GWSR Broadway Developments

Perhaps when the building on Platform two is finished the waiting room could be dedicated to all the Broadway massive who hav been involved.... but the Bitton room does have a certain ring to it... It can not be stressed how much Bills blogs have changed the distribuution of upto date project news and requests for assistance on the GWSR and other UK railways... Breva needs special mention for carrying on the good work on many fronts...

 

I can see both sides, this and the "If you seek his monument, look about you" point made elsewhere.

On the purely factual points, a google image search of "GWR roll of honour" yields plenty of results. Or, alternatively, I found this in STEAM at Swindon a little while ago (apologies for poor quality, lighting wasn't great):



Which could provide some inspiration for something suitable should it be desired.

 

Of course the original railways did have a few memorials, like the list of stationmasters, or to commemorate the war dead.
What we are seeing on the railway today though is that people make a gift to the railway, and demand a plaque in exchange. We are becoming a memorial garden, with the number of plaques rising steadily.
The GWRT felt that this was getting a bit out of hand, and erected a small shelter on P2 at Toddington, where people can affix plaques for loved ones for a donation. It is filling up steadily. I have even found a plaque on a bench at another railway with a picture of the deceased included. That for me goes just too far.

Broadway is not a memorial garden, it is our best shot at recreating a 1904 GWR station. We have proved that we can receive donations without the claim for a plaque. There are modest supporters out there who are content to see their contribution in the fabric of the station, in the proud knowledge that this part of the station is theirs. If you want to see the 'plaque', look about you: 'Si monumentum requiris circumspice'. I certainly don't want a plaque on anything. I am proud to have been (and still be today) a part of it. Seeing the completed station in the evening sun, clean, with all its historical details, that is my reward. I contributed, and there it is, beautiful.

 

Yeah, I can see that being an issue; hadn't thought of that one.

Noel

 

Also, it might be polite and respectful to consider the late Mr Britton's family and relatives as to what they want before putting personal thoughts on line. Broadway Station by itself is a tremendous living memorial to all those who worked there and have passed on and to those who continue to labour on this project (as it is not complete yet by any means). To contrast the site as it was in 1977 with the current facility is quite remarkable.

 

Sadly, unless unless this sort of thing is strictly regulated, places can resemble a garden of rest very quickly indeed. I can recall one location where it happened almost instantly. More offence would be caused if restrictions were imposed at some indeterminate date in the future than from the beginning.


Some form of book of remembrance might be a workable compromise.

 

We had a similar sort of issue on the Bluebell; about eight or nine years ago the decision was made to create a memorial garden at Horsted Keynes for such memorials rather than have them scattered round benches and fences all over the place. I suspect many railways, as they get to be 40 / 50 / 60 years old, will have to consider how they commemorate deceased members in an appropriate way without adorning every flat surface with a brass plaque.

Tom

 

Is there an information board somewhere on Broadway station with a brief account of its history? Visitors should at least be informed that the GWR built a station there, BR closed it and demolished it, and what is there now has been built by volunteers, with financial support from other well-wishers.

 

Yes, we have included in the platform side facade a carved stone tablet which gives the principal dates relating to the station - opened, closed, demolished, rebuilt.

Inside the booking office there are two plaques - one to commemorate the opening, the other from the HRA when we won a prize for the station. While I get the reason for both, I would still rather not have had them in our little jewel of a booking office, but say in the company HQ in Churchward house. I always think to myself, what will the film company say when it want to use that room to film a 1904 scene?

Another plaque that has slipped the net is on a bench on a patch of grass by the kitchen door. That bench is too short, in the wrong colours, has seat ends of the wrong era and a plaque. It was put there by the family of a volunteer who was with the rebuild for, ironically, a short period of time and how it got through escapes me. AFAIK the station group was not consulted. But all the platform benches are clean. We welcome gifts to aid the fitting out and completion of the station, but after consultation as to what and where.

 

Having assisted a number of film companies, (1) memorial plaques on benches are a right nuisance and (2) plaques like the ones in Broadway Office soon disappear behind an enamel sign...

Robin

 

I'm sure a film company props department would soon paint over a a plaque on a bench with a bit of poster paint which would be washed off afterwards! A smaller job than hiding all the ugly double-yellow lines outside the station.

 

Surely with modern digital editing software this sort of thing can be easily removed almost automatically (e.g., click on any part of double yellow line, select 'replace this coloured area with surrounding background colour/texture, track through following frames until end of shot' and done?).
I haven't done any more sophisticated video editing than cutting a clip for length, but I'm pretty sure professional tools can do this sort of thing easily.

 

There are two more blog posts on the Broadway Station Maintenance Team blog showing photos of the station build built in 2015 and 2016, links here:

2015 - https://friendsofbroadwaystation.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-pictorial-history-of-construction-of.html

2016 - https://friendsofbroadwaystation.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-pictorial-history-of-construction-of_17.html

When I looked this morning, you couldn't view all the pictures, although the ones you can't see may be videos.

 

A further blog post of photos of the construction of Broadway station during 2017:

https://friendsofbroadwaystation.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-pictorial-history-of-construction-of_21.html

 

And a further pictorial blog post relating to the activities in 2018:

https://friendsofbroadwaystation.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-pictorial-history-of-construction-of_27.html

 

Despite lockdown a few of us are still managing to do some work from home for the railway, and thanks to @Breva for providing the board with a little bit of work with my sign-writing brushes we can now banish another naff aluminium printed sign in favour of one of these:



Based on an original GWR design, as seen at Hampton Loade and elsewhere. The times are on separate detachable boards - at the moment just hardboard but I'll make the whole range up with metal when we're allowed back on the railway. I've had to make some changes so it serves its purpose enough for station staff to accept it, but hopefully you'll all agree its a big improvement on this:



I hope this reassures folk that we do replace those items not quite so in keeping with the general atmosphere, just a little patience is required - in the meantime, the railway did need something to serve those purposes.

 

Well done Alex (and Jo), I shall look forward to seeing this board next time I am on duty as BOC at Broadway.

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

 

Excellent, that looks really good!

 

We had a Broadway neighbour drop in with three items of local relevance, but we don't know what they are. Can you help?



This he found on the embankment below the former signal box several years ago. It was all squashed, so he straightened it.

Now we know that some signalling items were found on this slope (I have heard of a block bell found there) but it's not necessarily a signalling item. The whole slope between the Station road and Childswickham Road bridges was used as a dumping ground for rubbish from Cheltenham St. James - Ash, broken glass, bottles, ceramics, and above all broken restaurant car china.

The container is the same size as a wine bottle, and has this number stamped on it:



W 5050.... isn't that a GWR carriage number? Which carriage would that have been, was it a restaurant car by any chance? Could it be a wine bottle cooler, or were these not used in the 1930s?

We'd love to hear from you.

 

Item No. 2, a cast iron wagon plate:



This is quite small, the same size as a wagon repair plate. It comes from a grounded wagon in a local quarry. It's not so old, as there is a date stamped on it of 8 - 62.
The maximum load is only 5 tons, that is quite low for a wagon. What does S.T.H. stand for?

The serial number stamped on it is 57359.

Any thoughts?