Thursday 1 February 2018

Laying granite kerbs at Broadway


Two centres of activity for the gang today:

Winchcombe




















Ken stayed in the workshop to continue painting primer on the CRC fence panels.  Last week saw one side thus painted on 2 panels.

Mike continued painting primer on the other side of 3 wooden doors which we think are destined for Winchcombe.

In Winchcombe yard a new roadway was being laid in heavy duty concrete. On the left is the S&T coach, and on the right the entrance to C&W.

Broadway

At Broadway the main gang was laying the authentic granite kerb stones. They had been retrieved from Winchcombe and Toddington, and stacked along the drive.

The mini digger was equipped with a special grab - like a pair of sugar tongs - and with this Pete was able to pick up the kerbs one by one and transport them to the site where they were being laid. Up the drive the edging slabs are concrete, with modern tarmac.





At the corner of the building the concrete and tarmac stop, and the footpath becomes more heritage, using granite kerbs and 3x2 slabs for the footpath surface, all along the front of the building.

The kerbs are laid in a trench, on a bed of concrete.

The driveway and forecourt will be tarmaced, but at a later date.





Here is Pete in the mini digger, and with a heavy kerbstone in the grab, a bit further along. He is manoeuvering to ge himself end on to the job, backwards and forwards, while at the same time all sorts of traffic tries to squeeze past behind him.

Gingerly one of the slabs is dropped on to its bed of concrete, while other slabs, dropped earlier and pressure washed clean by Jim, await their turn in the foreground.




At the beginning of the authentic stretch a concrete strip is laid to divide modern tarmac from heritage style 3x2 slabs.

The dropped kerb in the foreground leads to a double gate in the spearhead fencing, as a secondary access point to the platforms.




Mixing in with Pete's manoeuverings in the mini digger and the comings and goings of visitor cars and deliveries is the little Thwaites dumper bringing infill behind the newly laid row of kerbs.

Near the end of the day the row of kerbs was approaching the front door. The 4 windows in the foreground belong to the cafe.



The end of the day shot shows the run of kerbs so far. The channel for them beyond still needs to be dug out, and another delivery of granite kerbs is expected shortly from a reclamation centre.


In the afternoon a pile of new slabs was delivered, seen in the middle here.
 
The Heras fencing has been put back, and the infill spread out to the correct depth, ready for slab laying.

The gang will be back at Broadway to continue on Saturday.   
 
All the heritage style toilet fittings and sanitaryware was delivered during the afternoon, a whole LWB Transit full.  
 
Metal Micky and Phil have offered to go in on Monday and start to fit/plumb it all in to the three toilets in question.  Not in one day though!!

7 comments:

  1. Super photos Jo. Well done B&S! Still a bit squelchy under foot I see. Roll on early spring weather with WARM sunshine to dry the ground. Regards, Paul.

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  2. That will look so good witht the slabs behind. Has the finish for the driveway itself been decided on? There was some discussion as I recall of resin based light stone finish as at Sheffield Park's platforms to give a more heritage look.

    Regards David

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    1. My in-laws had their driveway done with what I guess is a similar material and it looks very good without looking "modern". Tarmac will weather of course but it always looks a bit harsh at first. Nice problems to have I guess considering all the blooming potholes there are on the public roads.

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    2. What Toddington Ted says is very true. Tarmac always weathers to a sort of dark grey after two years or so. And when some more greenery returns to Station Approach, that will look very nice.

      For the platforms, I, too, would go with David's suggestion for the light stone finish used by the Bluebell Railway at Sheffield Park, But of course, there is always the question of expense, and in any case the contract may well already have been let.

      We'll have to wait and see !

      Peter

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  3. That's a question for the station blog. As far as I know it will be modern tarmac.

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  4. Well done with the stone kerbs and the paving, B&S. It looks hard and messy work, but when it's finished, it will give the station building a really fine frontage.

    Did Jo Roesen take the photos ? These photos of the front of the station building are about the best I've seen. Thank you !

    Good luck.

    Peter

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    Replies
    1. Mostly Jim's; I took the one with the dumper on it.

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