Stanton Crest Drain Bonus Edition

Internal Examination 

This is the bit that got missed from the main edition yesterday! 

Before we push water down any pipe is often wise to check the integrity of the pipe, so we use the CCTV unit to look inside and what we find is usually disappointing and normally means more work. First we take a still image

From the Cess/Crest Tee 

Close inspection showed that the second pipe section has a crack running along the top so it is worth pushing the CCTV in.

This shows the crack and slight distortion but nothing too drastic. The silt build up is of more concern as the rest of the southbound is probably in the same condition. So we get the rods out and clear as much out as we can, the result is a lot better  

Crest pipe looking north from excavation 2 

We can live with that, as the increased flow will wash the rest out. 

The Mystery of the Stanton Crest Drain

Monday 25th March

Welcome back to second thrilling instalment of the Drain Gang's adventures at Stanton, we left them last week with 2 small excavations, the first having found the crest drain/cess pipe tee and the second uncovering the top of the land drain. Andrew and Dave started on excavation 2 looking to uncover the crest drain that runs under the land drain. Stay with us, it'll make sense soon (we hope😉) 

The location was pinpointed by using a sonde (a transmitter that can be tracked from above ground) 

Sonde Transmitter on the drain rods 

Sonde Tracer

The sonde proved we were digging in the correct place, so it was matter of going down a bit further. 

Meanwhile Roger was sent to Coventry, he was really standing on the spot where the crest drain had been traced going north. We needed to look to see if there was another pipe going down to the track level. 

While all this was going on there was an initial design meeting for the planned works at Culvert 11A and 11B, this programme may well dominate our efforts for the next few months. 

Andrew and Dave still digging 

Towards the end of the day, Roger and Stuart replaced a catchpit ring that had been damaged during the ballast loading for the Permanent Way Dept. It may just be beyond repair 😠

At close we ended up with excavation 1 ready for concreting the base and the cess pipe exposed under the land drain in excavation 2. The crest pipe damage must have been inflicted when the land drain was installed. It's going to be truncated here so it is no great problem. 

Left: Excavation 1 - Right: Excavation 2, land drain on the left and crest drain running horizontally 

Thursday 28 March 

We split into a variety of groups today, Stuart went to look at Stanway Viaduct in readiness for a job next week, while the rest of the gang went back to Stanton to the excavation site. The spring sunshine picked out the landslip at Toddington cutting that is being monitored for any signs of movement. 

Toddington North Cutting 

Stanway Viaduct South end 

It was all hands to the digging back at Stanton with 2 people on each excavation getting them ready for the concrete bases.

Left to Right: Alastair, Roger, Michael and Dave 

Land Drain and Crest drain interface 

In excavation 2 a section of crest pipe was removed, the idea here is to divert the water from the land drain into the crest then down to the cess.

Concrete base was poured into Excavation 1

While all this was going on Stuart and Alastair headed back to Culvert 11A to measure the scour hole on the up side at the end of the brick channel, this is undermining the farmers track  that runs under the bridge

Scour at Culvert 11A 

Photo by Alastair 

Stuart weighed down by his H&S headgear notes the measurements 















After a hard day digging it's a relief to get the equipment loaded onto the truck and head off. 

Home time 

Saturday 30 March 

Only 2 in today so we decide to head off in the direction of Cheltenham to do some inspections and small remedial jobs. First stop is Hunting Butts Tunnel north end, to check on the anti-vandal GRP lids we installed last month. Some of our cynical colleagues said they would't last a week - well eat your words, they are all still in place after a month.   

GRP lid intact, just the one concrete lid tipped off by inquisitive visitors 

The up side wing wall on the tunnel has some new graffiti so as they can't tamper with the drains they have turned their attention elsewhere.   

Hunting Butts Tunnel North End 

Next stop is Southam Lane just to the east of the Racecourse. This time the damage was done by the contractor who flailed the vegetation, the cess chambers didn't stand a chance!   

Roger replaces the top ring on a chamber 

While out trackside, we gather up some litter, it's amazing how much stuff finds it's way onto the railway 

Last stop was Bishop's Cleeve to replace more rings and lids on chambers in the up side cess, again after flail damage. 

To round the week off we stopped off at Winchcombe Station for a well earned mug of tea just as the DMU rumbled out. 



Next week we are back to Stanton and to start the site set up for Culvert 11A works and get some bricks into the crest chambers, volunteering is never dull (except when it rains 😉) 

A list of jargon and other terms that may not be familiar to people in the real world will be added to the blog when there's a few spare minutes. Just post a comment if there is anything that is really obscure.  

First Week on the New Blog

Welcome to the new Lineside Drainage blog. 

You may be wondering why we are moving away from the Flickr site that has been the home of our exploits since 2012; the main reason is that writing a blog will provide more space to explain what we are doing and why we are doing it. Lineside Drainage is one of the areas on the Railway that doesn't bring in direct revenue, we don't make a profit. We actually spend the money that other volunteers work hard to raise. So why do we do it? mainly because the railway was built along the northern edge of the Cotswold hills and it acts like a 15 mile long dam that stops the rainfall on the hills getting to the river Avon at Evesham or the River Severn at Tewkesbury. 

Without the 76 culverts and bridges that let the water flow under the embankments the build up of water behind them could wash them away. The cuttings need to be drained to stop the sides slipping on the clay layer and ending up on the track. So, we have miles of cess drains that take the water safely away to the nearest stream. Is this a real threat you may ask, well yes it is, the last land slip in a cutting was south of Greet Tunnel in 2018, luckily there is a wide flat area beside the track and no services were impacted. It could easily have been a different story though. 

Now down to business; What happened on Monday; first job was to take the truck to Evesham to have the tail lift serviced and certified safe for use. This mission was accomplished in time to take a trip to Southam Lane to check on reports that the down side crest ditch was overgrown. 

It is overgrown, but it is dry unlike the crest at Stanton which is overgrown and wet. So although it would be easy to get a contractor in to dig it out while the vegetation is clear, the funds are needed for more pressing work. We will monitor the situation.

While in the vicinity some lids were recovered from a catchpit and replaced, they had been in there for some time judging from the water marks

Two chambers on the down side have had the top ring knocked by the vegetation clearance contractors flail, when we get a few minutes we will pop down and replace them. We have had reports of other flail damage further north towards Bishop's Cleeve.

The cess along here is clear water and flowing fairly well, not fast, but moving towards the exit. 

The afternoon was spent discussing Method Statements and Risk Assessments, the first session of what may turn out to be series 😟 

Thursday 21 March 

The end is in sight for the work at Hunting Butts, we're not quite there yet but are now on the downward slope. Today we installed the last batch of blue GRP anti-vandal lids on the up and down side cess chambers. The vandal proofing will probably be tested soon in this area. We had assistance today in the shape of Steve and the JCB. Getting the rings down to the trackbed might have been a step too far without mechanical help. 

Dave and Michael lift the old concrete lids so we can fix a standard ring (even though it's oblong!) on the brick chamber. 



Dave bolts the GRP lids on after the post cement holding the ring has set. One snag, we lost Steve for part of the day as he ran over some wire and got a puncture, being keen volunteers we managed to catch up when he got it repaired. 

The production line worked well and we left 7 of the 9 chambers with concrete covers on the ends of the GRP, then we ran out of  reusable covers for the other 2 chambers. Last job was to collect the scrap and move it out of harms way until we get back to collect it.  

Saturday 23 March 

First job was to take the milepost number masters over to Carriage & Wagon for the carpenters to make some patterns. This will allow us to make concrete moulds for casting the numbers for the GWR pattern milepost heads. We are fitting these as and when we get the chance. 

Then it's off to Stanton to measure up for the next project, with a detour via Toddington Signal Box to get permission to run trackside. The visit was just in time to catch the Steam Loco Blogmaster waving his arm out of the cab of 2807. 

On the up side, Cross Drain (Culvert) 11B runs out into pipe over the field to the stream that runs through Culvert 11A. We believe that the pipe under the field has collapsed over the years as the flow is poor and it caused ponding along the fence line. We plan to resolve the issue. 

Roger and Andrew set up the level on top of the embankment then we can measure the levels of the drain and the outlet area. 

The inlet to the drain is a 15" pipe in the embankment on the down side, it's well camouflaged. 

Looking inside the 15" pipe reveals that 2.3m in it shrinks to a 9" to run the rest of its length. By the look of the straw it seems some wildlife has set up a temporary home in here, but as it's been wet lately the site has been vacated.  

We move to Culvert 11A next to design the solution for the down side cess drain joining the culvert. The pipe coming in from the field runs across the end of the ditch from the cess, so the water runs along the side of the wing wall eroding the base. This needs to be rectified. 

The brick channel wall on the up side of 11A has been pushed inward by passing farm traffic and is in danger of collapsing so that needs rebuilding as part of the project. 

After a late lunch, we stay at Stanton to have look at the down side crest drain opposite the yard. There's a land drain that outlets water at the top of the cutting side and this runs down the slope and pools in the cess until it soaks away. Another undesirable state, so the gang excavate the top of the adjacent pipe that runs from the crest drain to the cess chamber to see if we can divert the land drain. 

Crest drain/cess down pipe is uncovered to reveal a large hole in the pipe, this was covered in bricks, it's a rather Heath Robinson arrangement. 

Further along a second excavation saw the land drain uncovered. 

That's the close of play for the week. Don't miss next week's thrilling instalment of the Mystery of the Stanton Crest Drain.