GWSR Broadway Developments

Hopefully the modern drainage and culverts can be saved from your authentic GWR onslaught now that you mention it , I believr a platelayers hut was dismantled along the line to broadway, i recall they were going to restore it, unless I'm mistaken.

 

It was totally beyond repair and all hope. A replacement could be on the cards but wooden sleepers are not as cheap, or plentiful as they once were, I understand.

 

Update. It would seem an embryo Friends of Broadway Group already exists ( Hat tip to Beckford). However it is tucked away on the broadwaystation.co.uk website which I have seldom visited as this has been overshadowed somewhat by the GWSR Broadway and Extension Mega Blogs which attract all the attention these days.

Perhaps these blogs would like to take the concept forward as it would reach more people.

 

I completely agree with the thinking to have buildings full authentic but it is worth pointing out that the Winchcombe station and Signal box are this way because they are both original buildings that were moved and re erected. The station came from Monmouth troy and I believe the signal box was originally at Hall green in Birmingham so they were starting with something that was already there giving authentic materials etc. You could argue that the Monmouth Troy building is totally different to the original Winchcombe station.

When the Cheltenham extension was built, there was no building to move so I believe the Buildings department just put up buildings that I guess could be afforded with resources at the time. The argument for the non authentic signal box was because they were worried it was in a location prone to vandals.

I see on this website there is the original drawings for the waiting rooms at Cheltenham racecourse so if in future they decide to replace with something more authentic then at least they have the drawings for the originals, See at the bottom of this link to download them.

https://crcsmagazine.com/the-introduction-of-the-cheltenham-race-course-station-1912/

As there is nothing yet on platform 2 at racecourse maybe when Broadway is complete the volunteers could build a new waiting room for that side to the original drawings.

 

comming soon to a local Auction ....

Screen Shot 2017-11-10 At 23.37.42 by ianh posted Nov 11, 2017 at 9:27 AM

 

Oooh, very nice! BR Western Region period though, not GWR so not appropriate for Broadway. No GWSR stations offer bar facilities as such at present although there are beer festivals from time to time (at Winchcombe ISTR).

 

Does this work like medals, and so it means there are two cafeteria nearby?

Robin

 

This was on another thread, but quoting here as more apposite to Broadway than Lady of Legend:

It's a nice thought. However, I'd suggest not, even were it possible.

Firstly, the extension is going to be draw enough to start with - so why go to additional expense to draw in visitors when it is likely the trains will already be full anyway? Leave the visiting engines for a year or two when things quieten down and you need to create a new "buzz".

More fundamentally: getting to Broadway should be seen as a great achievement for the railway. It has been achieved by the railway itself, using its own means and resources. So in that light, I'm sure it would feel more satisfying to pull off a grand opening gala just using the railway's own capacity - a kind of "look what we can do ourselves when we really pull together". The risk of having visitor - especially a notable one - would be to dilute that special feeling.

Ultimately, you can get a visiting loco in any time, but you can only have your opening day once.

Tom

 

It's perhaps an appropriate day to note that when Major James McCudden went (alone) to Buckingham Palace in March 1918 to receive his VC from King George V, his medal totals included DSO & Bar, MC & Bar and MM. He shunned publicity, despite the British media hunger for such heroic individuals and died after a flying accident in France on 9 July 1918 aged just 23. His tally of 57 enemy aircraft placed him 7th on the list of "aces." He had originally joined the Royal Engineers in 1910. I'll remember him, and many others, today and tomorrow.

 

I guess you'll know I was kidding. 2807 is a most appropriate candidate.

 

And this is exactly the thinking of those who have to do the thinking!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

If Major James McCudden joined the Royal Engineers back in 1910 he would then have transferred to the Balloon Corps which had been an RE Development then transferred again when the Balloon Corps separated out from the RE's and became the Royal Flying Corps.
Ultimately the RFC became the RAF as we know it now.

 

More wonderful pictures from Jo on the Extension Blog http://broadwayextensionblog.blogspot.co.uk/.

The double track is now up to the station buildings themselves which are now free of scaffold.

In a recent interview a top heart surgeon commented that it never ceased to amaze him how a transplanted heart went from an being an inert object to beating all by itself when blood was admitted for the first time.

Would it be fanciful to admit that something similar seems to be happening at Broadway. That as the track moves through the station it ceases to be a building site and starts to take on a life of its own.

 

Its wonderful, isn't it? Like watching Sydney Newton's construction photographs of the GC/ GW main line come to life; Pristine brick and steelwork, gleaming woodwork all yet unsullied by the passage of trains. And the pride in craftsmanship which shines forth both in these photographs and in Newton's.

White platform edgings- anyone know for sure when they were introduced? I always thought they were a product of the Blackout which remained as standard afterwards. or did they come earlier?
I know the platforms at Sheffield Park don't carry white edgings, although those at Horsted Keynes do.

 

Not the case in 1904. Probably a blackout thing, carried on into modern times.

 

IMO, said sullying can't begin soon enough!

Great job and a credit to all who've beavered away to get the line to this fantastic new station. Roll on the 2018 timetable!

 

It's not that it is in the wrong place - it's the business pattern that is the problem.

The cafe is only "busy" for the 30 minutes or so that the train is in the station, and most of the customers are low spend - a cup of tea/coffee and possibly a cake or sandwich.
The cafe has to be staffed ( by employees) for the full day - not just for the times the train is actually there.
These problems are compounded by the fact that the Talyllyn now carries only about 35% of the passengers it did in the early 1970's (the cafe was built in 1969)

 

It's in the wrong place inasmuch as in order to do the business it does an "artificial" pause has to be inserted in the timetable. This may well require the use of an extra set of carriages to compensate for the cumulative delays in the high season.

This sort of problem will not affect Broadway.

PH

 

The "artificial" pause merely replaces a similar pause that would otherwise take place at Nant Gwernol if there were any facilities there. Abergynolwyn is also a crossing place - by implication, trains pause at any crossing place when a crossing is scheduled.

Your comment about an extra set of carriages to compensate for cumulative delays in the high season is utter nonsense. Even in the 1970's peak the railway only ever ran 3 sets of carriages.

 

Where are you going your info on the performance of the café and shop at Aber from? It is not routinely broken out of the shop and catering reports and council meetings are usually taken up discussing No 3 s overhaul or loco liveries. The most recent note I can find in a council report to the AGM suggested it was doing well.