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GWSR Broadway Developments

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

  1. frazoulaswak

    frazoulaswak Member

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    A stupendous achievement by all concerned!
    Cheers,
     
  2. The Green Howards

    The Green Howards Nat Pres stalwart

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    Shooting into the sun often makes for a much more interesting photograph IMO - and what an achievement. Well done, all.
     
  3. ianh

    ianh Member

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    The Lights are still on at Broadway at 17.30, team making good use of the protection of working indoors with power...
     
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  4. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Thank you Noel for steering the ship back on to its course :) (I wish someone would treat me in a Manor, how about Buckland Manor? They do a wonderful lunch there)

    Work did resume at Broadway today, in strong winds from the tail end of a storm that passed over us.

    Work that I noticed on a flying visit:

    - Extension of the concrete kerbs up the drive, towards the station building. A proposal to use granite kerbs, as there were before, in front of the building has been accepted. Some of these will come from those recovered from Broadway itself, some from a pile at Toddington, and a balance found in a reclamation yard. No concrete in front of our 1904 station building!
    - Tiles for the floor and walls of the toilets were delivered today (red clay tiles for the floor, white brick shaped tiles for the walls)
    - The floors have been screeded and the lights you can see in the station are from the IR lights used to dry out the floor.
    - Some carpentry was being applied in the future cafe in preparation for the wainscoting around it.
    - A picture of the booking office today is below:

    IMG_20180103_155858370.jpg

    Here too the wainscoting has been prepared all round, interupted by the floor screed going in.
    As you may have seen on the C&W blog the team there very kindly agreed to make the wooden tops for the two crowd barriers that will go in front of the ticket hatches. They have wonderful carpentry skills there.
    The posts themselves are two originals found buried on site (believe it or not, what a find!) and two replicas cast from them. This picture is from their blog:

    Broadway Crowd barrier 1.jpg

    Measurements were taken from a friendly neighbour... industrial espionage :), I hope they don't mind.
    The ticket hatch design was a tricky one, as none were left on the GWSR to copy from. The one at Toddington is not at all original, it's just a hatch built into an outside window, and people have to queue up on the platform. The next best idea was Henley in Arden, but it's all nailed shut. Then we discovered Hall Green station further up our line to Birmingham. This is very similar to Broadway, so hopes were high. We entered the booking office full of enthusiasm, turned the corner, to find - bullet proof glass and stainless steel. B****r.
    However.... the booking office clerk was sympathetic, and conspiratoriously suggested we try Yardley Wood down the road. Hopes high again, we went to Yardley Wood station, to find - another bullet proof glass and stainless steel window. Oh nooooo.... but then, further round, in the corner, and original ticket hatch! Yesssss !
    This we measured up and made a drawing of it. Two copies will be made by that valliant member of the roof team that has given Broadway such a heritage boost recently.

    Must leave you now, the Extension Blog needs uploading. Give me about an hour, and then see what we did on the track.
     
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  5. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

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    Crickey Jo, that was a quick post! You obviously got home from Broadway earlier than I did, we left in the dark after locking up. We managed an additional 14 kerb stones, and also 3 extra sections of the wooden fencing up the drive. Installing this will enable us to extend the path kerbing and the road kerbing next week. There were 19 of us today at Broadway, it was a bit windy, but otherwise the weather was kind today. Looking forward to seeing your report on the extension later.
     
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  6. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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  7. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Three pictures today to show heritage progress at Broadway:

    IMG_20180109_115429687.jpg

    Red quarry tiles being laid in the gents, a last minute improvement on the 1970s beige that was initially ordered. Lobbying from the GWSR's Heritage Group and new, more heritage friendly project management achieved this.

    IMG_20180109_120124347.jpg

    A replica cast iron ball topped fence / gate post installed at the end of the P1 southern fence. It will also support one of a pair of spear head gates, adjacent to the modesty screen at the southern end of the building.
    The railway has its own pattern for these ball topped gate posts, and can sell to other GWR railways. Send me a pm if interested. The posts either support the spearhead fence, or a gate - the attachments can be changed. Behind is a row of replica GWR platform lamp posts, which we can also supply, with profits going to the railway.
    The 1930s phone box has been moved off the platform to a more typical spot alongside the drive, but the ugly 1960s BR location cupboard on the platform remains.

    Finally, a view of the future layout for the footbridge steps and supports for the canopy overhang:

    IMG_20180109_115200257resize.jpg

    The top box is for the intermediate landing support for the steps, the big boxes are for the canopy supports, and the small ones are for the newel posts at the bottom of the steps. These will be excavated tomorrow, have shuttering installed and be filled with concrete for the foundations of the various posts.

    There is currently no money to go above ground level, these foundations being installed now so that the area, together with the rest of the platforms, can be made fit for opening.
     
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  8. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    I can attest to the quality of the newly cast GWR posts.

    Here is a snap of one supplied by the G&WR in place at Stogumber on the WSR.

    Robin

    100AE646-B3F5-4EB1-9246-DD86EFA2E2F1.jpeg
     
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  9. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

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    Wot ?? Not gas ?
     
  10. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    As is well known, I live in the Station House. We only had electricity in 1963 and there is no gas in the village (other than bottled).

    My house still has the hooks in the downstairs ceilings for oil lamps .

    Robin
     
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  11. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    I would hope to see (both at Stogumber and in due course at Broadway) some kind of lightbulb that looks a bit closer to what would have been there originally. If the lamps would originally have been gas, why not an actual gas mantle with a small LED bulb inside? The restored Metropolitan coach 353 has lamps something like that in its compartments though those still don't look quite right.
     
  12. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    These lamps would originally been oil.

    I have a couple (also supplied by the G&WR) lighting the paths around Station House, Stogumber and perhaps something to simulate an oil lamp inner could be created. Any photographic examples?

    Robin
     
  13. FearOfManchester

    FearOfManchester Member

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    Just a few questions if I may, will the stairs design be the same as the originals or as close as possible? One stand out feature the originals had was an x crossmember pattern on the sidewalls of the stairs as shown here:
    [​IMG]

    I believe this was a standard design for GWR stairs as hall green also has very similar looking stairs. So I assume the design you have come up with is very similar? Except that the stairs are steeper as the bridge is closer to the station building than the original bridge was. I believe that the original canopy overhang supports were found buried onsite? Are they in a good enough condition to be reused?

    Very exciting times and quite surprised how quickly things are progressing after the Christmas period, good work all! :)
     
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  14. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    I haven't seen a design for the stairs but I am confident they will be similar to what you can see in the picture. I think they will need one or two extra steps, as the new bridge is higher than the old one. They cannot be steeper, so will probably terminate closer to the building.
    The biggest problem was the 7m canopy extension. In the first design, involving the wrong positioning of the footbridge, the canopy extension would have been only (nearly) half as long, at 4m. It was to rest on two freestyle posts of round section, whereas they originally were square.
    The new design has to make the best of a bad job, but will look right. Because of the incorrect position of the footbridge, the canopy extension will have to sit on its own two legs (now square) and the new design pulls it as far over the roof of the steps as it can, thus creating extra space underneath. The bottom of the steps will now have newel posts, for which we will use the ball topped gate posts that we have commissioned from the foundry.
    The original canopy support posts were indeed found on site, but they had been bulldozed off at the base so are unusuable. What they can do is show us what the posts used to look like. They were square, with chamfered corners.
    If the footbridge is ever moved in the future, the new design allows the old one to be reinstated. (where the canopy extension supports share the same posts as the bottom of the steps).
    Just to recall, despite protests at the time, the bridge was placed too close to the building, and about 2ft off to the Cotswolds side. The HIA bridge was in fact that much longer than the original Broadway one, but its size was not corrected before it was placed.
    I think the new, hybrid design is a good one, and it will look believable. It was developed by the team that made the rivetted canopy, so we can trust them to get it right.
     
  15. toplight

    toplight Well-Known Member

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    It sounds from your post that they were aware it was incorrect at the time it was done. I had thought it was only realized later ? Could they not just keep the stairs to the original design and make the canopy itself shorter ?
     
  16. Gloucester Boy

    Gloucester Boy New Member

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    The contractor didn't excavate where the canopy supports will go yesterday, this will be done on Monday next week. Building Services are going to relay the granite kerbs soon, they have purchased a two man vacuum slab lifter to help them. They will need it, these kerbs are VERY heavy!

    The platform area by the station building was cleared of items, so that when the drainage is sorted, we can start laying the paving slabs there, this will be done by the Broadway volunteers (with guidance from a friendly paving contractor).
     
  17. FearOfManchester

    FearOfManchester Member

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    The feeling I got from brevas post was that the original design focused more on trying to get the stairs as close to their original length therefore compromising on the canopy extension to the tune of only 4 metres protrusion from the station building, which is rather short, barely even worth doing in my opinion and would be visually rather noticeable. From the sounds of it the new design gets the best of both worlds, shaving a little off the length of the stairs and a little off the length of the canopy. I'm sure it will look as fantastic as the rest of the station, and in a few years time when the station is open and everything has settled down a bit, a more in depth focus on what 'looks right' can be accommodated for, and as brevas post has stated, the new design allows for Relative integration with the canopy if the bridge is to be moved in the future, which is a very good forethought I think!
     
  18. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    One of the original kerbstones was found while excavating the building foundations, and it was smartly dumped off the embankment by the goods shed. It was a 6ft example and, yes, very heavy. Two heritage minded volunteers retrieved it from there using the little 1 ton dumper, dragging it to a storage area north of the station. From there it was sent to Winchcombe in a site clearance. It is still there!
    Driving up the trackbed dragging that heavy kerbstone with the little 40 year old hand cranked dumper was quite an experience :)
     
  19. AndyY

    AndyY Member

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    "If the lamps would originally have been gas, why not an actual gas mantle with a small LED bulb inside?" Until a gas mantle has had a hot flame burning in it, it is a like a floppy little string bag. It only becomes the shape we are used to seeing after being lit for the first time, and is then extremely fragile with little mechanical strength. So an actual gas mantle with an LED inside wouldn't work.
    However I do agree that there must be electric bulbs designed to look less 21st century than the one shown.
     
  20. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    The lamps inside Met 353 seem not bad in that respect, though they haven't got the shape of the light bulb inside quite right.
    P1010733.jpg
     
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