Handbags and glad-rags

Thursday 23^rd July

We took advantage of the day before the Diesel Gala having no scheduled passenger trains to obtain a line block to enable us to work safely and easily with equipment near the line at Bishops Cleeve. As there was some shunting movements in the afternoon, we had to return the long section Toddington to Cheltenham annets key just after lunch. Many thanks to the operations team and to the signalers for arranging this at short notice.

Triple safety - stop boards at Pecked Lane crossing in addition to signal WE33 (Winchcombe Down Starting) having a collar and we were in possession of the Toddington to Cheltenham annets key (the single line token).

The main reason for the line block was to setup our 110v submersible pump in one of the flooded down (Cotswold) side cess chambers between Pecked Lane crossing and Two Hedges Road. Both the cables from generator (on the LWB Transit truck) and the outlet hose crossed the line – something not possible when trains are running. Once the blocked chamber was pumped out, Nigel, Martin (J), Martin (S), Peter (D) and Peter (Chief Civil Engineer) used a variety of techniques and tools to unblock the cess drain. The blockage was a schoolbag and a pair of shoes – probably illicitly obtained from a local school student, valuables removed and then evidence hidden. The down side cess is flowing steadily here; initial investigations seem to indicate a leak from culvert 39A.

Sorting out the pump for the full cess chamber.

Using a small usb camera attached to a phone to see what is in the pipe.

School bag and shoes removed from the cess drain. [Photo by Dave]

Andrew, Stuart, and Martin (S) worked on the roadside inlet manhole of syphon culvert 39B adjacent to Two Hedges Road bridge. The task here was to use grout and mortar to seal the joins in the bottom block course of the manhole. During wet weather (remember that!) this manhole was leaking into the cutting side by the wing wall of the bridge. There was just a trickle of water flowing through today. The bottom of the manhole was probably one of the coolest places to work.

Some of the joins in the bottom of the 39B inlet before grouting/pointing...

... and after.

Another ‘need a dry day’ task was at the famous Bonsai World inlet stream manhole on the down side crest – this runs to cross drain 40B. Roger, Dave, and Phil were the team hear. This also involved working in the manhole, but there was no flowing water here. The task was to grout around the 600mm diameter twinwall exit pipe. Hopefully this will cure the leaks that run down the cutting side to the cess here. We will have to wait for some significant rain to test it.

Dave enters the Bonsai World inlet manhole. (We filed in three confined spaces work forms today!)

Grouting around the exit pipe of the Bonsai World inlet manhole. [Photo by Dave]

Grouting around the exit pipe of the Bonsai World inlet manhole. [Photo by Dave]

After lunch Roger spoke to some of the team members who missed his session on Hand-Arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) earlier in the month. The rest of the team undertook some vegetation clearance of railway land roadside on Two Hedges Road. This was made possible by temporary traffic lights reducing the carriage to single alternative direction; and by agreement with the road works foreman.

Roadside verge cleared at Two Hedges Road. [Photo by Dave]

In his role as company road vehicle mechanic, Jonathan spent most of the day at Winchcombe. The main task was to coordinate a replacement tyre for the while Ford Ranger, as this had suffered a major puncher the day before.

Wildlife report:  Again lots of insects. The most interesting was a blue butterfly, probably a Common Blue, but its very small size led us to wonder whether it was the much rarer Small Blue (Cupido minimus).

Common Blue or Small Blue? [Photo by Dave]

Friday 24^th July

Drainage team member Ian helped man the Railway Trust stand at the Welland Steam and Country Rally. A spectacular event, with
137 traction engines, steam rollers, showman’s engines, crane engines, steam wagons and steam cars
40 miniature steam engines
4 fairground organs
1 rail mounted steam crane
1 standard gauge steam loco (Kerr, Stuart 4388 of 1926 from the Foxfield Railway)
100 vintage tractors
191 Field Marshall tractors (and derivatives)
208 veteran, vintage and classic cars
191 historic commercial vehicles
110 stationary engines
133 classic motor cycles
45 historic pedal cycles
146 historic military vehicles including 4 tanks

Just a few of the Field Marshall tractors.

 

The Heavy Haulage Hill.

Two large trenching machines at work in the Living History field. Perhaps a little too big for use on our crest ditches.

A steam powered rail mounted Land Rover. The team's chief engineer would like this as our inspection vehicle.

Kerr, Stuart 4388 of 1926 from the Foxfield Railway

Wet and dry

Thursday 16^th July

Today’s score was not 2-1, but 29-11. Maximum temperature 29C with 11 team members in attendance.

Jonathan, Phil, Dee, and Martin [S] continued with vegetation clearance on the down (Cotswold) side of the River Isbourne, that is up stream of the bridge. Most of the vegetation removed was Himalayan balsam. Martin [J] initially helped with some brush cutting around the safety rails on the bridge parapet. He then joined Roger at Working Lane. The plan was to brush cut around the ‘No trespassing’ signs adjacent to the Royal Oak pub. However, the new pub garden fencing and height of vegetation is a better deterrent to the trespassers.

A clear passage for the low mileage down side ditch to flow into the river. [Photo by Jonathan]

Dee clearing the foot of the wing wall safety rails. [Photo by Martin (S)]

Down side Isbourne access steps all cleared.  [Photo by Martin (S)]

On the 'to do' list is clearing the down side low mileage ditch - like a lot of places this year's growth is enormous. [Photo by Jonathan]

Nigel, Peter and John headed to Manor Lane with our drain rods to rod out cross drains 37A, 37B and 37E. They also took lifting straps to recover the ‘6-foot’ cess chamber lid at Bishops Cleeve.

All clear through 37F. [Photo by John]

Dave and Andrew travelled to Two Hedges Road. Taking advantage of the dry weather, they investigated the inside of the now famous Bonsai World inlet of cross drain 40B. With only an inch of water in the manhole and nothing flowing through it, they were able to identity cracks around the 2 foot diameter twin wall exit pipe. If the weather stays dry, we should be able to attempt a repair next week with some grout.

Crack around the exit pipe of the Bonsai World inlet.

Nothing flowing into the down cess at the Bonsai World inlet.

Next was a check on the water levels in the road inlet to syphon cross drain 39B, on the down side just on the low mileage side of Two Hedges Road bridge (40) – well actually adjacent to the footbridge 39Z. This chamber also has a leak. Despite the dry weather, there was a dribble of water flowing trough it.

39B roadside inlet manhole - some silt needs clearing and then we can plug the leak in the base.

The leak eventually runs into the down side cess; so Dave and Andrew checked that too. Surprisingly the cess was flowing well – but from where. Checking the upstream chambers (back towards Pecked Lane); they discovered a chamber almost full of water.

Dave investigates one of the filled down side cess chambers.

So hence a major obstruction in between. So Nigel, Peter and John came down with the drain rods, and with help from the Railway’s Chief Civil Engineer, Peter Brown, six of us attempted to remove the obstruction. This was only partially successful, we managed to get the water flowing better and the level in the chamber went down by several inches. But as it was then well past lunchtime, and the afternoon heat was increasing, we decided to leave the full unblocking to next week. So we are hoping that there is no rain in the next seven days, so we can undertake all three tasks.

The rodding team take a break as an up train hauled by 24081 (D5081) passes under Two Hedges Road Bridge.

Back at Winchcombe, we met with another new recruit to the team, Laurence. So the team size is now up to fifteen. One member jokingly suggested that we need a longer railway to look after!

Wildlife report: Very much an insect day. Inside the Bonsai World chamber we found many peacock butterflies sheltering from the sun – initially we thought they were moths. Lots of other butterflies and insects including hover flies flitting around, plus several water boatman (Corixidae) in the cess chambers. The group at the River Isbourne reported brown trout. Plus several of us found some ripe blackberries - ripe enough to eat!

Peacock butterfly. [Photo by Dave]

Heat waves two and three

The combination of the June heatwave and various team members holidays resulted in a significant drop in productivity of the team during June and the early part of July.

Thursday 18th June

Some of the team took the opportunity to visit the RAIL Live industry exhibition at Porterbrook’s Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre. Others attended a presentation by the team from Birmingham University who are trialling a bridge strike monitoring system on the B4632 Evesham Rd. Bridge at  Broadway (BU01). One very keen team member attended both.

Thursday 25th June

With the whole railway temporally closed (no passenger services running on 23rd, 24th or 25th June) due to the extreme heat, we cancelled our planned work. 

Thursday 2nd July

The day started off with Roger talking to the team about Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). One day in the autumn we will monitor the teams use of all toos which give rise to HAVS. This is when brushcutting and hedge trimming are in full swing, so we can determine how each operative’s usage time matches up against the maximum safe daily time.

Peter and Phil went up to inspect the trackbed north of Broadway Station. The drainage from the station runs northwards along both sides of the former trackbed before entering a stream north of the bypass.

One of the cess chambers on the disused trackbed - in surprisingly good condition. [Photo by Peter]

Dee and Jonathan went to the River Isbourne to clear along the banks, the recently reinstated ditch and other outlets into the river. 

Martin [J], Nigel, Polly and Dave headed to Manor Lane. While Martin and Dave prepared and painted the parapet railings at bridges 37 and 38; Nigel and Polly replaced the coping stone at bridge 37 and fitted the cross bar to the chamber marker uprights at culvert 37D up side.

Martin [J] preparing parapet railing at bridge 37. [Photo by Dave]

Replaced coping stone on bridge 37. [Photo by Dave]

Painted parapet railings on bridge 38. [Photo by Dave]

After lunch, the group planted the replacement bridge rail upright for mile post 17, this is at the site of the old Bishops Cleeve station. At the same location on the up side, they replaced the paving slab being used as a chamber lid with a metal grid cover. They discovered what had happened to the proper lid: it is in the bottom of the chamber! The chamber is quite small but also deep so retrieving the lid will be a bit of a challenge, but at a later date we will manage it with judicious use of a couple of straps.

Installing the bridge rail upright for mile post 17 at Bishops Cleeve. [Photo by Dave]

Thursday 9th July

Another heat wave, so another day when we  cancelled our planned work. (Strictly postponed it to next week - when the team leader is back from his annual expedition to undertake practical experiments in fluid dynamics on the canals of England and in some canal side establishments.)

From our Northern Correspondent 

The Millennium Walkway over the River Goyt at New Mills. The large retaining wall top left is for the Hope Valley Railway line just east of New Mill Central Station.

Along side the trackbed of the former Peak Forest tramway was this fine specimen of a Common Spotted Orchid, (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

 

 

Wet and dreary June

Most of the team were in attendance, with Roger on H&S duties - just a few away on holidays. The forecast was poor, with storms forecast and as most of our work is outside, this affects what we can do safely.

 

A certain faction within the team wanted to take advantage of the Boss (Team Leader) being away and some dodgy Engineer was standing in.  However, the latter managed for a short while to keep order and arrange for several strong Drainage Workers to manhandle bridge rail, which had been cleaned, painted and prepared to become mileposts.  These just needed four 10mm holes drilling and then the milepost heads can be fixed thereon.

 

A great piece of inter-Departmental assistance was demonstrated, with Stuart in Carriage and Wagon allowing the team to use his excellent facilities (a mag drill and steel support trestles) to make these holes.  Thanks, Sir.  The posts are now available for siting - the wooden post and yellow BR metal plate at 17 miles in Bishop's Cleeve will be one to be replaced, as it is ugly and broken.

The team then turned their attention to sorting through the donated scaffolding pipes and creating "goal-post" barriers for our headwall and chambers.  The idea is that these mark where headwall or chambers are located, so that when the robo-flail is being controlled by the remote operator, the latter can see where a structure is located and avoid it.  They also help hapless Drainage Workers (like this writer) and provide support when walking down steep embankments and prevent falls.  The donation of these almost-new lengths of steel handrail and connectors was through the good offices of David and we may be looking for more donations like this.  Some more lengths of tube were extracted from the yard and will be measured, cut and assembled into goal-posts.

A large part of the team then descended on the 11:27 to Broadway and planned to walk the trackbed north and inspect the chambers beyond the station, as these take the flow away from the station towards the bypass. They were thwarted by the security fencing (which is good) and were only able to peer through and see a couple of chambers.

Lunch was had as split teams and then two intrepid members mounted the head on MP 15/III, just south of Gotherington loop.

 

They then revisited the culvert at 37D, on the edge of the latest slip at Gotherington, to finish the wing wall by back-filling, removing the protective slop-board and trimming the land drain pipe. 

Barrier team

Stuart and Martin finishing the head for mp 15/III

Stuart checking the backfill at 37D.

 

All in all, an odd day dodging the rain, but many tasks ticked off, with proper teamwork.

Wildlife report An odd sighting was a goose, standing on the crown of the road in Gotherington as we tried to drive slowly by.  Many red kites were spotted, wheeling around in the sky and trying to avoid being mobbed by crows.  The rain had driven many creatures under cover.

 

[Guest blog writer Chief Engineer Ian] 

Many hands

Thursday 4th June

Fortunately today saw the largest attendance of a Drainage team working day for some while. Also fortunately, the weather was cooler and ground conditions softer. This enabled a planned task for the mini digger to be accomplished by hand.

Jonathan, Dee and Phil were first to depart from Winchcombe, heading to Pecked Lane at Bishops Cleeve. Their task was to clear accumulated debris from the trash screen on the inlet of culvert 39A. 

Also heading to Pecked Lane (eventually) were Roger and Martin (J). They were planning on painting milepost uprights and bridge parapet rails. However the ongoing showers prevented that; black MIO paint must not be applied when rain is likely. Hence they concentrated on de rusting the items that will be painted another day; and measured out the correct location for mile post 17. Currently this is a loose wooden post with a yellow BR style head leaning up against the boundary fence. To ensure that the replacement post is 440 yards from 16¾ and 440 yards from 17¼; they had to walk past the crossing to 17¼. On the way back they collected the wildlife monitoring cameras which had been placed to determined the amount of badger activity near milepost 16½.

The remaining members attending (John, Ian, Dave, Polly, Nigel, Andrew, Peter) travelled to the foot crossing between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve. The prime task was to construct an extension to the low mileage wing wall of the outlet of cross drain 37D; incorporating the outlet of the new embankment drainage pipe in the slip repair. Also undertaken was the back filling of the raised exit chamber of 37D; usefully disposing of the old thick concrete lids and some other rubble.

37D final exit chamber completed with backfill.

Wingwall extension with outlet of the slip drainage pie. Sloop board temporary covering to prevent any rain washing out the mortar of the pointing.

With Jonathan, Dee and Phil joining the group, some final fencing work around the footpath was doen. This included treating the cut ends of the fence posts and rails. 

Cross drains 37C, and 37E were subjected to some preventative maintenance. The bores were rodded through, and inlets and outlet cleared of weeds. For the intermediate chamber of 37C we used grabs and a small shovel to remove the gravel and silt that has built up there. Whilst the amount of material removed was not huge, this regular cleaning such as this help prevent problems occurring.

37C intermediate chamber (up side), all clean.

37E inlet cleared of silt and growth on the concrete apron.

After lunch all twelve of the team set to work digging a ditch to insert the final length of perforated twinwall pipe that drains the repaired slip. This was the task that originally we had planned for the mini digger. As that was still in use on the platform extensions at Toddington; we decided to dig this by hand. With a large team; soft ground conditions and cool conditions, this did not take that long. Probably it took less time that it would have taken to get the mini digger on and off site!

Orange army at work! Ditch digging to bury the last length of the slip drainage pipe to run towards the boundary hedge.

Now you don't see it - apart from the very end at the boundary. We certainly proved the "Many Hands Make Light Work" idiom.

Wildlife report: The first arrivals at Manor Lane, Gotherington reported a roe deer. On the old lids of 37D we discovered a small mammal skull; maybe a rabbit. This might have been a victim of the raptors; we spotted both buzzards and red kites. Other bids noted today were black birds, song thrushes, robins, skylarks, chiffchaffs., long tailed tits and great tits. Lot of spiders in the chambers and bores of the cross drains. Ox eye daisies are plentiful on the up (Malvern) side of the embankment - that was the side which was cut last autumn with the robot flail.

Hot

Thursday 28th May

Whilst this was the hottest working day for the Drainage team so far this year, thankfully the day time maximum for Winchcombe (30C) was reached mid afternoon, whilst we were enjoying a cup of tea in the shade back at Winchcombe station. Also, thankfully, it was not quite as hot as over the Bank Holiday Gala weekend (maximum 33C on Monday afternoon).

Ten of the team attending – with breaks compulsory, not voluntarily, and consumption of water rather than coffee.

Jonathan and Dave first headed to Honeybourne to collect some more bags of postcrete from Fairview Building supplies. This took a little longer than intended due to road closures near Willersey.

The other eight, Stuart, Martin (S), Martin (J), Nigel, Polly, Roger, Peter and Andrew, headed to the now repaired slip site between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve.

Polly and Nigel worked on more bricking to raise the height of the final outlet chamber of cross drain 37D. Peter and Martin (S) inserted bolts to secure the grill on the inlet headwall of the exit bore of 37D – a job that has been on our to do for a long time. Stuart excavated a hole for the foundation base of the extended headwall which will take the exit of the new pipe in the slip infill area into the outlet ditch of 37D. Roger headed a little further south to de-rust and then paint with black MIO the bridge rail uprights of mile posts 16½ and 16¾. Andrew and Martin (J) started on the clearance of the down (Cotswold) side toe ditch back from the foot crossing to cross drain 37C.

Polly on bricklaying.

 

Peter installing bolts.

Grill bolted down.

Repainted bridge rail post. We will fit a correct GWR style replacement head once we manufacture more number sixes.

Martin (S) and Peter in the down side toe ditch - note the amount of dead dog rose. The damp ditch in the shade of the hedge was marginally the coolest spot. 

After the first break for drinks, and to admire loco 78022 on the first southbound train, a bit of a swap around. Peter and Martin (S) joined the toe ditch clearing, whilst Nigel and Stuart mixed and laid the concrete for the extended headwall base. Polly finished the bricking of 37D exit and then cut the blue mesh GRP lid to fit snugly.

78022 on the Cambrian Coast Express.

Concrete foundation ready for the extended wall to take the new pipe.

Raised exit chamber of 37D completed.

When Jonathan and Dave arrived, the set too to install another replacement section of fence alongside the footpath on the up (Malvern) side of the foot crossing. This was to make the section alongside the now cleared exit ditch of 37C a lot safer.

Martin (J) helps Dave and Jonathan remove old chicken wire between the footpath and the outlet ditch of 37C.

After the lunch break we tacked a few more odd jobs. These included a trim around the exit chamber of 37C and the installation of posts for badger monitoring on the up side near milepost 16½. The Gotherington badgers seem to have taken up residence there.

Roger and Stuart installing a post for a badger monitoring camera. In the foreground is some of the digging from the sett.

Jonathan and Dave with the completed section of replacement fence. (Contrary to popular belief, the drainage team are not taking on responsibility for all the lineside fences!)

Wildlife report: There is an abundance of wild flowers along the embankment and in the boundary hedges are in full flower. Most noticeable are the daisies; we also spotted poppies and wild roses. Plenty of bird life today: blackbirds, robins, chiffchaffs, skylarks, pheasants, gulls, kestrels and red kytes. Whilst in the cooler and slight damper conditions in the toe ditches we spotted several centipedes, or perhaps they were millipedes. We were not able to correctly count the number of legs.

Wild (or dog) roses in the boundary hedge. We had to trim this bush to remove the dead wood that was obstructing the toe ditch beneath. Dead rose wood is tough!