Is this the end

Monday 16 March 

A fine day for a change, just the sort of day to be out and about digging things. One thing that was noticeable today was the lack of overflying aircraft, besides a couple at lunchtime and a low flying C130 in the afternoon, it was very quiet. Michael was in today to get on with the down side crest chamber at Royal Oak which left Dave and Stuart to do the concrete base for the new headwall on Culvert 24A up side. 

C130 from RAF Brize Norton on low level transit 

We had some heavy rain on Sunday and it washed the dam out on the end of the bypass pipe on Culvert 24A. Luckily the concrete had gone off so there was no appreciable damage. 

Culvert 24A up side end, bypass pipe dam washed out 

One of the reasons for doing the refurb on this end of the culvert is that the steel over the brick walls is laminating with rust. 

Culvert 24A up side steel plate on side walls 

Over in the down side cess, the run off was back 

Run off form the field cascading into the cess 

Down side cess, blocks not draining quickly  

Now we have added a pipe to the down side crest chamber, we can see that there is a trckle of water coming in. It looks like there was once a ditch over the fence but it has become overgrown and filled in 

Culvert 24A down side crest chamber, new inlet 

Culvert 24A down side crest chamber, the headers going to go on today 

The headwall excavation had to be enlarged to get it into alignment with the haul road pipe, after that the bypass pipe was installed so that the base could be concreted 

Culvert 24A downstream, headwall site bypass pipe 

Dave preparing for concrete to arrive 

Headwall excavation ready for concrete 

Another root extracted from Culvert 24A up side 

Dave clearing up the concrete base for the new chamber 

Dave laying the concrete base for the headwall 

Levelling the concrete base 

Michael gets ahead with the headers 

It's a lonely old life being a brickie 

Wrapping up for the night 

Concrete base for new headwall in 

Markings for the new pipe 

Health and Safety gone mad... 

On the way home, a stop off at Gotherington to see how things are going and chase off any intruders 😁

Alien craft landing in the field near Bridge 37 

Haul road is sinking 

5m piles levelled off, bar one 

Phase 2 soil nails almost completed 

Mesh and plates going on the soil nails 

Toe snout, still surviving despite the spoil on top 

Thursday 19 March 

Well the fine weather didn't last did it, it has turned wet, cold and miserable today. A big change of plan today, the COVID-19 measures mean the the railway has closed to the public and that means no income so no money for works. The Gotherington slip repair has taken all available funds and then some. The focus now is to batten down and off hire all the equipment. Michael was set to finish the headers on the down side crest chamber. The rest  of the team installing the pipe from the new chamber site to the haul road. 

Martin, Andrew and Michael setting up the mixer 

Culvert 24A up side chamber site 

Andrew mixing the mortar for Michael 

Michael setting up for the headers 

Digging out the new pipe line 

Martin went over to look at the down side cess, the run-off water is cascading in, but it disappears before it reaches the cess pipe. 

Run-off grips flowing again 

Martin digging out to find
where the water is going 

To install the new pipe we need to fit a collar on the haul road pipe, this meant we had to dig the end out. The last bit round the pipe has to come out by hand 

Andrew with the collar, Martin digging under the pipe 

New 4.2m x 450mm pipe connected
The angle needs adjustment 

New joint seems watertight, the flood is building 

Pipe rising with the water level 

Is it a submarine rocket launcher 😊

By lunch Michael had more headers on, but he had to keep them covered to stop the joints washing out 

Down side crest chamber, Culvert 24A 

The cabin was the first casualty of the straightened financial state, Carly from Welfare4Hire Gloucester depot arrived to take the cabin back. Lunch was relegated to the trucks. 

Our lunchtime being re-planned as the cabin goes 

Despondently we went back to the wet pipe, first job was to drain the trench then it was backfilled

A little pressure to get the angle right -
or the right angle that isn't a Right Angle 😩

Flood washing downstream 

Backfilling and levleling 

While backfilling, the flow turned green!  

Dye in Culvert 24A 

In order to trace the flow of the run-off water, Martin dropped some biodegradable dye into the hole where the water disappeared... 

Dye going in to the cess 

Andrew watches the next chamber 

No dye yet... 

Here's a new mystery, the dye went in the cess and came out of the culvert but wasn't seen in between. 

Andrew spotted a mystery pipe in the last chamber, hidden under the cess 

Second dye test appears at the culvert 

The dye runs in to the end chamber from the mystery pipe 

Our conclusion now is that BR must have realised the cess drain with the hollow blocks was a complete failure. Therefore, they installed a second pipe, or as we haven't found another pipe along the cess, probably just a permeable stone corridor. Finding this, has changed our plan slightly, it means more digging out behind the cess drain. We'll CCTV the pipe in the end chamber to see how far it goes. 

Down side cess drain, excavations around the run-off entry 

While all this was going on the road was reinstated past the new joint 

An extra load of spent ballast onto the haul road 

There was a train today, the Class 03 D.2182 took the rest of the 10m piles down to Gotherington 

Class 03 D.2182 on the way back from Gotherington 

Michael got the headers onto the C24A crest chamber, but the rain meant the covers were on before the camera got there 

Culvert 24A crest chamber brickwork completed 

The culvert 24A crest rebuild has taken more time that usual even for us, a search of the archive found that we dug it out and removed the loose bricks on 2 December 2015. Hopefully the rest of this job will not take as long. 

2 Dec 2015, Culvert 24A crest headwall excavated 

With the railway closed, the restrictions on travel and some of the team being in the 'Vulnerable' category. We wrapped up the job tonight. The Digger went back to Winchcombe to be collected by Elliott's. 

Smaller excavation now the pipe is in 

Andrew, Martin and Michael cleaning the kit 

Gotherington slip work is being scaled back slightly. The hiatus in the Railway's income stream means that the Phase 3 nails will have to wait until September. A cross section drawing of the Bridge 37 up side slip at the face shows how the nails and the 10m and 5m piles are being installed. 

Cross section trough the embankment at Bridge 37 Gotherington 

The 10m piles are being installed now 

Bogie flat with the next batch of 10m sheet piles 

Another 10m pile going in 

Lining up the joints 

The 35t excavator holding the pile 

The clamps on the piling head leave marks where they nip into the steel... 

Jaw mark on the pile 

Trace marks from the piler jaws 

The piling is a multi stage process, first the vibration head clamps onto the pile and threads it into the previous pile joint. Then the pile is pushed down to ground level, the head is moved up a bit and the pile driven in a bit further. Eventually it gets in deep enough to move the piler onto the top of the pile to drive from there 

Driving the pile down 

Driving from the top 

The 5 m piles are all installed some will be cropped 

Second machine for feeding the pile forward 

The vibration hasn't destabilised the toe snout 

Pile being driven down as into the clay 

The 5m piles have drain holes pre-cut into the top end
(See the pile sticking up)  

Phase 2 soil nails, mesh and plates are all in. 

Phase 2 soil nails finished 

Phase 2 soil nails 

10m piles will follow the line
of the slip face 

10m piles installed so far 

Lastly, a short video of the vibrating pile head in action... 

Not sure when we will be back, it's possible there will be some odd jobs done over the next couple of weeks. It all depends on the severity of the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Here's hoping that all the gang, the wider GWSR community and all our supporters will get through this episode unscathed; take care out there, it's a cruel old world 

Bye for now, Stuart and the Drain Gang