Off with their heads!

Thursday 30^th April

Another working day when we had multiple groups working at multiple locations.

First group out of Winchcombe yard were Dave, Phil, Peter, Polly and Jonathan. Their destination was Stow Road Bridge at Toddington. Today’s task was to complete the backfilling of the entry gully chamber; and then to add two rows blue engineering bricks as copings. With the backfilling complete, Jonathan returned to Winchcombe Yard to locate the materials for the replacement boundary fence, and to check out that the powered auger was working.

Polly laying the coping bricks on the gulley inlet. [Photo by Dave]

The completed gully inlet - but with temporary covers. [Photo by Dave]

Bretton Grange pulling away from Toddington with an up train. [Photo by Dave]

Found at Stowe Road, a tall narrow Bovril bottle with a long neck. This is likely to date from around 1900 to 1913, so may have been dropped by one of the navvies building the railway. [Photo by Dave]

 

Next to depart were Dee, Martin (J), Stuart and John Their first task was replacing a broken cess chamber lid at Didbrook. An easy task – once the offending chamber was located. Next they proceeded to Stanton Fields to undertake rodding out of the down side inlet bore of syphon cross drain 6C. This proved to be a tricky operation; the bore was almost bone dry and the obstruction was mainly soil. So each push of the drain rods only brought out a small quantity of material.

Final departure from the yard consisted of Ian, Roger, Martin (S) and Andrew. They headed to Manor Lane, Gotherington. Andrew went down to the slip site to inspect progress. The contractors have installed some additional perforated twinwall pipes in the reconstructed embankment. So the position of these were noted. Once the embankment reinstatement is complete, we are going to install new toe drains alongside the boundary hedge. These are going to run to the outlet of cross drain 37D. As the new twinwall pipe also drain into this, we will improve the exit chamber of this at our boundary. The outlet of 37C would be more suitable, however to use that we would need to make water run up hill.

The new embankment drain pipe entering the outlet ditch of cross drain 37D.

 

The other end of the new pipe at the boundary of the new infill.

Unloading of the infill delivered in Dogfish wagons from Cheltenham requires a shute and two excavators. When the material is slightly damp, it requires more encouragement to exit the Dogfish hoppers.

From the inlet of 37D, an unusual picture of an 03 shunter against a deep blue sky.

Meanwhile, the other three of this group attended to mileposts 16 and 15 & three quarters; either side of Manor Lane Bridge. Whilst both of these have bridge rail posts, their heads were the yellow BR style – made from fibre glass. These heads were removed (executed?); the bridge rail wire brushed down and then painted with black MIO.

Milepost 16 decapitated.

Same treatment for 15 & three quarters.

Next site for this group was Working Lane. Ian and Martin (S) performed some clearance around milepost 13 – mainly sycamore and willow saplings. Andrew and Roger met with Peter Brown, the Chief Civil Engineer, to discuss work to improve the drainage between the up side embankment toe and the Working Lane to Royal Oak haul road. This is the site of a historic slip, probably back in BR days. There is a french drain which terminates in a head wall that is now leaning at an angle. Also, the construction of the haul road after the Greet tunnel slip around 10 years ago has lead to some spots where water pools during wet weather. Our plan is to add some more pipes under the haul road and to dig out some ditches between the embankment and the haul road. Potentially we will tackle this in two stages, starting with a rebuild of the leaning headwall.

All three groups met up back at Winchcombe for lunch. After lunch some of the team sorted out and measured the fencing material for Stowe Road. The rest of the team continued with milepost construction. One length of bridge rail was wire brushed down, the new head for 16 was completed and one of the recovered hollow heads from Laverton was taken apart. This has not weathered at all well, the only reuseable component being the architrave at the bottom.

New head for milepost 16 - using acrylic numbers.

Wildlife report: Suddenly chestnut trees, both horse and sweet, are in full boom. Also in full bloom are the blue flowers of borage, lots of this at the foot of the Working Lane haul road. The cuttings and embankments which were cut back last autumn and winter are rapidly regrowing. And on those cut two years ago a lot of sycamore and ash saplings are pushing up. No unusual bird or mammal sightings today, apart from a skull found at Stanton Fields. This looks to us like it was once a fox.

Fox skull. [Photo by Martin (J)]

Not a cloud in the sky, and plenty of hawthorn blossom. The stunning view north west from Gotherington.

 

No longer unlucky

Thursday 23^rd April

Roger, Martin (J) and Ian formed the milepost restoration group today. First task was installing the three new heads completed last week. First was milepost 13, on the embankment above the Working Lane Haul Road. Previously this was a BR style metal head attached using twigs. The bridge rail post did not need replacing, just de-rusting and then painting. We are now using MIO black paint for the posts, as used by C&W for carriage underframes. Hopefully this will last better than Hammerite. Then up to Laverton to install the new heads on 6 and 6¾; on the lengths of bridge rail we installed a few weeks ago. Back at Winchcombe, after lunch the group de-rusted and painted a couple more lengths of bridge rail. Next on our milepost restoration plan are the six remaining non-authentic ones between Laverton and Broadway. The heads and the wooden posts of these have not weathered well.

Martin(J) and Roger fixing the new head for mp13. [Photo by Ian]

Looking smart in the spring sunshine - correcting the lean will have to wait for the ground to be softer. [Photo by Ian]

Six and three quarters looks even better. [Photo by Ian]

Completing the trio - mp6. This is the first one where the new head uses acrylic numbers. Can you tell? [Photo by Ian]

The other group consisted of Jonathan, Nigel, Polly, Dee, Phil, John and Andrew. They worked on the Stowe Road crest drainage improvement at Toddington. The objective of the day was to construct the runoff spillway with the gutter gulley drain. A length of flexible pipe connects the gulley drain to the pipe in the crest drain ditch.

First item of the day was an on-site meeting with GCC Highways engineer Jacob Cottrell (yellow hi-vis) and councillor Cheryl Ag. They are happy with the new arrangement, it does not need Highways approval as it is all on our land (just!). Infrastructure Manger Sarah looks on as Andrew explains the new setup. [Photo by Jonathan]

Andrew measures and marks out the area to be excavated. [Photo by Jonathan]

Polly levels the gutter gulley on the bed of concrete.

 

Front view of the spillway at the end of the day. Next week we will add some blue engineering bricks as a coping. Also we will add a covering mesh grill to stop any small mammals disappearing down the pipe.

Rear view. Also on the list for next week is completing the back filling, as this is best once the mortar has set and the blocks are solid. Note the flexible pipe joining the gulley gill to the crest drain.

Whilst at Toddington, Andrew and Infrastructure Manager, Sarah, undertook some initial investigations of the Malvern side boundary of the former garden centre site. This is in connection with the plan to improve the main public entrance.

Wildlife report: Spring is rapidly springing. Bluebells, late flowering white daffodils and yellow cowslips were all in full bloom on the cutting side at Stowe Road. Also a deep red peony was just budding. Up at Laverton, the hawthorn was coming into full blossom. Whilst back at Winchcombe, we found a field mouse – unfortunately deceased. No doubt the local Red Kites will soon remove it. Finally, we are pleased to report that the resident robins are safely nesting in the rafters of our wooden shed.

 

The temporary Brown timetable provides more end of day activity for us to observe at Winchcombe. Class 122 single car DMU W55003 gleams in the sunshine. This could almost be a photo from the late 1950s - apart from the number of passengers on board!

Spring cleaning

Thursday 16th April

Eleven team members attended, split into 3 groups.

Stuart and Roger stayed at Winchcombe undertaking mile post manufacture. They cleaned up three lengths of bridge rail for replacement posts; built up and numbered three heads and fabricated some new metal caps.

Three new heads - including one with numbers cut from acrylic sheet. (Can you tell which?) [Photo by Roger]

Jonathan, Ian and John went to Gotherington yard. Jonathan drove the JCB telehandler in order to level the yard so as to make room for more vehicle parking and a decent flat area for PWay ballast, which is delivered by road. Also some of the materials for repairing the most recent slip south of Manor Lane may be transferred from road to rail here. Skilful driving saw Jonathan build up the embankment next to the track with spoil.   He then cleaned up the ballast pile and tried to move some of the clay into the corner, but the telehandler hasn't got the break out force - there was some impressive “wheelies”.

Telehandler in action. [Photo by Ian]

Telehandler at rest as the class 122 DMU passes by. [Photo by Ian]

End result - a lot larger and flatter area in the yard. [Photo by Ian]

The final group, Martin (S), Martin (J), Peter, Phil, Dave, and Polly schlepped off to the Tirle Brook culvert 32A.in Dixton cutting. 

Polly and Martin (S) deepened the low mileage down side crest ditch, as occasionally during the winter months run off from the adjoining field overtops this and runs down the cutting side to the down side cess.

Deepened crest ditch. [Photo by Martin(J)]

Martin (J) with a chainsaw and Phil cleared debris from the exit channel; whilst Peter and Dave concentrated on the removal of moss and other vegetation from the inlet flume. This clearance work needs a spell of dry weather - the Tirle Brook can flow strongly after several days of rain.

Tirle Brook exit (up side) - the fallen tree was left as this is too big to move and is not impeding the flow. [Photo by Martin(J)]

Phil on the inlet flume of 32A. [Photo by Ian]

Spring growth much in evidence. Phil and Polly removing some of the debris. [Photo by Ian]

A final task for the clearance team was at Working Lane, clearing more debris from the ultimate exit grill of culvert 24C. Whilst not a difficult job (unless the stream is in flood), this is one of our most frequent tasks. Consequently, fitting a better grill here is on our list of jobs for this summer.

More spring greens at 24C. [Photo by Ian]

All in all, a very successful day, which saw all set tasks completed.  It was kind of Sarah (Infrastructure Manager) to pop down and check we were ready to roll at the start of the day and then come and inspect the work at Gotherington Yard later.  We like MBWA (Management by walking about) - it makes a team feel wanted and cared for.

Wildlife report: Wildlife was abundant - some might cruelly suggest that pigs may fly, as two Police helicopters flew low over us, plus the team saw many of the Dixton deer herd, a lone kite was searching for offal, but only saw drainage workers! At Gotherington yard, John spotted a slow-worm, which was assisted out of harm’s way.

Slow worm. [Photo by Ian]

 

Two day week

For some members of the team there were two consecutive work days this week.

Wednesday 8^th April

Five of the team (John, Phil, Ian, Peter, Andrew) attended the Safety in the Use of Abrasive Wheels training course at Toddington. Run by Toddington workshop manager, Geoff Goring, this course covered all the essential points when using both portable and fixed wheel tools. Plus some practical experience both in a workshop environment and outside.

In the afternoon, John and Andrew assisted Infrastructure Manager (Sarah Clayton) and Chief Civil Engineer (Peter Brown) with some surveying at the slip site between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve. Part of the remediation work is the provision of a new toe ditch on the up (Malvern) side at the foot of the embankment inside the boundary fence. The objectives of the survey were to determine the length of the this new ditch (it will extend beyond the actual slip site); and to decide which existing cross drain outlet it should empty into. Additionally we also looked at potential access routes for the contractors plant. As ever with lineside work, embankments (and cuttings) make access from both above and below tricky.

The low spring sunshine and cut vegetation reveal the old medieval ridge and furrow farming patterns at the foot of the up side embankment south of Gotherington. 

Sarah and Peter setting off the explore the area just outside of the railway boundary.

Thursday 9^th April

Today we had a variety of odd jobs to keep the attending eleven team members busy.

Polly, Martin (J) and Peter headed to Stanley Pontlarge where the main task was to remove the build up of sandy silt from the outlet of cross drain 28A. A surprising amount had built up since we last performed this operation back in the autumn. Whilst there, the group checked the roadside gullies underneath bridge 28. This is one of several underbridges which can get flooded if the gullies are obstructed. Then back to Working Lane for another of the regular tasks, cleaning the exit grill of culvert 24C. With over a week of almost dry weather, the level of water in the outlet ditch was low enough to undertake some debris removal. We are always surprised at the amount of debris that accumulates here. One of the bars on the exit grill had broken since the previous visit. This will require fixing, or maybe if the drier weather continues we might be able to rebuilt the exit here.

Pete (l) and Polly on the exit of 24C. [Photo by Martin(J)]

Back at Winchcombe, Jonathan and Ian were under taking vehicle maintenance. Some of this was routine, and some more of a repair. Special attention was given to the white Ranger, thoroughly cleaning the inside and outside as the First Response team will be using this as their control vehicle during the Vintage Weekend event.

Dave, Dee and Nigel spent some time painting some of the new milepost heads we have in stock. Particular attention was given to the insides of ‘hollow’ heads; as we have noticed that these tend to weather faster than the solid ones.

Dave and Dee painting milepost heads.

Phil, Andrew and Martin (S) made a start on materials reorganisation around the wooden shed. This was in order to extract some concrete kerb stones required for the Stowe Road improvements at Toddington and some concrete chamber lids needed in the afternoon; and also to measure up the lengths of flexible twinwall pipe we have for use in the new toe drain at Gotherington. The other objectives of this ‘spring clean’ were to consolidate all our materials near the wooden shed, and to re-stack other building materials on stronger pallets. This required Jonathan with the telehandler, and the three painters to help with stacking bricks and blocks. For a couple of hours it was like a giant Chinese puzzle, moving pallets around. All the major moves were completed by lunchtime, in order for the telehandler to go to Halls for its annual safety checks. Some of the unusable materials went on the scrap heap, whilst most of the rotten wood and damaged skips made a one way journey to the bonfire.

Jonathan concentrating on getting positioning of the telehandler spot on.

A lot neater and tidier, we can now see what we have got! The area behind the wooden shed on the left will be next.

Most of the team congregated in the mess at Churchward House for lunch. However a couple braved the breezy cool weather on the platform to watch the trains.

After lunch; five of the team, Dave, Nigel, Pete, Martin (J) and Martin (S), took the extracted concrete chamber lids down to the cutting leading to Greet Tunnel. They replaced the broken lids on five of the cess chambers leading up to the tunnel mouth. With the unavailability of the telehandler; recovery of the broken lids was not possible. They are the very old thick lids which are too heavy to move manually. The option of a rail mounted trolley was out of the question as well, since passenger trains were running.

One of the broken lids was both large and thick, it required a four-man lift (Pete, Nigel, Martin(J) and Martin(S). [Photo by Dave]

The down side cess chamber near the sleeper built hut that the Heritage team are reconstructing just required one lid replacing. [Photo by Dave]

An interesting comparison between the old thick lids and the 'newer' thin one. [Photo by Dave]

Phil and Polly helped make more space in the yard by removing one of the redundant IBU plastic tanks. Jonathan, Ian and Andrew worked on milepost upright preparation. This included cutting the good sections out of the bridge rail lengths recovered from the old fence at Stowe Road. This was hard work, even using the powerful rail saw borrowed (with permission) from PWay. We just wonder how the Victorian GWR engineers cut this stuff.

Jonathan in flame retardant PPE takes the rail saw to a length of bridge rail.

Wildlife report: A few years ago, sighting a Red Kite was a rarity. Now we take them for granted as we regularly see pairs all along the line. The interesting observations are to note whether it is crows, gulls or buzzards mobbing them. One pair of kites are nesting just north of Winchcombe yard, one of these was making regular low passes over the yard. No doubt checking to see if our clearance work had uncovered any rodents. We saw no rodents, just lots of spiders and woodlice, especially underneath old pallets that had rotted. Those that took lunch on the platform at Winchcombe observed a couple of grey squirrels bounding in the pine trees on the up side. At Stanley Pontlarge, a wren was observed. Finally, after a few sunny and warm (well hot really) days; there was a very noticeable increase in butterfly activity.

Red admiral. [Photo by Dave]

And finally..... 

Every GWSR blog has to have a picture of GWR Railcar No 22. This was early on Wednesday morning, before it was moved from the Toddington unloading road after it's arrival the previous evening.

Filling in

Thursday 2^nd April

A day when the feeling of the weather changed from winter to spring as the day progressed. Again a dozen of the team in attendance, working at two sites. Both sites involved filling in work.

On the up side River Isbourne steps, John and Martin (J) installed the last two old car tyres. They filled these in with spoil and stone that was left in a dumpy bag in the yard. Ian was also working at Winchcombe, he assembled the two new brushcutters obtained with the Farming in Protected Landscapes grant. Later in the day he assisted the electricians undertaking PAT testing of our newly acquired mains electrical items. Meanwhile, after completing the Isbourne steps, John and Martin sorted out some of the lengths of old scaffolding that we are going to use a headwall safety markers.

The other nine team members were engaged on the Stowe Road drainage improvement at Toddington. Peter and Dave took the tipper Transit to collect a tonne of No1 stone from our supplier in Bishops Cleeve. Jonathan drove the telehandler up to Toddington; using this to tip into the ditch is more controlled than from the tipper Transit. Dee, Phil, Martin (S), Polly, Nigel and Andrew were the rest of the crew.

First job was to fit the blue mesh GRP chamber lid, which is bolted down. Then some left over stone from a pervious job went into the ditch. Next the we cut the length of half perforated pipe to fit the ditch and installed it. This did involve a slight enlargement of the hole in the chamber rings, as the pipe has a slight rise away from the chamber to ensure water flows. Then a final check of the pipe gradient and in went the stone collected from Bishops Cleeve. The one tonne we obtained was the perfect amount. 

Peter and Dave bolt down the blue mesh chamber lid.

Martin (S) fettles the hole for the pipe guided by Dee from above. We do not often have tasks best undertaken by lying down. [Photo by Dave]

The half perforated pipe in the ditch.

Using the telehandler ensures a more controlled deposit of No1 stone. [Photo by Dave] 

After lunch the ditch was in-filled to ground level. The telehandler proving useful here as the now dried clay is not easy to shovel by hand. Also we use the telehandler to extract the remaining length of bridge rail from the old fence. It, and the length removed last week, were loaded onto the LWB Transit and taken back to Winchcombe for use a milepost uprights. 

Extracting the upright length of bridge rail. 

Finally we cleared the site of all the metal, wood, concrete and vegetation debris, removing them to appropriate disposal sites at Toddington and Winchcombe. At the road end of the ditch we inserted a vertical length of large twin wall pipe. This is temporary shuttering, it will be removed when we install a concrete catchment area with a gutter gully. 

Securing the site with the temporary heras fence panels after clearing all the debris. Note the temporary vertical pipe as a placeholder for the run-off and gutter gulley.

Wildlife report: Certainly it is now spring – several lineside fields are bright yellow with oil seed rape; blackthorn is in full blossom, with pear trees and hawthorn starting to bloom. On the ground we spotted plenty of primroses and a few bluebell buds beginning to open. Also a lot of dandelions, probably the most overlooked spring flower. At Toddington we added Goldfinch to the list of observed bird species.