GWSR General Discussion and Operations

Nice work for hopefully a modest outlay. How did you confine the blast cleaning operation so that the shot & debris did not end up everywhere? - contemplating doing this on loco frames & misc parts.

Did you have to do any body repairs to the tool vans? We are currently looking at restoring our similar riding van.

 

Due to where it was positioned and the fact we made sure to do it in the summer on a fairly still day we didn't actually have to do too much other than tidy up the yard ground afterwards. In the past though when we've had loco frames and other large parts grit blasted we shifted the lot out into the car park at Todd during the close season and erected a marquee.

The two were slightly different construction, No.4 has a horizontal piece at the bottom and that had not fared well, especially around the corners. We had to uncover and splice in a couple of chunks of main frame, a few planks were replaced, many which were splitting I filled the cracks up with expanding polyurethane glue.

 

I have a personal attachment to no.92. Back in the 90s, when it was parked in the long siding behind the up platform at Sheffield Park, and being used as the gallery van for railway artists, I occasionally used to exhibit my paintings there, and my wife and I more or less met for the first time in that van. It turned out that she was far better at marketing my works than I was!
30 years on, and it's really good to see it getting a new lease of life

 

Are those tankers operational now?

 

So, this years CFoS has been announced.
The theme looks good, be intresting what visits.

Perhaps if you guys are focusing on the BR[W] side of things, this maybe? After all, they were certainly seen on the Western:

 

Following an instagram post from the GWSR account on the progress being made with Stanway Viaduct, I wonder if anybody on here can enlighten me to some of the text that accompanied it:

Given that the GWSR has only ever been single-track in preservation, what was the thinking behind even looking at the potential of double-tracking?
(For those interested the instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3spwWKIJB0/?img_index=1)

 

I must admit it's a slightly odd wording in isolation as it was, I'm not entirely sure what it refers to, a couple of possibilities I suppose.

Firstly, that double track along just the viaduct might be better in terms of either loading, or covering the drainage pit accesses which run down the centre of the deck. This argument has been made a number of times, and they're not unreasonable points in themselves, but there are just as many if not more reasons to keep it down the middle.

Secondly, the engineering solution adopted to address the parapet walls from falling off is inclined steel cables that tie the parapets to the new concrete deck. Because this impedes on the usable width of the viaduct, it effectively rules out double tracking in the future. A bit of soul-searching was required when making the decision, but other options to preserve the full width either didn't have satisfactory integrity or were ruinously expensive.

You can just about make out the steel ties in this aerial shot below from GWSR social media:



Seeing as it's not featured too highly here, here's an earlier progress shot from the heritage blog showing the partially complete new concrete deck, the steel hoops for the cables to tie on to, and the newly grouted join between the parapet and the rest of the structure:



This additional work has almost doubled the predicted cost of this winter's work, which was originally expected to be just the new concrete deck for waterproofing, so any donations would be gratefully appreciated - there's still more repairs to go after this https://www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/stanway-viaduct-appeal

 

7820 'Dinmore Manor' in charge of services over the first weekend of the GWSR's 2024 operating season.

 

Just seen a video on the GWSR Facebook page, showing a drone (I think?) passing across Stanway Viaduct following the structural work undertaken. Wasn't expecting the work to be concluded in what feels like a short period of time, so fantastic work by all involved.

 

What is likely to be the same video is also on the Heritage Herald blog:
https://haylesabbeyhalt.blogspot.com/2024/03/completing-block-wall.html
Paul is the author, and owner of the drone.

 

Yes we'll be re-opening to Broadway ahead of schedule, on Good Friday, pretty much exactly 6 years after we first re-opened to Broadway. Initially mid-late April was the expected date once the additional works had been accounted for, so the team have done remarkably well. Still plenty more money to be swallowed up on future viaduct works though, and the appeal remains open https://www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/stanway-viaduct-appeal

 

Excellent stuff!
When's the next two CFoS visitors being announced?

 

I would imagine each will be announced when the required agreements and paperwork for the visits have been completed to the satisfaction of all parties involved

 

I'm looking forward to a day on the railway tomorrow, travelling on the steam service of course. Apparently there's a new cafe at Toddington so I'll also be seeing what that's like. I used to love my lunches at the Flag & Whistle so the new one has some big boots to fill!

 

The main difference is that it has a bar now, with comfy seats.

 

Putting my catering hat on, I read this menu as designed for speed of service and being a small lunch rather than something that takes a decent amount of time to cook like a full breakfast if its all done fresh. It also looks to pitched towards being staffed with kitchen staff with less experience but is also open longer hours. Looks like Flag and Whistle was constantly looking for staff which puts pressure on current service levels. Better to streamline it and make life easier for staff and customers. The lack of a soup and breakfast roll deal though is lamentable.

 

A gleaming 7820 waiting at Toddington for the 1120 departure.

 

Pasties. Sandwiches, Paninis

 

Enjoyable day with Dinmore Manor today, running on time throughout.

New cafe is operated directly by the railway now, rather than being a third party company. The service is undoubtedly much better than it used to be, but I felt the menu didn't have the variety of choices that the Flag & Whistle had. Plus they've removed around 1/4 of the seating area and replaced it with a swanky lounge and bar area (which was closed today), so there isn't the amount of seating that there used to be.

Anyway, will be back in the near future once Broadway trains are back up and running,