GWSR Broadway Developments

There is a similar question on the Broadway Station Group blog : http://broadwaystationgroup.blogspot.co.uk/. so would suggest watching for a response on the blog, as this blog will be watched by the bricklayers working there and John Crawford who did the design work and ordered the bricks,, so that's probably where you will find the answer to LaurenceE's question

 

I suggest you post this question on the blog, which is read by those who know the answer.

 

The Monday gang was back up to full strength today, with all four brick layers in action.

Work concentrated on the blues at the northern end, which is now ready for the final layer, the plinth headers. The middle section has had little or no work done on it yet, as we put up the northern and southern thirds first.

On the southern gable end a corner was put up in reds, while the SE corner, where the 3 window sills were placed, has had two rows of reds added.

Down in the 'car park' field, a supply of drainage rings was delivered. This is required for the section of track through and north of the station.

 

Looking absolutely amazing, well done to all

 

That particular bond. English bond I think, with with a layer of half bricks crossways looks technically quite challenging. Especially as it is one brick thick. Is it to be backed up with another layer?

 

Building regulations require a cavity wall, so instead of a solid brick wall, there will be an outer brick skin, a cavity, and a block wall inside. The headers are cut in half to simulate a full header.

 

Looking at the first picture, the corner red bricks don't appear to be bull nosed like the ones on the platform side corner, is this the case, or maybe I just have bad eye sight? Also, looking at the second picture of the two lintels, the bricks in-between them appear to have been put in incorrectly do they not? Shouldn't the stretcher be on the bottom and the two headers on the top to match the brick courses on the rest of the building? There also appears to be rather a lot of mortar beneath the lintels to make up the height to match that of the bricks, were the lintels made a bit too short? Sorry to sound critical, that isn't my intention, just some observations I've made.

 

As I said, you really need to make these observations on the station blog, as it is read by those who know and decide.

I can answer the bit about the corners: The platform side corner is bull nosed (see attached) while the road side is square. From my own pictures on file that appears to be authentic, although you have to be careful as Toddington has suffered a lot of changes over time. Hall Green is a good place to visit if you want to see a similar station.

 

I will post my questions on the blog.

I have looked at some of the pictures of Broadway Station building before demolition in the 'Scrapbook' on the broadwaystation.co.uk website, and the road side corners of the building appear to be bull nosed, matching with the bull nosed blues at the bottom of the building, only to become square near the very top of the building, where a small decorative brick leads the bull nosed bricks into the square ones, just beneath where the dagger boards of the canopy meet the building. I have looked at some other examples, Hall Green as you mentioned, Shirley, Henley in Arden, and they all appear to have bull nosed bricks on the road side corners, as well as the platform side corners.

I know Toddington Station has undergone restoration and continual maintenance, but the bull nosed bricks on the road side corners are I believe original, and not later additions.

 

LaurencE, as I see you are a new member and this is only your third post I would advise that I do not think that this is an appropriate place to debate every single brick of the new Broadway Station as it is laid from the point of view of a purist.

It undermines the efforts of the teams of unpaid volunteers who are trying in all weathers to replicate a GWR station building as close as they can using MODERN building methods. So of course there will be compromises, it has a steel frame and cavity walls for instance, so spacings and dimensions will have to change somewhat.

Provided every effort is made to accommodate the architectural vernacular as far as possible, I for one will not be making any criticism or comment.

 

Well said!

I was thinking along similar lines.

I was just waiting for the post saying there was one too many rivets on the new footbridge

 

So you spotted it as well!

 

As I said, I in no way intend to be critical of any of the work that has been done. I am in awe of the amazing achievements of the Broadway volunteers, the work so far has been above and beyond impressive. I had simply made some observations and was curious as to the reasons for the differences I observed. Maybe this is not the place for that, and I apologise if my queries have been inappropriate.

 

The share issue has reached £410,000! That's almost a third of the way there in 3 weeks! A fantastic result

 

Excellent news indeed, link here for those who want to read the blog post. I'd forgotten how long it had taken us to raise the bridges money, and we all thought that went fantastically fast at the time! When even the beancounters are happy you know things are going well, The atmosphere around the railway recently has been fantastic, a great sense of optimism I think from everyone. The sooner we get the money the quicker we'll spend it, the beginning of 2018 is a forecast based on previous predictions, if it goes at this pace it's quite possible we'll get there earlier.

 

I took some photographs from the footbridge centre span today, as there was a spell of sunshine and the chippies were up there starting to install some of the purlins. High, isn't it!

An hour later, as I sat eating my lunch on the 'terrace' outside the cabin, a snowflake fell on my knee. April, eh?

A lot of plinth headers were placed on the northern third of the building today, by the two brick layers present.

 

I'll agree on that bit.

However, on the subject of the sills [cills], I'd expect that they came as a standard dimension and I'd doubt that the mortar line would stand out when viewed from 'finished' level.

 

Share issue up to £427,000 subscribed according to the GWSR Facebook post this morning!

 

£430,000 according to bbc midlands today at 6:30, skip to 20m40s. Excellent bit of publicity!

 

The Monday gang was at work today in hot, sultry weather. Ideal for brick laying !
Five courses of reds were added to the SE facade. The southern half of the building now has 10 courses of reds on it, which made it necessary to start working from scaffolding on milk crate platforms. Soon, real scaffolding will be needed, which will carry a cost. Something like 30 courses of reds will be required in all.

The erection of the scaffolding around the footbridge was also completed today. This will allow the fitting of the fascia boards along the roof hoops. These carry the dagger boards, which are currently being fabricated.