No... No... No... November

November, the 'fag end of the year'. Perfectly summarised by Thomas Hood's poem.

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November! 

This November did not entirely adhere to each stanza, with some warmth and leaves remaining into the third week. However, the overall gloom feeling was there.

Thursday 4th November

Six team members in today, including our new recruit. Jonathan has added Estates Management/Drainage to his CV.  With qualifications on excavators, dumpers and the telehandler he will be a key member of the team.

Straight to work with the telehandler today, recovering infill from the up side of Winchcombe Yard for use at Working Lane/Royal Oak. The loads moved in the Citroen tipper thus required no manual handling, a great bonus. Off loading the blue Transit was still a manual process though. The first three loads completed the backfill of the haul road exit headwall for culvert 24A. Subsequent loads are stockpiled in readiness for other backfills, one of which requires access to a neighbouring property.

Using the telehandler makes loading infill easier!

However offloading the flat bed blue Transit is manual work. But 'many hands make light work', left to right Polly, Dave, Martin, Nigel.

Finally the backfill of culvert 24A up side haul road exit is complete.

 

Two of the team took our regular LWB Transit down to bridge 35 Granna Lane, Gotherington. (The first time for quite a while we had four vehicles in use simultaneously). The task at Granna Lane was to repair the steps on the public footpath which also serves as access to the GWSR platform at Gotherington Station. This was an item which the recent external inspection of the bridge showed up. In true 'A team' style, not only did they repair the noted broken top step, they also improved the bottom step. A just in time repair, as trains would be stopping at Gotherington during the Gala weekend.

Repaired steps at bridge 35, Granna Lane, Gotherington. (Taken a few days later after removal of the shuttering). Photo by Roger.

 

Back at Winchcombe Yard, between loading infill the team made some progress on the replacement mileposts . A second coat of black paint was applied to the numerals for 7 & quarter given and the first three cut lengths of bridge rail brushed down to remove more rust. Additionally, they inspected the channel which runs at the back of the down side yard from Churchward House to the River Isbourne. The clearance teams had cleared the embankment of this on previous Wednesdays. This channel is part of the complex drainage at Winchcombe; checking for leaks and obstructions here is part of the grand plan for the down side yard.

Sunday 7th November

No we were not putting in extra hours at Sunday double time and a quarter overtime rates! Instead, for a change, six of the team enjoyed being passengers on the second day of the Autumn 40th Anniversary Gala. Some sunshine at the correct moments was welcome, as too were the burgers from the stand at Winchcombe. 

Probably the highlight of the gala was the freight train - particularly when hauled by a freight loco running chimney first! 4270 arrives at Winchcombe. Note the covers on the drain that runs between the running lines.

 

The DMU makes for a good inspection train - Polly (l) and Martin (r) in the front seats near Gotherington.

After completing a round trip on the line, five of the party enjoyed a meal at the Pheasant at Toddington. Very good value that was too.

Thursday 11th November

All seven members of the drainage team working today together with Andy (S) from PWay to work on the mileposts. Thus we almost outnumbered Carriage & Wagon!

First job was extracting more lengths of bridge rail from the area of Winchcombe yard which is being cleared for the site of new shipping containers for storage. Certainly the use of the telehandler made this easier. Other drainage materials, lengths of plastic pipe and drain manhole concrete lids, were also moved. Spotted another length of bridge rail for the milepost project. But it was lying underneath some cast pillars that are too heavy to move by hand and can't yet be reached by the telehandler.

Lurking under the cast posts is a length of bridge rail yet to be recovered.

 

The extracted bridge rail pieces were cut to length using the PWay rail saw. The waste went in the metal skip - or rather on the pile beside it. Four lengths of bridge rail were taken up to steam loco at Toddington, they have agreed to drill the additional holes for the milepost heads. Neither PWay or C&W have suitable drills at Winchcombe. The milepost project is certainly involving many departments of the railway.

 

Andy (S) using the PWay rail saw to cut the bridge rail into 6 foot lengths for milepost uprights.

The main task of the day was moving more of the infill material from Winchcombe yard up side to Working Lane. About half of this is now moved. Before loading any reusable whole bricks and stone blocks were removed for reuse. Also removed, but for discarding, are large chunks of concrete.

Dave supervises Jonathan loading infill.

 

Whilst unloading at Working Lane, one of the hinges on the tailgate of the Citroen tipper broke. Thus most of the loads were taken in the Transits which meant shovelling off to unload. The broken tailgate was taken to the very helpful metalwork folk at C&W (Nick) for a replacement hinge to be fabricated.

Finally back on the mileposts, the numbers, horizontal bar and quarter marks for the replacement 7 & quarter post were fitted. A card pattern for the top caps was made, the caps needs to be fashioned from flashing. To be authentic this needs something that looks like real old fashioned lead flashing. As of there are many mileposts which are missing this cap, investigations of a suitable but inexpensive source of material has begun.

Looking good, the first replacement mile post head. Just needs screw fillings sanded and painted and the metal flashing cap added.

Thursday 18th November

Another day with full attendance of seven.

In the past week the forestry contractors had removed a tree and a lot of the cuttings from the embankment at the back of the down yard at Winchcombe. To do this they had moved some of the other items, which meant that we could recover the remaining length of bridge rail for another milepost upright.

Also in connection with the reorganisation of the yard, a big thick steel sheet was moved from near the drain by the Churchward House fence. This was to check that there were no other drains or manholes hiding underneath it. With a bit of brute force the the drain grill was removed to enable inspection of the inside. There are two inlet pipes which run from Churchward House yard, perpendicular to the fence. Both are running with water; there is about a foot drop to the outlet, hence the sound of running water. The outlet is at 90 degrees to the inlet, so runs parallel to the Churchward House fence. It probably joins the main station drain some where near the foot crossing; but there are no signs of any man holes before the big deep one near the Usk hut on the other side of the line. The last man hole in the 6 foot between the platform lines was checked; it is flowing but not as much as the yard drain. Another mystery to add to the Winchcombe Yard complex!

Inside the drain near Churchward House fence; two inlets left and one outlet top.

 

As the telehandler was in use by PWay at Dixton cutting, moving more spoil and infill from Winchcombe Yard to Royal Oak was not progressed. Instead the team resumed construction items at Working Lane and Royal Oak. A small amount of infill was barrowed to culvert 25B junction inlet headwall.

At Culvert 24B haul road inlet side the brick laying was completed, using bull nose bricks for the coping layer. The concrete for the first step of the apron back to the 2017 built headwall was mixed and poured. This used a very dry mix as leaks from the bypass pipe is making the area wet. Finally a bit more bank was excavated where the second apron step will go.

Team effort, mixing and pouring concrete for the between headwalls apron. Left to right: Nigel, Roger, Polly, Jonathan.

 

Polly putting the finishing touches to the pointing of the bull nosed coping layer.

On the other side of the haul road, excavation for the concrete apron was undertaken. This turned out to be a heavy manual job, as most of the material is clay. Interestingly in two distinct layers, an orange-ish layer on top of a blue layer. The exiting plastic pipe under the haul road will be extended to ensure the headwall is well clear of the edge of the haul road. Fortunately a suitable sized joining collar is in our stack of materials at Winchcombe. Like all building materials, the price of new collars has increased substantially over the last year.

24B haul road exit excavation - that was a lot of digging. Pipe to be extended so that headwall is away from the edge of the haul road.

Tuesday 23rd November

Two working days this week both to accommodate other commitments of team members and to overcome the problem that the LWB Transit with the welfare facilities can only be in one place at a time.

The Tuesday team numbered three and started work at Stanton Yard. As contactors begin work on bridge 8, the main B4632 road at Stanton, in January, space is required to site welfare facilities in Stanton Yard.

The area chosen is that alongside the Stanton Road fence, currently occupied by redundant tack components, debris from the aqueduct rebuild of a few years ago and various other items. The task was to recover those items that are not to be disposed of. Amongst this was half a pallet of blue engineering bricks, most of which turned out to be imperial sized solids. They certainly are most valuable, so are now back at Winchcombe. Other items extracted and moved to other parts of Stanton Yard included two farm gates, a kissing gate; 3 panels of Heras fencing and a cube water container. These will be moved once decisions are taken as to where they will be used.

Recovering the kissing gate from the undergrowth.

Talking of the aqueduct (bridge 9), the team took the opportunity to check on the state of the stream that flows across it. Surprisingly for late autumn, no water was flowing. Another good sign was that the channel was mainly clear of debris.

Polly (l) and Martin inspecting the aqueduct channel.

 

The main task of the day was to progress the programme of internal visual examinations of culverts. Three were completed, 14A, 14B and 15A, these are the first three south of Toddington Station. That for 14A was more than an inspection. The Wednesday clearance team have completed the clearing of the down side embankment from Toddington signal box to the culvert inlet, thus allowing access to the ditch there. Some silt removal was undertaken, resulting in the flow of water increasing and reducing the pooling. The team are going to keep a close watch on this ditch, as in previous years it has occasionally carried grey water. When the station and adjacent properties were built there was no main sewage connection at Toddington. Culvert 14A is a small diameter pipe, so strictly in the structures nomenclature it is cross pipe. At times of heavy flow, water overflows the 14A entry and continues down the ditch to culvert 14B. The hand grabber came in very handy to remove the build up of silt in the down side chamber of 14A. The exit of 14A on the up side is the other side of the narrow gauge tracks.

Inside the 14A inlet chamber, the small diameter pipe running under the line is just visible.

Then on to culvert 14B. In contrast this is a proper brick arch and invert culvert. On the up side here the team cleared the access and around the pond at the outlet. Removing logs and grass from the outlet pipe dropped the pond by a couple of inches. On the down side the access to 14B was still clear from the work done by the Wednesday clearance team earlier in the year.

Culvert 14B up side (outlet). The pond has formed here due to changes in the adjacent land.

 

Finally to 15A, which was inspected with out vegetation clearing as access was reasonable and because time was against us. (The vehicle had to be back at Winchcombe for a tail lift inspection).

The inlet channel of 15A (down side) is lined with old concrete paving slabs. Just to the left of the last slab on the high mileage side a small pipe enters, this is the gulley drain from under bridge 16, Didbrook No2.

The good news is that all three culverts inspected show any signs of noticeable deterioration in condition since the last visual inspection.

Thursday 25th November

The four team members not working on Tuesday braved the cold but sunny day today.

All the work was at Royal Oak, on the haul road parts of culvert 24B. First was the construction of the concrete apron forming the middle step on between the new headwall and the outlet constructed in 2017.

A frosty start, so Jonathan was lucky to get the initial, warming job of the last bit of digging out! Photo by Dave.

24B concrete apron between the headwalls complete. Photo by Dave.

 

Then it was more concreting, this time the base for the new headwall on the downstream side of haul road. All this concreting swallowed large quantities of ballast and more than 8 bags of cement; it kept the mixer busy all day – and those feeding it!

Haul road outlet side concrete base for headwall complete. Photo by Dave.

 

Finally, four 'kerbstones' were installed along the line of the new headwall on the haul road inlet side to guide those driving up/down the haul road away from the headwall and the ditch beyond. A similar kerb will be placed on the other side of the road once the headwall on this side has also been built.

'Kerb' installed on the 24B haul road headwall. Photo by Dave.

 

As the weather is now colder with overnight frosts, all concrete and mortar needs to be covered up at the end of each day. Photo by Dave.

Up to date! 

That completes the backlog of blog entries - all up to date until we carry on at Royal Oak next week. One day it would be great to write that we have completed the backlog of tasks on our construction and improvement list!

Climate change October

With the UN COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow commencing at the end of October, the subject of climate change is very topical.

For us on the drainage team the warmer autumns have two main effects. Firstly, the higher daytime temperatures mean that we soon warm up when working. Not quite the tee shirt and shorts (plus PPE) of the summer, but certainly no need for the several layers of woolies to keep the cold out. Mind you, when pausing for a breather or a coffee break, you soon cool down, particularly if there is a bit of a breeze blowing.

The second effect is delay to the start of the main leaf fall season. Consequently we do not have to commence the regular checking of the drain grills and covers which we know are prone to leaf blockage until later in the year. The downside is when the first frosts do come, or we get a heavy gale, then the quantity of leaves and twigs can be greater.

Tuesday 5th October

First job today for the five team members present was to extract our mains powered kit in order for it to be PAT tested. Not helped by the fact that some of the kit was required for use at Royal Oak - so had to be brought back for testing.

The main items we needed at Royal Oak were the pump and extension cable. The hole we had excavated last week for the concrete base of the culvert 24B haul road inlet headwall was full of water from the previous night's heavy rain. After pumping and bailing out the water, and stopping most leaks from the temporary bypass pipe, three of the team poured the concrete for the base. Concrete goes up to 25mm below the base of the pipe under the road. This took 5 bags of cement and around 1 cubic metre of aggregate - plus quite a bit of labour!

Dave bailing out the culvert 24B concrete base excavation whilst waiting for the pump to arrive after being PAT tested.

End of day, concrete base poured and temporary pipes back in place. Read now for brick and block laying.

The other two team members undertook checks of the culverts at Gotherington loop; 35A 35B 35C and 35D. No evidence of culvert failure or blockages reported; all 'high tide' marks from the recent heavy rain were under half way up observed pipes. The reason for this check was to rule out culvert problems as the root cause of a minor track defect on the main line through the loop. However we did note that access to culverts 35A and 35B does need clearing - so these are at the top of the list for this activity.

What we like to see when inspecting a culvert, water flowing well, no very high tide marks and no sign of blockages. This is up side (or Malvern side or outflow side) of culvert 35C at Gotherington.

Tuesday 12th October

All six of the team working this Tuesday, so we split into two groups. Added a bit of changing around at lunchtime for variety.

One group progressed the construction of culvert 24B haul road inlet headwall. All the concrete blocks and the first course of bricks were laid. No use of bailing today, the pumps were in place right from the beginning and ran all day.

Brushing away the last drop of water to the pump before building work commences.

The first two layers of concrete blocks in place. Water seepage evident, but not a wellie job yet!

The second group undertook vegetation Cutting and structure inspecting. They cleared vegetation from the track down to culvert 24C down side, all around the headwall and back to boundary fence. On up side they cleared the area around the outlet. This enabled the internal visual examination to take place, the report of which goes the the railway's bridge engineer and structures manager.

Culvert 24C down side (inlet) headwall. Requires some repointing work.

Looking inside culvert 24C from the down side. This is a long culvert as it runs diagonally under the Gretton embankment.

A second visual examination of culvert 25A, the one which runs under Working Lane bridge was completed. For a change this did not involve any clearance! After lunch the rearranged group started clearing the culvert 25B exit ditch on the up side, working back from the new headwall on the 25A/25B junction. There was a lot of growth in the two plus years since this was last undertaken, but the heavy weight brush cutters coped with it. The group reached as far back as where the ditch comes under the boundary fence. Further on the ditch is back on the railway land, clearance of this will be a task for a future week.

Clearance team almost lost in the growth of the up side ditch from 25B back to 25A.

 

Vegetation fights back! Photo by Dave.

Same spot as photo above, an hour later. We can now see where the ditch is. Photo by Dave.

Also in the afternoon we met with a prospective new team member. More on that next month.

Thursday 14th October

The first working day for the joint Estates Management (Drainage) and Permanent Way milepost replacement project team. One member from each department today.

Photographic surveying of the existing mileposts progressed by checking all between Didbrook (mp 10) and Greet Tunnel north portal (mp 12 & quarter). Mile post 12 and half does not exist, it would be half way through Greet tunnel, so there is just a white mark on the tunnel wall.

Mp 10 at Didbrook requires major restoration. Half the head is missing and the post leans at a funny angle.

 

In contrast most of the posts between Didbrook and Winchcombe are in good condition, these were refurbished a few years ago. This one will only need the post, former GW broad gauge bridge rail, painted.

One that the public can closely inspect, it is on platform two at Winchcombe. In good condition, apart from missing a metal cap to the head. Without this the wooden head will rot quicker.

The first post the project will replace is 7 and quarter near the foot crossing at Stanton Fields. The numbers and marks for this received a first coat of primer.

For mp 7 & quarter we have original GWR cast iron numbers and quarter marks, and one horizontal divider. The other divider is a replica lead casting of the same thickness.

Traditionally, the GWR used lengths of former broad gauge bridge rail as posts for mileposts. These had 4 feet above ground and about 2 feet below ground. The GWR also used bridge rail for fence posts, and we have several lengths of this in various locations around the railway. Today three lengths were extracted from Winchcombe yard. Using the PW rail saw these were cut to six foot lengths, the short corroded bits which had been below ground went to the scrap bin. Four more lengths require extracting, but that will be more than a two man lift.

Three six foot lengths of bridge rail ready for de-rusting and painting.

Tuesday 19th October

Attendance reduced as one team member away on holiday and one on Jury service. So only 4 of us in today.

The morning was spent at culvert 24B up side new inlet headwall under the haul road. Six courses of brick were added to the brick face and in-filled with concrete in the hollows in the blocks and behind the blocks. Using two cement mixers, one for mortar and one for concrete was a big benefit.

Polly progressing the brick laying - water level on the base only just below boot level!

Dave was in charge of mixed number 2 for concrete production.

When rain stopped work at lunchtime this was the state of the construction. Cover sheeting about to go on.

As the weather looked like it would get very wet in the afternoon, plans to brush cut more of the culvert 25B outlet ditch were abandoned. Instead the milepost replacement project was advanced, by fettling the steel bars for the horizontal dividers and quarter marks, painting the numbers and marks for 7 & quarter and cleaning up the cut lengths of bridge rail.

Tuesday 26th October

Again a reduced number of the team were available today. The main task was progressing the build of the culvert 24B up side haul road inlet headwall at Working Lane/Royal Oak. Fortunately with the lack of rain, continually pumping out the base was not needed. Six brick courses laid today, including a lintel formed from an old concrete fence post. Plus the concrete back fill behind the blocks was completed.

Nigel mixing mortar and Polly laying the bricks.

24B up side haul road inlet at the end of day, just the coping layers to go.

Access on the down (Cotswold) side to culverts 24A and 24B was brush cut. This enabled the visual exams for these two to be completed.

Nigel (l) and Dave clearing around the down side of culvert 24A, Royal Oak pub in background.

Finally the monthly clearance of the grill on the outlet pipe of culvert 24C up side where it exits under the fence to our neighbours property. This has a grill which often collects twigs and other debris. Again lack of rain in the past week meant the level here was minimal.

Today was the last day the team will see passenger trains south of Winchcombe until the spring. 4270 passes with an up service.

Wednesday 27th October

An interesting day for the blog writer acting as PTS cover for the Brunel University team who were monitoring the vibrations of Stanway viaduct. Readings were taken with all the passing trains (4 steam with 4270, and 6 DMU) on the centre span, with sensors by the sleeper end and by the parapet wall. Also between trains readings of the background vibrations were taken on all 15 spans of the viaduct. It will be interesting to see the results. 

Dr Tomor of Brunel University setting up the vibration monitoring equipment on the up side of Stanway viaduct. The blue box is the sensor for the parapet wall, a second unit was placed by the sleeper end. Readings were taken for all trains of the day - first 10:23 DMU to Broadway, last 17:06 DMU arrival from Broadway. Good job it was a dry day!

 

The instruments are very sensitive, here is a plot from the test where we jumped up and down on the middle span.

A fruitful September

Many of us are familiar with the opening line of John Keats' poem To Autumn... "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness". The beginning of autumn 2021 lived up to the second part, but not the first.

Like our colleagues on the Permanent Way and Clearance teams, we are able to closely observe the fruit growing on or by the railway. Blackberries are the most numerous, growing everywhere, particularly where not wanted! Tree wise there are several varieties of apples and pears. Most of the pears are the perry cider type, they ripen late in the season and even then are rock hard. Sloes, the fruit of the very prickly Blackthorn are quite common, whilst there are a few damson trees too. Damsons are bigger than sloes, and there no danger from thorns when picking them. Also they taste better.

Tuesday 7th September

Only three of us working again today, a different three to last week. This was a very hot day, hotter than any in August. Plus as the work was brush cutting which requires extra PPE, we certainly felt the heat.

We cleared the access at Bridge 6, Meadow Lane Laverton and all four of the wing walls. Makes a change to work here in the warm and dry; usually we visit this bridge in the winter or spring to deal with the flooding on the road underneath.

Low mileage down side wing wall, bridge 6 Meadow Lane, Laverton.

 

Diagonally opposite, this is high mileage up side wing wall. No trace now of the entrance to the long lost Laverton Halt.

We then went to try to find lost milepost 7 and quarter; it should be near the foot crossing south of Meadow Lane. The up side there has very thick brambles and other vegetation. We failed to locate it. The Permanent Way team who are numbering the rail lengths have estimated where it should be, the rail length numbers start at 1 for each quarter mile. This is the reason why the milepost replacement/refurbishment project is joint between us and PW.

35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. with a down train passing where milepost 7 & quarter should be.

As ice cream was called for we headed to Broadway station for lunch.  Plus that was a good opportunity to catch up with the team there making progress on the footbridge and platform 2.

This will be a popular photographic spot once Broadway footbridge is open to the public. 4270 running around the train.

 

After lunch we cleared access to culvert 11C between Stanton farm crossing and Stanway viaduct. This is a good example of why the access needs clearing. On both sides the access down the embankment is very steep and there is a big drop over the headwall on the up side. Clearing this makes it much safer and easier for the external inspectors.

Culvert 11C up side, cut vegetation on left, uncut on right.

By then it was too hot for anything else!

Tuesday 14th September

A definite change in the weather, but not to a mellow mist! Low cloud and drizzle, but that does enhance the steam effects from the trains! At least the forecasted heavy rain held off.

35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. again with a down train, here approaching bridge 20.

 

Four team members in today, so three brush cutters in action and the fourth person was the lookout. This is vital when train are running, brush cutting requires ear defenders so you can not hear much over the noise from the cutter.

We continued clearing access to the first set of structures that the external inspectors are examining later in the month. Today we managed one culvert (20A) and four bridges (Bridge 20 Old Farmers Accommodation, Bridge 19 New Farmers Accommodation, Bridge 17A the big culvert, Bridge 17 Hailes Halt). We also started on culvert 17B, but the depth of water on the up side (exit) required wellies.

Bridge 20 Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge, up side high mileage

 

The team in action clearing down side of culvert 17A

Bridge 17 Hailes Halt, high mileage up side. An unpleasant job clearing this one due to numerous plastic dog poo bags in the vegetation.

Another early finish, but this time to enable us to dry out. Hence a visit to the Coffee Pot at Winchcombe for a welcome cup of tea! 

Tuesday 21st September

Today we completed the clearing of the first set of structures that the external inspectors are examining this year, the final one was culvert 17B.

17A and 17B are large culverts, 17A is so large that is technically classified as a bridge. 17B is not much smaller, and it has a large area to clear on the down (Cotswold) side, which is upstream. The railway land extends to the side of the bridge which takes the footpath over the stream. Although this bridge is numbered 18, it is not GWSR owned and thus not our responsibility to maintain. A lot of thick growth in this area, mainly elder intermingled with a lot of brambles. As this was not cleared last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was slow going.

Down side of 17B clearing back to the footpath bridge.

 

Five members of the team working today, so we were also able to attend to the loose coping stones on the low mileage end of both the up and down side headwall.

 

Culvert 17B up side, fixing the end coping stone. Photo by Roger.

All done - and all level (note the spirit level). Photo by Roger.

 

With the vegetation cleared, the view from the public footpath is now photogenic for passing trains! 4270 passes with a down train.

Whilst returning to base using the vehicle track alongside the running line to Toddington we cleared overhanging branches at Didbrook No1 and Didbrook No 2 bridges.

Tuesday 28 September

After spending the past few weeks mainly on clearance activities it was good to be back to construction today, and back to Royal Oak/Working Lane, Gretton.

The five strong team made a start on the next new headwall, this is culvert 24B up side entry to the pipe under the haul road. First job was to excavate for the concrete base which provides the foundation for the headwall. We transported the excavated material up the haul road to use as backfill on culvert 24A haul road exit. Most of the material was clay, heavy but fortunately not too wet. Before starting we inserted a temporary pipe to take the flow from under line exit, so that hopefully the work area will stay relatively dry.

Before the rains came, Nigel (l) and Roger digging out for the concrete base at 24B; Martin ready to barrow away.

We loaded the barrow loads of excavated clay on to the LWB Transit with the tail lift and then took it up hill to 24A haul road exit as backfill. Not sufficient to complete that, but we have a cunning plan, to be revealed next month!

Completed excavation at 24B for the concrete base for the new headwall. Too wet today to lay the concrete. Temporary pipe from the 2017 built railway exit headwall in place.

 

The weather was certainly not dry, so to avoid the heavy rain in the afternoon we returned to Winchcombe to commence manufacture of the replacement milepost heads. Activities included cutting steel bar for the new horizontal dividing line and the quarter marks, fettling the new cast lead numerals and painting some of the new wooden heads.

Roger (back) painting milepost heads and Polly fettling lead numbers.

Nigel (l) and Martin cutting steel bar for quarter marks and horizontal dividing lines for the mileposts.

Continued milepost manufacture will be our wet weather activity for the winter.