Wall completed

The B&S team missed out a Wednesday on the platform extension as the PWay gang was working in the same space. Yesterday they returned with a vengeance and now the platform wall as such is finished! It looks as if it has always been there.

Here the slope is just being completed by Mike, Pat and Pete, and you can also see that the PWay gang has reinstated the platform 1 road, and it has already had a works train over it - the rails are shiny again.

Here is the view looking the other way. Additional corbeling blocks have been brought to site, and in the distance you can see a pile of slabs waiting to go on. Far in the background, the PWay gang has moved on to the middle of platform 2, and at the time of writing the rails are back in but still need clipping up. Good progress here too.

All the corbels along the level section are now in place, ready for the slabs, with brickwork infill in between. The corbels, in fact half concrete sleepers, have been reused from the previous slope, but laid at larger spacings along the level part. It is hoped to put up the remaining corbels, on the new slope, on Saturday.

Bruce examines the mixer - is it ready yet?

The next job at Winchcombe is to compact the infill behind the platform, so that the mini digger can run along it safely. Pete, in the mini digger as an apprentice, will be laying the slabs, under the close supervision of Chris, who is acting as instructor and examiner. Three more apprentices are being trained at Broadway for the mini digger.

This final shot was taken at the end of yesterday and shows the good progress being made at Winchcombe - both platform roads have been relaid, and the platform 1 extension is almost complete. The wall is up, and it has been back filled. In the foreground are the slabs, ex CRC2, that will be laid next.

The start of work at Hayles Abbey is expected next week, and we hope to provide a photograph of the excavations as they take place - watch this space !