Middle of February already

Monday 10 February

Another out and about day today, even with the wet weather there is still work to do and volunteers daft enough to come out and do it 😊 First off Nigel and Dave got some dentistry practice by removing the teeth from a digger bucket. The blocks on the cess drains round by Royal Oak need to be cleaned as water isn't getting in to them and teeth on the bucket may cause untold damage. Then we nipped down to Cheltenham to see Steve as he's digging out the ditch on the down side crest towards Hunting Butts tunnel. As usual, we stopped off at Gotherington on the way back to make sure there was still some embankment left. Last job was at Working Lane to drop the toothless bucket off. 

Open wide, this isn't to hurt 

Nigel and Dave with the new pipe to go under the access gate at Hunting Butts 

Steve reinstating the ditch at Hunting Butts 

At Gotherington the contractors have started the site preparation ready for the soil nail installation. 

Manor Lane access road widening 

Bridge 37 up side slip, face still slipping 

Bridge 37 up side slip 

Dave measuring the deepest point on the face 

Bridge 37 up side slip snout 

New cracks in the slip snout 

Work is in full swing at Winchcombe cutting, the stabilisation of the up side slip has started. Part of the new ditch has been sacrificed to make way for the haul road. 

New ditch being tested 

Run off from the field 

Flow soaking away into the new piped drain 

Flow from the lower field into the end chamber 

A mini sink hole that was opened up last week has water flowing through it today. It means that more work will be required along here to protect the cutting slope. 

Subterranean water flow 

Water from the stub pipe
in one of the new chambers 

What we think is the final chamber on the down side crest was cleared off, nothing in the stub pipe on this one. 

latest chamber uncovered 

Winchcombe Cutting works on the up side slip 

Round at Gretton the rain hadn't abated, we did our delivery and then headed off home. 

Culvert 25A flowing 

Base camp site for the next project 

Down side crest near the former slip 

Wet in the toe of the cutting slope not getting into the cess 

Drain block lifted to get water flowing in 

On the way out a closer look was taken at the down side low mileage wing wall on Bridge 25, what was thought to be some bricks coming loose is actually an old repair failing. It looks like there has been a cement patch applied that was made to look like brick, it has sprung off as the bricks crumble underneath. 

Bridge 25 low mileage wing wall 

cement patch coming off 

Wing wall could do with pointing up 

Thursday 13 February

Split into 2 teams to day, Andrew and Michael went off to Royal Oak to crack on with the rebuild of Culvert 24A crest Chamber. Martin and Stuart went to Cheltenham to admire the new ditch that Steve had excavated. With a stop off at Gotherington on the way back and then a start on clearing off and lifting out the drain blocks on the down side at Royal Oak. 

Hunting Butts down side crest ditch 

Down side crest ditch 

Upper section of ditch 

Pipe under the gateway
this allows the flow to reach the down pipe 

Pipe from the cottage drain has been
lowered to feed into the end catchpit

While in the vicinity of the tunnel we did a quick look round to make sure there were no drainage issues. 

Hunting Butts south trackbed 

New artwork on the up side of the tunnel 

And on the down side 

What's the point in this, who can see it bar those who shouldn't be there 😠

More senseless activity 

On to Gotherington to see how the land lies! 

Still more cracking off 

The plan is that we will be around Working Lane for some time, it's going to be big rebuild and reconfigure project, hence base camp has been set up. 

FOB Working Lane 

Michael is still stuck in the hole 

Clearing off the crap from the drain blocks 

Martin and Andrew get to remove the blocks 

The top layer of blocks are laid on their side

Clay built up in the slope side 

Some debris has fallen in, not enough to prevent flow 

Martin and Andrew removing blocks 

There's no way the water here will get into the cess drain 

Billy no mates in the hole, we do nip over for a chat every now and then 

Inlet pipe from the field going in 

A block removed to get the water away 

Andrew in supervisor mode 😊

This slope is full of water 

Grip created to get water moving 

End of play on the cess, the spoil heaps need to be removed next 

Mixed weather today, this about sums it up 

Saturday 15 February

We were forecast for Storm Dennis today, so work was cancelled. However, there was a meeting to attend which allowed time for a few inspections. The weather forecast was grim for today but in the end it wasn't too bad, it was persistently wet and very windy in parts but not as bad as expected. Itinerary for the day, Winchcombe to Toddington, back to Winchcombe, then Stanton, then Working Lane. 

Another delivery in, this will give the team plenty to do 

New fence in along the down side south of Hailes
Culvert 19B to the left 

Culvert 19B down side, looks like there may be lodgers 

Hardcore on Winchcombe haul road 

Winchcombe cutting, work in progress on the up side slip 

Run-off from the field over the haul road 

Contractor has opend up the 24" crest pipe to take the run-off 

Back in November we cast some moulds for the milepost numerals, they got delivered today for the numbers to be cast. 

Moulds delivered to Toddington 

Track back on Stanway viaduct after the drain works 

Culvert 11B down side flooded again 

One of the little pleasures of this job is seeing something working, hence a look in at Culvert 11A while passing 

Down side cess drain outfall, who knows where this water used to go  

11A down side inlet 

Bridge 11 new gully drain works a treat 

Gully drain outfall is the left hand pipe 

Resurfaced parking area at Stanton, ready for our return 

Bridge 9, Stanton Aqueduct inlet 

Bridge 9 Stanton Aqueduct outlet 

Culvert 7A siphon outlet 

Downstream of Culvert 7A
flowing better than expected 

Back round at Royal Oak to measure up the down side of Culvert 24A 

Culvert 24A lower crest drain flowing well 

Culvert 24A outfall 

Culvert 24B inlet, there's no ditch over the fence 

Culvert 24B upstream, it's a wild area 

Culvert 24B headwall 

Royal Oak cess working well 

Thursday's grip is now a stream 

Water springing from the cutting slope 

Gretton meadow new pond 

The crest drain was split when the slip was repaired last year, the water from the top half of the drain is piped into the cess. 

Crest drain emptying into the cess 

Culvert 24C outfall 

Quick trog up to the River Isbourne before leaving, the river level as at 0.66 m at 4 pm, it later peaked at 0.89 m at 6:45, on Sunday it has reached 1.15 m, it's prone to rapid fluctuations. 

River Isbourne, Culvert 21A down side 

River Isbourne flow levels