Slagstone

The B&S gang have been out and about, with several jobs going on at once. The job on the porch at the Toddington offices is still work in progress, due to some modifications required and added extras that appear on the list.

The pipe that is being relocated in the yard at Winchcombe has no stop tap, it has been discovered! Cut through it, and you have to turn off the main tap for the whole yard site. A new stop tap specially for this extension will now be manufactured, and with it a new chamber to access it. Things are never a simple as they seem, are they?

A lot of hard work has been devoted to the slagstone wall at CRC. You may recall that the slope above it has been relieved of excess weight on it, while there has also been a fall of the slagstone down the approach path, and at the bottom.

This is the situation when work started - the decorative wall has fallen over at this point, and the area was cordoned off.

Pete and the gang took the wall to pieces and slowly rebuilt it again on this corner (not all of it came down).

You can imagine that the work is quite onerous, as the individual stones are heavy, and they have to be lifted into place one by one.

A number were secured with mortar, although this was not the case originally, and it should be more secure in this way.

It was agreed that so far, the works on the slope have been successful, and it seems to be stable now. That's a relief then.

A bit further up the approach path another area was also addressed. The wall along the path is now done.

The footbridge at Winchcombe saw an accidental fall the other day. It's a bit ironic, but Pat put on a patch of non slip surface at the top, and then someone trips on the steps a bit further along.

The bridge itself is not to blame, but to be on the safe side it was decided to paint the steps with a non slip surface as well. This stands out quite brightly as the colour is yellow






Also at Winchcombe there is likely to be a major roof repair on the booking office, following reports of water running down the walls in more than one place. On inspection there are some tears in the roof covering, so watch this space for further reports of corrective action being undertaken here.



The Elf centre is going to be used for one final turn this Christmas, before replacement by a new building, whose design is based on the former goods shed at Ashburton.

Pending its replacement next year, the B&S gang is going to spruce up the Elf Centre one more time, for its final Christmas before its departure to a new home elsewhere.

Hayles Abbey Halt.

No progress this time - have we run out of sausages? No, almost as bad, we have run out of blocks, cement and sand. More supplies were ordered two weeks ago, but the earliest time we can expect them is next Tuesday. No work on Monday either therefore, but possibly a week today.

The puzzle posed last week about a bullet shaped object found in the clay was solved by a blog reader - see the comments to the previous posting. Well done, blog readers ! You are all highly intelligent.