There's a whiff in the air - no more.

A mixed bag of activities this time, with several items being addressed at once.

At Winchcombe in the workshop Ian and Bruce were working on refurbishing one of the Winchcombe benches. All the other work took place at Toddington though.

Here chief painter Mike R completed brushing in the kiln dried sand into the gaps where the slabs had been re-laid on P1.  While he was doing that Jim H finished inserting pea gravel in the gap alongside the new Pod footpath.  Unfortunately there are no photos of either activity, the chaps were too busy working.

Martyn fitting the roofing felt

Barrie, Pete and Martyn removed all the temporary tarpaulins and associated materials, scaffold boards and Heras fence feet from the roof of the admin block.  Then Barrie Martyn and Jim H set about gluing and nailing new roofing felt on the top, to make a better and more permanent repair.  

 

Barrie went round the edges screwing on the securing battens.   

 

Another job off the list.

 

 

With the roofing felt on, the admin office looked presentable again.

These Portacabins are getting to the end of their life, and in due course their functions will be transferred to the new office block we are buying in the yard at Winchcombe. That should happen later this year.

Mike, Jim M & Phil fishing for the plastic bag.

 

 

Phil, Jim M, Mike and Pete did a thorough rod and flushing exercise on the new sewer pipes where a bit of a whiff had been detected. 

 

They discovered a plastic bag left in by the contractors, which we think accounted for the backing up of the sewer material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phil flushing the main sewer pipe.

Pod sewer pipe supports completed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just to be sure there are no more smells the new manhole we had to put in has been well and truly sealed in concrete.  Finally improvements were made to the supports for the new sewer pipe connecting all the new Pods.

 

Concreting in the new manhole

The finished manhole

So not a very exciting day, but one which hopefully has finally sorted out both the smells and the leaking roof.

 

A big discussion about an old engine.

 

 

Finally C&M were asked to assist the Friends of Toddington in moving the old engine in the children's play area.  However after some discussion it was decided that this was too far gone and it will be dismantled with possibly just the noughts and crosses being retained.  

 

During the day new furniture was delivered, so watch this space to see how that works out.

The noughts & crosses board.

The little wooden engine now waits in the playground for its fate.

Anyone see the similarity between it and the little Ruston 4 wheeled shunter?

Bridge that gap

Where the recently relaid slabs met the tarmac at Toddington on P1 a small gap was detected between the tarmac and the platform copers.






Roger and Jim H bridged that gap with a small supply of tarmac that they heated with a gas torch.

It's only a small job, but it will stop anyone tripping and falling over the edge. It's not unheard of!

Preparing to completely reset the third slab - John, Pete and Jim.

Then on to Winchcombe, where there has been some movement in the last 3 slabs on P2.

 

Before

After

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These had to be reset.  This involved John cutting a small slot in the tarmac to allow the slabs to be pushed back into position and re grouted.  The last slab had to be completely taken off and reset.

Mike rolling out the lining strip.

Job done!

 

Meanwhile Mike and Austen completed the white lining for the bay platform

The rest of the day was taken up with investigating a nasty smell near the new pods, more clearing up after our activities at Toddington and making 2 deliveries to Broadway. This set them up to start slab laying under the P1 footbridge steps, in readiness for the arrival of the scaffolding to do the roof.

 

Finishing up.

Several jobs were finished on Wednesday.

In a magnificent solo effort, Mike has completed the painting of the Flag & Whistle on the car park side.

It looks like new now.

At Winchcombe behind the workshop the new white Transit was fitted with a secure tool box, as well as a green wheelie bin for the transport of shovels and similar tools.

Also at Winchcombe, Barrie, John and Phil fitted a new and very heavy work surface in the booking office.

Mike and Phil then completed the white line on platform 2 at Winchcombe, just in time for the first trains this season.

Pete and John went to CRC to fill in holes in the tarmac, but that was far away, while the photographer was at Toddington. Well, you can't be everywhere at once.

 

 

At Toddington Jim H and Jim G fitted the barge board to the bottom of the new fence by the new pods. This job can now be declared finished, again ready for the new season.

The two Jims then ran a clear up service, taking spare materials and some rubbish away from the Toddington site to Broadway and Winchcombe.

The tail lift on the Transit was particularly useful here.

And finally, we are pleased to announce that the slab relay on the Toddington platform is now completed. That's another job off the list by the C&M gang.

Here Bob and Terry lay one of the last slabs using the vacuum 'sucker'. What a marvelous machine it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area around the drain at the north end of the station building was the last bit to be finished.

Now there's just a bit of a clean up needed, and some sand to go in the gaps.

Above you can see the complete relay of all the slabbing, under the canopy and by the entrance gate at the north end. It's a fine job done, very neat and level.

Finally, here is the proud slabbing gang, except for Mike, who was at Broadway.

From L to R :

Paul, Clive, Rod, Bob, Keith and Terry.

Paul's usual cup of coffee must be in his left hand, we can't see it?