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.