Roadside Recovery

It is not just drainage that our team become involved in. With one member who works in the motor trade, we frequently attend to the regular maintenance and minor repairs of the Railway’s road vehciles and plant. However, we are not intending to set-up a service to rival the AA or the RAC. The roadside recovery in this post’s title refers to extracting drain rods from the pipe alongside the road on the outlet of culvert 31B at Prescott Road.

Thursday 11^th May

Another day of changed plans, mainly due to the continuing wet weather. After getting the trailer with the minidigger stuck in mud the previous week, we decided not to take it to Stanton, as the entrance to the neighbours field is under a big puddle.

Jonathan and Martin extracted the water bowser trailer from behind various other items at Winchcombe Yard, ready for use in watering the new trees at Chicken Curve and opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton. They then fitted a new towing ball to the Isuzu truck.

New towing ball on the Isuzu truck.

 

Dave and Nigel headed to Prescott Road bridge, culvert 31B, to measure up for the replacement section of pipe to run from our boundary fence line to the intact roadside pipe. They also tried again to extract the rods that are stuck in the pipe - still not successful. However close examination of a photograph looking into the pipe shows that they are in there. A scout round the yard at Winchcombe found some useable sections of SGP pipe that can be deployed at 31B.

Looking inside the roadside pipe of the outlet of 31B at Prescott Road. End of the stuck red rods just visible. [Photo by Dave]

 

The lengths of broken roadside pipe at Prescott Road that require replacing. Note the depth of the silt! [Photo by Dave]

Andrew and Stuart went to Toddington North cutting to measure for the replacement of milepost 9¼. Roger also went to Toddington to check and reseal a First Aid kit and to collect First Aid items for the gala. Then they headed for culvert 11B at Stanton. The new 110v submersible pump was put to use to pump out the first intermediate chamber. The pump works a treat, especially if in a sump. They then laid the first course of bricks for this chamber.

The new 110v pump working in the second intermediate chamber at 11B up side. [Photo by Roger]

 

First course of bricks for intermediate chamber one.

Close up of where an old land drain (the clay pipe) is now incorporated into the intermediate chamber.

After lunch, Dave and Nigel went to Stanton aqueduct with some mortar to fill the void in the grouting on the ups side abutment caused by the excess foam for sealing the shuttering. This is really now the end of the aqueduct repair.

Final item of Stanton aqueduct repair - filling the void creased by excess foam. [Photo by Dave]

 

After their work in the yard, Jonathan and Martin headed to Elliots at Bishops Cleeve to collect the first tonne of pea gravel for the 11B trench at Stanton. Elliots have kindly donated a new rake and a long handled shovel, both very useful tools for spreading the pea gravel. In the afternoon, all seven of the team unloaded the pea gravel at 11B; and some was used around the first length of pipe placed in the trench. A start was made on the course of blocks in the chamber. 

Jonathan demonstrates the new long handled spade - it does make unloading from the bed of the truck much easier.

End of day progress - pea gravel around the laid pipes and concrete block layer in the chamber.

Thursday 18^th May

All of the team present this week, but one notable absence was the 'drainage' LWB Transit. This had broken down at Cheltenham Racecourse on Wednesday with electrical problems. Most of our hand tools are in the tool box on the back. Fortunately we were able borrow sufficient tools and use the 'C&M' transit, along with the Isuzu and the Ford Ranger to achieve most of our planned activities.

Jonathan and Martin headed to Stanton with the minidigger on the trailer behind the Isuzu. The 11B to 11A up side diversion trench was progressed towards the second intermediate chamber. This is where the trench is deep due to the lie of the land; so progress was not quite as fast as other weeks. At least after no digging because of wet conditions it was good to get going again.

Roger, Polly and Stuart also went to Stanton 11B. They completed the brick and block courses of the first intermediate chamber; a prerequisite was the laying of the first length of pipe in the trench between the first and second intermediate chambers. The first intermediate chamber is now ready for some concrete backfill; then the concrete rings can go in.

The 11B to 11A up side trench at Stanton - first length of pipe visible just beyond the plank. [Photo by Roger]

 

Dave, Nigel and Andrew first headed to Culvert 31 at Prescott Road Bridge (32). After temporarily damming the outlet at our boundary to enable visual inspection of the roadside pipe; the sharp end of the stuck lengths of red drainage rods was located. Then some delft work with a corkscrew attachment on the black drain rods; the red set was extracted - all 29 rods. Next was a trial fitting of the SGP pipe found last week. Unfortunately this was just a tad too small. We need to reinstate around 12 feet of the roadside pipe; make a suitable headwall and backfill. On return another search of Winchcombe yard identified some more possible pipe lengths.

Success - the red drain rods emerging from the roadside pipe at Prescott Road. [Photo by Dave]

 

Then on to the cutting south of Two Hedges Road, at milepost 17 & half. During the previous weeks of heavy rain, water was coming out of the down side cutting in three places. This comes from a stream which rises on Cleeve Hill; when it enters the railway boundary some takes a 90 bend into the crest ditch. This was the site of some work by contractors back in 2019, the work was interrupted by Covid. Two lengths of large diameter pipe were installed in the ditch; another two were further down and were creating a bit of a restriction. These were recovered back to the stream entry point; the ditch was removed of vegetation debris. The areas of the cutting side by the leak points was brush cut. This reduced two of the leaks to minor trickles. The root problem is that this crest ditch is not water tight - before it gets to the end of the cutting and becomes an embankment toe ditch it is dry. That toe ditch eventually enters culvert 40B. We will need to give some thought as to the best way to make that ditch watertight.

One of the points where in very wet weather water from the crest ditch escapes to the down side cess south of Two Hedges Road.

 

Thursday 25^th May

All of the team in attendance this week.

Nigel, Dave and Polly headed to Prescott Road, culvert 31B, taking materials to make a sandbag headwall on the roadside pipe inlet just outside the railway boundary. Roger and Andrew delivered cement, pipes, and gravel, again we had only one working Transit truck. Using a mix of SGP and twinwall pipe; the roadside pipe was extended back almost to the boundary; all the available sandbags were then used to construct a headwall. Finally some back filling using the material excavated a few weeks ago. As you can see in the photo, the team did a very neat job on this sandbag wall.

Replacement pipe in the roadside outlet of 31B extending to the railway boundary. [Photo by Nigel]

 

The neat sandbag headwall. Just infill and fence replacement required to finish the work outside of our boundary. [Photo by Nigel]

Jonathan, Martin and Stuart headed to 11B at Stanton. Jonathan spent the day extending the trench; have now got as far as the second intermediate chamber - so half way. Martin and Stuart setup the laster level to check that the trench is at the correct level - it is. The strong sunshine initially meant the level was giving some strange readings - but repositioning and with the sun higher in the sky all was working fine.

Stuart setting up the laser level. Hawthorn in full bloom.

 

Visiting BR Standard 78019 with the first down train passes the work site at Stanton 11B.

After delivering material to Prescott Road 31B, Roger and Andrew set up the mixer for concrete - backfilling of the brick and block course of the first intermediate chamber was completed.

First intermediate chamber - completed brick and block courses.

 

Blue jelly pipe joining lubricant - very slippery stuff.

Finally at 11B the second section of pipe in the first run was joined to the first. The recently acquired blue lubricant working a treat - pushing the two sections together did not require a great deal of force.

One item of note on the wildlife side was the rescue of a young mole from the 11B to 11A trench. We set him (or her) free by the hedge but it burrowed into the ground before being photographed. On the plant front we noted some stalks of asparagus officinalis growing on the pile of earth excavated from the trench. Some of these were tall and gone to see but a few stalks were still at the harvesting stage.

Thursday 1^st June

Full strength team today, at least for the morning. All working on the culvert 11B to 11A up side diversion.

This was the last day the visiting GWR Castle 4079 Pendennis Castle was in service. Here it heading the early morning Toddington to Broadway ECS past Stanton crossing - note the correct lamp codes.

The second intermediate chamber was fully excavated (so we are now half way with the trench). The first intermediate chamber was built with concrete rings and blue mesh top. So this is now complete - apart from the backfilling with soil. That will have to wait until the digger comes back from the end of the trench - the clay has become too hard to dig by hand.

The first concrete ring fitted! Over three & half years since delivery.

 

Dave checks the fitting of the blue mesh cover of the first intermediate chamber. Apart from the backfill that is job done. Just another four chambers to build.

Three more pipe sections were laid and connected. Another 1 tonne of pea gravel collected from Elliots and most of it placed in the trench.

End of day progress.

Using our CCTV equipment we inspected the existing 11B bore under the railway. This showed V - no sign of any secondary pipe entering it. However it did show that the bore is very uneven. At the up side exit the water depth was a few inches after pumping the outlet trench - but by 12m in the water level is almost at the top of the bore. Most probably the exit end has been disturbed by the roots of the tree that used to grow by the exit. This tree was removed a few years ago.

Two of the team visited Broadway to inspect the up side french drains that are approximately half way between the end of the platform and the boundary fence. The middle larger drain has had a significant amount of its stone (slag ) removed and this is piled up on the high mileage side of it. This must have been dug out for a reason in the past - it is not a washout. Until the clearance work there back in the winter this crater was obscured by thick scrub. There was evidence that all three of these french drains do carry water at times. Both the cess drains were checked, but after 10+ days of almost no rain there was not likely to be any flow.

 

The mystery crater in the up side french drain north of Broadway station.

Thursday 8^th June

The primary task involving the six team members on this warm June day was to further progress the 11B to 11A up side diversion at Stanton.

Jonathan spent the day extending the trench from the second intermediate chamber to the site of the third intermediate chamber. This length of trench is now about two thirds complete, and it is past the high point of the land so will now progressively get shallower.

Jonathan progress the trench excavation - marker post behind him to show the direction.

Roger, Polly and Andrew mixed and laid the concrete base for the second intermediate chamber. They also installed the remaining pipe lengths in the section between first and second intermediate chambers. Filled around all the laid pipes with pea gravel.

Concrete base of second intermediate chamber.

 

Dave and Nigel did a lot of fetching and carrying using the only working transit truck. First they delivered aggregate to Stanton; then collected another tonne of pea gravel from Elliots at Bishops Cleeve and delivered to Stanton. Finally they collected about half a tonne of No1 stone from Stoke Orchard. This had been donated to us, a left over from a building job. It turned out to be very mixed - but will be useful as infill.

Pipe run between the fist and second intermediate chambers completed.

 

By mid afternoon the sun is just on the up side of the line at 11B - Dinmore Manor passes. The transit truck safely parked out of the way back at bridge 11. Once the train has passed it will be backed down to collect all the gear to head back to Winchcombe. And for us it is then a welcome cup of tea in The Coffee Shop on the station platform.