Hayles update

Just a short update to say that preparations continue behind the scenes in order to make a start on the platform wall.

The delay experienced was caused by sourcing issues (which supplier is the cheapest) but has now been resolved in favour of the original intended supplier, who has quoted a very attractive price indeed. We hope to have a delivery shortly. There is also a secure container on site. A source for a mixer and two barrows has also been found. So it looks as if we should be able to start work as soon as we have the materials.

We reported earlier that a member has offered a GWR corrugated iron shelter of the same type as originally at Hayles Abbey halt. We reported that this came from Fosse Cross, but the kind donor has now pointed out that he has two such shelters in his garden (who knew?) and while he did indeed recently recover one from Fosse Cross, it is the other one from Usk that we are getting. Arthur 'two sheds' Jackson springs to mind....

Your blogger was able to inspect both for our readers. The Usk one is 100% GWR and has an angle iron frame. The Fosse Cross example is also clad in corrugated iron, but has a wooden frame, being M&SWJR. Therein lie the subtle differences. No stone is left unturned to make Hayles Abbey halt as real as possible!

On the B&S side the gang has certainly not sat on its hands, but the issue here is the finding of people able to photograph the activity. Ideally we would like to report weekly, but this has not proved possible in practice due to the absence of photographs. We hope to make a new report next week though.

In the meantime, you might enjoy these two photographs of P&O, taken during one of the test runs on a non-running day:

Emptying the ash pan at Toddington, prior to departure for Laverton.

P&O passes under the road bridge at Stanton on a test run to verify the speedometer