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Wharf Redevelopment: Project updates 14th and 21st August
"The building is starting to look like a building!"
From the top, the roofs are almost finished, with slating complete and the ridge tiles added only last Thursday and Friday. The fascia boards are up and have been painted in "Holly Bush Green"; gutter clips are in place but the guttering will have to wait until we can instal the downpipes (otherwise it might leave nasty watermarks down the outside brickwork). On the top floor, the exposed interior steelwork has been painted – again with intumescent paint – and most of the interior walls have been covered with plasterboard. Nearly all of the external pre-glazed windows are now in place as are the internal door frames and some of the museum office and Awdry Study (internal) windows/glazed areas. The underfloor heating system passed its pressure test and the pipes have been covered over with concrete screed. A start has been made on the external brick wall at the eastern end on the Neptune Road side of the building (the first of three such sections) and this is up to the "bottom of the roof" level; there is still much facing brickwork to finish, though.
On the ground floor, again the joiners have been busy and door frames, office windows and the screen between the café and the museum have all been put in place. The lift installation commenced on Tuesday 10th too. Some of the brickwork between the (old) shop and the new café has been taken away, but the demolition/construction of this walk-through will not properly take place until the first week of September (at the earliest) – it cannot be completed until the building is watertight and able to be locked up at night!
With just a week to go before Race the Train, the removal of scaffolding from the platform (South) side of the building started on the morning of Friday 13th and was completed the next day. Following this, a temporary platform has been laid to give us that full platform for Race the Train. Then, on the morning of Friday 20th the "works" crew removed the temporary buffer stop in the platform road, replacing it temporarily with No. 9 which was also run over the old track to the original buffer stop. After this track inspection/trial and discussions with the main building contractor, at 14:00hrs B.S.T. we received handover of a full platform at Wharf station. The platform section in front of the new building is temporary, being constructed of concealed scaffolding and boards topped off with plywood sheeting. Nevertheless, the 2.11p.m. arrival (the 11:40 departure from Wharf) and all trains thereafter successfully used this platform and a diesel-hauled special train consisting of Van 5 + a "TR" showed that this stock too could be accommodated without snagging on the temporary section.
The full platform was therefore available for "Race the Train" on Saturday 21st; this platform will be used until Tuesday August 31st (last day of peak service), when it will be handed back to enable the continuance of the building work programme – including the provision of a permanent platform and to allow the rain water drainage to be completed (essentially the siting of downpipes).
Much thought has gone into the kitchen design, which is now settled. There will be the necessary chilled and frozen food storage units plus dishwashers for taking care of the dirty crocks and cutlery. All tops and work surfaces will be of stainless steel. On the cooking side, we have four microwaves, a range cooker with six burners and two ovens, an eye-level grill, two deep fat fryers and a separate, ultra-controllable oven which will both cook, and keep hot food hot and warm food warm! The facility/ability will then be there to increase the range and variety of the food with which to make your mouth water. Hopefully, we’ve got this one right from the outset – and it does include forced draught extraction via ducting that vents through one of the roof sections (you shouldn’t be able to see the vent from Wharf Bridge, though).
On the grant front, our fourth application to the Heritage Lottery Fund has been approved by the project monitor and passed to Cardiff for payment; the application to the Wales Tourist Board has also been accepted.
Source: Talyllyn Railway: Latest News
Posted by mark mullarkey on 23 August 2004
