That's it for 2020

Perhaps the phrase 'It's been an unusual year' doesn't quite sum up what has been going on this year, let's hope that next year allows us get back onto a proper work programme. There's just a bit of activity to report from the last couple of weeks. 

First week of December Dave and Nigel had a couple of jobs, first was to drop the height of a catch pit in the 6 foot at Hayles Abbey Halt. Our track team had reported that it was a little bit too high as it's on the sleeper ends. 

All photos from Dave. 

Hayles Abbey Halt high mileage central catchpit 
after top ring removed 

Next stop was Bishops Cleeve to check on the works done on the down side cutting crest south of Two Hedges Road bridge. 

Pecked Lane contractor site cleared 

New down side cess catch pit 
crest drain entry on the left side of image 

New manhole and chamber on DS crest 

DS crest, pipe into chamber 

DS crest pipe out of chamber 

Leaky bend now in the skip 

The following week they took a trip out south of Winchombe to check the culvert clearance states. The culvert under Prescott Road bridge, Culvert 31B, has a restricted outflow, this is outside the railway boundary, but it does cause the water back up in outlet channel. 

Culvert 31B up side outlet 

Culvert 31B up side outlet overflowing 
into the neighbouring field 

Further along towards Bishops Cleeve there's a similar problem, this time there is no backing up. 

Outlet channel from Culvert 37E 

Pipe taking water from Culvert 37E 
under the adjacent land 

Meanwhile the Friday team of Andrew and Martin were sorting out some vandal damage at Hunting Butts Tunnel. This area should be fenced off as soon as the ground get's dry enough to get the plant on site to complete the work. 

All the remaining photos from Andrew. 

Low mileage end of the tunnel, anti-vandal lid has
failed the vandal test 

GRP clip has been snapped,
some tools must have been employed 

Lid replaced and weighted down
until a fix can be sorted out  

The high mileage end manhole lid has been smashed off, this was concreted onto the concrete top of the chamber. 

Hunting Butts high mileage cess drain end manhole 

Debris dropped in the HM drain manhole 

Drain temporarily made secure until a fix can be applied 

While in the area Culvert 44A was checked... 

Culvert 44A down side 

On the way back to Winchcombe they called in to check Culvert 24C up side end, it's one that needs some work done and a new trash screen. They cleared the trash screen before knocking off for the day.  

Culvert 24C up side, screen needs clearing 

The following week they were back to do a proper fix on the low mileage end of the tunnel cess catchpit 

Two Hedges Road work site reinstated 

Cleeve cutting down side south end ditch 

Then they were off to the Race Course to access Hunting Butts low mileage end to install a new anti-vandal lid. 

Hunting Butts, new lid installed with 6 clamps 

Next in area job was a look at Southam Lane bridge, where the cess drain improvement work along the down side abutment was completed last year. 

Southam Lane bridge ds road drainage 

Bridge 42 Southam Lane,
down side abutment drain still running 

The last working day before Christmas was back at Gretton to meet a contractor at Culvert 25A to discuss some planned works. then up to the area behind the Royal Oak to take some more concrete blocks out of the down side cess to help to drain the cutting slope and toe area. 

Culvert 25A Gretton up side drainage 

Culvert 25A up side drainage 

Martin digging grips on the down side toe 

Royal Oak, water build up behind the concrete blocks

Royal Oak down side, a bit of pooling water in the edge 

Culvert 24A up side, suspended works site  

Culvert 24C up side, Martin clearing the ditch 

That's it for 2020, a big thankyou to all the team for struggling on despite the pandemic and all the restrictions which that imposed. That leaves just time to wish all out readers and supporters a very happy Christmas and thank you for all your comments on the blog, it is appreciated.

Let's hope there is light at the end of the tunnel in 2021 

Cleeve Cutting Repair

Period Ending 28 November 

One good thing about the latest lockdown is that construction is still allowed to continue. This allowed us to engage contractors to repair the void on the cutting crest at Bishops Cleeve. After finding the big hole under the pipe along the crest drain it was realised that a repair had to be a priority. Another wet winter like last year might have seen the the slope washed out onto the track. 

The problem originates on the down side cutting crest, this is where a stream runs in under a lane that is parallel to the line. The void is under the length of twinwall pipe extending from the 90° bend, it's a roughly 2 cumtr irregular washout that is draining away under the slope surface. 

Existing arrangement on the crest 

The cess drain along this stretch is another length that has been topped with hollow concrete blocks, these have been discovered to be stopping the water draining in, this section is particularly bad as the blocks had filled with clay. This short section is being replaced with 40 mm clean stone. 

Cess drain exposed to improve drainage 
removed blocks can be seen across the track 

Excavation for the new manhole ring on the crest 

Trench down the slope for the void drainage 

A rainy day, it has shown how much the elbow is leaking 

Elbow on the inlet pipe 

Slope drain going in 

Standard catchpit rings in the cess 
for the new chamber 

Manhole ring cut out for pipe installation 

Drain down the slope to the cess

Void filled lined with permeable membrane 

Void exposed and lined with membrane 

New manhole on the crest on the end of the inlet pipe 

The void has been filled with 5 tonnes of 75mm stone, this will stabilise the area while still allowing the ground water to pass though. 

Extended crest drain pipe to reach the falling ground 

Slope drain installed into a new catchpit in the cess 

There's still a few finishing off jobs to do, but the bulk of the work is out of the way. 

A big thanks to the intrepid reporters for popping in to capture the pictures 😉

Lockdown Two

Week Ending 7 November 

Sadly I have to kick off on very sombre note this week. It is with great sadness that I have to report that Alastair passed away on Friday. Regular readers of the blog will have noticed Alastair's absence since the end end of last year when he was first taken ill. The news came as a shock as a couple of us had met up with him last month and he seemed to making good progress. 

Alastair was one of the founder members of the drainage gang, a civil engineer by profession, he was the 'go to' person for advice on our construction projects. Over the the last few years he had a wider role in the Civil Engineering organisation on the railway, conducting all the visual bridge and culvert inspections and monitoring the civils projects that were going on. 

He has left a big hole that will be difficult to fill, a true gentle man, always there when we needed him. 

Alastair Watson 1948 - 2020

The Monday team of Dave and Nigel had the last full day on-site before the latest COVID-19 lockdown started. All work on the railway has been suspended except for jobs that are deemed critical to the ongoing operation of trains. This means that drainage work has come to halt yet again.  

It was back down to Bishops Cleeve to do some more clearance around the crest drain where some of the down side slope has been washed out onto the edge of the track. While there the boys did a couple of trial hols to see if there was any sign of the mystery steel pipe, but alas there wasn't. They did manage to clear the ditch to the point where it runs down to the trackbed level. 

Down side crest ditch clearance 

Trial hole in the down side slope - nothing 

Scrape in the up side cess, no wash out plate

Down side slope cleared for an engineering inspection 

Water flowing from the concrete pipe to the plastic bend 

An early return to Winchcombe allowed time for draining the petrol from all the machines to stop them clogging up while laid idle in the shed. 

An early start on Wednesday, a bit of surprise to see the temperature down to -3 on the way in, the first real frost of the season. At least it was a quick meeting on site a Cleeve with the consulting engineer to discuss the works necessary to sort out the void and do a permanent fix on the down side slope below Two Hedges Road.  

A frosty Bishops Cleeve Cutting 

Sun rising over Cleeve Hill 

Jonathan, the Consulting Engineer investigates 

The void is under the pipe near the old sleeper, 
visible on the left side of the pipe 

Cleeve down side cutting slope 

A thought in closing, I never counted how many tonnes of concrete and mortar that Alastair mixed over the years, he often spent 4 or more days a week on the mixer. He would happily spend the day shovelling the makings into the rotating drum. We'll all miss him  

Alastair cleaning the mixer at Stanton