January 2020

Churchward House Progress Report

So the Christmas Break has come and gone, but the clock has continued to tick down to the GWSR “house moving” day at the end of January. It is now getting very close!

Starting with decoration progress, we are now ready to apply the final coat of paint to the woodwork in the hall, stairs and first floor landing areas. The Directors’ Office is also ready for top coating. Apart from some snagging items this will then complete our painting work prior to the move, apart from the doors!!

Colin M working on the skirting boards

Roger, Austen and Colin painting their way up the staircase

 

Mike M painting the reception door

The doors have been a nightmare. In my last report I recorded that all the existing doors would have to be removed, a narrow strip made in three of the narrow faces, and an intumescent strip glued into this channel. Well this task has now been completed, the doors re-hung and repainting as necessary is well advanced. A start has also been made to fit the escutcheon plates.

Escutcheon plates fitted to door handles

Close up of a fitted fire resistant
 intumescent strip

Close up of a fitted fire and smoke
resistant intumescent strip

John W finishing off the painting

The five new doors finally arrived after Christmas. The three internal ones, have had their intumescent strips fitted, have been hung, primed, and are currently being undercoated. The new back door, which came as a solid door, has been modified to take a glass panel recovered from one of the old doors.  

This door will have an external push button coded door handle with a push pad on the inside. Another tricky job to execute, but Barrie has managed to get this to work and trial fitted the door. It is now back with the painters as is the second external door.  

Barrie in the workshop - Currently the centre for door modifications

Steve our friendly electrician, has fitted new emergency light units along the fire escape routes in the corridors and the entrance hall.  These latter ones are state of the art led ones, and certainly a big improvement in terms of illumination, when compared with the ones we inherited.  Unfortunately the new light units are smaller than the ones taken out, so we still have some touching up to do.

Steve the electrician at work on the electrics

  

All the sockets for the computers and telephone points have been installed.  Unfortunately the contractor doing this work managed to damage the mains wiring in the process, so more work for Steve and indeed ourselves, making good afterwards.

The security system contractor has been on site now for three days running cables, fitting various sensors, and keypads, as well as a very complicated looking control box. Probably another day will see the system ready for commissioning.

Our new high-tech security system being installed 

  

The Fire Alarm contractor commenced fitting the fire alarm system on Friday 24^th and should complete within a couple of days.

New carpet tiles in all the offices as well as new linoleum on the stairs and first floor landing is scheduled for the 29^th and 30^th of January. We have started to take up the old tiles but this leaves a sticky mess, so we are trying to do this at the last minute.

Roger removing carpet tiles in the Meeting Room

Furniture is booked to be delivered on the 3^rd of February and if all goes to plan staff will move in the following day.  Hopefully in my next report I will be able to confirm this move took place successfully.  Keep your fingers crossed!!

Jim H.

Toddington Kerbs and Paving Scheme

Zone 1 of the scheme was completed on time and fenced off so that visitors to the Santa Specials could use the north pedestrian gate. Throughout December C&M continued to work on Zone 2 on Wednesdays but had to reinstate the fencing at the end of each days work.

With the last complex slab cuts finished just after the Christmas break all fencing has now been removed to the area around the north gate. A new drainage area has been created between the paving and the garden using ornamental gravel to tidy up the area under the spear fencing.

The finished Zones 1 & 2 at the north gate

The new drainage area under the spear fencing

Ornamental pebble drainage

Now the focus has turned to Zones 3 and 4. Part of the kerbing has been removed and relaid at the rear of the station building. This Photo shows the C&M team in action lifting the old kerbs and preparing the road edge for the new ones.

The team in action replacing the old low kerbs with higher ones

Once the channel was clear work began on setting out the complex levels and slopes to create the new disabled ramp for the south gate.

The new south gate disabled access ramp and kerbs

Getting the levels and slope right is a complex exercise

Once the ramp was in place work started on ripping up the old paved area that runs from the road to the south pedestrian gate. This had virtually no fall and led to ponding after every rainstorm. In addition heavy storms caused storm water to run down the path and onto the platform. The new kerbing will prevent this happening and the new path will have a decent fall and a new ACO drain installed under the gate.

Here the team are hard at work lifting all the old slabs and the brick paviors to the side of the new path.

Removing the old path slabs

And preparing for a wider and better draining path to replace it

Good progress as of Wednesday 22nd January

The target is to get this area replaced by the end of February so that we are ready for the races specials in March.

In the meantime there are lots of other activities going on in C&M such as overseeing the Winchcombe West Yard platform construction being built by the Heritage Team, The new running-in boards being made by Bruce and the wordworking team, as well as a number of maintenance activities around the railway.

Head of the Department Dave B is now overseeing a phased program of electrical testing by our specialist contractors at all the main station facilities.

And lastly the Projects Director has a string of new projects he wants C&M to undertake in in the coming year, so we are going to be very, very, busy this year.

If you want to come and help us join up and get in touch with Dave our Head of Department. If you have specialist skills, or are a competent DIY'er we are are always on the lookout for new volunteers to join the team.

That's all for now - Rob W