWR Station at Hall Green

2011-08-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

One of our keen followers (Toddington Ted) has quite rightly pointed out that Hall Green Station is in many ways a perfect replica of the original Station at Broadway. Apart from the length, and roof materials now in place it would serve as cross reference for virtually all facets of what we would wish to put back at Broadway. Here is a link
http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/hall_green.php

Here is Hall Greens equivalent of "1A" with the spear fencing behind it. We are currently seeking some spear fencing to deploy behind our 1A. A large quantity has been spotted at the Cadburys Site at Birmingham.

Thanks TT - I had not seen it before.

Wednesday 3rd August 2011 - Sweltering

2011-08-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update from today. 14 Volunteers today, prepared to sweat it out in temperatures into the 80's

A great deal of preparation work was done in setting out Platform 1A. Ron Briz in some shorts from Costa Del Lottle (very trendy!) led the charge at setting out the platform wall alignment. This was completed ready for the start of building next week. All the materials have been moved into place and the wall should be well on the way to completion by the end of the year, funds permitting.

You will notice also that the inspection chambers on the central drainage have been built up to their correct height and covered. (See pic on the right) This is to both protect the drains which have been cleaned and to get the the correct perspective on the first courses of blocks in the wall.

On other fronts, the sleeper wall by the new fence adjacent to the B&B have been nailed together with rebars. This was only possible with a petrol powered drill supplied by PWay. Thanks chaps for bringing it over. We couldn't have done it without it! A few more sleepers from Stanton next week and the job will be done. The fence and sleepers look a treat.

More to report on Saturday!

We've been using them wrongly all this time!

2011-08-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday 30th July 2011

2011-07-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

A fine turn out on a fine day!

Here George Forrest gets to grips with welding the frame on Lamp Hut number 2. A slightly different skill to driving a loco, but great job satisfaction (I think?!) The Frame now has 4 good feet and two new side irons. Corrugated sheet is on its way, and it will then once more be a des. res.

The fence adjacent to the B&B got a fourth rail makeover and, thanks to new member Clive S efforts the job is just about done!

Down the trackbed beyond the Evesham Bridge, Any P and Vic Smith have cleared the vegetation by the Good Shed. It was super effort.

Further down in the car park Keith G was ditching. Chris , David and Andrew carried on with the brick cleaning. - we all choose some odd jobs to do on the hottest day in July!

Last but never least Marguerite Goodman spent the day on the Bric a Brac Stall and conjured up a steady stream of punters. As a direct result of Marguerite's efforts the stall is really taking off and I would urge you to come along and spend your money on a wide range of interesting merchandise.