The First ‘String’ Course

The latest update from Bob describing the work undertaken last Friday.

Visiting the site for the first time in a week of appalling weather saw us confronted with materials strewn everywhere. Waterproof covers weighted down with concrete blocks had been swept away by the storm leaving the building and materials sodden which makes working with mortar much more difficult. However, today, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and all was well with the world as we tidied up and prepared to start work.

The job in hand today was to begin the installation, along the front of the signal box, of the first of two ‘string’ courses of decorative sandstone that surround the ‘box. These had been beautifully cut and delivered, in a variety of lengths, by our good friend, Graham Walton. Graham specializes in this material and previously supplied us with the sandstone for our award-winning water tower that we built a number of years ago. The large, heavy, expensive lengths of surprisingly fragile stone were manhandled onto the scaffolding and laid out for assessment and measurement in order to minimize waste in the cutting. A longer length was mounted at each end of the ‘run’ and the remaining gap measured and fitted with appropriately sized pieces.

The soaking wet stonework made it difficult to persuade the heavy pieces to stay exactly where they were placed, but patience and a degree of cursing won in the end as you can see from the photos. We have several more of these stones to mount yet and, as ever, weather permitting, I will keep you posted.

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