Words by J. Penny. Photographs taken by S. Alford and J. Penny The day dawned bright and surprisingly mild for the time of year on Sunday 16th. Your writer was excused from home despite it being his wife's birthday (Lynne, the ticket lady) and I joined the gang just as John Gartell finished cutting the stumps of the trees at Tower View. Clearly there was going to be a mega-bonfire, and after tea (and Sheila's lovely cheese and bacon scones) we headed back up to our present Northern terminus. Some worm-ridden old beer crates (complete with the legend 'Manns' being still visible) were used to get things going and a great deal of small branches and foliage went up in flames. Many large logs still await collection by train, although that will have to wait until the replacement signal at Pinesway has been concreted, by virtue of the fact that the temporary supports are in the way of the trains. A torrential downpour after lunch, complete with one massive thunder clap delayed our return in the afternoon, but to our surprise, the fire was still going when went to rake the remainder of the wood onto it. C.J. and I then fitted the covers over the contacts that adorn the Up Advanced Branch Starter at Pinesway, and Up Home (No. 2) and Loop (No. 5) at Common Lane. Although made of plywood, these have been thoroughly doused with preservative and stain, and should last longer than the last ones, which were of similar construction, and they themselves lasting about 20 years... As light faded, the kettle called, and anyway; I had a party to go to! [View the slideshow below which contains photographs from Sunday's Work Day.]
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Words and Pictures by S. Alford This morning, (09/12/12) started off looking not very promising. It was grey and looked as though any minute it was about to tip with rain – luckily it held off for the whole day. Around 09:45 the days’ gang had arrived, consisting of Myself, CJ, Chandler, Charlie, Mike B & Mike L, Dave, Bert and Steve; not forgetting Shelia and Graham. It was decided that on the menu today would be tree cutting at Tower View. (And believe me – it needed doing) After a cuppa and some delicious toasted sandwiches and cakes made by Sheila, we set off for the newest of the GLR Stations, with Steve heading over to the shop to work on the Model Railway. It was quite chilly and windy up at Tower View and there was a lot of work to be done. First of all, Mike B and CJ along with Bert tackled the main clump of trees that were overhanging the bridge, or what is now the station at Tower View. Myself Chandler and Charlie were in charge of sawing up the branches that the gang felled and then to place them onto a heap for a fire – (a fire which never did actually happen due to the fact that it wouldn’t burn!). From the pictures below (apologies for low definition), you can see that the work was beginning to pay off as the ground started to look a lot clearer and you could also get a better view of the stream. After lunch, we trudged back up to Tower View and carried on with the rest of the work for the afternoon. Around 3pm the space had been completely transformed –it is now open and “spacious” and also allows a lot more light into the station itself. Seeing as the fire wouldn’t burn, we built two big mounds of debris that we will light at a later date when it is a bit dryer. A good days’ work was accomplished – and it was fair to say that we were all pretty knackered after all the sawing and chopping! No doubt there will be more next week, though… CJ and Mike saw through one of the toughest trees we had to face today. The tree was half dead, and was covered in ivy The huge heap of debris ready to burn after tree felling was complete A view from the end of Tower View – it now looks a lot clearer
and lighter, and a lot neater too. Words by J.Penny. Images Copyright (c) J. Penny The Thursday team certainly had a cold day this week. However, a bit of brisk work kept us on the go, and it was not so bad for us as it was for Graham Mitchell who was on duty as car park attendant, not for the railway but for the Dorset Vintage and Classic Auctions event. (Check them out at www.dvca.co.uk) I brought my neighbour Barry who was interested in taking a look with view to being a volunteer. Apart from showing him around, we fitted the slide-out panel on the back-board at Common Lane in the morning. The afternoon was mainly taken with tidying the ballast on the extension to Tower View and generally checking all the fittings. It is quite surprising how the track now seems to have always been there, the inclement weather having a part of that I'm sure. Surprising also, that some more ballast will be needed to make up for where it has settled. Ian, C.J. and Keith were engaged on the reconstruction of a couple signal platforms. The one at the top of the bank at Pinesway - the Branch Down Home, needed complete reconstruction as it had rotted away, and the Common Lane Up Outer Home (No.1, situated at the Lake Level Crossing, on the entrance to the car park) needed a safety rail. The replacement of the sill at C.L. 'box has to wait for the time being as the wood has not arrived yet for this job. Sheila was busy working in the Pines Buffet, and it was good to see the Pines doing a roaring trade from those attending the auction. She popped over to the GLR staff mess with a very welcome bacon roll for each of us in the afternoon where needless to say there was copious amount of scalding hot tea consumed to wash it down. We're railwaymen, after all! Ian at work drilling the new handrail for C.L. no.1. Just after this was taken, he decided that the pillar drill would be a lot easier to use for the job. (It was) C.J. tries to convince Keith that this is the wood destined for a signal, and not an overgrown game of Jenga. John 'Bertie' Penny shows off the reconstructed sliding panel
for the internal phone directory and P.A. sample scripts. Words and Photographs by J. Penny. Photographs Copyright (C) J. Penny. The weather for Sunday 2nd December looked quite promising for the time of year and despite it being dark and drizzly by 4 p.m. we were able to get a good few jobs done. By the time James and I arrived C.J. had already got the new contact box covers on and reassembled the Common Lane signal box board with the frame, another reconstruction job beautifully done by Ian Matthews recently and painted in the proper green by C.J. I had spent some time under the 'box there doing some measuring up for a redesign of the locking, as we will hopefully soon be altering some of the signals on the bracket approaching the station throat here. There will however, be no extra signals, which some find disappointing (no names...!) Meanwhile, C.J., James, Chandler and Charlie were busy enlarging the hole for concrete at the Pinesway Down Main Outer Home. This took up quite a bit of time and effort and even now it does need some more spoil removed, but with the embankment now about 150 years old and compacted stone and clay, it's hard work getting into it. This also involved a few 'spoil trains' to an appropriate spot down the line. Before lunch (which in itself involved copious amounts of cakes from the skilled hands of Sheila Mitchell) we erected the scaffolding tower in front of Common Lane 'box, as the right hand window (viewed from the front) is rotted out, and this week weather permitting, Ian is going to completely remove the window and replace any rotten wood. 'You the man' as one might say. The afternoon was taken up by a little more digging and some tree felling at Sally Lovells crossing followed by the inevitable bonfire. Probably it best if this part is left to the imagination... Charlie takes a look at the pipe that was the cause of last weeks blockage. Work in progress getting shot of dead wood.
Words by J.Penny Despite the hideous weather on the Saturday, Sunday 25th November turned out to be quite pleasant, with the rain only coming in later that day. A good crowd of regulars set-to on various tasks, the most significant of which was getting the Pinesway Down Main Outer Home 'planted'. It was back to the 19th Century as it was muscle power that did the job, aided by mechanical advantages such as the ever-dependable power of leverage. That done we decided that as it was too wet to use the Merlo Telehandler in the sodden field to put the Pinesway Up Branch Advanced Starter in a more upright position, so we would again use man-power. Digging out one side, pulling it with an attached rope, then digging in stones on the other side the job was soon done, and in fact it needed to be pulled in two directions, although on the second part of the operation we used a bit of hydraulic power, thanks to some strong rope and No. 5. How long have we promised ourselves we would 'get round to it some time soon'? Oh well, perhaps it was part of the 25 year plan... Taking a trip to Park Lane to check out the fences we couldn't help but notice the swimming pool that had appeared just before Sally Lovell's Lane Crossing. This was due to the small diameter pipe that normally drained it into the small stream (now itself a bit of a torrent) becoming blocked. A bit of rodding action soon had that sorted, with Charlie finding out all about how these things work... it was drained soon enough, and Chandler was thus deprived of his chance to do a Tom Daly impression. The Common Lane Yard starter signal arm (the one with ring) had been removed the previous week and repainted, so a few of us set about its replacement, followed by a check and lube of the other signals on the bridge. The tea-pot called, and with C.J. busy preserving and staining the good work done by Ian on Thursday, we had a crack at replacing the clock in No. 5. That turned out to be a failure, unfortunately. With darkness and rain now upon us, we did get both horns working again; two-tones sounding far better when out the line - clearly a more satisfying situation. This time impact maintenance was the only action called for; and there is something very satisfying in the application of that, too, isn't there? The pond formed at Sally Lovell's lane by the blocked pipe James and Mike look for the blockage in the pipe
Words by J. Penny. This post can also be viewed on our Facebook Page. Good day at the GLR today. James drove the 'Big Diesel' No.1 'Amanda' with set 101
(Maroon coaches) and I was signalman/guard for 100 reception-age school children from Milford School in Yeovil, along with about 20 teachers. Wow! 62 on the first train and 60 on the second. A little trouble getting up the bank away from Common Lane due to very wet rail on the first train and generally we were very windswept although the worst of the rain did hold off. One ride was all they wanted; but we were happy to oblige. Kids were well behaved and the teachers charming. The organiser went back with three huge bundles of leaflets and a stack of Visitors Guides. Okay, so they are now out of date, but as NOT ONE of the party had even HEARD of the GLR and as the leaflets are effectively waste paper, the kids will take them home to their parents and tell them how wonderful we are... Another few seeds sown, and our realisation that we need to do even more publicity. (The web-site address is on the leaflet and Facebook is mentioned on the web-site. It's a start!) Meanwhile C.J. and Ian Matthews were busy making some covers for the contacts that are attached to the arms on various signals. These included the bracket signal at Common Lane and the Branch Advanced Starter at Pinesway (picture below)The old ones were made of plywood and ended up being held together with duct tape, latterly there being virtually all tape and no ply. Nevertheless they did last for 20 years or so. It's good to have Ian back in the fold particularly as he is a skilled carpenter and a very nice chap to boot. Ian is now retired from full-time work and was very involved in the early days of the GLR, he also has a vast library of pictures from those times. Some are almost unbelievable... Words by J. Penny Sunday was surprisingly chilly to start but the mist gradually burned off and although we were missing a few of our regulars, a lot got done. There were two huge bonfires, one at the stream under Tower View station and the other at our 'burning place' a couple hundred yards from Park Lane. The day started however with the rotten fence being replaced at Park Lane, adjacent to the metal pedestrian gate (a short piece) and the other side with a longer length. Traditional Southern Railway fence it was too. Mike Lucas recovered all the gradient posts to over-winter them in the shed, and will be refurbishing them if necessary over the coming months. Graham and Sheila were collecting garden waste for the pyromaniacs to deal with and Steve Rodd was working on the model railway, which is beginning to really shape up now. More next week!
The information for the 2013 Model Railway Show has been uploaded onto the Model Railway Show events page. Click here to find out more.
The new website is now Live on the internet, and still under the same address. We hope you enjoy the new site and that you find it useful. If you have any queries or questions then don't hesitate to contact us via the Contact page. Enjoy!
The DVCA and Talisman Railwayana Auction dates at the GLR have been announced - please check these dates by going to our 'Open Days and Events' pages and clicking on 'Other Events' or clicking here. More information about the auctions will be uploaded shortly - hope to see you there!
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Welcome!This blog is updated as soon as anything new happens at the GLR. Please check back often to keep up to date with the progess that we're making with the Railway. PLEASE NOTE THE BLOG IS TEMPORARILY OUT OF USE. WE WILL RESUME BLOG POSTS LATER IN THE YEAR. IN THE MEANTIME PLEASE CHECK FACEBOOK FOR THE LATEST NEWS. THANK YOU.
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