From little seeds mighty tomatoes grow

Week Ending 26 September 

Strange title you may think, well it stems from a discovery Andrew made this week. The BR Mk 1 carriages used on the railway have what is know as 'Open Discharge Toilets', these deposit straight down onto the track - hence the 'Do Not Use the Toilet While Standing in the Station' signs that were fitted to all trains back in the day. The Railway has a 'D2 waste exemption: depositing waste from a railway sanitary convenience' registration so it's all above board (well almost all above 😉). 

Stay with us, we are going somewhere here... It's well known in the water and drainage industry that tomato seeds don't degrade in the human digestive system. It's an issue that effects sewage works as the seeds are deposited with a bio-fertiliser wrapping and they grow like stink. So the appearance of tomato plants in the track has the finger firmly pointing towards the carriage waste disposal method. At least we should get some free salad when they ripen 😏

Tomato growing in the 4' 
(Photo: Andrew) 

Monday 21 Sept

The Monday squad picked up the culvert vegetation clearance on the bottom end of the Toddington to Winchcombe stretch. These are Culverts 20B and C and 21A. Nothing much exciting to report, no buried treasure found, or if there was it hasn't been shared out. 

Report and pics from Dave. 

Culvert 20B up side headwall 

Culvert 20B down side cess ditch outlet 

Culvert 20B up side cess outlet 

Nigel heading off towards 20B up side 

Culvert 20B down side headwall 

Culvert 20C down side headwall - dry! 

Culvert 21A River Isbourne down side 

Down side access route to 21A 

Culvert 21A Down side 

Thursday 24 Sept 

A bit of a diversion this morning for Andrew and Martin, it was another trip to Bishops Cleeve to collect pallets for the Steam Loco Department. These get sawn up for lighting up as they don't have any preservatives or paint contaminants. 

Pictures from Andrew. 

A load of firewood heading to Toddington 

After the excitement of firewood transport, it was off to Royal Oak to move the Chapter 8 Barriers protecting the excavation that was started before lockdown. This is the Culvert 24A project that has stalled until we can get back in mob handed with some funds to carry on. The orange barriers were allegedly causing confusion, it seems there was an impression they was people in amongst them 😕

Barriers swapped for blocks and hazard tape

While in the vicinity and with time running out they decided to tidy up the hollow blocks and Ebbw Vale bricks that were removed from the cess drain back in February.  

Hollow concrete blocks 

Royal Oak down side cess drain - work in progress 

Ebbw Vale brick stacks 

While passing they did a quick check on the outlet of Culvert 24C, all seems to be in order. 

Culvert 24C up side outlet 

Friday 25 Sept

The lid production factory was back in action again, the process is getting a bit faster with all the practice.  

At least COVID has but a stop to the 'Hug a Hoodie' nonsense 

Another 3 x 1.8m and 3 x 1.2m in the moulds 

After the concreting it was decided to venture out to do some odd jobs. First off was picking up some broken crockery that has been littering the side of the track at Broadway for a couple of years. It's genuine GWR cups and plates, but it was beyond Super Glue repairs. 

This weeks mystery location 

Under the old oak tree the smashed crockery sat 

Next stop was Stanton. The scheme for next week is to put some fencing up at Bridge 11, this is a job hanging over from last year. There's some spare posts and rails in the yard at Winchcombe so it's a no cost job. 

Stanton Yard gate repaired by the contractor 

Bridge 11 down side high mileage wing wall 

Bridge 11 down side cess outfall, in there somewhere 

Roger investigating where the fence can go 

The outfall from Culvert 11A channel has been scoured out again, the twin whirlpools are formed round an rock exposed under the concrete lip. It needs some concrete fill before winter. 

Culvert 11A outfall, scour under the concrete 

It's not really surprising that it scoured out, looking back to November last year there was a bit more water coming down 

Culvert 11A outfall - 14 November 2019 

The drainage Artificial Intelligence Decision Support System was deployed today to determine the priorities for jobs after lid manufacture 😆😆😆 

Artificial Intelligence Decision Support System in action 
(Photo: Roger) 

It's forecasting rain for the second half of next week, so time to find some inside jobs 😊