Thursday 14 November
The forecast was abysmal for today so the team stood down. That left one intrepid operative to escort some contractors removing hazardous waste and then do a drain check on the north end of the line. It was wet, nothing much else to say. Track drains doing a great job most of the way, the under bridge gullies more of a problem with leaves blocking the inlets. Our contractors abandoned the River Isbourne as it was just too high.
There was a bit of surprise on the way in, the forecast said rain but evidently the elements had other ideas.
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| November Cotswolds morning |
The plan for the Culvert 21A (River Isbourne) erosion works was to use flume pipes to keep the river out of the works, that didn't quite work. Plan B is to use interlocking steel piling sheets to create a coffer dam. Work on this started on Tuesday, by this morning the site was abandoned.
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| River Isbourne up side |
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| River Isbourne down side |
Round at Didbrook 2, Bridge 16, the ash leaves had won again.
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| Didbrook 2 level 5' 6" at 09:45 |
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| Didbrook 2 down side, lonely culvert overflow marker board |
Back at Winchcombe the intrepid Carriage Maintenance team were waiting for the stock to be delivered to complete the monthly inspection.
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| Never mind the rain - Class 03 D.2182 with the Maroon set |
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| Greet Cutting, A bit of water in the down cess from field run off |
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| Winchcombe Yard down side stream |
Down at the work site at Culvert 21A the extent of the flood could be seen...
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| Culvert 21A up side |
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| Steel piling on the up side |
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| Culvert 21A down side |
Round the corner the Chicken Curve and Defford drains were working well
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| Chicken Curve Culvert 20C down side |
Bridge 20 had fared a bit worse, but it only has 1 gully
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| Bridge 20 down side |
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| Culvert 17A down side (inlet) |
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| Didbrook, Culvert 16C down side overflowing |
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| Didbrook, Culvert 16B can't keep up |
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| Didbrook 2 over 7' deep by 11:00 am |
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| Didbrook 2, water running in down the steps off the fields |
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| Didbrook Culvert 14B, a big area to drain |
Toddington Station cess was almost maxed out, with a bit of the flood water from Stow Road washing down into the cess.
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| Toddington, Stow Road bridge |
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| Stow Road Bridge, Toddington |
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| Toddington Station Cess just about managing |
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| Toddington Station plant house obstructing the flow |
Up at Stanton the work done this summer was really paying for itself...
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| Culvert 11A up side, farm track clear with new gully drain |
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| Culvert 11A up side outfall |
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| Stanton down side cess outfall , Culvert 11A |
Culvert 11B is on out list to do, materials are on site.
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| Stanton, Culvert 11B down side |
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| Culvert 11C up side |
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Stanton down side crest outfall
another of this year's rebuilds |
Further up at Bridge 8, the wash off the road and fields was more than the cess could handle
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| Stanton Bridge 8 northwards |
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| Bridge 8 up side cess southbound |
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| Bridge 8 to Bridge 7 up side cess |
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| Culvert 7A siphon outlet |
Culvert 6C another siphon which was rebuilt in 2018 was thought to be abandoned, it was actually running today
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| Culvert 6C down side running |
Bridge 6 at Laverton was around the 5' mark, just too deep for traffic to attempt
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| Bridge 6 Laverton, leaves on the gullies |
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| Bridge 5 Little Buckland on arrival |
The local residents had made efforts to keep Bridge 5 passable
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| Bridge 5 Little Buckland on departure |
Round at Stanley Pontlarge the inevitable flood had happened.
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| Bridge 28 Stanley Pontlarge Lane |
Friday 15 November
An operative popped in today to check the south end of the line...
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| Culvert 21A River Isbourne, up side level gone down a bit |
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| Culvert 21A River Isbourne down side |
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| River Isbourne Levels - this last rain was more intense but short lived |
Round at Gretton things looked in good order
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| Culvert 24C up side, a touch of leaf in the grille |
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| Culvert 24A down side crest drain running well |
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| Culvert 24A up side ditch is blocking with roots |
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| The repaired land slip behind the Royal Oak is looking good |
Down to Dixton cutting to check for flooding near Culvert 32A.
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| Dixton Cutting northbound from Bridge 33 |
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| Tirle Brook, Culvert 32A up side, flowing well |
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| Dixton, Culvert 32A down side cess fresh silt from flooding |
On the way back the bridge, there was something watching, a two headed Roe Deer
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| Who's invading their territory |
Working Lane at Gotherington is another bridge where the residents clear the gullies
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| Bridge 36 Manor Lane up side |
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| Bridge 36 high water mark, end of the access ramp |
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| Culvert 35C rebuilt in July 2018 |
At Pecked Lane, Bishops Cleeve, Culvert 39A was suffering from debris washing down
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| Culvert 39A down side grille |
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| Upstream of Culvert 39A the local council have a grille! |
Bridge 42 at Southam Lane seems to be oblivious to the rains, it's much the same as we left it on Monday this week.
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| Southam Lane, down side cess racecourse drain |
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| Bridge 42 down side abutment and cess drain |
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| Kayte Lane Culvert 41C up side |
Down at Cheltenham Racecourse Station everything looks to be in order
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| CRC from Evesham Road Bridge |
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| Hunting Butts north side from Evesham Road Bridge |
The vegetation clearance contractor has been working round from Evesham Road over the top of the tunnel and back. This is in preparation for the installation of security fencing to keep the the vandals at bay
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| Hunting Butts up side crest |
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| Hunting Butts down side crest |
Work is planned to reinstate the crest drain on the down side at Hunting Butts. it's not scheduled just yet. At the south end of the tunnel there were signs of the down side cess overflowing, this was expected as the pipe suffers from root ingress and the up side has been abandoned. It's an area that hasn't seen much work since the line was originally closed
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| Hunting Butts south side down cess, overflowed |
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| Hunting Butts Tunnel south portal, new drain intact |
What an ACE report all the photos! All your work at 11A certainly came into its own, and repaid the effort expended. I should imagine the folks whose garden adjoins the Isborne has a very smart fence, even so I dhould be very worried it I lived there. Let's hope the Severn and Avon subside a little over the weekend, before the next atlantic low hits Worcestershire.
ReplyDeletePowli Wilson
A fantastic and comprehensive survey of the state of play! The amount of water flowing in some of those drains (e.g. the ones at Stanton) is just mind-blowing! Still, without all your excellent work, things would be so much worse.
ReplyDeleteNoel
An excellent report. Great to see the work at 11A has paid off.
ReplyDeleteI do believe however that 'Working Lane' should read Manor Lane.
With regard to 6C, was there any evidence of water flowing at the outlet? And if so, where was it then flowing ? With 7A, the railways board need to take some strong action to get the landowner to either clear that stream, or allow the drainage gang to organise a contractor at his expense. This flooding is not doing the track bed any good at all.
Andy P.
Hi Andy, Well spotted, I've move Bridge 36 back to Gotherington :-)
Delete6C had water in the outlet pit, but I couldn't see where it was going or even if it as going, it looked static.
7A was flowing away better than expected, the water in the cess was mainly form the aqueduct and the run off form the fields and road to the south of B8, between the down wing wall and the end of the concrete channel. The chambers had overflowed, it was just too much for the pipe to take.
Lots to think about now, crest ditches may be the focus for a while.
Cheers, Stu
Great to see your hard work paying off with this sort of severe test!
ReplyDelete