Settle's Magnificent Station

 A chap called Mark Harvey has devoted an amazing amount of voluntary time, energy and talent to recording the stations and structures of the Settle-Carlisle railway to compile the SCRCA* database.

Yesterday he visited Settle station and got these two splendid photographs - one with a train and one without.  Train or no-train they show just how lovely it is, thanks in huge measure to the efforts of volunteers, working in cooperation and coordination with train operator Northern and Network Rail.

A happy example of partnership working at its very best.

I am especially pleased to see these examples of how our water tower in the background blends in.  The roof room atop the tank can be seen but only just.  Its design features all sorts of architectural tricks aimed at making it almost invisible.   Among the concealment features are:

- Large reflective and tinted windows

- Matt black horizontal railings above the tank to draw the eye when viewed from nearby

- Generous roof overhangs creating shadows below

- Galvanised steel I section beam roof edges - sky coloured, or in this case tree coloured, illusion as the shadows and the zinc galvanising combine

- T section steel support columns between the windows are of minimal thickness and invisible from this distance

- The (original Midland Railway) colours make a bold statement and attract attention away from the roof room above

It all works just as intended.  Full credit to 'can-do' architect Stuart Green and architectural legend Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969)

*Settle Carlisle Railway Conservation Area

SCRCA website - well worth a visit

Monstrously Good Flowerpots

 It's that time of year again - Settle's Flowerpot Festival,  Every day during July and August.  It gets bigger and better each year and must bring thousands of visitors to Settle.

Meet Frankenstein's Monster, carefully and firmly secured to the water crane yesterday.  Complete with neck hinge (I'm jealous)  F.M. was made in Settle's Flowerpot Men Factory during the year.  He is a work of mechanical FP genius but parts are fragile and it was felt he needed to be somewhere secure and out of reach of mischief.  Our water crane, behind our Midland Railway fence ticks some of those boxes.

Unseen from the station drive are some pretty sophisticated metal brackets and ratchet-strapwork.  Time will tell if it is adequate.

Raindrops

 Midland railway water towers like ours had one major problem.  Water in the wrong place/s.

One source of unwanted water was condensation inside the tower - dealt with early in this Blog by spraying the underside of the tank with high expanding foam - totally successful.

Less successful have been efforts to stop rainwater, particularly when coming at the tank and tower horizontally, propelled by wind.  Rainwater cascades down the outer sides of the massive tank.  An ornate outer stone ledge shifts the water streams outwards a couple or feet or so to fall in large drops to the ground below - if the weather is calm.  If there is any wind, pressure builds on the windward side of the tower and the drops falling from the parapet get blown towards the tower walls and into the building through the slightest crack, propelled by the pressure difference on either side.   Notice the continuous horizontal crack between the ornately curved top stones and the huge square stone blocks below.  Those square blocks are there to support the huge iron girders which in turn support the iron tank and its contents.

This picture of the parapet's south east corner illustrates the situation

The gentle curves below the topmost ledge almost invite the rainwater to flow round them and on vertically downwards across the vertical stone face which is in the sunshine here.  If the wind is strong the drops travel horizontally towards the wall and on again downwards and into the wall.

Modern stonework of this type would have a drip-strip cut in the underside - but not ours.  For a water tower serving its original purpose this would not matter unduly of course.  Probably the worst example is inside the tower, not far from that south east corner:

Not a pretty sight.  Those rectangular stone blocks are massively heavy and straddle the entire thickness of the tops of the tower walls.  Clearly most of the water is cascading over the top of those stones but some appears to be creeping in below as well.  The problem is localised to four or five main points long the 156 feet total length of the tower's walls.

We have had some local success with gap filling where mortar joints have failed but it is tedious and not always effective - as here.  The remaining problem areas are at the corners of the tower - which catch the weather.  Gentle rain at ground level can be tempestuous at the top of the tower where wind inevitably is strengthened.

A local builder with a mind for such challenges had a close look at the problem last autumn and has since spoken to colleagues and heritage architects whose consensus is that we need to create drip strips right round the undersides of the horizontal overhang.  Not sunken channels but L section discreet strips.  We are in process of sourcing them against the following requirements:

- unobtrusive - maybe black or transparent but it would be in shadow so not critical

- severe weather resistant

- not subject to UV degradation

- lightweight for fixing at height

- cost effective - we need 50m of it in total

- if affordable we would use 100m and treat both of the lower stone right-angles

- L section plastic, stainless steel or copper depending on price and longevity

- Fixed by plugs and weatherproof screws at intervals to be decided

- sealant between drip strip and stone above

Watch this space.

New Station Road and Company in the Man-Cave

 Not too sure why but there must be some highways budget that needed spending somewhere.

They are ripping up our Station Road and relaying it,  Here is the mightily impressive machinery involved yesterday:

They make several passes, each about 2m wide.  The caterpillar tracked tarmac stripper does its thing and ejects the scrapings forward into a big lorry ahead of it,  The lorry manoeuvres constantly and skilfully to distribute the load evenly.

I got chatting to one of the crew and told him this was the biggest thing that had happened in Settle in quite a while.  The whole operation was impressive and the machinery appeared huge to me.  "That's the baby of the fleet" he said.  In the above picture you can see the scrapings shooting out on the left, into the lorry.  Impressive.  I believe these scrapings are recycled, being heated and re-used to make roads again.  Maybe on the resurfaced Station Road, Settle?   That would indeed be a good case of in-situ recycling wouldn't it?

Now to matters feline.  Purrcy the cat is not the most sociable cat we've had but a character nonetheless.  His status as a fellow male reinforced itself this week when he joined me for an hour or so in the man cave.  I was doing the crossword and he was doing what he does best:

Purrfect company.

Red Arrows over Settle and Geest Chassis Mid-Air

 The internet and local websites are incredible sources of bang up-to-date information.  Yesterday was an example.  During the day I picked up that the famous RAF Red Arrows would be passing over Settle at 1741.  Sure enough at 1741 - whoosh.  Two groups of four apiece and a singleton headed south towards Long Preston.

 Just wow.

The Geest truck is up in the air too - for preparation and painting.  Nearly there with the prep:

The immensely useful heavy-lifting trolley is earning its keep once more.  The heavy chassis is safely and securely ay working height all round.

Beavers

Today we had a  visit from Settle Beavers - boys and girls between 6 and 8 who are would-be cubs etc.  The visit had been arranged long ago and was another joint-operation between us, Settle station and Settle signal box.   They were split into three groups, changing between locations every 20 minutes.

Delightful occasion but, dear me, hard work!

Absolute full marks and respect to scouting volunteers who do this incredible and demanding work.  They take on an enormous responsibility and risks.

I tried to explain how steam trains needed coal and water and probably failed.  By far the star of the show was the coal truck.

Feeding the Bees and Where There's a Will There's a Way

Never a dull moment around the water tower,

The gardens are in full bloom:

 

And, most importantly, the problem of how to prepare and paint the underside of the Geest truck has been solved neatly thanks to winch-power and architectural foresight:

Geest Truck Getting Back into Action, Flags and Roses

 The Geest truck is housed in the dry under the new extension for now.  

She has had a couple of test runs locally and I am getting quite adept at handling it.  The engine runs very sweetly indeed and for the first time since I've had it the brakes work!  Temporary removal of the wooden bodywork has given easy access to the various adjustment points.  The whole thing should be painted afresh in a week or two - in authentic factory grey and maroon.

Note the transparent fuel filter now fitted in the fuel line.  Besides preventing blockages in the system it neatly and simply provides visual evidence that fuel is getting through. 

In other news our briar rose bush just gets bigger and better:

and we are doing out bit of festive flag waving of course: