Soil nails going in at Gotherington

Monday 24 February

It was a wet start this morning so we took shelter in Carriage & Wagon to cut some wood to make new moulds for making 1800 mm chamber lids. The 900 and 1200 mm we made last year have been so successful we're venturing into bigger things. Next off was a trip to Bridge 37 slip at Gotherington to see if the drillers has got any soil nails in. Then it was back to Gretton for more fun at Royal Oak.

Dave and Martin cutting the sides for the second mould 

The drilling rig is working at Gretton, there's over 300 nails to go in to stabilise the slip and the embankment at each side of it.

Soil nail insertion 

Crack half way down the slope 

Rabbits burrowed under the old concrete fillet, must be using it as a big lintel 😊

The ever growing snout at the toe 

Driller at work 

Round at Royal Oak there was more cess drain to clear, one patch had 400mm of building sand on top of the blocks, who knows where that came from; possibly the build of Gretton Halt years ago.

The Gretton sand pile 

Dave and Martin taking levels along the down side cess drain 

The level had to be moved every few chambers round the bend 

Note: no trains running today so the is level standing in the track.

More run off at the trouble spot 

Collection into the pipe not going too well 

It's staggering the amount of spoil removed from the top of the drain, this is just to get to the blocks which should have been left exposed

The spoil heap from a 12m stretch of drain 

Progress along the cess today 

Tuesday 25 February

There was a meeting at Gotherington with the contractors and the design team. It's looking promising for having the slip stabilised ready for reopening on 7 March. It was decided that the soil nails through the slip should be extended to 18m.

Drillers hard at work installing soil nails 

The end of the nail waiting for the plate 

3m lengths laid out ready for installation 

Drilling rig on the bench under the face 

Middle row of nails 

Discussions in full swing 

Stop off on the way past to check how much spoil and aggregate is left at Stanton Yard, not much!

Stanton Yard stockpiles 

Thursday 27 February

A bit of a shock to the system this morning, British weather can be changeable. Lego blocks in at Winchcombe cutting down side to retain the toe of the slip and the the 5m steel sheet piles arrived for rail transport down to Bridge 37. Then we had a Health & Safety inspection at Royal Oak, it's good to get a specialist view on what we have planned, it reinforces good practice.

Cotswold morning, almost Spring 😊

Winchcombe retaining wall in place 

12 tonnes of 5m steel sheet piles 

Added excitement at Royal Oak, the tamping machine passed through this morning on it's way further down the line. Strange to see rail traffic, there hasn't been any since we started here.

Tamping machine running through 

First job today was moving the excavated drain blocks nearer the line so they can be loaded onto a trolley to take them to where they can be loaded for transporting off site.

Blocks piled ready to go 

Too much water in the trouble spot still 

A couple of grips pulled into the slope 

More water ponding above the toe on the up side slope, another job on the list

Wet area on the up side slope 

Michael and Dieh digging the grip in the crest 

Andrew and Martin taking the cess levels on the up side 

It's very wet on the down side crest 

Water flowing over the crest drain 

The down side crest pipe should be intercepting most of the run-off water, it's in a worse overgrown state than the cess drain. It's going to be awkward to get a machine in to excavate it until the ground dries out.

The water goes into the pipe eventually, just not where we need it to  

Down at Gotherington it's a summer day almost, the howling wind is a tad fresh though.

Nails laid out ready to go in, the face has crept back to under 3m here 

Face at 3.4 m in places now, it doesn't help having a 10 tonne rig on it 

News in that the piling machine weighs in at 35 tonnes, getting it in may be interesting

Snout cracking at the toe 

It was a different day on the way back, hopefully the snow flurry this morning will be out last for the year.

Cotswolds in the setting sun 

Saturday 19 February

Leap year, so we get an extra day for working 😉 

It's been raining for the last 24 hours, this calls for a quick check on the bridges that normally flood. Bridge 6 Laverton and Bridge 16 at Didbrook are both in dips and catch quite a bit of surface water, both were clear today. While Michael and Dave went north, Stuart and Roger went to have a quick check on the slip at Gotherington. 

Bridge 6 Laverton, gully drains working
(Photo: Dave) 

Culvert 16A down side overflow
(Photo: Dave) 

Bridge 16, Didbrook No 2, clear 

No drilling today, rig parked off the slip 

Bridge 37 slip, soil nails in the face 

Bridge 37 up side slip at track level 

Bridge 37 up side slip, slope toe 

Bridge 37 up side slip
Cracks in the snout at the toe 

5 m steel piling stacked up at Gotherington 

On the way back we spotted that Culvert 31A at Prescott Road has backed up from the outlet. The main issue here is that there is only a 6" pipe between the outlet channel and an overgrown ditch along the roadside. 

Culvert 31A, up side outlet backing up 

Culvert 31A up side headwall submerged 

Round at Working Lane, Michael was preparing the patio area outside the welfare cabin, then we did a bit of road repair on the lane. Even the Transit was scraping the ridge in the middle of the lane, so we needed to sort it out.  

Michael with the whacker plate 

Dave clearing the end of Culvert 24C again 

Culvert 24C up side running again 

Michael and Dave spreading the hardcore on the lane 

Working Lane one side built up 

Roger was back today after a short break, his first job was to inspect the low mileage wing wall on the down side of Bridge 25. The embankment around the end of the wing wall looks to have receded, the red bricks would normally be underground. 

Roger working out how to repair the wing wall 

The flow on the up side of Culvert 25A is mainly flowing along the ditch at the toe from the outlet of Culvert 25B. 

Culvert 25B outlet ditch 

Up at Royal Oak, Michael and Dave started to cut back the hedge, we need to get into the crest drain as it has overgrown and the run-off from the field is cascading straight over it.  

Royal Oak, Roger off to look at the down side cess 

Royal Oak down side, run off from the field into the cess 

Michael with the brushcutter on the crest 

Down side cess, drain blocks inhibiting the flow 

Royal Oak, up side pond 

Royal Oak, Dave cutting back the hedge 

Royal Oak, another hail shower passing through  

Royal Oak up side turning area extended