The CRC2 wall is built

The gang once again arrived with a truck full of kit and material for building the wall along the P2 footpath.

Arriving at Cheltenham, this time with two wheelbarrows on board. Seven volunteers were there to unload it all.

Nice concrete roadway to stand on, guys!

There were no fewer than three activities planned for the day. The first was to build the wall along the slope, on top of the foundations laid last week. It's being back filled here.

The front of the new wall is being faced with second hand imperials for a more period look.

At the end of the day, all of the blocks along the back were up, over half of the facing bricks, and here in the foreground a start has been made on topping out with plinth headers. Nice.

The second job of the day was to install a pair of gates, to allow the footpath off the platform to be closed if need be.

A length of fencing was also put up here, all with the intention of affording the masses of alighting passengers a safe and guided passage from one platform to the other.

One gate has already been hung here, while the second is on the way.

This is an overview of the end of the footpath, showing fencing, gates, concrete footpath and roadway in the foreground, all recently installed by the B&S gang.

The third activity of the day was on the mirror image of the path, over on P1.

To begin with, the ground had to be cleared so that a 1.5m wide footpath down from the platform can be built.

Up to now the northern exit from P1 led through a (mostly closed) gate into the race course grounds next door. Transit from one platform to the other was not made easy, least of all by the absence of a properly built pedestrian crossing.

Now it's all coming into shape.

Preparing for a wall

The following week (after the last blog post) the B&S gang returned to CRC to cast the foundations for a retaining wall along the footpath from the new platform 2.

Here they are loading up the truck with the kit and materials at Winchcombe, before setting off for Cheltenham to start the job.

Conrete blocks, cement, wheelbarrows, a mixer, it all has to be shifted down to the far end of the line.

Two guys stayed behind in the workshop to work further on some benches and fence panels.

This is the path that leads off platform 2. It has to skirt round a signal post, hence the 'S' bend. On the left is a higher area on which the CRC2 construction team had their mess room container (happy days eating mini swiss rolls in the sun here!) and this falls away rather sharpish on to the new path below.

Phil strikes water

To address the sharp drop, a retaining wall is being built here. A trench was dug out on the left, and then the mixer was swung into action to fill it with concrete for a base.

Meanwhile, Pete delivered a door to the CRC station group. This will be used in a shelter to be placed at the end of the path here.

Here is the concrete being tipped into the trench.  On the right is the trench, now equipped with the foundation for the wall.
How come the guys are wearing waterproofs, when it seems to be sunny? In fact some heavy showers came down between shots, and they ended they day working in wet clothing. All part of the job.

The end of the day shot. Now you can see that it's been wet. The concrete blocks are stacked neatly on the right. They will be used to build the wall, which will then be faced with bricks and topped off with a row of queen bricks. About two thirds of the trench was filled on the day, one third still to go (and the brick laying!)

Concrete goes in

Due to holidays, a bit of a 'late finish' to this post relating to work on September 6th, but the B&S gang doesn't sit still!

The first job of the day was to remove the two gate posts on the field side, and to rehang the gate so that it opens the other way.
In the foreground is the reinforcement netting in the roadway, which was due to be concreted in later in the day.

A restraining post for the gate was also installed.
Holes were then dug to install longer posts for a pair of gates which will go across the newly laid path off platform 2.
Finally, on the gate post side of the day's business, posts were installed ready for a fence between the gates and the field.

At lunch time the ready mixed concrete lorry arried, leaving the gang a 20 minute window to get it unloaded.
This crossing sees quite a bit of traffic on special days, so a sound base to resist deterioration by the many vehicles is needed here.

The paths left and right have already been finished, so now it's just the middle, with its reinforcement matting, that needs filling in.

With the concrete in, a length of timber is used to level it off.

Minutes later, four and a half cubic metres of concrete are in place, and the B&S gang review the fruits of the labour. Not forgetting Jim, who took the pictures today.

This closing shot at the end of the day shows what was done today. Concrete roadway gone in, gate rehung, posts installed for a gate off the path from the newly rebuilt platform 2. Quite a nice little list of jobs for a day.

More in the next instalment.