Still lots going on

Three sessions to report in this edition, first was on Friday 23 April with a visit to Toddington Cutting to fill in the hole on the end of the up side crest drain. It took a few barrow loads of aggregate that had to be pushed up the cutting slope. 

Dave finishes off the backfilled hole on the 
Toddington crest drain while Martin and Michael supervise  

Next task was clearing the gully drains and settlement traps under Bridge 6 at Laverton. Another 5 man job with three barrows and temporary traffic management. The silt was dryer than a couple of months ago which made the job a bit easier. On the way out they included a detour to Bridge 5, Little Buckland to check the situation there. Very little silt under the bridge, just removal of minor debris from the drain covers.

Bridge 6 cleared gully drain 

Bridge 6 low mileage abutment 
settlement trap 

 

Tuesday 27 April 

Another milestone on the road to normality with a team of six in for the first time for well over a year. The focus of attention was on Bridge 25 at Working Lane, Gretton. Contractors have been working on rerouting the outflow of Culvert 25A which runs under the bridge. The contractor did all the groundworks and pipe laying, but left the headwalls on the ends of the new piped drains to be built by the team. This was decided as a cost control measure. The culvert had to be rerouted as the deep ditch ran next to the lane and was being eroded. The lane is used by farm traffic which can be as heavy as 20 tonnes, this ditch was an accident waiting to happen. Funding for the work was included in the Heritage Lottery Funding Grant, which means that it should be cost neutral to the Railway. 

Downstream Culvert 25A the backfilled ditch 

Culvert 25B outlet stream catcher pipe 

A BoM (Bill of Materials) was compiled so that the stores at Winchcombe and Stanton could be raided to get the headwalls up as soon as a stock of cement can be bought in. While doing the builds, some cosmetic repairs to the wing walls of the bridge will be carried out. 

The ongoing clearance of Culvert 24C up side exit was next on the agenda, more silt removed down to the concrete apron under the grille. Hopefully, this will reduce the tendency for the grille to block and increase the time it takes for the water level to build up. The only real answer here is for a trash screen to be installed when funding permits. 

New 1800mm lids that were cast last autumn were installed on the down side of Culvert 24A next to the pub fence, another heavy 4 man lift job.  

Culvert 24A down, 1800mm cast concrete lids in place 

Then it was off to Culvert 27B to carry on with the drainage improvements along the toe of the embankment on the up side. This involved rodding the exit pipe under the gate which was solid with silt; once cleared it started flowing well. 

New ditch at Culvert 27B up side 

Culvert 27B up side toe drain works 

Tuesday 4 May 

The first job of the morning was to collect some milepost numerals from Toddington which Greg Wigg has kindly cast. These will be finished and painted then attached to the heads already in stock at Winchombe before being sited along the line at appropriate points. 

The rest of the day was spent collecting materials and delivering them to Working Lane for the headwall builds on Culverts 25A and 25B. 

On the way back, there was a quick check on the ditch at Culvert 27B, Gretton to make sure all was working as planned, no problems identified.  

Actual bricklaying to resume next week, providing the weather holds out.

Top row cast numerals 
bottom row the wooden patterns for the moulds 

The redesigned Culvert 25A outflow 
The ditch alongside the lane has been backfilled 

All the reports and pictures have been supplied by Andrew