Inspection day

Friday 1 November

Alastair dropped in to check on the contractor's progress on the River Isbourne (Culvert 21A) erosion control works. The temporary flume pipes were being installed on the up side, these will contain the normal flow while the work on the banks goes ahead. On completion the pipes will be removed and the process repeated on the down side.

Flume pipes and dam being installed
(Photo: Alastair)

Contractors at work on the Isbourne
(Photo: Alastair)

Saturday 2 November

Anyone with a military background will have come across the command 'Stand by your beds!' it always heralded an inspection, possibly with white gloves as an aid in the search for the hidden enemy, dust. Well we did some inspections today, but nobody shouted and there was a lot of mud and water. With only 2 of us in for the morning and a very wet start to the day, we decided to check some trouble spots before going to Hunting Butts to look at a report from the clearance contractor about wet ground on the cutting crest.

Roger spent the morning at the Volunteer Liaison meeting and caught up with us at lunchtime. By then the weather had turned positively Mediterranean, it had stopped raining 😊

Culvert 25A, Working Lane, flowing well

Cuvlert 28A downstream chamber, no overflow?

Stanley Pontlarge Lane, Bridge 28

Stanley Pontlarge Lane, leaves cleared from a gully drain

Stanley Pontlarge Lane, Dave with the rake

The downstream chamber on Culvert 28A is a bit of a mystery, normally it overflows, even before the road floods. Today it wasn't, possibly the inlet is blocked up. The inlet hasn't been pinpointed yet, one day we'll try some dye in the gully drain up the lane to see if that's the source.

Dixton Cutting

Culvert 32A Dixton, down side

Dixton Cutting, Area flooded last week

The Dixton flood hadn't repeated this week, possibly because the rain hasn't been quite so heavy. Looking at the weather records Cheltenham (nearest recording point) had 16.2mm rain on 25/26 Oct and 10.8mm on 1/2 Nov. Although the ground is now waterlogged, so run off would tend to increase. Another mystery 😕

Next stop Cheltenham Racecourse to look at Hunting Butts cutting.

Evesham Road Bridge (Bridge 43) Cheltenham Racecourse,
waiting for Dinmore Manor to clear before heading up the cutting

Hunting Butts down side crest - a bit wet

Hunting Butts Down Side Crest

Next to the standing water we found a broken section of the salt glazed crest drain pipe, after a little bit if digging the water started flowing. The integrity of the pipe is now suspect so it will need to be CCTV surveyed to see if it needs replacing or repairing.

Hunting Butts D/S crest, chamber 0 v flail 1

Crest chamber at the second cess down pipe

Hunting Butts down side crest area piped in 2016

A pipe was laid down the south end of the crest in August 2016, this area is still wet, but the standing water is in small puddles.

Hunting Butts down side crest, trees bending in the wind

Rodding point on the crest installed 16 Aug 2016

Crest drain running well

Another chamber that has come off second after contact with the flail

The flow into the drain through the tunnel is mainly from the down side, this is predominantly from the cutting slope and fields above.

Bottom, up side cess, top down side cess outlet

Flow into the tunnel brick arch drain

The anti'vandal lids along this stretch seem to have stood up well, the ones we could reach were all still intact

Chamber with the first crest down pipe

Flow from the first crest down pipe

What a change in the weather, Malvern has appeared in the distance

Hunting Butts up side crest looking north

The cess drain runs from CRC signal box down through the station to the tunnel and then on to outfall before pouring into a ditch that runs to Culvert 44A.