Another work day at the box.

As we are now shut to the public, due to the building developments, we are running PRIVATE members work days on the first Sundays of the month (the same as if we were open normally). Today, there were numerous jobs happening:



The first job was the painting of the inside of the signal box. This job is being carried out by our fantastic maintenance team, Keith and David, who give up many hours of their spear time. Their project in the winter months of the closed season is to completely repaint and renovate the inside of the signal box, whilst trying to maintain the feel of an authentic working signal box. At the moment they are working on the ceiling of the box. As you can see in the picture, development has been made since the last post, and the majority of the ceiling has been undercoated, to further this, a paint colour has been matched to the original paint of the ceiling, wood work and both colours for the walls. Once all the wall painting has been done, David and Keith will  continue with the outside of the box, which is a high priority as it is in a poor state. When we enter winter this year, Dave and Keith will look at repainting and renovating the frame, leavers and locking mechanism (not painting the locking), we are also excited with the possible addition of some full height leavers! Watch this space for more updates.






The second of the jobs being carried out today was general gardening. Neil spent the day weeding and doing some general tiding of the site and gardens. All plant beds are now clear of last years plants and are ready for this years growth. Our vegetable patch was also initiation today, as rhubarb was planted and is soon to be joined by some runner beans. This will give us something to look forward to in the autumn.






Finally, the main job of the day, was to clear the fence around the perimeter of the site as we are soon to have new, more secure, fencing installed around the Signal Box. This job was taken on by Gavin, Jamie, Peter, Josh, Tom, Ben and help from Neil. Anything we wanted to keep, i.e sleepers, slabs and cable, had to be cleared, and anything we didn't want, was left to be taken away.


In clearing the fence line, we also cleared the area where the Cowley bridge building will be located. This meant removing the slabs the small shed had been sat on and moving them somewhere safe (back of the site). We have also moved any unwanted broken pieces of slabs onto the site of Cowley bridge as this will be used as hard-core in the foundations of the building.

And we mustn't forget the most important job of the day, and that was tea drinking and cake eating, with a multitude of cakes, the 8 members who turned up were outnumber by the amount of cake.


We would like to take this opportunity to remind you again, we are not open to the public, regularly, on the first Sunday of the month, however, we are planning some special events later in the year. Also, if you are a member planning on attending one of our work days on the first Sunday of the month, please contact someone as we have to use the back entrance to the site.

Renovations Begin...

With the signal box now closed to the public for the duration of the adjacent building works, the internal redecoration of the box is well under way.

The ceiling has been scraped down, sanded and prepared for repainting.  Knotting has been applied to any bare knots and touching in of all bare wood carried out.  Decorators caulk and filler is now being applied where required and then a full undercoat will be applied.  This will then be followed by a top coat in the appropriate colour.

The old fluorescent light above the lever frame has now been removed.  In due course this is to be replaced by two period angled tungsten lights.

The ceiling is obviously the worst area for creating mess, as everything falls down from there.  When complete we can work our way down to windows, walls and door.  By the time we re-open the interior of the box will hopefully look very smart and will last for a long time.

Dave

The Great shed move

On the 26 of December, the members of Romsey signal box turned up to 'make their move' on the shed. The shed needed to move to allow the construction of the new building which will not only house Cowly bridge junction, model signal box, but will be our meet and greet building. In the month leading up to the move, members Gavin, Jamie, Ray, Keith, Dave, Neil,Peter and Tom spent time moving the compost heap, clearing the area, then levelling and paving it ready for the big day.


The day started by clearing the shed and then dismantling the shelving which had been built into the shed when it was first erected. After this the lean-3 was removed and the shed was ready to depart. To save time, instead of dismantling the shed, moving it, and reassembling it, the members jacked it up onto 2 trolley jacks and 'simply'


wheeled it to its new home. After a few close encounters with a shed (and a well earned lunch break), the shed was very happy in its new location. But now the team were against the clock to reassemble the shelving, reattach the lean-3 and then re-load the shed with its contents before it got dark

After forgetting how the shelves had come out, then trying multiple combinations, the shelves were finally reassembled and the shed was almost ready to be reloaded.
Following a bit of elbow grease and alto of lifting, the very heavy lean-3 was finally positioned alongside the shed ready for re attachment, once this was completed the movement was complete. The members could now breath easy as the shed was repositioned and all that was left, was to sort through  the contents of the shed, decide what we wanted to keep, and then reload the shed.


So, now Romsey signal box can now proudly, we have the most travelled shed in Hampshire, if not England.

 (Keith is hiding behind the camera, don't think you can hide that easily Keith!!!)

Laying down the foundations and a lock out !

Even before the day started, we had problems. Due to the progress on the site, we will be loosing access to the site via the main gates (on the main road) in January. However, Christmas seem to have come early as the gates were already padlocked shut by the contractors. Therefore, we only had pedestrian access to the signal box today. We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience caused by today's events, but it was outside of our control.

Once we had 'broken in' to our own site, we could start work on the days proceedings. Today, the foundations were laided down for the relocation of the small gardening shed. As mentioned
before, the shed has to move to allow the building of the cowly bridge housing. After many month of perpetration involving cutting of brambles, moving of the compost heap and many barrows of soil, the ground could finally be leveled and slabs laided.

The actual shed will be moved at a later date, but this progress would not have been possible without help from Gavin, Jamie, Keith, Dave, Ray and Tom.Also today. Neil worked on the vegetable plot by turning in leaf molsh. Later next year, rhubarb will be planted closely followed by runner beans.George and Jamie sorted the BBQ and supplied food to the members.

And Dave provided some (a whopping 36!) scones which were a great way to end the day along with Keith's delicious Victoria sponge and Jamie's muffins.

The day ended with the members grouping round the fire and having a cup of tea and a cake looking back on the signal box's progress from being just the signalbox, to today, where many active members come on a monthly basis to maintain the box which now has some beautifully maintained gardens and artifacts. It is these members that have allowed this progress to take place and means that we do not have to spend open days just getting the site tidy, it is self maintained. 

But of course, none of this would be possible without the generous donations and presence of the visitors that come to view the box. We would like to thank you for visiting throughout the years and look forward to opening for the arts festival and the big re opening in 2015.

All change please, all change.

We are currently undergoing a reorganisation at the signal


box. To enable us to build a suitable housing for Cowley bridge signal box (our fully working model signal box), we are moving our small gardening shed to behind the strong sign, this means we had to move compost heap and cut away some of the bank.

Today, Gavin, Jamie and Raymond started by moving the compost heap to behind the big shed (the ground had been prepared earlier in the month and a path added) . While the heap was being moved, Gavin and Jamie added a divider to it so that it would allow compost to be separated one year from the next.  Once it was in its new location, the compost was transferred and the structure made secure. After a well earned lunch break, Gavin and Jamie went on to start cutting away at the bank that needs to be removed to allow a level base to be laid for the shed to sit on. Unfortunately, due to the evenings drawing in, darkness got the better of them and they had to leave it till the next open day.


Also on the open day, Neil worked on getting some of the newly located compost into the vegetable patch ready for next year.

Tom and Josh (young member) did some general work on site

To add to the excitement, we also had a film crew visit the box, they were/are making a documentary for the buildings trust.

And of course, Dave and Marion Canning looked after the visitors accompanied by Janet , giving demonstrations and tours.

Bush cutter trial

Today, Gavin braved the land that time forgot behind the big shed and Strong sign to try and regain control of the bramble and weeds. This battle is long over due and is the start of the next big project at the box. For further progress at the box the small gardening shed needs to move to the other side of the big shed. To start this project we needed to get to this section of the site, so we volunteered Gavin to take on this task. These images show just the start of the project, and next moth (weather permitting) there will be further weeding and progress on this section of forgotten land.

Cutting edge Turfing technology



Today saw the completion of the area at the back of the site, in front of the big shed. After Dave's hard work to complete the second bench for the site,  and Peters work to clear this area we felt that this undeveloped area was a great place to put the bench so that visitors can sit and look at the site from a different angle.

 

After starting the day looking like this(on left); Gavin, Jamie and Allan (relative of a new member) started by laying the slabs, donated by Dave, in a way that would ease the user but also give space for turf. Once the ground was prepared, the slabs were put down and levelled. Once complete Jamie went over to the old school ground to cut squares of turf to lay round the slabs.

 

At the end of the day, the site was left looking like this(on right). The turf was watered in and has now been left to root. It may look a bit shabby at the moment, but after a couple of mows, it will fit in perfectly with the rest of the turf on the site.

 

 

On a side note, Josh (new young member) and Tom (young member) started work on protecting the two trolleys built by previous young members. the job involved sanding down the surface and then protecting it with new preservative. this is a job that will ensure the onward use of the trolleys without costly repairs.

 

All in all, another progressive open day which has improved the appearance of the site and the state of the woodwork we have at the box.