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The restoration of Kingsley & Froghall 'up' Platform and Waiting Shelter |
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At the The National Railway Heritage Awards on 3rd December 2008 the Churnet Valley Railway won the National Express East Coast Volunteers Award for Kingsley & Froghall Station Up Platform and Waiting Shelter. The award was Presented by Paul Atterbury (inset) to Bob McDonnell. The NSRC funded project was joint first with GCR in this category. The story of the restoration is recorded below in pictures and words. If you are interested in volunteering we require people in all walks of life, skilled or unskilled. Please click here for details of how you can join this enthusiastic and friendly organisation. |
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CVR Director David
Gaskin (left) and Bob McDonnell (far right) from Civil's with the award
now hanging in the Waiting Shelter.
Also pictured are Peter Ward and Mark Greatbatch, two of the many other volunteers that have worked on the project. Pictured inset is Paul Atterbury from BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow presenting the award to Bob McDonnell and far right, Chris Gaskin. |
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Last
updated 08/12/2008
click here for latest pictures
How it started
"I am very pleased to announce that NSRC have been awarded the maximum grant of £10,000 from Awards for All for the creation of a Heritage Trail from Consall to Froghall. This money, added to the proceeds from last year's raffle and a top-up from NSRC funds (from Gift Aid), will totally finance the re-building of the Up Platform at Froghall, the rebuilding of the waiting shelter on that platform, the creation of a barrow crossing at the South end of the running platforms and the provision of information boards in the shelters at Consall and Froghall Stations and an additional board on the turn-over bridge on the Caldon Canal south of Consall. The total project cost is estimated to be £13,250, which includes the provision of scaffolding behind the platform up from the river, all materials to construct the waiting shelter to match the picture below, the rebuilding of the retaining wall from the road bridge to the shelter and the replacement, with metal fencing and wooden boards, of the platform where it overhangs the river and partial resurfacing of the tarmac platform. Contractors will be used only for the tasks which CVR/NSRC volunteers cannot accomplish, namely the erection of the scaffolding and the laying of the tarmac. The heritage trail is based upon the NSR habit of re-using redundant rail to make steel structures such as the Up platforms at Consall and Froghall and the turnover bridge on the Canal. An even better example of this can be seen at Rudyard Lake where a footbridge crosses the former NSR (CVR) line the framework of which is entirely constructed from redundant rail."
Peter Green, Chairman, North Staffordshire Railway Company (1978) LTD, April 2007.
The above statement from Pete Green is where the work really began although this wasn't actually the start at all - that was months earlier when the painstaking process of applying for grant funding was started by David Gaskin and colleagues. Much form filling, surveying, costing and yet more form filling ensued as a case was built to promote rebuilding Kingsley & Froghall Platform 2 as a worthwhile and viable project for funding.
The grant application was successful and it was then that the real work could begin. The following seven pictures show Kingsley & Froghall Platform 2 over the years as it was. The task is now to recreate that scene in exact detail.
An 'up' train about to depart for Oakamoor
The 'up' waiting shelter
The overall station scene
Overall view taken very shortly after closure
Again, taken shortly after closure, this picture from the A52 road bridge
Demolition begins on the opposite ('down') platform
The work begins
The original platform overhung the river Churnet about a third of the way along its length. By 2007 all that remained of this part of the platform was the original steel supports (made from scrap rail), the decking having been long since removed. Although the steel work looked to be in poor condition, it was decided that it was still able to offer some support so it was left in situ and new supports placed alongside each of the originals.
Original steel supports from 1849, made from scrap rail
The new supports were placed alongside the originals and then a substantial length of rail placed across the front at 90 degrees, this being welded in place. Finally, the whole structure was concreted in place to ensure that it should last another 150 years or so.
The Civils Department inspect the steel work prior to concreting
The concrete arrives and is pumped across the tracks to reach platform 2
Bob and Mark (wearing orange jackets) ensure that it is evenly distributed
A final leveling and the job is done
The scaffolding arrives and now attention can turn to preparation for the platform overhang decking
It's a fair drop to the river below
Head of Department, Dave Gaskin, looks on whilst the timbers are cut to size by Mark
And then the first of many timbers go in place
The other main part of the project is to rebuild the wooden waiting shelter, as per the original 1849 design. The brick foundations have survived intact and were deemed to be in sufficiently good order to re-use, subject to some localised repairs. The wooden structure was fabricated off site to exact measurements and then assembled on the existing base.
The structure of the waiting room being assembled
Another view, this time to the North
And again from platform 1
The scale of the project can be appreciated from this picture
80098 arrives from Consall
Work stops whilst 80098 runs around its train ready for the journey back to Cheddleton
A couple of weeks later and work on the roof structure has begun
Most of the structural timber is now in place
Ready for the timber cladding and slates
The decking starts to go down on the overhanging part of the platform
And soon virtually an entire length is in place
The scaffolders reposition the scaffolding
Allowing Mark to weld the railing brackets in place
And then to start erecting the replica railing, watched by Richard
Meanwhile, work on the shelter continues with the roofing felt going on
Looking good from inside
And from out
Four days later and the cladding is being fitted
And a couple of days later the cladding is complete
1 week later, fence supports being put in place by Bob and Chris
Eventually extending the length of the platform overhang
Which then enabled the long awaited fitting of the panels themselves
Allowing attention to turn to rebuilding the wall on its original foundations
And fixing the slates to the roof
The roofing job is nearly completed a couple of week later
The Civils celebrate the roof completion ("topping out" in building parlance)
another brick in the wall...
Keith Tunney, on loan from the Permanent Way Gang, seen here laying the coping stones
Civils work on under a (Santa) smoke screen!
16/12/07 The wall is now about half way down the platform
19 December 07 - First coat of paint on the shelter
13 Jan 2008 - The wall is nearing completion and the shelter receives it's first coat top coat
15 Jan 2008 - Seeing red, the external finish takes shape - Photo Nigel Shaw
15 Jan 2008 - 5,000 bricks later and the wall is finished with just the cap for the pillar to cast
6th February 2008 - The pillar is capped and work on a new wooden fence begins
Froghall Waiting Shelter in 1950 and again in 2008
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6th February 2008 - Then and Now or spot the difference! - Photos NSRCo archive and Dave Gibson
6th February 2008 - The railway's official photographer
lends a hand?
Not really, Dave has decided it is quicker to remove the scaffold than have
to air brush it out after!
Candid phone photo Nigel Shaw
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To see Wizard "Mumble More" and Witch Catherine
add some colour to Froghall's Up Platform during the February Wizard Event click here! |
19th
March 2008 - The framework for the new running in board is erected in the same
position as the original.
Mouse over the photograph to see the photographer's impression of what the finished
board will look like.
3rd May 2008 - The shelter's bench and lamps are now installed
June 2008 - Period platform lamps installed and
painted and the "running in" board completed
with inset photograph of the original courtesy of the NSRC archives
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That is the story to date. Pictures and further commentary will be added as the project progresses. Re-visit this page for any updates or, better still, come down to the railway, go on the train and see the work for yourself. Grateful thanks to official photographer Dave Gibson for the pictures. |
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