GWR – Permanent Way Progress - September 2007

September started with the gang continuing to work on the new pointwork which is being constructed just north of Toddington as part of the re-modelling in connection with the opening of the extension to Broadway. The crossing nose was lined up and bolted into position on the crossing timbers. One of the two closure rails was laid in position as well, but it was discovered that the actual rail was bent so was removed and will be either cut into a smaller length for re-use in one of the sidings, or sold for scrap.

On the second weekend of the month, the gang were back to bolt the straight-road check rail into position. Further crossing timbers were laid out (and plenty are needed for this long 1-in-15 turnout) and baseplates for the stock rails and switches were laid out in their appropriate positions.

The 15th of September was the date of the Steam Gala. Our GW-liveried tool box vans were borrowed to form part of the demonstration freight. Only a small gang was in attendance on this day, so with the limited tools we had available, we worked at Winchcombe attending to some repairs to a buffer stop in the middle siding on the P-way side of the running line and we also attended to a set of points in the Carriage and Wagon sidings which needed slight re-gauging. Hopefully a few less hair-raising moments for Phil Salter in the future during one of his many shunts!

With our tool vans back where they belonged – in the P-way train, work continued on the turnout at Toddington for the final two weekends of September where once again we have now had to stop work there whilst we wait for the appropriate pair of switches to arrive, which we hope will be soon!

Midweek – Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 September – a small gang met at Dibrook Two with the aim of removing the dangerous twist that had appeared in the track formation near the bridge. The inside rail of the curve was raised to it’s correct level and packed with new ballast, then the outside rail was lifted to it correct level (19mm higher than the inside rail to give the correct amount of cant for 25mph running) and again, this was packed with ballast. At the end, two Dogfish loads of new ballast were dropped and Sharked making the area a lot safer now for trains. We need to re-visit the site in the near future to sort out the formation problem which will probably happen over the closed season when we can get a line possession and do the work on the weekend rather than midweek.