The Shed - Toplight Coach Group at the Swindon and Cricklade Steam Railway

Everything seemed very heavy to move and this job took several weeks. In addition we faced a problem in that a large water tank from a 10 tonne milk wagon was buried beneath the site. The drain pipes from the roof of the building feed rain water into the tank which is then pumped out using a diesel pump and used to water the locos.
Unfortunately the tank was directly beneath where one of the building foundations needed to go. We couldn't build it here as it would have been unstable and the building's weight would have crushed the tank.

We obtained a large steel girder that was lying as scrap in the Swindon Cricklade's Blunsdon car park. Will the help of some of the other Swindon Cricklade members this was moved using the hiab-crane and a diesel shunter to the site. Originally the girder came from Swindon works and it has a what I think is broad gauge rail welded to it and was used as the rail support for one of the travelling cranes in the works, so it's a genuine piece of GWR steel !!
One of the steel stanchions of the building is bolted to the top of the girder and it then spreads the weight to either end of the water tank which is buried below. We had to cut out a section of the broad gauge rail to provide a flat surface for the stanchion. This took a full afternoon with an angle grinder and steel chisels.

The four foundations holes were dug by hand, and were roughly a metre deep by a metre square. They were dug in winter and as the ground is clay they kept filling with water. In the middle of winter with frost on the ground you do question your own sanity and it made the ground harder for digging.

The next step was the concreting which was completed with the help of some of the volunteers at the SCR. As there is no road access to Hayes Knoll (its in the middle of a field), all the ready mixed concrete had to be loaded into builders merchant bags at Blunsdon and then each one lifted into an open rail wagon using the hiab-crane belonging to the SCR. The wagon and concrete was then shunted half a mile to Hayes Knoll and then the bags one by one lifted using the hiab crane over the areas which needed to be concreted. The concrete being deposited by splitting the bags with a Stanley knife.

We also did the concreting for the pathways at the same time and this is still not quite complete. This process involved many people and it was made difficult because of the lack of road access.

Once all the concreting had been completed we were able to get the contractors in to put up the steel framework, cladding and roof. This was completed by them working just on Saturdays as they needed the hi ab crane to be driven by one of the SCR volunteers. This meant the process was very slow and in addition all materials for the building needed to be brought down by train including the contractor's ladders etc. This caused the contractors to keep delaying the job as they didn't like the inconvenience of working at the site. The building has a steel frame bolted together. The roof is made of cement corrugated panels, with several clear plastic roof panels to provide extra light.

We got the contractors to come back and build a new door frame for the end doors.
The original steel doors on the original part of the building are 4.3 metres high and as originally hung there was barely enough room to shunt a loco or coach through the gap, with only approx 2 inches clearance either side. It was intended to re -use these doors on the new end of the building. The were modified by ourselves by adding galvanised steel channel 12 inches wide and approx 16swg thick to the edges of each door. This material is normally supplies as cable channel for supporting electrical cables in factories and was especially made for us by a Cheltenham company.

The new hinges were added to the new end of the building and the doors (which are too heavy to be moved by hand) were lifted off the hinges with a bottle jack and moved to the new end of the building with the hiab crane (For pictures of this crane in use see the SCR website) The final stage was to demolish the original door frame on the existing building, and then shunt the coach inside.

[ Site Map ]


			Building the Hayes Knoll Restoration Shed Extension When the coach 7545 was bought in 2001 it was quickly realised that without suitable accommodation, then it would be impossible to do a proper restoration. The restoration shed at Hayes Knoll on the Swindon and Cricklade Railway was full and we couldn't see any real possibility of getting space allocated for the length of time needed. The Hayes Knoll shed at the time had two tracks covered for a length of approx 180 foot and a third track with 120 foot of covered space. It was decided that we would extend the building so that the 120 foot road was the same length as the other two.
			Initially we had to clear the site and move a large amount of rubbish and scrap which had accumulated including large piles of wood, and even an old rusty lathe which weighed a few tonnes.
			Everything seemed very heavy to move and this job took several weeks. In addition we faced a problem in that a large water tank from a 10 tonne milk wagon was buried beneath the site. The drain pipes from the roof of the building feed rain water into the tank which is then pumped out using a diesel pump and used to water the locos. Unfortunately the tank was directly beneath where one of the building foundations needed to go. We couldn't build it here as it would have been unstable and the building's weight would have crushed the tank. We obtained a large steel girder that was lying as scrap in the Swindon Cricklade's Blunsdon car park. Will the help of some of the other Swindon Cricklade members this was moved using the hiab-crane and a diesel shunter to the site. Originally the girder came from Swindon works and it has a what I think is broad gauge rail welded to it and was used as the rail support for one of the travelling cranes in the works, so it's a genuine piece of GWR steel !! One of the steel stanchions of the building is bolted to the top of the girder and it then spreads the weight to either end of the water tank which is buried below. We had to cut out a section of the broad gauge rail to provide a flat surface for the stanchion. This took a full afternoon with an angle grinder and steel chisels. The four foundations holes were dug by hand, and were roughly a metre deep by a metre square. They were dug in winter and as the ground is clay they kept filling with water. In the middle of winter with frost on the ground you do question your own sanity and it made the ground harder for digging. The next step was the concreting which was completed with the help of some of the volunteers at the SCR. As there is no road access to Hayes Knoll (its in the middle of a field), all the ready mixed concrete had to be loaded into builders merchant bags at Blunsdon and then each one lifted into an open rail wagon using the hiab-crane belonging to the SCR. The wagon and concrete was then shunted half a mile to Hayes Knoll and then the bags one by one lifted using the hiab crane over the areas which needed to be concreted. The concrete being deposited by splitting the bags with a Stanley knife. We also did the concreting for the pathways at the same time and this is still not quite complete. This process involved many people and it was made difficult because of the lack of road access. Once all the concreting had been completed we were able to get the contractors in to put up the steel framework, cladding and roof. This was completed by them working just on Saturdays as they needed the hi ab crane to be driven by one of the SCR volunteers. This meant the process was very slow and in addition all materials for the building needed to be brought down by train including the contractor's ladders etc. This caused the contractors to keep delaying the job as they didn't like the inconvenience of working at the site. The building has a steel frame bolted together. The roof is made of cement corrugated panels, with several clear plastic roof panels to provide extra light. We got the contractors to come back and build a new door frame for the end doors. The original steel doors on the original part of the building are 4.3 metres high and as originally hung there was barely enough room to shunt a loco or coach through the gap, with only approx 2 inches clearance either side. It was intended to re -use these doors on the new end of the building. The were modified by ourselves by adding galvanised steel channel 12 inches wide and approx 16swg thick to the edges of each door. This material is normally supplies as cable channel for supporting electrical cables in factories and was especially made for us by a Cheltenham company. The new hinges were added to the new end of the building and the doors (which are too heavy to be moved by hand) were lifted off the hinges with a bottle jack and moved to the new end of the building with the hiab crane (For pictures of this crane in use see the SCR website) The final stage was to demolish the original door frame on the existing building, and then shunt the coach inside. [ Site Map ]