Wow! there's a world outside Stanton

Saturday 21 September 

Out to Royal Oak, Gretton, the south end of Greet Tunnel on a three-fold mission today; first off to clear vegetation from Culverts 24A and 24B and the outlet ditch, secondly to catalogue the cess chambers on the run from the portal and the cutting crest. The third job (depending on who you were watching) was to catch the last of the summer sunshine, pick blackberries or estimate what materials are needed for the 24A down side rebuild. 

This year the vegetation growth has been phenomenal, the good thing about Royal Oak is that the lineside clearance contractor has cleared large parts of the area. We "just" have to do the ditches and headwalls. 

Culvert 24A up side, the sun is shining 

Roger starts on Culvert 24A down side

Michael in the ditch on Culvert 24A up side 

Culvert 24A outfall needs a bit of work 

The culvert ditch stretches for some distance... 

Michael heads off towards Working Lane 

It's not all easy going though, despite the trees being removed earlier this year... 

The willow has grown around 10ft this season
(Photo: Alastair) 

The willow trunks and roots are restricting the flow 

End of day on the up side 

Roger starting on Culvert 24B up side 

Culvert 24B up side headwall was rebuilt in November 2016, it now needs a bit of scour prevention below headwall apron. 

Culvert 24B up side headwall 

24B outlet ditch 

Roger brushcutting at the pond on the up side
(Photo: Alastair) 

The rebuild on the down side of 24A has been on the list for a fair while, it was partly dug  out back in December 2015

Culvert 24A down side headwall 

24A, Alastair digging out for the south wall footings 

Culvert 24A down side, design conference
(Photo: Alastair) 

24A down side, more bricks coming off the crest drain headwall 

24A down side, ready for concreting the footings 

You would have thought that we would have learnt by now not to poke around when we see something. We haven't, one of the sharp eyed operatives spotted a bit of wire sticking up in the grass near the truck at lunchtime. Being good corporate citizens, we decide to pick it up, only it turned out to be a bit of rebar still attached to a rather large lump of concrete. It looks like an over-engineered end post for a wire fence, it must have had that big foot around 4ft deep in the ground when it was set upright. 

Roger examines the latest discovery