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GWSR Broadway Developments

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Breva, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    The Monday gang got wet today!

    It rained quite steadily all morning, and other than build some platforms to raise the next level of brickwork to 14 courses, we could do little but wait and drink tea.
    During the morning a lorry from the steel supplier rolled up with a large supply of heavier gauge steel angle. For Broadway station! Yes, but.... it was actually wanted at Toddington, where the canopy is being assembled. This heavier gauge steel looked as if it is required for the arches along the platform face. We shall take a look tomorrow to see how they are doing.

    At lunch time, the clouds finally broke up, and the two brick layers present to day - holidays are starting to kick in - started on two courses along the northern third. Before scaffolding is required, we need to get this brickwork up to 14 courses, and at the moment we are on course 9.

    The internal blockwork in the southern third has now been completed, again up to those 14 courses. Still the middle third to do, a section to be built between two expansion gaps.
     

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  2. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Two brick layers at work today, with two others away on holiday/moving house. Work concentrated on the platform side between the toilet doors, quite a complicated bit with many corners. This necessitated lots of bricks cut to size to make them fit. An overview of progress can be seen in the shot taken from the footbridge scaffolding. Work has also progressed well with the blockwork inside. Gradually the northern third is reaching the height of the southern one, and when both are the same, the middle section will be done. This is separated from the other two by a small expansion gap. Once the whole building is up to 14 courses of reds the scaffolding will be erected for the remaining bricks to be laid.

    On the footbridge, the dagger boards are all up now, and half the cast iron guttering. The other half, on the southern side, is still left to do. In the picture you can see the end daggerboards, cut to size to show the shape of the roof. The arch is an original piece of 1904 wood ! They don't make wood like that any more...

    The scaffolding will stay up for a few more weeks, in order to allow the corrugated iron roof to be fitted. The panels for this are expected to be delivered later this week. They will be painted first. Once on, they will be difficult to paint again.

    That should conclude work on the footbridge, until more budget money is raised and allocated. The priority is to get the rails to Broadway, and the station building up.
     

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    michael pember likes this.
  3. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

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    Wouldn't colour-coated steel be a better option ? Initially a bit more expensive but weathers better than painted corrugated iron so does not need repainting every few years.
     
  4. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    I believe that is what the SVR used for re-roofing the canopy at Bewdley last winter.
     
  5. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    I agree but it was rejected due to the extra cost. Until the share issue total is achieved, we are having to be very careful with expenditure.
     
  6. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

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    That is known as "false economy". Setting up a need for regular ongoing maintenance in an area known to be "difficult to paint again", which will presumably require either scaffolding or other equipment hire, is hardly a sensible option just to save a few hundred pounds at this stage. There must be some provision for flexibility in the budget :rolleyes:.

    And I do hope that the cost for the purchase of imported rail was locked in sterling well before the referendum ?:Depressed:
     
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  7. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    As far as I know, we are buying British (I was going to say British Rail, but thought better of it :) )
     
  8. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

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    My mistake, I thought I had seen reference to ordering rail from overseas.
     
  9. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    A stitch in time saves nine
     
  10. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

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    At the GWSR AGM last night, we were told that the share issue had raised £672,000 so far, and record numbers of visitors were visiting the railway so far this year, so seems very good news on the financial front.
     
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  11. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    The Monday gang was very small today - just 4 people. Two worked on blocks in the toilet area, and one started laying the first course of reds on the central section. When this is up to 14 courses like the rest, then scaffolding will be brought in to achieve the next level.
    A number of Monday gangers have moved back to CRC2, to prepare the platform for the final layer of Tarmac.

    The roofing work on the footbridge is nearly finished - see the trackbed view attached. The view from the inside is also stunning.
    Yours truly spent (most of) the day needle gunning two lamp posts, which when cleaned up will go outside the station alongside the little car park. The building itself did not have any lamps attached to it originally, on the car park side.
    The replica GWR platform lamp post project is making good progress, and a first casting will be delivered shortly, probably on Wednesday. If the casting is acceptable, we will place the order - 10 for Broadway, one for Winchcombe, and a number for third parties who have shown interest in buying one. Any profits on the third party sales go back to the railway. If you are also interested, send me a pm.

    We are mulling a similar production run for ball topped fence posts, but would need a sponsor for the pattern there. Once we have a pattern, the unit cost falls dramatically, and we need quite a few of them!

    Two original posts and a pair of small gates, ex HIA footbridge, have been sent away for shotblasting and fettling. When returned, they will be erected at the bottom of the SB steps. This will then give a good impression of what spear top fencing will look like. Quite exciting really - our first bit of spear top fencing!

    The picture of the signs shows the TICKETS, IN and OUT castings that will go under the two ticket hatches in the booking office. These are replicas. They are based on a lucky find of a Tickets sign that used to belong to a local publican (he must have got it from Broadway, as it is the nearest station that had one of these signs). The IN and OUT signs are based on an original OUT sign brought in by a supporter - I couldn't believe my luck! It was just what we needed. On such support is based the authenticity of the new station, we couldn't do it without you. Two original crowd barrier posts were found on site (bulldozed in 1963, but still useable) and two additional ones were cast using a good example lent to us by a friendly local railway.

    I hope everyone is buying shares to support all this work; we haven't passed the £700.000 mark yet, so there's a long way to go.

    Finally, a bit of advertising: Breva has moved (most of) his Monday activities to the reconstruction of Hayles Abbey halt, which takes place on Mondays and Fridays (often....)
    You can read all about it here:
    http://gwsrbuildingservices.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/dark-skies.html
    The next posting should be on Friday, if some long expected resupply takes place.
    Wednesdays and Saturdays continue at Broadway.
     

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  12. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    We fitted the replica worksplate to the footbridge today. It's a pity you can only see it from far away, but we know it's there. While the scaffolding is still up, you can enjoy a close up.
    E Finch of Chepstow built all the ironwork on our line, including the bridges, footbridges, canopies and some of the cast iron work. I found a description of the company here:
    http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Finch_and_Co
    and refer you to the description of the man himself some paragraphs down. He was an engineering genius, but not a commercial wizzard, and died a poor man. Fascinating.

    Also of interest today was the delivery of the trial casting of our replica No.1 platform lamp post.
    We were very happy with the quality, made a couple of minor improvement suggestions, and look forward the delivery of the first part of our order - 11 for the railway, and a number for third parties.
     

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  13. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

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    Just noticed on the GWSR website that the amount raised in the share issue is now £700,000!

    Talking to Chris Bristow when he visited Broadway yesterday, it's upto £710,000 now and he was urging anyone who hasn't yet subscribed, but intends to do so, to subscribe to the share issue soon, to help push it along!
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2016
  14. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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  15. Jim Bob

    Jim Bob New Member

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    Do I dare ask (because I have been told not to), why are the corners not in bullnose brick?
     
  16. western

    western New Member

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  17. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    All of it!
     
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  18. Yorkshireman

    Yorkshireman Part of the furniture

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    Oh no not again. Damn the woman!
     
  19. huochemi

    huochemi Part of the furniture

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    Seem to be a few "prohibitively expensives" in there. Do you know why it is not possible to download the prospectus? It might make it more attractive to potential investors to be able to get a .pdf as it is impossible to read it in the format available. BTW, what is an Elf Centre?
     
  20. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    If you're having problems viewing it at the moment perhaps contact the webmaster? Works fine for me. You can apply to have a prospectus posted to you as well, I think FOC, but not certain on that. The Elf centre is the wooden building at Winchcombe on platform 1, between the toilet block and the discovery coach, so called because it's main use is during the Santa Season. It's getting a bit tatty now so it'll be nice to have something new that hopefully will blend in well.
     

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