November – no trains and no rains

Maybe the title of this blog post is not quite 100% accurate. Since the end of the normal running season on 31^st October, we may not have witnessed any passenger trains, but we ensured we stayed clear of shunting movements at both Winchcombe and Toddington. The later were in connection with the departure of the DMU cars to Scotland. For the rainfall, we should insert the word significant. The first two Thursdays in November started dull and damp with a little mist or drizzle but both stayed dry and kept warm. On the 14^th the sun even came out, enabling an al-fresco lunch-break at Hayles Abbey Halt. The important item is no heavy rain; immediately obvious in the watercourses we have inspected – the levels are much down from earlier this year and in comparison with this time last year.

Thursday 7^th November

Seven of the team in attendance; so we split into three groups to work at three different sites.

Jonathan, Polly and Martin continued with the toe ditch reinstatement on the down side alongside Archer Farm at Little Buckland. This included removing some tree stumps with a chain saw. The ditch now extends around 50 yards on the high mileage end of cross drain 5B; getting progressively shallower. As this is now where the adjoining field is slightly higher; there will not be much more excavation to complete.

The small mini-digger is ideal for excavating a narrow ditch in restricted space such as the toe of the embankment on the down side at Little Buckland high mileage of cross drain 5B. [Photo by Jonathan]

Roger and Dave worked on the section between Stanton Fields bridge 7 and Stanton Yard. Essentially this was brush cutting around anything other than culverts and cross drains. So included cess chambers (51 of them!); cess ditch covers, mileposts, slip markers, foundations of an old pway hut and Stanton Aqueduct. The wet summer and early autumn have not been kind to the aqueduct or the down side embankment there. Also noted was a apple tree that has fallen and is partially obstructing the vacant track bed between Stanton main road bridge 8 and Stanton Fields bridge 7.

A down side cess chamber with small retaining wall on the high mileage end of bridge 8, the B4632 main road at Stanton. [Photo by Dave]

 

On the up side just south (high mileage) of bridge 7 is this concrete base, we believe this was the location of an old PWay hut. [Photo by Roger]

Stuart and Andrew attended to culvert/cross drain clearance and visual inspections between Toddington yard exit and Didbrook No2 bridge (thus 14A, 14B, 15A). All had evidence of the heavy rains in September and October. At 14B, an old footbridge in the adjoining land had been washed away, three of the old sleepers from this were inside the bore of the culvert. It was just possible with a two man team to remove these once they had floated out into the outlet pond. Also removed two footballs and one tennis ball. At 15A we noted some displaced slabs in the inlet channel. To fix these will require a return visit with a larger workforce equipped with wellie boots.

Two of the old sleepers and one of the footballs removed from the bore of culvert 14B.

 

Inlet of culvert 15A with the concrete slabs forming the sides - a corner of one that has fallen is just visible in the stream.

Wildlife report: The local pheasants have noted the lack of trains; there were many of them on the line at all three locations. We spotted two weasels - one at Toddington and one at Didbrook (close enough to identify as weasels rather than the bigger stoats). A large patch of wild mint was detected by smell whilst cutting around milepost 10. Finally, with dusk being a lot earlier, we saw large numbers of starlings  heading for a roost near Hayles Abbey Halt.

Thursday 14^th November

Eight of the team attending with work at four sites. Hence not a straightforward allocation of staff to vehicles.

Jonathan and Ian recovered the mini digger from Little Buckland back to Churchward House Yard. Jonathan then cleaned and greased it. Afterwards Ian collected Andrew from Toddington to return to Little Buckland for a site meeting with the farmer at Archer Farm and his drainage contractor. The later is one of the local firms that have undertaken work for the railway in the past. The overflow from the farm’s pond to cross drain 5B has been replaced and whilst the larger digger is on site we agreed on improvements to the embankment toe ditch inside of the railway fence line.

Replacement 225mm twinwall pipe connecting the farm pond overflow with the inlet chamber of cross drain 5B. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

The old concrete pipes removed - most blocked with clay. [Photo by Jonathan]

Nigel, Dave and Martin spent the whole day on clearing two cross drains, one culvert and one bridge. These being 16A, 16B and 16C at Didbrook and bridge 17A south of Hayles Abbey Halt. 17A is big enough to be classed as a bridge. Here there was a considerable obstruction in the inlet stream – yet another instance of large branches and other debris washed down by the heavy rains in September and October.

There is a stream down there somewhere - the upstream side of bridge 17A before clearing. [Photo by Dave]

And after clearing - headwall of the bridge in the foreground. [Photo by Dave]

Roger and Polly (and initially Andrew) first attended to the cess chambers and other items that needed trimming between Toddington and the south end of Stanway viaduct. This includes the site of missing milepost 9¼. The new up side crest drain installed by Walsh earlier this year was inspected – the top section was dry but with signs of recent water flow.

An inspection chamber on the new up side crest drain at Toddington North, Stanway viaduct in the background. The stabled goods vehicles look authentic - but in the 1940s chambers did not have blue mesh lids. (Plus there would have been telegraph poles!)

The up side slip markers were checked, no noticeable movement detected. A worrying discover was signs of badger activity at the end of the Toddington North siding. There is a hole in the ballast in the 4 foot under the last wagon (a ballast hopper) by the buffer stop. On the down side there are holes in the embankment with fresh earth and on the up side behind mile post 9 there are signs of digging.

In Toddington car park, forlorn unrestored class 117 DMBS W51372 awaits it's transport back to Scotland.

Before joining the rest of the team at Hayles Abbey Halt for lunch, Roger, Polly, Ian and Andrew checked various chambers around Toddington Signal Box. This is were the complex feeds from the car park, loco shed and up and down cess merge, then flow eventually to the down side ditch towards cross drain 14A. Fortunately we did not find any obstructions.

Lunch time at Hayles Abbey Halt - left to right Nigel. Dave, Martin. Usually the weather requires us to use the shelter here rather than the outside bench.

After lunch, Nigel, Dave and Martin completed the clearance at bridge 17A; whilst Roger and Ian attended to clearing the cess chambers between Didbrook No2 bridge and Hayles Abbey Halt. Polly and Andrew undertook the visual inspection of cross drains 16A, 16B, and culvert 16C. We also cleared fallen leaves from the roadside gullies under Didbrook No2 bridge (16); this is another location where heavy rain can cause problems. Part of cross drain 16A empties into a roadside gully on the down side – here the headwall has been damaged, probably by a flail clearing the verge of the road. We measured up for the rebuilt – surprisingly at least 50 bricks will be needed!

Polly clears the roadside gullies under Didbrook No2 bridge.

The damaged headwall of the 16A down side outlet at Didbrook.

Wildlife report: A buzzard at Little Buckland; flocks of finches at Didbrook, evidence of badgers at Toddington North (see above). Unlike the past few weeks, we saw very few pheasants.