Catch-up time

Thursday 24 October

Five of us in to attend an abrasive wheel course, this is part of the ongoing training programme to keep us all up to date with the kit we use. After the course we had time to break the milepost number moulds out of the boxes they were cast in.

Mould blocks broken out 

Numeral patterns removed 

The moulds need to sit for 28 days to dry out, then they should be ready for use.

Saturday 26 October

Work abandoned for the day due to heavy rain. However, a report came in about some flooding at Dixton Cutting near Culvert 32A.

Down side cess, Dixton Cutting
(Photo: Dave French) 

Monday 28 October

The gang set out for Manor Lane at Gotherington this morning to continue the vegetation clearance along the straight to Bishops Cleeve. The stretch is on an embankment for most of the way and has 9 culverts to get the Cotswold rain away. 

Culvert 37A down side, runs under the occupation bridge
(Photo: Roger)  

Culvert 37A up side, extended wing walls
(Photo: Dave) 

Culvert 37A up side
(Photo: Dave) 

Culvert 37B down side headwall
(Photo: Dave) 

Roger and Nigel inspecting the outlet on 37B 

Culvert 37B up side outlet chamber
(Photo: Dave) 

Culvert 37B up side headwall
(Photo: Dave) 

Culvert 37C down side headwall
(Photo: Dave) 

Not content with clearing the ends of 3 culverts, the gang cleared the paths up to the foot crossing  

Gotherington Fields foot crossing up side
(Photo: Dave) 

On the way back to Winchcombe, they stopped off at Dixton Cutting to have a look at the area reported as flooding on Saturday. The main problem was that Tirle Brook had overflowed upstream of the railway, the flood water had run down a depression in the adjacent field and run over the cutting slope into the cess.  

Flooding form Tirle Brook had washed across the field
(Photo: Dave) 

Crest drain outfall into the brook at Culvert 32A
(Photo: Dave) 

Meanwhile; contractors have started work on the erosion protection for the River Isbourne at Winchcombe (Culvert 21A). 

Up side north wing wall excavations, Culvert 21A
(Photo: Alastair) 

How wrong can the weather forecast be

Monday 21 October 

The forecast on Sunday said high pressure was heading for the UK, it's going to be a dry week! Plans were laid to get out to Culvert 24A to crack on with the rebuild of the down side chamber and bask in the autumn sunshine. In the real world, it didn't quite turn out like that. Monday morning was wet and miserable, and with 6 of us in, finding something to do in the dry became the priority. Luckily, there was a task (on our list of 220 outstanding jobs) that has been waiting since early this year. That job is making moulds for casting the numerals for the milepost heads. That kept everyone busy for long enough to decide that the grey was getting lighter. Then we loaded up and headed off to Gretton, again by the scenic route as the road in Greet has been closed now 😖 

Number patterns in place, Roger cuts a divider 

Mould casing, more extra's than Ben Hur 😃
(Photo: Alastair)  

We just have to wait and see it it works 

Moulds completed, we loaded up and moved out. Roger and Alastair headed to Culvert 24A to pick-up the rebuild work. Dave, Nigel and Andrew dropped off at Culvert 24C up side ditch to clear the vegetation. Stuart went to talk to the farmer about a report of flooding into the field from our outlet ditch. 

The barometric pressure is so high, the top of Bredon Hill has disappeared 

Setting up camp for the day 

Culvert 24A down side starting point 

The area around the south end of the tunnel has a tendency to be wet, the up side pond has started to fill 

Gretton Meadow up side pond 

Down at Culvert 24C... 

Culvert 24C up side ditch 

Dave starts in the middle 

Andrew attacks the culvert outfall 

Nigel cuts along the fenceline  

The gang working on Culvert 24C down side 

Now we have started work, Bredon Hill disappears 

Lineside clearance are working south from Working Lane bridge, this picks up at least 2 of the culverts 

What's left of Culvert 25B up side headwall 

Freshly cleared ditch 25B to 25A 

Clearance not reached Culvert 25C yet 

Spoke too soon, Bredon Hill's back 

Over in the adjacent field there's signs of seepage, but no flooding as yet 

Over the hedge near Culvert 24B 

After leaving the railway, the steam from Culvert 24C enters another pipe under the adjacent land and reappears in the next field to run in an open ditch. 

The end of the line for Culvert 24C 

Back at 24C a large ball of plastic netting has been recovered, this was dumped after the landslip repairs. It's gone to the skip at last. 

Break time

Culvert 24C outlet ditch after cutting 

Up at 24A down side, Roger is getting the walls levelled up 

Removing the old copings from the headwall 

Roger with a stock of imperial blues
(Photo: Alastair) 

Andrew and Dave head south
(Photo: Alastair) 

Culvert 24B down side
(Photo: Alastair) 

Culvert 24B Down side 

Culvert 24B Headwall with roots 

Culvert 24C up side outfall, no headwall 

Culvert 24C fenceline outlet 

Culvert 24C down side ditch after raking out 

Andrew climbing back up form Culvert 24C down side

Culvert 24C down side headwall, top course and copings need reseating 

Progress on 24A, all 4 walls have bricks on them, it needs another few courses yet  

Culvert 24A, crest drain headwall 

Culvert 24A, culvert pipe 

Culvert 24A, concrete backfill behind the outside wall  

That's it for today, by the time we loaded up, the Malvern Hills were visible, by then we were all wet 😒

Malvern in the distance