Joining the jet set

Thursday 28 November

We had contractors in today to jet the drain in the 6 foot at Toddington Station and then the gully drains at Stanley Pontlarge. This means that it was a less strenuous day for the team as there was quite a bit of standing watching, for no better reason than to see how the professional work. We did get wet as the rain came in the afternoon and the light was failing by the time we got back to unload.

Deploying the kit into the drain
(Photo: Alastair)

6 foot drain chamber at the end of the blocked line

Jetter nozzle ready to go in, it can deliver 90 gpm at 2,000 lb

Vacuuming the water and sludge out

Faster and easier than digging 😉

Jet runs through the blockage to the next chamber

Dieh and Michael keeping an eye on things

The other end of the hoses

Waiting to check everything is flowing

The jetter nozzle after blasting the clay out of the pipe

The blockage seems to have been mostly clay, there was no bits of pipe flowing out. We think this section may be rather flat and possibly dipped in the middle causing the clay sediment to build up over time. It will get a CCTV survey to check the integrity of the pipe, it's an area that will need monitoring during wet weather to observe the flow characteristics.

As soon as Toddington was flushed clear we headed of to Stanley Pontlarge to clear the gully drains around Bridge 28 and to clear the end of Culvert 28A.

Culvert 28A, Michael gully grabs the outlet to clear the pipe end (Photo: Alastair)

Jetting from the end of Culvert 28A
(Photo: Alastair)

The jet reaches the downstream chamber and stirs the water up

A bit of a squeeze to get into the gateway

Vacuumed down to the concrete base

The vacuum in action...

Then on to the gully drains and pipe runs under Bridge 28.

These drains are a bit smaller than the modern standard

Watching from a safe distance to avoid any spray back

Upside under bridge gully

The high mileage up side gully from above
(Photo: Alastair)

Loose brick base in the upside gully

Jetting the run down the lane

While the work was going on in the lane Alastair, Michael and Dieh went off to clear the vegetation at Culvert 27C. This was rebuilt in September last year so it's still in top condition.