End of the Dixton Summer

Our work at Dixton Cutting over the past three months neatly coincided with the metrological summer, both coming to a close at the end of August. Removal of the broken red house bricks has made a big visual improvement. By using concrete rings from the bargain purchase a few years ago, the outlay on new materials has been minimal. From next month our attention turns to the annual internal visual inspection programme for culverts and cross drains. We hope the dry spell continues for a while, shallow or no water in the ditches makes this task a lot easier!

Thursday 11 August

Five of the team members attending on this very hot day.

High summer in Dixton Cutting. Diesel hauled train (Peak 45149) due to fire risk; deep blue sky; dry grass. But at least two cess chambers were in the shade.

Main task was to continue with the cess chamber rebuilds at Dixton cutting. Fortunately most of the work was in some shade. We took another seven concrete rings from Winchcombe to site. Five of these were installed on prepared chambers. Additionally we fitted a second ring to one chamber we dealt with last week; and replaced the permanent lids on that and the others from last week.

Polly puts the finishing touches to the flaunching on an down side chamber.

We are now at the point on both up and down sides where the cess drain is the concrete U shaped channel.

Square U section channel at the low mileage end of this down side chamber.

On the down side most of the lids for this (probably dating from the 1950s) are fine, there are a few that need replacing. On the up side most of the channel has a porous plastic pipe backfilled with pea gravel. There are several inspection points with concrete lids. We marked some of these with poles sprayed yellow & blue to make them more obvious; we don't want any more vehicles driving over them. There are a few more to mark.

Another sign of the dry summer, just a trickle of water in the Tirle Brook, the flume culvert 32A.

Secondary tasks were the installation of a finer mesh on the inlet grill of culvert 39A, Pecked Lane Bishops Cleeve. This will stop small twigs and leaves getting into the main culvert and the twin pipes which lead out under the neighbours property on the up side.

Clearing small debris from the outside of the inlet grill of culvert 39A will be a lot easier than from the inside.

Also our plant operator moved some items for C&W, including a pallet of brake blocks.

Thursday 18 August

Six members of the drainage team working today.

Once again we lent our plant operator out to another department, this time C&W to excavate an area next to the C&W workshop. However we did get a few minutes of his time using the dumper to move concrete lids in Winchcombe yard. First time the dumper has been used by Drainage!

Using the dumper to move concrete lids.

The other five members headed to Dixton cutting. We replaced the proper lids on the cess chambers which we rebuilt last week, recovering the blue mesh covers. As we are now very close to completion of the cess chamber rebuilds, we recovered all unused bricks, water, sand, cement and tools. On the down side we made good three sections of concrete cess U channel using the original lids. On a fourth section we inserted an old narrow concrete lid to repair the broken U channel blocks. Ballast which was in the channel was removed.

Repair to broken U channel on the down side cess. Replacement sections and lids for these are no longer available.

On the down side we added a concrete ring to the last chamber where the concrete U channel ends.

The last chamber on the down side.

On the up side we dug out what we think is the last lid on the concrete U channel. The channel is filled with ballast/rubble. We dug a few exploratory holes to try to locate the path the channel takes down to the high mileage up side wing wall of bridge 32. Nothing positive, this will need some further digging, which can also include the ditch by the boundary fence. This will need the mini digger and our operator and also some softer ground conditions.

Three team members popped down to Bishops Cleeve to clear the grill on the boundary fence inlet of culvert 39 (Pecked Lane Crossing). The heavy rain on Tuesday night had brought down a lot of leaves and twigs. Removing from the grill is easier than cleaning inside the manhole in the up side path where our oblong bore flows into two circular pipes under the driveways of the houses.

Wildlife today was lizards.

One of the lizards which inhabit the chambers; moved to avoid squashing by the new concrete ring.

Thursday 25 August

All seven of the team present last Thursday. But as usual, we loaned our plant operator, not sure exactly to which department, to operate the mini-digger for digging the trench for the electric cable for the new shipping containers in Winchcombe Yard. At least one of those containers is for the Estates Management department.

The other six members headed for Dixton Cutting to complete the last tasks on the cess chamber rebuilds.

Before taking the road vehicles across the line at Gotherington Yard we await the passing of the 0915 Toddington to Cheltenham ECS train. Left to right: Dave; Martin; Polly; Roger; Nigel.

Today was the last working day of visiting 2-6-0 Ivatt 46521. Note the correct ECS lamp code.

Also replaced some of the broken lids on the down side concrete U channel using odd small chamber lids.

A mixed bag of lids, but at least they keep the ballast out of the U channel.

We left the 'new' chamber on the up side just before Prescott Road bridge with a blue mesh cover. This is temporary, we want to monitor what is happening there when the wet weather returns. There is buried concrete U channel heading towards the high mileage up side wing wall of the bridge, but it is blocked with ballast and other debris. If we do notice any water pooling there, then some digging with the mini digger will be required to put in a new pipe to the boundary ditch.

Up side new 'chamber' added where the U channel currently ends.

The external inspection programme is now to include culvert 31B, as this is really integral to Prescott Road bridge 3. The main clearance was by the outlet catch pit (low mileage up side); mainly to expose the edges of the pit prior to the visit by the external inspection team. We removed all the broken and loose pieces of the old fence. We trimmed the vegetation on the roadside by the bridge abutment and up to the inlet chamber which has the road kerb stones as covers.

Culvert 31B outlet, the catch pit has over 2 foot of soft silt in it. Still a trickle of water running.

For the first time for months it was raining at lunchtime, so we used the Churchward House mess. After lunch one group surveyed the chambers on the down side crest between Greet Road bridge and Greet tunnel. There is one that needs an additional cover, and one that needs building. This later one is our side of the boundary fence to the one that we built in the farmers field earlier in the year.

Down side crest near Greet tunnel low mileage - we will be building a new brick chamber here. Photo by Roger.

The other group cleared the access to the down side of the River Isbourne bridge 21A in preparation for the external inspectors. We cleared the rope handrail section and around the metal safety rails over the portal and wing walls. It was not possible to clear all the way down to water level as the ground is too steep and the vegetation too dense. This will need to be done, by approaching along the line of the ditch that runs behind the wooden shed.

Down side access to the River Isbourne is a lot safer with no vegetation covering the handrails and safety rails.

Rings, and more rings

The main task of the team continues to be the rebuilding of the cess chambers in Dixton cutting.

Thursday 28^th July

All seven members of the drainage team in attendance yesterday. We lent our plant operative to take the mini digger to Toddington to assist with excavating a new concrete area by the unloading road. Unfortunately the digger developed a fault with one of the hydraulic pipes - plus the trailer got a flat tyre.

The other six of us headed to Dixton Cutting to continue the cess chamber rebuilds. Another four were completed with concrete rings; two had the top courses of brick repaired; and one the top course of brick was removed ready for a concrete ring. As we are now working beyond (that is north of) the Gotherington down distant signal; there is room to park the vehicles and set up the mixer track side. This meant a lot less time ferrying materials and equipment to where needed. Together with six working, we actually came to a halt because we ran out of concrete rings on site. Anyway it was getting rather warm by early afternoon.

An up side chamber mortared up ready for the concrete ring.

 

After ring placement, the next job is flaunching the side. That is smoothing the mortar into a diagonal. This chamber required some internal repointing. Not many left now with the infamous distant signal wire in the way!

Martin & Roger start on removing the damaged brick courses of an down side chamber.

Placing the concrete rings into position is a team task. They are heavy!

Dave clears the vegetation from an up side chamber. Looks like this does not need any demolition, just concrete ring added to raise the height.

Thursday 4^th August

Another day will a full team attendance of seven.

The plant operative went to Toddington to collect the mini digger which needs some new hydraulic hoses fitted. He spent the rest of the day cleaning the trailer of spilt hydraulic fluid and using the telehandler to move some lengths of wood for C&W at Winchcombe.

The other six team members headed to Dixton Cutting. Thy took another seven concrete rings from WInchcombe. These certainly speed up the rebuilding of the cess chambers, particularly where there are no courses of brick which need patching. On a couple of chambers, we removed all the bricks on any damaged course - this will mean a couple of chambers will have two concrete rings added. With a team of six, progress is rapid, three rings had been laid by the time the first up train passed. The temporary blue mesh covers on the chambers completed last week were replaced by the proper lids. One chamber required a new lid. On the demolition front we prepared another six chambers. We now have reached mp 14 3/4; over half way in terms of distance. More than half way in terms of chamber quantity, as there are now fewer chambers on the up side.

Dixton cutting in the summer - an idyllic spot! Looking south to bridge 33 and the chambers we have completed.

 

A completed down side chamber, reusing all the existing lids.

A completed up side chamber. A mixture of lids, a new own make on the left and probably an original GW big lid on the right.

Dinmore Manor passes the work site at mp 14 & three quarters with an early afternoon down train.

Once again the heat of the afternoon meant an earlier finish, plus the requirement to bring yet more concrete rings from Winchcombe.

Final task for the day at Dixton was to shift a length of rail from the middle of the vehicle track to lie alongside another length by the ballast shoulder. It did take all of the coordinated bar work with six people to shift it. It was moved as the previous day a road vehicle suffered a punctured tyre when driving over this length of rail. The vehicle involved had been left at Gotherington yard; so we recovered it after supervising the tyre replacement by Ski Tyres.

The team take a breather after barring the length of rail from the middle of the vehicle track on the up side of the formation. The photographer had been using the bar on the ground - so it was a full six man shift.

 

The perfect way to end a day of physical work. Cup of tea from a china mug, sat at a table and watching trains. Martin, Dave and Roger watch Dinmore Manor pull in to Winchcombe.

Nature corner

For this entry the subject is spiders. So arachnophobes stop reading now!

Big black spider on an egg sac. (Photo by Dave)

The large black spiders we saw in one of the chambers are either the European Cave Spider (Meta menardi) or the closely-related Meta bourneti.

The European cave spider is not dangerous to humans and although (in common with nearly all spiders) they have venom, its effect on large mammals is negligible. They are unlikely to bite if carefully handled but if sufficiently provoked they are capable of inflicting an unpleasant "nip". They are non-aggressive and generally slow moving and are regarded (by arachnophobes) as "gentle giants". So no need to panic! The cotton wool balls are egg sacs, tear-shaped white pendants (sometimes with a slightly yellow centre) usually hanging from the roof of the habitat by a silk thread.