Forty days and forty nights

I suspect most of us remember the legend of Saint Swithun, that of forty days and nights of rain following rain on his saint’s day. Recalling the date of that is not so easy. This spring it seemed that every day in March was St. Swithun’s. For the record, St. Swithun’s feast day is 15^th July.

Thursday 30^th March

Yet another wet day but we did manage to make some small amount of progress amongst the mud at Stanton 11B. Not helped either by three flat tyres - one of the LWB Transits, a wheel barrow and the sack truck!

Seven of the team attending. Four headed to Stanton 11B. To avoid churning up our neighbour's field we took the minidigger to site through Stanton Yard and then over the accommodation level crossing. A long slow route. A length of bypass pipe was inserted into the existing outlet pipe and the outlet ditch dammed enabling the petrol pump to bring the level down sufficient for the digger to complete the excavation for new chamber 1. The inlet to the pump was fitted with filter made by Nigel which prevented most of the silt, clay and other muck entering.

Dave attempts to stem the leaks from the bypass pipe. Nigel's filter on the end of the pump inlet - not sure who was on inlet pipe holding duty, hand just visible.

Water and mud - the temporary bypass pipe with dams at both ends was not 100% effective. Good job we had the rapid setting cement.

Two of the team headed to Travis Perkins at Cheltenham to collect the materials ordered to complete the repair to the up side abutment of Stanton aqueduct. This comprised 40N concrete, Five Star grout and some expanding foam to fill the gaps in the shuttering.

The final member stayed at Winchcombe to complete the assembly of heads for mileposts 8¼ and 10¼. When the Cheltenham two returned, the aqueduct materials were unloaded into the shed (as the grout is in paper bags) and a supply of concrete blocks loaded and the three headed to Stanton 11B.

With all seven working at 11B we did mange to mix and pour the concrete foundation for the first new chamber. This used all our remaining quick setting cement, needed since as soon as the pump was turned off the water level rose considerably. Even with the down (Cotswold) side inlet dammed there was a considerable amount of water passing through the bore and seeping out of the ground of the excavation. A start was made on excavating the ditch for the bypass pipe, another slow job as the clay kept clogging the bucket.

Deepening the hole for the first new chamber at 11B. All that water and the clay soil plus a steep embankment makes for a difficult work site. Not surprisingly two members of the team needed a change of overalls before entering the Churchward House mess for afternoon tea. [Photo by Dave]

Finally we did manage to complete one task the new head for milepost 8¼ was fitted, so that post goes from the worst on the line to one of the best.

Milepost 8¼ with one of the Stanton Pear trees in the background. That should be in blossom just after Easter. [Photo by Roger]

Thursday 6th April

Once again we decided to abandon any further excavation on the 11B to 11A up side diversion at Stanton. The water level had dropped a bit since last week, but the approach over the neighbour's field with the digger on the trailer would have made deep ruts.

With all eight of the team attending we divided into two groups of four.

The first four formed the aqueduct repair team. The shuttering was sealed with spray foam and the first pour of grout made. This pour came up to just above the bottom of the trough. The group then joined the others for lunch at Toddington before heading back to Winchcombe to continue milepost manufacture.

Grout pour, low mileage end. [Photo by Roger]

Grout pour, high mileage end. [Photo by Roger]

The second team of four headed up the line. First stop was at the River Isbourne Bridge (21) to see how Walsh are progressing with the river improvement/flood alleviation work. They have built an impressive stairway from the down side to the headwall. We will need to keep that clear of vegetation in the autumn.

Jonathan tests the new steps the River Isbourne Bridge. Walsh's big digger can just ford the water, it is digging by where the stream that flows at the back of Churchward House enters the Isbourne.

Then on to culvert 20C at Chicken Curve. The new balance pond on the down side is now at 'normal' level, there is a trickle of water leaving via the exit pipe into the 20C inlet.

The down side balancing pond at Chicken Curve with landscaping complete and filled to normal level.

Just a dribble flowing out of the balancing pond into 20C.

Next stop was Hayles Abbey to replace broken covers on an up side cess manhole. Obviously damaged during the recent track replacement.

Replacement cess manhole covers are now the blue mesh, weighted down with a concrete slab. Hopefully the marker posts at the front will make the chamber more obvious.

We also noticed another manhole which need a replacement concrete ring – so one job removed from the master task list and another added! The next job was fitting the new head for milepost 10¼ by Didbrook No2 bridge.

Milepost 10¼, on the high mileage (Cheltenham) end of Didbrook No2 bridge.

Whilst there we cleared some debris from the up side hedge and removed silt from where the down side high mileage drain meets the road gully. 

Next was inspection of the recent slip at Toddington North up side. We also checked the slip markers on the down side, no apparent movement there but we noted a couple of small bear earth faces. On the up side we noted the top row of slip markers were still all upright and in line. The recent slip appears to be confined to the middle section of the old slip affecting only one slip marker post – but that is now 2m or so downhill. There are also quite a few holes on the crest. We walked back to Toddington along the crest of the cutting, rediscovering the old crest drain (SGP pipe). This is quite a distance from the boundary fence and is probably broken at the site of the old slips. We formulated plans for a new crest ditch closer to the boundary fence and running further south to almost where the new houses are.

Using the spade to show the depth and location of new hole near the top of the cutting.

Top row of slip markers still upright and in place.

Lower row of markers with one now well out of place.

The slip face, the shiny smooth surface illustrates the extent of the recent slip. Fortunately it did not cover the up side cess at the bottom of the cutting.

As this was Maundy Thursday we had no trains to wave too; so the RAF obliged with a low altitude training flight.

Then lunch at Toddington under the platform canopy whilst very heavy hail storm passed. Finally on to Stanton 11B/11A with the laser level to check the depth of the first part of the new ditch dug last week. It is deep enough, actually 3cm deeper than required. This was a task we had to abandon last week when it too wet. We noted the concrete base of the first new chamber we poured last week had set, but it will need a bit of levelling before installing the concrete rings. We also checked the extent of the standing water on the down side to determine where we need to take the new ditch or pipes. Answer: approximately in line with milepost 8½.

There is a solid concrete base in there! Existing 11B outlet pipe on right - at least this week the top of it was above water!

With all the wet weather we are now at least 3 weeks behind on our estimate for the 11B to 11A up side diversion. This time last year we had to postpone some work as the ground was too dry and hard. The only predictable aspect of the English weather is it’s unpredictability!