Broadway Station GWR Roof Fund

As a Broadway resident who has been visiting the GWSR since the early days of Cadbury No.1 shuffling to Hayles and back, I have always looked forward to the day that the railway finally got back to Broadway. Although a member of GWSR, time and other commitments has precluded any direct input but I have been very impressed by the efforts of the BAWG as reported by Bill and Jo on the excellent blog. I don't know either gentleman (I may have met Bill at events on the Green) but have been impressed by their integrity and commitment to getting Broadway station right. To see things "fall apart" as they have and the associated disharmony is very disappointing and to be honest I feel very disillusioned with the GWSR and feel very similar to the previous poster regarding further financial support which is a shame for the many volunteers who are working hard to achieve what has been achieved so far and keep it going.

I also completely agree with the comment about getting it right first time. There will not be a second chance so please powers-that-be, don't screw this up.

 

From GWSR Latest News 12/6 What it means I hope to find out when I visit next week

Building design
The design of the main station building - which is much larger than the original - has led to some discussion about how ensure the building retains the historic visual appearance of a Great Western Railway design typical of the line but at the same reflects modern planning and fire requirements.

Comments Alan: "Given that this is a volunteer-run project, construction of the station building will need to start soon if it is to be completed in time for the 2018 opening.

"The design of the building was produced more than two years ago and it was this plan that gained planning permission.

"Any changes to the design must be therefore be limited to to what can be covered as a 'Non-material Amendment' acceptable to the planners.

"Nevertheless, we are looking to undertake a number of alterations to the design, the main ones being an increase in building length by 600mm to allow more space in the ticket office; the deletion of the full height wall above the platform face of the building to present a more realistic presentation of the supports for the canopy and fine tuning of the main steel upright spacings within the building framework to ensure, as far as possible, equally spaced supports.

"The latter will allow a non-structural infill of lattice steelwork above the brickwork to replicate the original lattice roof support system that can be seen, if you look up, at both Toddington and Gotherington stations."

He points out that this will help to ensure that the station is a close in design terms to the original as is practically possible.

 

Barry, some key questions to ask

1. Refer to the picture in post 194 of Toddington, The cross giders, those that extend from the station roof to the platform edge are spaced 6 metres apart at Toddington, will those at Broadway be this distance or the 2 metres shown in the submitted plans.
2. Will there be any longtitudonal lattice girders above the platform, ie half way between the roof apex and platform roof. This is a key GWR design signature.
3. Will the decorative lattice work under the apex be in box section structural steel?

Last question , do they intend to publish a picture of what they have planned before construction. An electronic 3D CAD drawing would suffice.

Good luck with that.

 

I'm quite happy to ask any questions. The 1st one on my list will be about the reinstatement of the Broadway blog. Barry's Law states "The lack of information about the rebuild is directly proportional to my lack of donations"
Ive cut and pasted your questions so I'll go armed.

 

Hi Barry,

If you look on the original Broadway Station thread, I have put some information on about the new Broadway Station blog, which should start soon.

 

Thanks for the info, I'm sure many will feel the same.

 

I awoke, with a start, last night from a nightmare.

I dreamt that the GWSR had been taken over by the Third Reich!

In a takeover the new Chancellor ( Chairman) had decided to also appoint himself Minister of War ( Project Manager).
he secretly hatched plans for a new capital Germania ( Broadway) with his Minister of Works, Albert Speer ( the Contractor).

Need less to say not everyone was enamoured of this MasterPlan. Some adhered to the old ways. After a Night of the Long Knives ( Broadway AGM), the leader of the Old Guard, Roehm ( Bill) was dispatched ) .

A new order was emplaced for the construction of Germania under the control of the SS ( the Chairmans lieutenants), with dissension dealt with by thuggish bullying.

Even War Heroes who stood up to the Chancellor such as Rommel ( Jo ) were exiled to the frontiers of Normandy
( The Extension railhead).

Propaganda was important, and so control of the press was imposed, the papers ( Broadway Blog ) shut down. Only good news about Germania ( Broadway ) was allowed via the Propaganda Minister, Goebbels, ( Ian Crowder) and any dissension was labelled Misinformation by a Small Group.

This Small Group ( Nat Pres ) was defiant, though outgunned and elderly ( most were over 60).

Non the less they formed their own Resistance group. their own Dads Army. Undaunted they sang;

" Who do you think you are kidding Mr Bielby,
If you think Old Broadways done
We are the Boys who will stop your little game
We are the Boys who will make you think again
So who do you think you are kidding Mr Bielby
If you think Old Broadways done!"

At which point, as I said, I woke up to find it was only a dream.

Wasn't it?

 

Good grief. What utter tosh.

As an outsider, this definitely shifts my sympathies away from the Broadway Station Group, regardless of the rights and wrongs at work.

 

Indeed. There's an important issue at stake here about the balance to be struck between preservation and the intrusion of modern regulations, but please let's not get sucked into the hyperbolic personality-politics on display just across the County border. Whatever you may think about their actions, managers on preserved railways are not Nazis and shouldn't be compared to them - to do so both demeans those managers personally and also lessens the gravity of the offences committed by the real Nazis and the genuine suffering they caused to millions.

Tom

 

Godwin's law never fails to amaze me...

 

Next time I see Alan and Ian would you like me to pass on the message that you view them as Hitler and Goebels respectively, or that any of the rest of the directors are the SS? Quite who you are comparing with Alan Speer to I'm not sure, as Broadway station is being rebuilt by volunteers, not a contractor, so is all of the BAG Albert Speer? Extending the railhead is exile is it? Shall I tell that to the the good folk in the p'way gang?

Quite what possessed you to write this is beyond me, how in any way shape or form did you expect this to help your case? I think you need to remember that this is a public forum and anyone can read the BS you've just written.

 

At one point I thought this thread might become son of (G)WSR.
But, that earlier post, which contained Nazi references, far exceeds anything yet posted on that other thread.

 

Good point, and maybe by invoking it, even if only satirically, I have drawn this thread to a close.

Thanks to all who volunteered contributions to the putative Roof Fund, sadly now not needed as the Garden Centre Which Is Just Like Toddington, is about to be started and there will be no return once the foundation is cast.

Soon the tourists will be whisked from one garden centre to another on continous welded rail without any annoying clickety clicks, on carriages branded with the Company logo , past low maintainence structures.

It won't be a Heritage experience but hey who cares.

After all nobody looks up.

 

A bit unfair on the BAG, 35B. As far as I know David is not a member of that Group and, in any case, is speaking on his own behalf, not that of the Group.
I agree that his hyperbole has gone totally OTT and I cannot support it. However I have some sympathy with the frustration which lies behind it. A number of us, on both of the NatPres threads and on Bill and Jo's blogs, have asked for an explanation and some dialogue over the Broadway roof/canopy. Despite offers of help with design, materials and funds, we have been completely ignored, with not even the courtesy of an acknowlegement. GeoffS75 sums up the problem well.
I see that since I started this reply David has suggested closing this thread which, since he started it, is his prerogative.
I suggest that those of us who wish to continue discussion of the Broadway project move over to the Broadway Rebuild thread.

As an aside I note that Gloucester Boy is again (still ?) promising us updates on the progress at Broadway. How long does it take to type a couple of paragraphs, GB ? It been two months now

 

I'm sorry that you feel that way David. the GWSR is a heritage railway, whether you think so or not it just is. It might not be the biggest, nor the best, and we might not be perfect, but we've worked hard on it for over 30 years and we're rather proud of what we've done, achieved virtually entirely with volunteer workforce of getting on for 1000. Considering in 1981 there was almost nothing, I think we've done rather well.

To tell us that our railway is a load of rubbish is frankly, not really very nice, and disrespecting the thousands of volunteer hours and the thousands of happy passengers that have ridden on our railway. I hope that you come and visit the railway once we've got to Broadway and settled down, and see for yourself that we are a heritage railway,we care about what we do, and how proud we are of what we have achieved.

 

It is unfair on the BAG, but I'm afraid there was a bit of "by their friends, ye shall know them" in my reply. I'm glad of the clarification and am happy to allow the BAG a bit more of my sympathies.

 

Can't agree enough, I too would say that David took it way too far, the horror that is the Nazis' should never be used in such joking reference and put simply it was in just poor taste. I've stated before on this thread my disapointment for those canopy plans, but these continuous bemoaning of the plans and insults to the GWSR as a whole (calling it repeatedly a theme park) is just turning this discussion into a petty and mean affair.

This railway as said before has built itself from virtually nothing, sure the Gotherington and Cheltenham signal boxes leave a lot to be desired, but they do the job and few visitors probably take a blinding notice of them.
Is the affair with Broadway's canopy disappointing? Yes, but it's not the end of the world and a sole reason to forsake the railway as bad gimmicky attraction, as several folks on here seem to make it sound like. Part of me hopes something can be still done to make the plans better, but ultimately I'm not going to put down the railway's work and look at Broadway as a eyesore mess that should be considered a disgrace to the preservation community. There are far worser things they could have done...

 

Don't blame the planners. This argument has nothing to do with planning control. The Local Planning Authority will have no interest in how the roof is supported. It will have given permission to a certain design and certain materials in the interest of visual impact.