The pace hots up at Stanton

Thursday 20 June 

Well it's the eve of the longest day of the year, from Saturday it's all downhill to Winter; now there's a cheery thought. Typical weather for the English summer, with a heavy rain shower blowing through at Lunchtime, but luckily we had taken shelter in the dry of the welfare cabin. We are getting into a bit of a routine up at Stanton, the south up side channel wall is progressing well and the down side has been excavated to see what we are dealing with. 

Alastair and Michael unloading the kit 

Michael making a start on the bricks 

Andrew uncovering the end of the inlet
(Photo: Alastair) 

There was a quick trip down to Toddington to pick up the rebar 'U' sections for the frame that will surround the gully pipe when it is concreted in 

Reinforcing 'U' bars fro the gully drain 

There had been another delivery at Toddington, Foremarke Hall was abandoned in the car park having returned from a short stay at Didcot Railway Centre. It seems to a be a bit shorter then when it left 😉

Foremarke Hall (7903) back from Didcot 

Back at Stanton the wall was progressing 

Nearing the end of the stretcher course
(Photo: Alastair)  

Stretcher course completed  

Over on the down side the channel wall along the wing wall was being tidied up ready for rebuild  

Stuart removing the concrete that had once been behind the side wall
(Photo: Alastair) 

As mentioned in the opening, the glorious English summer weather didn't disappoint today. 

Looking to the west as the rain blows in 

Later in the day the sun appeared 

After lunch a quick explore down to Culvert 11B to check the pipe that is stored there, it's 225 mm perforated twinwall so it's not going to be any use for the inlet diversion at 11A. 

Culvert 11B up side - lost in grass 

Progress was good again today, Michael is half way along the header course. It's easier to see what is needed on the inlet end, and removing the loose bricks will help get it dried out (hopefully 😔). 

Progress today
(Photo: Alastair) 

Inlet end (down side), wing wall side headers removed 

Down side from above 

One issue that may bite us on Saturday, the bricklayers are going faster than the brick cleaners so it may be all hands on cleaning to keep pace. There's a mix of bricks in use, it can get confusing as the types are not all the same size. To add complexity the recycled imperial bricks were probably hand thrown and aren't always the the same size, or shape for that matter. 

Pictured below are, from the top left clockwise: new imperial engineering blue, old imperial red, old imperial engineering blue, arch taper engineering blue, new metric engineering blue. 

Samples from the brick pile 

A search is still under way for more of the arch tapers, the reclamation yards contacted so far haven't any in stock. It may be a case of dredging downstream of the culvert in case any have been washed away.