As Autumn set in the work schedule kept going in spite of the change in the weather conditions, but on the whole we have managed to avoid the worst of it on days when the volunteer groups attend and things progress nicely on a number of jobs.
Ropley station saw some structural building work in the area of the station shop and coal store. It was noticed that there was some repairs required to areas of rendering that were cracked and had fallen off in places. On investigation it was found that on the shop the lintels over the windows were the original wooden type and had rotted causing the rendering to crack and fall off. Over the door the original metal lintel had some rust expansion that had caused the same. The window lintels were dug out and replaced with concrete versions and the door lintel made good and scratch layers on cement applied in the opened places. The coal shed had loose render hacked off and scratch layers of cement applied. All the areas had finish layers of render applied and etched to match the original and once weathered will blend in nicely.
Also, at Ropley we have installed some handrails on the wide steps that lead from the public car park to the Handyside (Harry Potter) Bridge. The handrails were reclaimed from when the steps from the footbridge to the picnic site were removed following conversion of the steps into a sloping footpath for step-free access for visitors. By chance the handrails were just the right length for the other steps, and we just had to fabricate the posts and brackets from stock.
The Railway hosts many school educational visits during the year and many of those follow the theme of interpreting the evacuation of children by train during the second world war. To that end many of the school children dress in items that reflect the dress scene of the period. To add to the experience of the visit the Railway’s education department want to provide a hands-on feature to demonstrate an activity that happened during the conflict. During enemy bombing raids fires were caused both by high explosive and incendiary bombs and the various Services and public were trained to deal with some smaller fires with stirrup pumps and fire buckets. To provide a sense of what was involved we have created some replica flame effect boards which can be used to give a target for the use of original stirrup pumps by the children on their visit- rather than spraying each other we hope! Redundant A boards from previous usage were renovated and painted up thereby using existing resources.
At Medstead we have continued with workshop jobs, one of which is preparation work on two railway chairs over 100 years old. They were purchased from a sale and have had the old upholstery and horse hair stuffing removed, and many- that is many- old tacks. The work will be split between volunteers and a local upholsterer to complete the renovation when the chairs will grace the ladies waiting room at Medstead station in conjunction with two other original railway chairs completed recently.
Another job in the workshop is to fit glazing into the old shop door from Alton station. The door is now the entrance to the new waiting room at the station, converted from the old shop, and was been removed in order to replace the wooden top panels with glass to convert it to a traditional waiting room style. This job had to fit tightly into a slot between the end of Wizard Week and the start of the Steam Illumination season.
Bob Brooks
