Categotry Archives: Carmathen North Project

The Gwili Railway Company has received the 2011 Volunteers Award from the National Railway Heritage Awards for their work on building the new set of level crossing gates at Bronwydd Arms. These awards are presented annually to various sectors within the national and heritage railways. The emphasis is on overall quality and thoroughness, sympathetic treatment, attention to detail, conservation practice,… (more…)

Photos of the crossing gate mechanism. Some parts were refurbished but others had to be made from scratch. Also shown is one of the bullhead rails inserted in concrete to protect the gateposts from road traffic that may come into contact with them.

The two slam posts have now been erected and concreted in place.They have been painted in grey undercoat and one has received its cast iron cap. We are missing the second – any help? To protect some of the posts from boy racers and heavy articulated lorries taking short cuts we will try and protect the posts with a bullhead… (more…)

Over the weekend of the 5th and 6th March we managed to get the two slam posts in position, so that ends the heavy lifting on the crossing job (we hope!) The gates are standardised as being 4″ from the slam posts when across the road, as the locking mechanism protrudes about 3″ from the slam post, so an ample… (more…)

After a few weeks of aligning, drilling and fitting the hinges to the second gate, this one has now also been installed at Bronwydd Arms. We were blessed with good weather compared to when we put up the first gate. Once again members of staff from all departments dropped what they were doing to help, at one point we had… (more…)

To align both gates in the correct positions, locating the south side gate post was going to be the next challenge. The original concrete base needed enlarging and was then drilled to take the post locating studs.These were fixed in the concrete with a special waterproof resin. A few days later the base plate and post were attached. The gap… (more…)

CNP NEWS 6th December 2010 Returning to the northern side of the crossing, the first of the two new wooden gates has been installed. The gates had already been drilled and fitted with the hinges.Conditions far from ideal but as the team were working to a deadline work continued. With the gate fixed to the hinge pin,two long metal bars… (more…)

Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 Its on! On friday, we managed to hang the first new gate at Bronwydd. Probably ‘just managed’ is a better word for it we hoped things would have gone smoother than they had. Due to the freezing weather, the telehandler needed jump starting, but that was the easy bit. Then we found out the hydraulics were frozen… (more…)

Removal of the southern pair of gates has now taken place. Although not a straight forward operation as one post had to have a sizable amount of concrete hammered away before being released. The surrounding area was then cleared and the the original concrete block foundation was exposed. Bronwydd Arms Level Crossing – Part 2  

Bronwydd Arms Level Crossing – Part 2 October continued to be a productive month. With the removal of the first gateposts attention turned towards installing the first of the two tall gateposts. This involved exposing the original GWR concrete foundation base,cleaning it then drilling four holes.Four bolts were then glued into concrete and the gatepost erected and bolted into position.… (more…)