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.

Good progress

Thursday 26^th March

All twelve team members working today were glad that the weather did not repeat the previous days temporary reversion to winter. Although rather chilly first thing, the strong sunshine made it look a lot more like spring. Most importantly, no rain or other forms of precipitation!

Dee, Phil, Martin (J), Peter and Stuart worked on the tyre-steps at the River Isbourne bridge. They used up all the stock of tyres we collected a few weeks ago, plus two telehandler bucket loads of spent ballast and spoil. This almost completed the steps, we are two tyres short. The resulting steps are a lot easier and safer to use than the wooden peg ones. Cost of materials is a lot less than building wooden steps. However, the installation effort is not insignificant – certainly not as easy as the YouTube videos imply!

Stuart checking the levels from the bottom of the steps. [Photo by Martin(J)]

The almost complete set of steps. [Photo by Peter]

Polly, Dave, Nigel, John, Jonathan and Andrew progressed the new crest ditch at Stowe Road, Toddington. They installed the GRP rings which form the new chamber; and excavated the crest ditch which runs almost to the roadside boundary. Most of the excavated material from the ditch was used as backfill around the chamber. A bonus was the removal of part of the old bridge rail fence support. This has a sufficient non-corroded length to become a milepost upright.

Trial fitting of the GRP chamber rings. After measuring we moved one of the thinner rings from the top to the bottom, as this then made the ditch less deep and thus reduced the amount of excavation. [Photo by Dave]

Jonathan excavating the ditch whilst Nigel, John and Dave backfill around the chamber rings. The ladder and spirt level were used to check the depth of the ditch excavation.

Site secured at end of day with the necessary warning signs. Removed length of bridge rail just visible - we were not able to take this back to Winchcombe as the tail-lift fitted Transit was out of action.

Roger was our twelfth man. He spent the day in the workshop at Winchcombe cutting numerals for mileposts from acrylic sheet. This does produce some neater looking numbers that casting in our concrete moulds. Additionally by using black coloured sheet, it will avoid the need for painting.

Wildlife report: Pheasants seem to be out in force today – there was even one in Winchcombe Yard. We spotted a large flock of crows in a field near Toddington – probably eating freshly sown seed. Lambs in one of the fields adjacent to Stowe Road confirmed that this is spring.

HRA Award Photo Extra

 Thursday 19th March

 Here are a couple of pictures of (half of) the team with the Heritage Railway Association Infrastructure award plaque taken by Infrastructure Manager Sarah after the end of day cuppa at Winchcombe.

Click here for the full story. 

Left to right:   Martin (S), Ian, Martin (J), Andrew, Peter, Dave, Jonathan.

Ring, ring

Thursday 19^th March

A last minute change of plan for us today, as C&W required the tail-lift fitted LWB Transit to collect a piece of machinery from Cheltenham. We also required it to deliver concrete catch pit rings to Stanton Yard. So our plans changed – no work on the steps above the River Isbourne to enable deployment of extra manpower at Stanton to enable offloading of the rings and returning the LWB Transit to Winchcombe for C&W use.

So Jonathan loaded the five concrete rings on the LWB Transit with the telehandler. Then he departed to Stanton with John driving the Transit. Also heading that way in two other vehicles were Martin (S), Martin (J), Peter, Dave and Nigel. [One downside of a larger team size is that we need several vehicles to get us all to site. The work at Stanton was to replace some broken rings on the cess chamber immediately on the high mileage up side of Stanton Bridge. As you can see from the photographs, this is very close to where fresh supplies of ballast are delivered and then collected. Hence this chamber is prone to damage from close encounters from vehicles. First task was to remove some of the ballast hep from around the chamber and then the two damaged rings. We inserted four new rings, thus making the chamber higher and more visible. The telehandler made this job as lot easier and safer – these concrete rings are very heavy. Moving them by hand needs four strong folk. We covered the chamber with a blue mesh lid, bolted down, and placed two blue painted marker posts in front of it. There is now no excuse for failing to spot that chamber now.

Martin (S) and Martin (J) removing some of the ballast pile around the chamber. [Photo by Dave]

Unloading the pallet of rings to enable the Transit to return to Winchcombe for use by C&W. [Photo by Dave]

Jonathan carefully reverses down the slope to the trackside with the first replacement ring. [Photo by Dave]

Martin (J) directing the placement of the third ring.[Photo by Dave]

The completed stack of rings with lid and markers. [Photo by Dave]

After the work at Stanton, Jonathan returned the telehandler to Winchcombe. His next task was to sort out a flat tyre on the Isuzu pickup. The next jobs for Martin (S), Martin (J), Peter, Dave and Nigel were further north. These were to install lengths of bridge rail for the posts of replacement mileposts 6 and 6¾. The bridge rail lengths for mileposts are 6 foot long; so these are quite heavy too. They require a two foot deep hole in the ground – another task requiring some muscle power.

Martin (S) and Peter inserting the new post for milepost 6¾. [Photo by Dave]

Final task for the group of five was to complete the checking of the distances between the mileposts up to Broadway. Martin (J) has repair our measuring wheel using plastic welding; whilst Martin (S) demonstrated some skilful balancing by running the wheel along a rail head to avoid irregularities caused by uneven ground.

Meanwhile back at Winchcombe Yard, John had joined Ian and Andrew working on two GRP catch pit rings that are destined for the new chamber on the crest at Stowe Road, Toddington. The task was to cut a 265mm diameter hole in the ends to take the inlet pipe of the new crest drain. Whilst these GRP rings are considerably lighter than the concrete rings, they are extremely hard. Hence the hole cutting took quite some time, using a variety of power and hand tools.

Ian preparing to cut the GRP rings. Fist drill a small hole in the middle of the cut out to enable marking a circle leaving equal amounts in each ring.

Completed set of rings and length of pipe test fitted. Excavating the ditch and fitting this at Toddington is next week's task.

 

After lunch, Jonathan and John make a quick visit to Pecked Lane at Bishops Cleeve. The job here was to install some additional warning signs by the footpath gates. Unfortunately, the fixings on the back of the signs proved incompatible with the tubular posts already in place. So a return visit will be needed with some different sized fixings.

Wildlife report: Spring had certainly sprung - this was the warmest and sunniest workday for us so far this year. Consequently we observed a noticeable increase in inset activity, spotting solitary and bumble bees and several species of butterfly. At Winchcombe we observed at leat six magpies which appear to be nesting towards the school. They were being mobbed by at leat three crows. The yard’s resident robins were also noted. The change to spring weather has certainly brought out the blossom on the blackthorn trees and bushes, and on a couple of cherry trees. Daffodils and narcissi are now just past their flowering peak, whilst in a sheltered spot near broadway we spotted primroses in full flower.

Primroses. [Photo by Dave]

Three or five?

Thursday 12^th March

Once again the increased numbers in the team allowed simultaneous work on multiple sites. Three of these were lineside, with one extending over nearly two miles of track. The other two ‘sites’ were Churchward House and Winchcombe Yard. OK, that is rather extending the definition of work site – but at least those two were out of the strong winds and squally showers.

First group departing from Winchcombe Yard were John , Martin (S) and Martin (J). They headed north to the two mile work site. Their task was to recover mileposts 6 and 6¾. Like many on the Laverton to Broadway section, when replaced for the reopening a few years ago, wooden posts were used. Rot has now set in – so we are replacing these with lengths of former broad gauge bridge rail. Also we shall replace the heads and fit correct pattern GW numerals – not ‘house numbers’. The reason why the work was spread over two miles rather than three-quarters was to check the spacing, using milepost 7¼ as a datum. Unfortunately the handle of our measuring wheel suffered plastic fatigue before completing all the measurements.

Next group to depart the yard were Dave, Polly, Peter, and Nigel. They were the today’s team at Stowe Road, Toddington. The task was to lay the final courses of brick in the new chamber on the cutting crest, and then to insert the first GRP catch pit ring. Once again this task was made a lot easier as the field drain that runs through the new chamber was not flowing; so the chamber pit did not need pumping out first. Work at Toddington was timed careful to avoid the peak of arriving passengers for the race day trains. 

Polly makes quick work of the final brick courses in the new crest chamber. [Photo by Dave]

The first GRP catch pit ring goes in , much easier to work from the inside. [Photo by Peter]

Two Swindon thoroughbreds ready for the off at the Toddington starting line. [Photo by Dave]

On the return from Toddington, the group used the empty space on the LWB Transit to move some sections of old sleepers for PWay. These are obviously to be used very soon, as the instruction was to leave them on the truck at Winchcombe.

No doubt the PWay report in a future Heritage Herald blog will fill us in with the use of these old sleeper sections . [Photo by Dave]

Ian, Stuart, Jonathan and Andrew headed to the third lineside site, the up side on the River Isbourne bridge. Here the task was to progress the construction of the steps down from the vacant trackbed to the bridge headwall using the old tyres. Fortunately the strong wind was vaguely westerly, so the embankment provided a bit of shelter. The up side sidings at Winchcombe looked oddly empty with all serviceable coaches formed into the race day operational rakes.

Jonathan and Ian preparing the ground for the next tyre step. Removing roots is the trickiest part of the operation.

2807 hauls the first race train over the Isbourne bridge.

All the groups met back at Churchward House for lunch – which fortunately coincided with a very heavy rain shower. After lunch, the team formations swapped a bit. Stuart, Martin (J), Dave, Nigel, and Peter progressed the Isbourne steps, until the weather made working their unpleasant and unsafe. Ian and Martin (S) under took some maintenance of some of our power tools. John, Polly and Andrew fitted up the new head for milepost 6¾. They also attempted removing the old heads from the two recovered posts; however the rusty bolts failed to budge.

Some of the afternoon team on the Isbourne steps - the steepness of the embankment is apparent. [Photo by Dave]

End of day situation on the tyre steps. [Photo by Stuart]

To complete the list of five sites - Churchward House. Here the work was administration (also known as meetings!). These involved Roger in the morning and Jonathan in the afternoon. Out of the wind and rain this was the most pleasant work site of the day!

Wildlife report: The milepost team reported some rabbits at Laverton. The morning Isbournce steps team watched the different ariel antics of gulls, crows, buzzards and red kites from the top of the embankment. Also heard were blue tits, great tits and black birds. Otherwise it was a bleak day for wildlife spotting – just like the weather.

S&D

Not Stockton & Darlington. Or even Somerset & Dorset! But Surprise and Delight.

The Heritage Railway Association Annual Award winners were announced at a gala evening in Llandudno on Saturday. 

Surprise:  The winning entry in the Infrastructure category was our "Predict & Prevent: A Whole-Railway Asset Management Approach to Water and Infrastructure Resilience on the GWSR”. We beat some very stiff competition from some other outstanding projects. Highly commended were, the National Railway Museum’s refurbishment and reinterpretation of Station Hall in York, the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway’s ‘Independent Line’ project and Peak Rail’s traditional locomotive watering facility.

Delight: The Drainage team, along with our Infrastructure Manager and Chief Civil Engineer are delighted with the win. Especially as it concerns an unglamorous, repetitive, maintenance process dealing with infrastructure assets that many take for granted.

The HRA website has a full list of the 2026 HRA Award Winners.

HRA and GeoInspection present the award to John Dora, GWSR Chairman. Unfortunately due to prior personal commitments, neither our Drainage Team Leader or our Infrastructure Manger were able to attend.

Dividing into three

Thursday 5^th March

After many weeks of dull and wet weather, we certainly enjoyed the sunshine and warmth today. By mid-afternoon the temperature in nearby Pershore reached 17C, making this the warmest day so far this year. For the first time this year, two of our groups loaded deckchairs for use during the morning coffee break and at lunchtime.

With nine of the team attending, we formed three groups in a 4-3-2 formation.

The Stowe Road Toddington group was the group of four - Peter, John, Polly and Nigel. Their work today was to lay the first couple of brick courses in the new chamber on the cutting crest by the road. Just like last week, the dry weather meant that the field drain that runs through this chamber was not flowing; so there was only a small quantity of water to bail out before bricking commenced. Again they setup the plant on the old garden centre site by Toddington Station; but this time as the quantity of mortar required was relatively small this was delivered to the site in buckets using the Isuzu pickup.

Dee, Phil and Jonathan formed the group of three. They first travelled to Ski Tyres in Tewkesbury to collect a number of old worn car tyres. Ski have donated these to us to experiment with construction of steps on cutting and embankment sides. This may be a cost effective and straightforward method of providing some safe access routes for all the lineside teams. There are a number of videos on YouTube which show the method, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTu8NuF6uJ8. After lunch the group started work on our trial site, the up side above the River Isbourne bridge. Initial results are encouraging, as long as we stick to 14 inch diameter tyres. Removing tree and bush roots proved to be the trickiest part of the operation.

First four tyres inserted at the bottom of the steps - will need a little more infill from the used ballast pile. [Photo by Jonathan]

The remaining tyres stacked at the end of the upside siding. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

The remaining group of two, Martin (J) and Andrew, headed south to undertake a number of odd jobs. First was the regular clearing of the grill on the exit of culvert 24C at Working Lane. This clogs up with twigs and other debris, today’s clearing dropped the pooling water by over 6 inches.

24C exit after cleaning.

Next was a quick survey of the lower portion of the haul road at Working Lane. Following the completion of the up side embankment clearance by our contractor, spotting the areas where water is collecting is a lot easier. They identified potential sites to insert pipes under the haul road. Then on to Two Hedges Road at Bishops Cleeve. First job here was another dye test on syphon cross drain 40A. Since clearing out the inlet a few weeks ago, and with a fair amount of rain over those weeks, the increased flow through the syphon enabled a better test than previously. No dye coloured water was observed entering either the down or up side cess drains; either immediately after adding to the inlet or after a couple of hours. So we can safely conclude that this syphon is not leaking.

Next job was one on behalf of the bridges team, as agreed at our meeting last week. This was to paint the safety rails constructed using old steam locomotive boiler tubes on the filled in accommodation bridge 41. Use of spray smooth Hammerite paint made the job straight forward. However this used up two cans, one for each side. Brush painting may be more cost effective. However, the result does look at lot better than rusty tubes.

Martin (J) painting the up side rails of old bridge 41.

Final job for the pair was to replace some concrete cess chamber lids with blue GRP mesh lids. The chambers on the up side in the shallow cutting just north of Kayte Lane crossing are prone to close encounters with the robot flail or other vehicles. A number of the old concrete lids were scrap, either cracked or having broken corners exposing the reinforcing bar. The blue mesh is much more visible and durable. We have plenty of these in stock, but we have now exhausted our supply of bolted brackets. Hence only three chambers were dealt with today.

Neater and easier to spot, cess chamber with blue mesh lid.

Finally on the way back, the pair checked on the status of the now notorious Bonsai World inlet stream of culvert 40B. The wet spell since the beginning of the year has lead to some seepage from the crest ditch into the French drain; plus the two twinwall pipes running directly to the down side cess chamber were running. We are going to need a few more weeks with little or no rain before we are able to attempt further work here.

Martin (J) testing the depth of the water in the Bonsai World crest ditch - and trying to estimate the angle required for an elbow to extend the pipe.

A tenth member of the team was also working on the Railway. Roger was attending the monthly H&S meeting at Toddington.

Wildlife report: The warm sunny day certainly resulted in plenty of bird activity. Very noticeable was the increase in bird song – but even using a bird identification app on a phone we did not spot anything new or unusual. The loudest birds were a flock of geese in the small holding on the down side near Two Hedges Road. The best sighting was a pair of Red Kites swooping very low near Kayte Lane. Also looking for rodents we noted two domestic cats heading for the scrub on the down side cutting at Two Hedges Road. Finally, at Working Lane the growth of moss on some of the redundant concrete blocks was very noticeable. This is only a few years growth, so it does show just how clean the air is there.

Moss growth on old concrete blocks.

Definitely it was Spring today – lots of daffodils in full bloom, and a couple of magnolia trees in Gretton and Bishops Cleeve starting to flower.