Busy bees at Stanton

Friday 10 May 

The drain gang don't work on Friday, but today was different with 5 gathered for a Working at Heights course at Winchcombe. Drains aren't usually 'at height' but the definition is work in 'any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury', that includes falling into holes or trenches, or off headwalls and the like, hence the need to be aware of the risks involved. After the course we unpacked the new brick cutting jig; was this a case of too many hands 😉  

As a last resort Roger reads the instructions :-)
(Photo: Alastair) 

Saturday 11 May 

Back to Stanton, this time to start the site preparation for repairing the up side cess drain outlet headwall. This is a forerunner to a bigger project to repair Culvert 11A and the down side cess outfall. 

Before starting we carried out a birds nest survey to ensure it was safe to take down the clump of blackthorn, it's pretty inhospitable stuff so perhaps it was no surprise that we didn't find anything. 

Up side cess outfall and scrap sleeper pile 

Roger and Stuart start the clearing
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair stacks the blackthorn for disposal  

The headwall area had to be cleared so that we can see what needs to be done to either build it higher or dish the area around the top to prevent it being overwhelmed by the surrounding ground. 

Site cleared and headwall exposed 

The headwall in danger of being swamped 

After a break we headed over to the up side to measure up for an extension to the down side cess drain. This job was rapidly abandoned when a swarm of bees were spotted on a fence post. After a quick risk assessment, we shot back over the track out of their way. 

Busy Bees 

The grass seems to be growing rather fast this year, so the proposed pathway down to Culvert 11A was cut, this will become the main access route for the upcoming work. Alastair spent some time breaking rocks, didn't this used to be called hard labour  😁 

Stuart with the flail machine
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair breaking rock in the hot sun 

Rock 0 - Alastair 1 

The clearance down at Culvert 11A on the up side came up with half a roll of pig netting, looks to have been run over while hiding in the grass. 

What you don't need near the brush cutter or flail 

From Culvert 11A 

The water in 11A is higher at the inlet end the outlet, a quick shufti found that some bricks have been washed in, roughly mid way through restricting the flow.   

Is anybody in? 
(Photo: Alastair) 

11A Internal - brick profile visible 

Moving the stored timber sleepers was the last bit of tidying up, these were neatly stacked out of the way along with a collection of through bolter chairs.  

Roger and Stuart apply leverage to the sleepers
(Photo: Alastair) 

The oversize Jenga 

After the sleepers had been stacked we had a visit from Steve the JCB driver, he informed us that he is moving these same sleepers up to the yard on Monday! If only we'd known... 

While the flail was handy the toe of the embankment between 11B and 11A got a trim (at least it started to get a trim). 

Stuart under the tree
(Photo: Alastair) 

Route of the proposed pipe from Culvert 11B to 11A 

Back in the yard at Winchcombe, the Lineside Clearance Manager report finding a manhole just to the north of Culvert 21A (River Isbourne) on the up side fence line. This called for a another quick shufti. It looks more like a foul water cover than one of ours, possibly part of the sewage system from Greet to the works at the other side of the railway. 

Looks to be too solid for one of ours