More culvert clearing

Saturday 23 November 

The forecast was for rain today, but once again it was wrong, we managed to stay dray and the rain only started as we left for home. As the ground is very wet it was a case of picking an area to clear where there wasn't too many steep gradients, a rather difficult thing on this railway. In the end we headed for Gotherington to work along through Dixton cutting. With 4 of us working today, it meant that we could make some good progress. Plus there was time for some more chambers to be catalogued. 

Gotherington Yard, Culvert 33B down side 

Culvert 33B up side 

Alastair clears the cuttings from the up side of 33B 

Roger and Dave clearing the down side of 33B 

Gotherington yard even got a trim
Permanent Way gang working in the background 

Culvert 33B down side ditch and headwall 

Culvert 33B inlet end headwall and chamber 

Culvert 33B water trickling in from the pipe under the yard (on left side)

Next one up was Culvert 33A, another recent rebuild on the down side. 

Culvert 33A down side, Dave brushcutting along the side 

Culvert 33A down side, Alastair looking at the silt deposits 

Roger removes the silt with the gully grab
(Photo: Alastair) 

You missed a bit 😒
(Photo: Alastair) 

Culvert 33A up side chamber, Alastair reaching for his camera 

33A up side, Stuart dipping for the depth. without dropping the stick in 😃
(Photo: Alastair) 

There was a suspicion that a plank had gone missing when the down side of 33A was rebuilt a couple of years ago. Alastair found it today! 

Culvert 33A up side chamber, with plank stuck in the outlet
(Photo: Alastair) 

The chambers along this stretch have a top course of common bricks, as opposed to engineering bricks, these don't survive well in the wet and frost 

Down side chamber with disintegrating brick top course 

Chamber with mortar joints washed out 

The chambers were cleared of vegetation as we moved further into Dixton Cutting. 

Working along to the three arch bridge at Dixton 

Culvert 32A carries Tirle Brook under the railway on it's way to join the River Swillgate at Tewkesbury. It takes a long winding path to get there. 

Culvert 32A down side inlet flume 

Culvert 32A up side outlet stream 

Dave working his way up the down side
(Photo: Alastair) 

Roger takes on the up side
(Photo: Alastair) 

Dave reaches the top of the flume 

Dave and Alastair clearing the inlet stream 

Alastair and Roger on the up side 

Culvert 33A down side inlet flume 

33A down side finished 

Culvert 33A up side stream abandoned until the water level drops 

The up side drainage channel was fitted with a pipe back in June 2017, it's still working well. 

End of the piped up side channel drain
(Photo: Alastair) 

The area on the down side crest where the water flooded in from the filed was cleared, it's planned to dig out the crest ditch along here so being able to see the ground will help 

Dixton cutting down side crest 

Stuart running the flail along the down side crest
(Photo: Alastair)

Dixton cutting down side crest cricket pitch 

Last on the list today was Culvert 31B under Bridge 32 at Prescott Road. This has a very short brick channel that is full of silt, probably because it runs out under the hedge and into a 6" pipe throttling the flow. 

Culvert 31B up side (on the right) from Prescott Road Bridge 

Roger attacking the Old Man's Beard
(Photo: Alastair) 

West wall of the brick channel has a displaced top 

Culvert 31B up side brick arch 

Culvert 31A, up side fence needs replacing 

Culvert 31A up side now visible 

Bridge 32 up side west wing wall cleared by Dave 

While in the area the turning point was cleared, it helps to find the hard bits so we can avoid getting stuck 😉

Bridge 32 vehicle turning point 

On the way back out we checked the small chamber on the fence line that carries the cess drain to Culvert 33B, it looks like it's had an argument with the robot flail. 

Dave picks up the bricks knocked off the fenceline chamber