One per mile

Thursday 6^th November

A group of seven (Dave, Nigel, Martin, Polly, Stuart, Phil and Dee) headed to Manor Lane at Gotherington to continue with our annual programme of clearance and visual inspections of culverts and cross drains. The targets this time were cross drains 36A, 36B, 37A, 37B and 37C. The later is by the foot crossing; approximately half way between Manor Lane and Woodmancote. As the weather was dry, and very warm, and even for a while sunny; they managed to also include the clearance of cross drain 37D which is just south of the crossing.

Manor Lane bridge (36) in the background, with the outlet ditch of 36A by the roadside in the foreground. [Photo by Dee]

Dee focusing on taking a photo for the visual inspection whilst Martin and Nigel take a breather from clearing work at the top of the embankment. [Photo by Dave]

Even in the dry summer, the vegetation around 37A outlet had grown well. Stuart gets to grip with it. [Photo by Dave]

The far outlet end of 37A has concrete slabs as side protection. A nice surprise was to find all still in position. [Photo by Dave]

Badgers were here! Dry straw that has been a nest back in the summer. [Photo by Dee]

Two other team members were also working – but on other tasks. Jonathan spent the day on vehicle maintenance. He successfully the broken door handle of the new (to us) white Ranger personnel carrier. However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to sort out the wiring in back compartment of the Ranger. It appears that the circuits for the lights that don’t work have a change or wire colour in some difficult to access location. Also not able to be repaired was a damaged wheel arch on the white tipper Transit.

Andrew attended the Heads of Department meeting at Toddington. These are one of the few occasions when almost all departments of the Railway and the board of directors all come together. So in corporate management terms they are a very useful networking event. In his address, John Dora, the chairman of the board of directors of the GWSR, remarked that he appreciated working on a railway where there was almost one drainage worker for every mile of track! The comparable ratio for Network Rail is orders of magnitude less. However, a reorganisation of our team to allocate individual miles to each team member is not on the cards!

Wildlife report: The group at Gotherington remarked on the non appearance or any raptors as no red kites, buzzards or kestrels were seen. As expected for late autumn, flocks of finches (or other small brown birds); gulls and starlings we observed. They also noted evidence of badgers using one of the drainage chambers as a nest whilst it was dry during the summer. Closer to home, in fact right by the door to our wooden shed in Winchcombe Yard, we noticed a very tame robin. Perhaps we should provide a nest box for him (or her); as a nest in some of the piles of material would not be ideal. Wildlife and environment aspects were the subjects of a discussion with railway’s new Biodiversity lead, Andrew Baker, after our end of work tea break. Andrew was keen to hear of our wildlife spottings and knowledge of the terrain alongside the railway. He outlined some of the environment management and stewardship schemes for which grants are available. Not surprisingly some of these go hand in hand with water management, in particular flood mitigation. We identified several locations where improvements to calcareous grassland and seasonal bog ecosystems would make a big impact.

Endings

Thursday 30^th October

Today was the last planned work day this year for us when scheduled passenger trains are running. So from next week we do have a little more flexibility in choice of work sites, and won’t have regular timetabled pauses to let a train pass. The disadvantage is that the Coffee Pot on Winchcombe station will not be open – so we will have to brew our own tea in the Churchward House mess for our end of day tea break. Another ‘ending’ was that this was one of the last days that the Merchant Navy loco 35006 Peninsular & Orient S. N. Co. was running before withdrawal for it’s 10 year overhaul. So quite a few of the gang were keen to get some photos.

P&O heads towards Cheltenham over Prestcott Road Bridge (32).

A few minutes earlier, 6880 Bretton Grange, hauled the first Broadway bound train passing us by cross drain 31A. 

Ten of the team were in attendance. Jonathan in his role as Vehicle mechanic spent the morning working on the new (to us) white Ford Ranger personnel carrier. This included fitting red and yellow warning chevrons at the rear, and determining the correct replacement for the door handle which was broken last Friday. He later joined the rest of the team in Dixton cutting.

Ian and Polly formed the minor brick work repair team. They attended to several jobs, mainly re-pointing, of structures between Working Lane, Gretton and Stanley Pontlarge. They then joined the party in Dixton cutting.

Roger, Martin, and Dee took on the clearance of culvert 31B at Prestcott Road bridge; then cross drain 33A and culvert 33B at Gotherington Yard. Even with some rain in the past two months, the water levels in all of these are still way below normal autumn level. This enabled some quite serious silt clearance, particularly on the inlet of 33A.

Cleaned and cleared inlet of 33A, removed silt on the side. [Photo by Roger]

Cleared inlet ditch of 33B running from under the road in the background to the inlet headwall to go under the railway in the foreground. [Photo by Roger]

Nigel, Dave and Andrew were also tackling culvert and cross drain clearance; plus some trimming around some cess chambers. First port of call was at the top of the haul road opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton to clear the saplings and vegetation that had grown where we in-filled near culvert 24A earlier this year. Next was the down (Cotswold) side at culvert 24C – something that had been overlooked a couple of weeks ago.

Top of the haul road cleared of vegetation - apart from the small clump of old man beard which we left to mark the safe extent of the vehicle turning circle. [Photo by Dave]

Nigel making a clean job at culvert 24C inlet.

After a brief pause to let the first Cheltenham bound train pass, the three then collected some lengths of old cast iron guttering which some of our less sociable neighbours had deposited at Gretton. Then on to cross drain 31A for its clearance and inspection. Very noticeable here how little vegetation had grown in the dry summer – this autumn we are dealing with far less stinging nettles and grass; but still quite a bit of bramble. Also noted for the first time was some patches of bind weed. Dave and Nigel then went on to Dixton cutting; to work on up side exit of the Tirle Brook flume, culvert 32A. Jonathan and Ian took on the down side inlet there. Whilst Polly joined Andrew to undertaken the visual inspections of 31B, and after lunch 32A, 33A and 33B. The tree team members wearing wellingtons recovered some large rocks from downstream of the brook and repositioned them as anti-scouring material where the high mileage bank is being undercut. 

Jonathan, Ian and Polly attending to the flume inlet of Tirle Brook culvert 32A in Dixton cutting.

Dave and Nigel take a breather after brush cutting the outlet ditch (down or Malvern side) of Tirle Brook.

Repositioned rocks in Tirle Brook to prevent under cutting of the bank. [Photo by Dave]

A slightly warmer day than last week – but not warm enough to deploy deckchairs for the al-fresco lunch. At least the only rain was a very brief and light shower as we made our way along the platform at Winchcombe for the well earned cup of tea.

Dee, Polly, Roger, Jonathan, Martin, Dave enjoying their cups of tea on the platform at Winchcombe.

 

Hopefully it won't be too long before we see 35006 back in action.

 

Wildlife report: We spotted a considerable number of pheasants lineside. Also numerous were flocks of finches (we think). The resident robin at the Tirle Brook put in an appearance; whilst overhead the usual three species of raptor (Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel) were noted. A less pleasant site was the headless carcass of a deer in Dixton cutting. It was not obvious how this unfortunate creature had met it end, or whether it was a muntjac or a roe.

Benjamin

Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st October

Two alternative working days for John and Martin as they were attending a dumper driving course. Both passed the test - so we now have three qualified dumper drivers in the team. Hopefully before the end of the year we will start some projects that will utilise these skills.

Thursday 23^rd October

At the beginning of the week, the weather forecast from the Met Office (and others) suggested that today was going to be very wet and very windy, all down to storm Benjamin. Hence we made plans for alternative work – and even considered a complete cancellation. In the event, Benjamin tracked much further south. The overnight rain had stopped by the time the first team member arrived at Winchcombe, and the first afternoon shower arrived as we were just about to leave. So we did not get wet, but it was very noticeably cooler. Particularity when stopping for a coffee break and at lunchtime. Needless to say, deck chairs were not on today’s equipment list!

Three groups today. Jonathan assisted by Phil and Dee attended to some electrical work on the new (white) Ford Ranger. This included the fitting of a new battery. Once that was completed they headed to Bishops Cleeve to access the line back towards Gotherington. The objective was to check on cross drain 37F, near the foot crossing. We had received reports that this has collapsed. Fortunately this turned out to be inaccurate. They rodded the bore with the round drain rod head successfully. A visual check from both ends showed daylight. What they did find was a few small cracks in the embankment caused by the hot dry summer weather causing the underlying clay to shrink. We shall monitor these to ensure they do not get bigger.

Looking through 37F, day light visible at the far end. The 'restriction' is where an extension joins the original bore. [Photo by Jonathan]

Clay shrinkage crack. [Photo by Jonathan]

Dave, Roger and Stuart formed the culvert/cross drain clearing group. Their targets were cross drains 25C, 27C and 28A, between Gretton and Stanley Pontlarge. They also cleared around the mileposts on this section, and a space to enable safe parking of two vehicles on the vacant trackbed the required safe distance (10feet) from the nearest running rail.

Looking towards the Malvern Hills with cleared milepost in the foreground.

Stuart and Dave clearing silt from the outlet of 27C. Usually there is standing water several inches deep here.

Roger inside the inlet chamber of 28A, whilst Stuart monitors the gas levels with our gas monitor. (As proscribed by our Confined Spaces working procedure).

The remaining three of the team, Peter, Polly and Andrew, undertook the culvert and cross drain visual inspections of the structures cleared last week and this week. So a lot of paperwork to complete – for 24A, 24B, 24C, 25A, 25B, 25C, 27C, and 28A. Observant or knowledgeable readers will spot that we have omitted 27A and 27B. We will return to these in a few weeks time, after our colleagues in the Lineside Clearance team have attended to the down (Cotswold) side embankment alongside Townsend farm.

This was the first ever inspection of the 'intermediate' chamber on culvert 24A by the Royal Oak at Gretton. Not surprisingly for a structure only completed earlier this year, it is all in good condition. Very noticeable how the vegetation has grown on the reinstated embankment.

Rain in the past week has meant 25B is not longer dry - but it is only a shallow puddle below the level of the bore.

One stream still dry is that which enters 27C.

27C outlet on the up (Malvern) side - in very good condition. This shows the value of a strong rebuilt with chunky wing walls to resist the outward pressure from the embankment.

The three inspectors caught up with the clearing group at Stanley Pontlarge. Hence the final task was shared by all six, removing several barrow loads of sandy silt from the exit chamber of cross drain 28A. An annual task that requires the use of our long handled grab.

Wildlife report: The progress of autumn was clearly evident. Bright red berries spotted on a yew tree; the sloes are now mostly ripe (so soft), but still very bitter to taste. Lots of yellowing pears on still on a down side pear tree, but the fruit is inedible, rock hard. They are obviously perry pears. As usual, one of the resident red kites swooped very low over the work site to see if we had disturbed any small mammals. They only mammal we spotted was not really wildlife - a dark tortoiseshell cat in the adjoining small holding. She too was probably seeing if we had disturbed any mice or voles. Also in the air, a flock of crows were mobbing a passing buzzard.

Heading south

Thursday 16th October

Eight of the team attended, with the major task of continuing the annual clearance of culverts, cross drains, cess chambers, and crest chambers. With the exception of the cess and crests at Toddington North cutting, we have completed work north of Winchcombe. So the focus for the next couple of months is the south end of the railway. Hopefully we will be able to complete the programme by Christmas. We are still on schedule - helped by the continuing dry weather.

Dave, Ian, Martin, Peter, John and Phil headed off to Working Lane and dealt with the clearance tasks around culvert 24A, cross drain 24B, culvert 24C, culvert 25A and cross drain 25B. This included a good clear out of the grill where 24C exits under the adjacent property. Also under the category of silt removal, was the removal of mainly gravel from the open section of 25A which runs under Working Lane bridge. The continuing low water levels made these two tasks considerably easier.

Another dry one - 25B between the railway and the haul road. [Photo by Dave]

Little and large - 24C. In the foreground is the wee headwall for a pipe from the ditch beside the haul road. Whilst in the background is the main bore outlet headwall. [Photo by Ian]

Looking the other way the size of the 24C outlet headwall is apparent, it is one of the tallest we have. Just a trickle of water running, normally this stream has a good flow. [Photo by Ian]

24C exits the railway property into a pipe under the adjoining land, the grill here requires regular clearing. [Photo by Ian]

 

25B outlet, normally only the top inch of the pipe is above water. [Photo by Dave]

Cleared invert section of 25A under Working Lane bridge. [Photo by Dave]

The dry toe ditch leading from 25B down to the junction with 25A. [Photo by Dave]

The outlet of 25B runs as a toe ditch towards Working Lane, then enters a pipe to join up with 25A in an underground junction. The headwall where 25B disappears has a brass plaque commemorating Michael Beveridge, our team member who built it a few years ago. Hence a tin of brass polish was on the list of materials required for the job – and the result was a very shiny plaque.

Jonathan and Polly remained at Winchcombe and completed the levelling out of the area at the end of the up side sidings by the River Isbourne bridge.

Levelled out area between up sidings and River Isbourne bridge. [Photo by Dave]

They then had a good look over the newly-arrived addition to our road vehicle fleet, a white ex-Network Rail Ford Ranger.

The new (to us) white Ford Ranger. This should be in use at the Autumn Gala by the First Response team. [Photo by Jonathan]

Wet and dry

Thursday 9^th October

Eight members of the team attending today – with an equal division into two groups of four. One group had potentially wet work; whilst the other encountered dry conditions at all their work sites.

The wet work group, consisting of Jonathan. Polly, John and Martin, headed south. Late last Thursday we received a report from an adjacent landowner that water was flooding his field on the down (Cotswold) side south of Two Hedges Road. Severn Trent had attended earlier in the day, but found no evidence of a burst in the water main that runs under the field (and also under the railway by the abandoned bridge 41). The landowner also reported that the ‘Bonsai World’ stream was running strongly. This was perplexing, it was before the arrival of storm Amy, and no other watercourse in the area had suddenly increased flows. So our locally based team member went to investigate on Friday morning.

(Friday 3rd October) Debris washing down the Bonsai World stream to the grill on the new pipe under the footpath adjacent to the railway. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

 

 

 

Severn Trent had also returned on Friday morning, this time they did find a burst water main under New Road, the Woodmancote to Southam road. Water was cascading out of the break and finding its way into the ‘Bonsai World’ stream. The road was closed. Further visits, including by our Infrastructure Manager, confirmed that the recently installed pipe that takes the ‘Bonsai World’ stream under the footpath by the railway boundary was not leaking; there was some leakage from the crest ditch that this leads into, and the flooding in the adjacent field came from where this ditch (now a toe ditch at the bottom of an embankment) runs into the inlet of cross drain 40B. The amount of water entering the down side cess was not excessive , and there was no silt or other debris lineside. However, the volume of water was just too much for the toe ditch to cope with. Without heavy plant on site, we could not tackle any work to alleviate the situation until Severn Trent had fixed the burst main. This did not happen until Wednesday (8^th October) – apparently due to problems arranging alternative water supplies to Woodmancote and Southam.

(Friday 3rd October) Severn Trent find the spot where their water main had burst.  [Photo by Jonathan]

The ‘wet’ group managed to clear vegetation from the crest ditch to enable an inspection of the effects of the torrent of water. They also cleared some of the obstructions from the inlet of cross drain 40B and the toe ditch at its junction. We will return with a bigger group to continue with the clearance of the toe ditch. Dealing with the crest ditch is a more complex problem – as often the case, access for plant and bulk materials is difficult. We are evaluating a number of potential methods.

Scouring on the crest ditch caused by the torrent of water.  [Photo by Jonathan]

Temporarily replaced twin wall pipe sections in the crest ditch to reduce further scouring.  [Photo by Jonathan]

Meanwhile the ‘dry’ team, Peter, Nigel, Roger and Andrew, headed north to Toddington. First task was to collect the remaining items from the Drainage team exhibit at the Railway 200 weekend event. These were stored for safety in the First Response office – hence the requirement to have a First Responder with a key.

Then they headed trackside south past Hayles Abbey to commence the main job of the day. This was to clear and inspect culvert 17B, and cross drains 18A, 19A, 19B and 20A. None of those had water flowing through them; so this enabled some internal inspections (following our Confined Space working procedures). 17B had some pooling water in the bore, but the others were bone dry. Looking inside 20A is a very valuable and rare opportunity – none of the current team can recall this happening before. 20A was extended many years ago by butting up sections of GRP twinwall pipe against the old headwalls. We have always wondered how well the butt joints are fairing – now we know. The down (Cotswold) side inlet is not too bad; but the up (Malvern) side outlet will need some attention within a few years.

17B is the largest culvert we have; anything larger is a bridge. The horseshoe bore is tall enough to walk through, but it is rare to be able to do so without wellingtons or waders.

Adjacent to the high mileage end of bridge New Farmers Accommodation Bridge (19) is cross drain 18A. Both sides are chambers with the old style heavy concrete lids.

One of the smallest cross drains on the line is 19A - this is the up side inlet. Only in very wet conditions does water flow through it.

One man went to mow - Roger brushcutting to the fence line at 19A.

Peter clearing around the inlet of 19B. The orange posts are there to warn operators of robot flails. No signs of badger activity here this year.

Inside 20A, showing where the outlet extension GRP twinwall pipe butts against the original headwall and bore. 

As usual when clearing vegetation, the group also tackled mileposts and cess chambers. Additionally in a couple of places where the vacant track bed is wide and flat enough, we clear spaces to enable the road vehicles to be parked the required safe distance from the nearest running rail. Another odd job for today was the clearing of the gully covers under Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20). A unmetalled farm track passes under the line here so the result low point collects mud and silt.

Gulley under Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20). [Photo by Peter]

 

Autumn colours just beginning to appear - 2807 with an afternoon down train crosses Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20).

Finally, back at Winchcombe before our end of day cup of tea, we replaced the mess room whiteboard with the all line OS map on it; one of the items we had on display at the Railway 200 event.

Martin (l) and John become acquainted with our dumper prior to attending training in two week time.

Wildlife report: Despite not working by the River Isbourne today, two of our sightings were water birds. First was a heron on the roof of one of the houses adjacent to Winchcombe station; then we spotted a cormorant flying overhead at Didbrook. A little further south there was a very large flock of pheasants in one of the adjoining fields. We regularly see Robins when clearing ditches; but today one came very close at the outside benches by the footbridge at Winchcombe Station. Obviously plenty of crumbs there. Mammals spotted included muntjac and roe deer and a hare.

Baker's Dozen

Thursday 2nd October

Two new volunteers joined the team today, making the total team size 13 (hence the Baker’s Dozen). Welcome Phil & Dee. Also we were joined by the Railway’s Civil Engineering Director, Peter Brown. Peter hopes to join all the Civil Engineering teams for a day each month; thus we could say the total team size is now 13¼. One challenge of a large team size is finding sufficient space in road vehicles to get everyone and our tools & materials to the work sites. An additional Ford Ranger will shortly be added to the vehicle fleet. The purchase of this is as a result of a very generous donation from one of the team. It will certainly be a very useful asset.

The ten of us attending all headed for Chicken Curve. Ian, Stuart and Peter (D) took the high road along the vacant trackbed. They cleared cross drains 20B and 20C, plus the complex network of ditches that take the cess drainage from the Defford cutting. Not surprisingly following the hot and dry summer, none of the ditches and streams were flowing. But the vegetation had grown tall; fortunately this was mainly grass. One of the benefits of regular clearing is to stop bramble and other scrub and small saplings becoming established. Once access was cleared, Andrew completed the internal visual inspections of these two cross drains.

20B outlet - not a drop of water!

The other seven took the low road (Beckets Lane) to access the foot of the down (Cotswold) side of the embankment from the main B4632 road. Martin and Polly commenced the task of locating more of the manholes on the piped toe drain. Finding the first of these was a challenge, it was hidden by many years of bramble and brush growth alongside the boundary fence. Dee, Peter (B) and Andrew equipped with a long tape measure and the plans of the Chicken Curve rebuild marked out the likely locations of all four manholes. After a bit of raking of the undergrowth all were found. Surprisingly we we able to open all the metal lids – none had rusted solid! Also surprisingly, there was only a small quantity of silt in each chamber, easily removed with a grab.

A small quantity of silt removed from the second manhole.

Standing water below the pipe level but little silt in the next manhole

Meanwhile, Jonathan donned a set of disposable overalls and then after following our confined spaces working procedure climbed down the first manhole near the road. Using a short shovel, he managed to dig out several inches of silt and decaying old roots. Phil hauled all this out in a bucket on a rope.

Jonathan preparing to enter the first manhole.

Unusually we returned to the Churchward House mess at Winchcombe for lunch – one advantage of a close work site. After lunch we all returned to the toe drain. The prime task was to use our set of drain rods to clear a constriction in the upstream section of pipe from the first manhole. Despite repeated attempts by many of the team pushing on the rods, this constriction proved obstinate. Most likely this is a big bundle of roots – best tackled by bringing in a contractor with jet vac equipment. Finally with a can of blue marker spray we marked the location of all the manholes – so we can find them a lot easier next time we come to inspect and clear them.

Phil, Polly, Peter (B) and Martin during the attempt to rod the pipe upstream from the first manhole.

Cleared and marked manhole - easier to spot next time.

47105 passes with a down afternoon train.

Wildlife report: For most of the morning we had a buzzard circling overhead. No doubt the long grass on the embankment sides at Chicken Curve provides good hunting for small rodents. A pair of magpies also appear to have taken up residence on the up side of the line. Whilst in the orchard on the down side we noted quite a few LBJs (little brown jobs); probably finches, but just too far away for a full identification. Plus the obligatory friendly robin, keen to take advantage any of our diggings.

Railway 200 weekend

Along with most of the Railway’s departments, we had an exhibit at Toddington for the Railway 200 celebration weekend on 27^th and 28^th September. Ian master-minded our display, set it up and manned it on the Saturday. Whilst Peter (D) was in charge on Sunday. Thanks to those two for the extra hours over the weekend, plus also thanks to the First Response team for providing temporary storage for some items at Toddington before and after the weekend.

Ian waiting for the first visitors to our Railway 200 exhibit at Toddington. [Photo by Ian]