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2 Storms in 2 Weeks for the Saturday team!

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With the re-lay of Winchcombe north end completed, the department turned to other work which needs to be completed during the closed season. With no trains running north of Toddington, the Saturday team have been taking full advantage of this and on Saturday 23rd November , in full view of Storm Bert, five hardy souls signed in, and after tea and cakes (compulsory, in case this wasn't made clear!), loaded up the vans to take 5 concrete sleepers to Broadway. Entering via the incline access track at the car park just south of the station, they dropped off the replacement Pandrol F27 and F19 SHC sleepers where the track walkers had identified existing sleepers which had become broken (or they might have been broken when they were put in during the push to get to Broadway, who knows).  The following photos are courtesy of Jo R: As there wasn't much else to do due to the storm closing in and wind speeds increasing, the opportunity was taken, whilst we had an empty van and a telehand...
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The day Colas came to volunteer!

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Having hosted a team from Colas back in 2023 where they came to construct a 'natural playground', we were approached once again by the multi-million pound track services business with a request for more of their staff to spend a day working with a charity as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility policy. Again, what better place for this team of tamper operators to spend their time so wisely than on our heritage railway! After initial discussions were had about team size and possible dates, we turned once again to the Winchcombe Station Maintenance Department to see if they had any further projects they might require assistance with. A small number of suggestions came forward but the best one, which we felt would give the Colas staff a feeling of appreciation, was the re-stoning of the roadway round the Usk Hut as we wish to encourage the public to visit this as part of their day out. This suggestion came from Margaret Lloyd - a member of the WSMD and also one of our P-w...
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Location: Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54, UK
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Our winter 2024 has officially started with Winchcombe north re-sleepering!

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What better way to start this blog than at the beginning of our 2024 winter work schedule! We h ave quite a few tasks planned for the next five months when train services are sparse or non-existent, so we aim to make the post of this valuable track access time. We started on  Saturday 2nd November 2024  with a possession  of the north end of Winchcombe station. With the last of the standard timetabled trains running on Thursday 31st October, and with a whole-line possession in place thanks to Michael Bell from the Signalman's department, the Saturday team leapt into action to unkey the rails, remove the track circuit bonds and unbolt/remove the fishplates, our RRV 'Stevie' was fired up and was soon put to work lifting out the rails and placing them out of the way. Next, using the bullhead sleeper lifting chains, the sleepers were lifted one-by-one and stacked on the RRV trailer, only to be removed once full by the telehandler. Once all the sleepers were removed - the...
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Location: Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54, UK
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