Branching out

Diversity is a current buzz word in the Estates Management Department. During 2023 we will be assisting with the planting of over 150 new trees at several sites along the line, and digging out a new pond in the Orchard at Chicken Curve. Some of the trees will draw out ground water, thus reducing the water run off which we have to deal with.

We keep a close eye on the existing lineside trees. Previously we have written about the apples, damsons and pears; two more crops to add are walnuts and mistletoe. Unfortunately the squirrels beat us to the walnuts at Dixton and Gotherington. However, there was plenty of mistletoe – particularity on the boundary trees at the navy camp site at Greet Tunnel (up side, Cheltenham end). We found some on lower branches of an apple tree at Manor Lane, this was reachable with the loppers from the ground. Maybe next year we can join forces with our Clearance colleagues to provide a festive greenery provision service. Must check the Risk Assessments and Method Statements to ensure they cover Christmas decoration collection.

Mistletoe

Thursday 8^th December

A very cold and frosty, but sunny day. By carefully choosing sunny spots, it was just possible to sit outside for coffee breaks and lunch. With 100% team attendance, we split into a team of 4 and a team of 3.

The team of 4 tackled culvert/cross drain internal visual exams and clearance. This covered 27C, 28A, 30B, 31A and 33A. This competes all those on the internal programme as far south as Gotherington - except for 30A at Tunnel Bridge, Middle Stanley. We omitted this today as with frost on the ground it was too dangerous to approach from the railway embankment, the sides here are steep and there is quite a fall from the bridge wing walls. Glad to report no major deterioration in any inspected today from their previous inspection.

The team of 3 tacked the access drive repairs at Stanley Pontlarge. We found some suitable small stone at Winchcombe; in dumpy bags that were just about to fall apart and on pallets that were rotten. Loaded this onto the tipper and spread it on the top part of the drive; getting the bit under the gate level with the no1 stone put down by the Clearance team the previous Saturday. Then on to Gotherington yard to collect the dumpy bag of pea gravel that had been sitting there for around 18 months. But it had gone! Looks like it disappeared recently as there was the impression of the dumpy bag on the ground. Finally manually moved some of the pile of logs at the toe of the embankment on the down side low mileage of bridge 29. These were on the line of the new fence, which our fencing contractors are installing. The embankment is too steep for wheeled vehicle access. A friendly request to the fencing team resulted in recovery of the logs using their tracked fence post driver.

Unloading stone on the access at Stanley Pontlarge. Reduces the churning from vehicle wheels and tracks during wet weather.

You can almost feel the cold! Stanley Pontlarge, fencing contractors using their tracked post drive on left; chamber of cross drain 28A in foreground. Note our Transit in the background parked in a sunny spot!

New fence line and logs at the toe of the embankment on the down side low mileage of bridge 29. Impressive clearance by our contractor's remote controlled flail.

 

 

 

Thursday 15^th December

Snow fell on the Cotswolds in the early hours of Sunday (11^th December) and the temperature did not rise much above freezing for several days. Overnight Wednesday/Thursday, Winchcombe was one of the coldest places in the Midlands, recording an overnight minimum of -12C. Not surprisingly we cancelled our work planned for today.

Thursday 22^nd December

Just four of the team in attendance – well it was 3 days before Christmas!

Jonathan and Polly took the Drainage LWB Transit truck for a longer run to charge the batteries and to collect the overhauled Efco flail from Blockley. The flail is almost like a new machine now! They called in at Toddington on the way back with the intention to move some of the 150+ trees delivered. Unfortunately timing of the Santa ECS trains and associated loco movements meant it was not possible to use the loco department's telehandler.

Efco flail loaded for return to Winchcombe. With new control cables and sharpened blades it will be working hard in the Spring. [Photo by Jonathan]

Martin and Andrew continued with culvert/cross drain clearance and visual internal inspections. This covered 36A, 36B, 37A and 37B south of Manor Lane, Gotherington. Quite an achievement for just two, particularly as Santa trains were running one had to be a lookout when working near the line. The cold damp air meant the exhausts from both Foremarke Hall and 4270 were impressive on the climb from Bishops Cleeve to Gotherington. Once again no new major problems discovered on the inspections; the main item of note was at 37A down side with evidence of animal den use in the dry summer.

Outlet (up side) of culvert 36B has a unique footprint!

Foremarke Hall with the first up Santa train of the day approaching Manor Lane.

4270 approaching bridge 37 - having just passed the source of our mistletoe. Probably the last time we will be passed by this loco.

New Year Resolution?

If you would like to work off the excesses of the festive period, why not consider joining our team for regular workouts in the fresh air. It is cheaper than joining a gym! If you are interested, please contact the Estates Management HoD or the Railway Recruitment Office; alternatively email draingangGWSR@gmail.com.

Wishing all our readers a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year.

Circumnavigating the Pole

The North Pole that is. Over the past few weeks the focus of our work has been on the Toddington to Winchcombe section. The normal routine is to drive along the track bed north from Winchcombe, then back from Toddington along the public roads. Thus we circle Winchcombe station, or the North Pole as it is known for the Santa trains season.

Thursday 17^th November

A great boost to team productivity today. Not only all 7 team members in attendance; we had three working heavy duty brush cutters after their return from repairs and servicing. Consequently we were able to complete the clearance and visual inspections of 6 culverts and start work on a 7th.

First task for a team a three was to head to Southam Lane to investigate the cess drains. Just north of the bridge is an area which has a wet bed and the rail joins are ponding. This has been in this condition for several years. PWay are relaying it this winter; we had been asked to check to see if any leakage from the cess drains. The team inspected the manholes adjacent to rail lengths 12 and 13; they found no evidence of leakage from the cess. A couple of years ago the drainage on the down side under Southam Lane bridge was improved to handle what we think is run off from the road. This is working well, the area has not flooded since.

Down side cess chamber on low mileage side of Southam Lane, with pumping rail joint in background. [Photo by Dave]

The culvert inspections and clearance started at Chicken Curve with 20C and worked northwards (towards Toddington, or in the up direction), so thus 20B, 20A, 19B, 19A, and 18A. Finally undertook some clearance of culvert 17B, the big one. The bridges team have already inspected that one; and most of the stream side growth is outside GWSR land. Occasionally we do cross the boundary to fix problems, for instance at 20A we cleared some obstructions from the outlet ditch (up side. This resulted in water dropping a couple of inches.

Cross drain 20B has some connections from the up side high mileage cess drain; these take an indirect route to avoid a high pressure gas main resulting in two right angle bends with inspection points.

 

Outlet (up side) of 20A showing extension pipe and tide mark where the water level dropped after clearing the exit ditch.

Looking inside 20A you can just see the old headwall; the extension plastic pipe is only a couple of feet long.

We took the flail and were able to widen the vehicle track (old up side formation) for most of the length from Winchcombe down home signal to New Farmers Accommodation Bridge (19). The flail does need servicing - reverse is hard to engage as the cable for that gear is fraying and is at the limit of adjustment.

Also by taking sand and cement we were able to attend to some of the minor repointing and resetting tasks. These included 20B down cess outlet and 19A down side headwall.

19A is one of the smaller cross drains; down side headwall after the minor repointing attended to.

At bridge 20 (Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge), we cleared the drain in the farm track under the bridge. This is taking a lot of water flowing from the adjacent field on the down side down the farm track. We noted the condition of the up side high mileage wing wall of bridge 20 is very poor (large crack) and water is dripping through the deck beams.

Similarly at bridge 19 (New Farmers Accommodation Bridge) we improved the flow of water under the bridge. Here we noted two missing bricks (one each in both low mileage wing walls) which we will replace next week. We didn't take any spare bricks with us today.

Another brick in the wall required (bridge 19). However, Pink Floyd not with us today!

At Hayles Abbey Halt bridge (17) we measured up the broken high mileage up side coping stone. Unfortunately we could not find any of that size in the piles at Winchcombe yard, so this will be another repair job.

Fortunately weather was reasonable; rain had stopped before we arrived at Winchcombe. But the effects of a week with several very wet days was obvious; some of the streams were flowing fast. So too were some of the cess drains, however, some (like 19B) are still dry!

The wet conditions under bridge 19.

Thursday 24^th November

All seven members of the team attending today, but one (our plant operator) was booked for the telehandler refresher course; so only six of us working on our tasks.

We split into two teams of three. The first team spent most of the day in Winchcombe yard attempting to map out what grills are connected to what drains and where they eventually go to. This is in connection with a new concrete apron at the low mileage end of the C&W building. Some 'non-railway' sewers were identified; plus using die tracing we confirmed that water from the surface drain in Churchward House yard; plus those from the grills in the main yard do eventually exit into the down side ditch. This exit is marked with a blue top post; it is about 15 yards upstream from the point where the ditch enters a pipe which runs into the River Isbourne, on the upstream (down side) of the river bridge. We also found a chamber near the end of the old goods shed part of C&W which also is likely to be connected to this exit. Unable to trace this one; as currently the scaffolding for the C&W roof repairs prevent the cover being removed.

The tracing dye turns the water green - it is harmless to wildlife. This is a chamber in the main yard at Winchcombe, the two inlets at the top come from Churchward House yard - we now know where both come from.

The second team attended to various odd jobs identified in the past couple of weeks on the culverts and cross drains between Chicken Curve and Didbrook. We removed the bits of cement bag acting as weather-protection at 20B and replaced the covers with grills at 19B up side.

At 19B up side, one of the old covers was just an unreinforced slab; however the other, larger, old cover was reinforced and took some breaking up. We removed the extensive grass bedding (badger maybe), below which was standing water containing a lot of silt, which we also removed. This work revealed that this chamber is actually quite deep, presumably to act as a silt trap at this point. The water level was below the level of the pipes, so no water was flowing through.

We replaced 2 missing bricks in the wing walls at bridge 19 (New Farmers Accommodation Bridge) and reseated a third which we noticed was loose.

Spot the reseated brick (bridge 19). [Photo by Dave]

We repaired the broken coping stone at bridge 17 - a replacement complete stone would look a bit better, but none of that size in stock.

Repaired coping on high mileage up side at Hayles Abbey bridge. [Photo by Dave]

We did the rebuilding at 16C down side low mileage wing wall. The by now heavy ran meant our master bricklayer was struggling to achieve a result here which met his high standards! Will need to return to clear up the newly-laid bricks smeared with mortar.

Rebuilding the down side wing wall at 16C - despite the sign says 16A (the signs were made before what is now 16A and 16B were discovered. Making new signs is on our 'To Do' list!) [Photo by Dave]

Heavy rain forced all work to cease around 2.30pm!

Thursday 1^st December

Six of the team attending on a very misty/foggy day. A new novel excuse from the 7th member, he had broken his unbreakable glasses.

Again we split into two teams of three.

Team A initially headed for Southam Lane to rectify three down side cess chambers where either lids had been knocked into the chamber or the whole ring structure had been shifted. We used blue plastic mesh covers temporarily as the lifting straps were on the truck team B had.

Southam Lane in the fog - the bridge is just visible.

Then back to Working Lane to continue internal visual inspections of culverts/cross drains. Four completed – culvert 24A and cross drains 25B, 25C, 27A. Really this is only 3 and half as the inlet to 25C is outside of the railway boundary beyond a sturdy fence.

The outlet ditch of 25B has a additional runoff pipe which then heads diagonally across the field to the field boundary. Unblocking the mouth of this resulted in a satisfying 'glug glug' sound and water starting to flow.

 

Team B took the LWB Transit van for a longer run, which gave the batteries a good charge. The main objective was to deliver the flail for a service at Blockley (south east of Broadway). They then returned to Toddington and completed the minor repairs to the brickwork of culverts/cross drains 16B, 17A and 19B. So on next year's internal inspections some of the recommended actions can be crossed off as complete. Also returned to 16C to complete the pointing and to tidy up using a wire brush to achieve a neat finish. (See last week’s report above.)

Pub with No Beer

A railway theme beer festival - now that is a splendid idea!

Since the finish of the regular passenger trains at the end of October, and thus the Coffee Pot on Winchcombe Station not opening, we now retire to the Churchward House mess room for our end of day cuppa. This does mean that someone has to remember to bring in some milk! Whilst supping our tea, we look longingly at the board in the photo above, dreaming of a pint of one or more of the advertised drinks!