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GWSR Broadway Developments

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Breva, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    Good god, that is pretty damned close! I had no idea you could get one that near. I did approach a slate mine in Wales to make up the missing bits, and make a copy for the waiting room, but after initial contact they stopped answering emails. I'd be happy with that one for the cafe, it's the right shape, and not too ornamented. It would need a suitable grate too, that would cost extra. We'd need a good £2000 I'd say.

    If other people come forward with offers to fund it, I am willing to put the question to the Broadway gang. I will also contribute, but we need their buy in.
    Pm me if able to help.
     
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  2. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Can I humbly suggest that these things might be better dealt with *after* services have commenced to Broadway? A lot of the pressure will be off by then and there will be more time to focus on the detail (and as a railway modeller I do appreciate the detail!)
     
  3. Andy B

    Andy B Member

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    This is what’s crazy about the Gwsr and it maddens me at times how often we end up redoing a job when there was something in exhistance already. As a member of the locomotive dept, we had our annual meeting on Saturday where we go over the previous year, but we also had a look at where we are now and the year to come. The plc finance director stood up and the pick of the facts were the following. We now have approx 950 volunteers with work permits and still only 5 full time staff. That the railway has spent nearly £3 million in the past 5 years on the broadway extension and that we have a healthy bank balance with which to tackle capitol projects for 2018, including continuing work on broadway station, a new (very welcome) facilities block for the motive power depot at toddington and a carriage shed at winchcombe (no details given). Other good news was that Coach party bookings are up 33% on the same time last year (and that was a record) Hopefully we are slowly moving towards a better understanding of what we can achieve with our volunteers and the support of the wider enthusiast network.
     
  4. Kempenfelt 82e

    Kempenfelt 82e New Member

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    I have to disagree with you FS123 on this occasion I'm afraid. You need to tackle these details whilst you have all the support and conditions to get the project complete. As soon as Broadway is open, then interests will move on to the next project and it becomes that much harder to finish off the last outstanding details. You'll also find that once the building is open, that it will be much harder to commence and complete any jobs such as a fireplace installation/replacement because the operations manager will resist any building work happening in a building that is now open to the public. So you'll then have the problem of balancing availability against retaining an enthusiastic volunteer who isn't allow to actually start work several months.

    P
     
  5. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Come on now. If this argument held water, Tan-y-Grisiau would still be unfinished 40 years after re-opening.

    Whazzat? ..... Oh .... right!
     
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  6. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Fair enough, there are arguments for and against; and I'm neither contributing money or time towards the actual station! (Just doing my bit to make sure we've got enough coaches to run trains there)
     
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  7. ianh

    ianh Member

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    Jo, message sent, Shame you didnt have the old bits to PX for a new replacment...
     
  8. FearOfManchester

    FearOfManchester Member

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    Glad I could stimulate a good debate on here, when the fireplace info caught my eye on the Flickr photos I knew people on here would be interested to know about it, as we all were when the news came to light last year about the chimney/canopy debacles. I just couldn't believe that such an object as a slate fireplace was destroyed, during renovating my house and the need to get a period slate surround it struck me just how difficult they are to find, being that we are a nation that has an overabundance of the stuff as a natural resource and that we once had a thriving slate industry they are very rare, most slate quarrying in the UK these days goes towards aggregate and chipping, even roof tiles mostly come from Brazil slate (the quality of which is very questionable), in the end I settled for a slate hearth slab and a marble surround (marble annoyingly being a ten a penny material compared to slate even though it is from the continent and further afield rather than here.

    It is good that people have actually found some for sale that resemble the original, if a fireplace hasn't been decided on already, then maybe there is time to put right some wrongs. For the grill and metal bits, reclamation yards are a good place to start, casting them would be a little more difficult as well as costly.
     
  9. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Count me in, but can we also choose a suitable penance for the vandal, if that person can be identified?
     
  10. Monkey Magic

    Monkey Magic Part of the furniture

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    Maybe I am missing something here but can someone fill me in on how the slate work came to be smashed up? Is it a case of they were destroyed by accident (someone didn't realise their value?), was it deliberate? was there any announcement of the intention or was it done without warning (so no one who could have argued for keeping them. It shocks me when you think about how we are supposed to be involved in preservation that it doesn't seem to extend to things like building interiors.
     
  11. Sawdust

    Sawdust Member

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    I've sadly seen equally valuable stored items, smashed or thrown away because other volunteers who don't have the knowledge to recognise the items as important or worth anything.

    Good management and supervision is essential. Maybe one or two more clued up people on the payroll is what is needed now as the Railway grows?

    Sawdust.
     
  12. nigelss

    nigelss Member

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    I follow the station and extension blogs closely and I never fail to be impressed by the amazing job being done by the volunteers. The station canopy and metalwork look wonderful as seen from below, standing on the platform. One thing I just cannot understand is the need to stick the maintenance facility shipping container at the north end of platform one where it will get in the way of any shots looking up the line towards Broadway. It might end up being shielded by a tasteful surround (ahem) but that doesn't alter the fact it will still be in the way. Is it going to be a permanent feature or is it a stopgap measure?
     
  13. FearOfManchester

    FearOfManchester Member

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    It's been discussed before, one thing I've noticed is that if we forumites are aware of something, then the volunteers are aware of it too, things tend to get universally noticed by like minded, heritage focused individuals, I'm sure there's a solution in the pipeline, one thing I think should be addressed in the future (I've mentioned it previously) is the headshunt cutting sides, they need the weeds/root systems/top soil taken out and reseeded with wildflower or something to that effect, it will mean the resident strimmer man will have an easier time of it, perhaps installing a beehive along there somewhere to help maintain the wildflowers. That headshunt will be very photogenic on a nice summers day, mark my words on a nice day there will be lots of people scrambling to the platform end to get a snap of a loco in the headshunt.
     
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  14. Kinghambranch

    Kinghambranch Well-Known Member

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    I don't know about the beehive but, as far as I'm aware, the cutting sides will be maintained as far as possible in strimmed condition with any remaining scrub and weeds eradicated. Keeping a cutting (or embankment) looking good is difficult but of course, years ago, a significant number of railway workers were employed to do just that, including controlled burning of the dry vegetation. In places on the Railway where clearance has already been done (and in several cases re-done) leads to wild flowers germinating almost immediately; the dormant power of Mother Nature! Looking at images taken less than 2 years ago at Broadway shows the tremendous progress in keeping scrub and thorns in check. It's a never-ending battle of course.
     
  15. Kinghambranch

    Kinghambranch Well-Known Member

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    I remember one of my bosses saying, when a contentious subject arose, "If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question." I have no idea how or why these 2 artefacts ended up as rubble but they did so I guess it might be better to take a hit but to take steps to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. If this event has made everyone sit up and think, "could this happen again and what can we do to prevent it?" then at least something positive will have come out of it.
     
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  16. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    The bees and other insects will find wild flowers if they are present. The comment about wild flowers in the quoted post could also refer to motorways and other recent constructions. It is good that these places exist as so many areas in towns and front gardens are becoming sterile having been paved or tarmacked for car parking. There is currently a campaign for people to report what bird life is seen on their property. BBC tv showed a garden this morning in Cambridge (or Cambridgeshire) in which there was a noticeable lack of plants or bushes. The only perches available were a metal stand which has metal feeders attached. Birds do not freely mix with other breeds of birds so ideally alternative feeding areas - preferably natural - are a necessity if you are to encourage birds to feed in your garden.
     
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  17. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Really? On our feeders you can quite easily have a few of any of great tits, blue tits, coal tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches and robins all happily munching on seeds. The only thing that seems to frighten everything else off (other than something like a sparrowhawk!) is when a nuthatch occasionally comes along.
     
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  18. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    I did write "not freely mix", which is not the same as "never or do not". All the birds you mention are small but pigeons, magpies and other larger birds do tend to frighten smaller ones away. I have well over fourteen types in various parts of the gardens here and they usually await their opportunity at bird tables. Rambler roses and some large bushes are usually the preserve of smaller birds anyway.
     
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  19. Ploughman

    Ploughman Part of the furniture

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    3 feeders within about 2 feet of each other.
    Birds as above but add in Pigeons, Ring Necks, Blackbirds and the odd Squirrel all mix together.

    A large Sack of Sunflower hearts does not last long.
     
  20. Breva

    Breva Well-Known Member

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    I've had several offers of help, but we are only half way. The fireplace is not currently on their radar as they are focused on getting a minimum standard for opening, but our offer will be tabled at their next committee meeting, so the idea comes at a good time.

    However, if we can raise only half the amount then we look a bit half hearted. No money yet, but is there anyone else here who would like to make a contribution in the form of a pledge? £1100 would secure the slate fireplace surround; I reckon say another £500 a grate to go with it (rough estimate).

    To encourage you a bit, here is a picture of original granite kerbs being laid today:

    IMG_20180127_150458126.jpg
    These kerbs were partly found at Broadway and rescued, and partly from a similar pile found at Toddington. A budget was agreed to purchase a balance from a reclamation yard to complete the run along the front of the building. The pavement will be slabbed with 3x2s as in the past. An improvement on the first draft: concrete and tarmac! New project management is much more sympathetic to heritage.
    In the RH corner you can just make out an original cast iron modesty screen post. This was discovered on site in the buried ruins of the P2 waiting room foundations, dug out in two halves, welded back together and will now be used on the end of the P1 building.
     

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