White Thursday

 White Thursday

Thursday 20^th November

The blast of arctic air that followed Storm Claudia brought an early taste of winter. At 8am the temperature in Winchcombe Yard was -3C, and we noted a few snow flakes falling from a passing cloud. So a White Thursday (officially). However, those flakes did not settle, unlike on Wednesday morning when the top of Cleeve Hill was covered in a light dusting.

In the past week Storm Claudia brought some heavy rain, particularly on Friday evening. Our locally based flood warden was out and about checking the track. The cesses near Two Hedges Road were flooded. So a message was passed via the DOO (Daily Operations Officer) to the crew of the first race train on Saturday to proceed with caution through Bishops Cleeve. However, by the time the train passed in mid morning, the water has drained off.

Claudia did cause quite a bit of localised flooding across the south midlands. So a task added to our list for Thursday was to check the roadside gullies at the underbridges which are prone to flooding. Dee, Phil, John and Jonathan thus formed the Roadside Clearance team on Thursday. They visited bridge 5 at Little Buckland, bridge 6 at Laverton Meadow and bridges 15 and 16 at Didbrook. Usually we also include bridge 28 at Stanley Pontlarge on this activity. But Gloucester County Highways were in the process of resurfacing the road there. At bridge 6, Laverton Meadow, they cleared the silt traps of the sand and silt which washes down the road from the adjoining fields on the down (Cotswold) side. A lot less this time than usual for the first clean of the winter; no doubt due to much reduced rainfall in the spring and summer.

Cleaned silt trap at bridge 6, Laverton Meadow Lane. [Photo by Jonathan]

John attends to one gully under bridge 16 at Didbrook. [Photo by Jonathan]

Whilst Dee sorts out another at the same location. [Photo by Jonathan]

The other five attendees (Dave, Martin, Peter, Stuart and Andrew) continued with the culvert and cross drain clearance and inspection. They tackled the four cross drains alongside Gotherington Loop, 35A, 35B, 35C and 35D. Since there was full line possession to enable bridge and tunnel inspections from the trackside; they were able to use a Permaquip rail trolley to transport the equipment from Manor Lane, and back again on completion. The loop at Gotherington is one of just a couple of locations where access with road vehicles along the vacant track bed of the former double track is not possible.

"It is on the trolley" was a regular shout from the team. Stuart looks for the requested item.

Plant roots growing behind a precast concrete headwall on the inlet of 35A have started to make this crack.

The inlets (plural) of 35C and the cleared access alongside the fence back to where the cross drain goes under the tracks. Note the growth of vegetation on the embankment; this was all cut with the robot flail this time last year.

Due to the cold weather, temperatures only reaching above freezing at 11am, both teams only took short coffee and lunch breaks. Hence all were back at Winchcombe early in the afternoon. So the opportunity was taken for a bit of a tidy up of the not so frequently used items on the top shelf of our storage in the old wooden shed. Also we covered up our stock of cement and grout with a tarpaulin to reduce the effect of water ingress through the holes in the roof.

Another side effect of the below zero temperatures was to prevent the removal of moss growing on the mortar joins of head and wing wall brickwork. We do this as part of the clearance operation; it slows down the decay of the mortar and thus the need for re-pointing work. But today, the moss was frozen solid and removal attempts were doing more damage than good to the mortar.

Up side outlet of 35B showing some of the frozen moss on the mortar joins.

Peter removing some unfrozen moss from the top of the outlet chamber of 35A.

Wildlife report: Now most of the leaves are off the trees and hedges, spotting bird life is certainly a lot easier. However, it does not make the process of positive identification easier! Particularly for the small brown ones, finches and tits. At Gotherington we noted robins, magpies, blackbirds and a thrushes (probably song thrush but maybe mistle thrush). Also the three regular raptors: buzzard, red kite, and kestrel. The buzzards kept their distance; whilst the red kites swooped down low. A bit further along the line, our clearance contractor was working with a robot flail clearing the up side embankment. One kestrel took great advantage of this to hunt the disturbed mice and voles (and maybe frogs and toads) – she sat patiently on the arm of the up fixed distant signal watching for the easy pickings.

A fixed distant signal makes a great perch for a kestrel.

On the ground we noted quite a variety of fungi and lichens – especially on the shady north facing embankment sides. Plenty of sloes on the now bare blackthorn trees and lots of red hawthorn berries too. With this colder weather and the arrival of the winter visitors such as waxwings, redwings and fieldfares, these might be soon consumed. Also noted in many trees was a good crop of mistletoe, the berries still a little green. They may be ready for harvesting for Christmas decorations in a couple of weeks time.

Mistletoe.

Autumn Sandwich

Thursday 13th November

Weather wise this was not an unlucky day; unlike the day before and the day after. The team enjoyed a very pleasant autumn day; plenty of warm sunshine, no rain at all, and just a gentle breeze. Warm enough to deploy the deck chairs at lunchtime, and to dispense with jackets whilst working.

Lunch at Middle Stanley. Left to right: Martin, Nigel, Polly, Ian, Dave, Phil, John.

The main team of eight (Dave, Nigel, Martin, Polly, Phil, John, Ian and Andrew) made their way to Townsend Farm at Gretton. Beside clearing and inspecting cross drains 27A and culvert 27B, their task was to commence clearance along the fence line adjoining the farm. A particular request was to clear on the farm side of the fence from the high mileage of bridge 27 to the end of the farm’s parking area; this to enable tarmac contractors to attend to the drive next week. Clearing by the horse gin training circle was not possible; as this was in use. Noisy brush cutters and horses are a combination to be avoided.

Cleared fence line on the drive way to Townsend Farm.

On the up (Malvern) side we paid special attention to the foot of the embankment on the high mileage of 27B; in the past this area has been very damp. However, all good this time; the two toe ditch pipes which flow into 27B outlet were dry.

Low water level on 27B outlet and nothing flowing out of the high mileage toe drain pipes.

Then it was further down the line to Middle Stanley; initially for a lunch break with a splendid view towards the Malvern Hills. After lunch, the tasks were clearing and inspecting Culvert 30A and Cross Drain 30B. These are definitely little and large – or rather respectively large and little. The first job at 30A was to cut a safe access path down the high embankment on the down (Cotswold) side on the high mileage of Tunnel Bridge 30. Fortunately very little of the vegetation was bramble here, most of it was Old Man’s Beard. Even after the proceeding wet day, 30A was only just flowing, with small trickles coming from the toe ditches either side of the bridge. 30B has a bit more of flow coming from stream across the adjacent down side field. The embankment at 30B is considerably lower than at 30A; plus the vegetation growth was very minimal. Like at its neighbour 31A which we tackled two weeks ago, areas free from brambles have not grown quite as much during the past dry summer.

30A outlet ditch and headwall. Rebuilding this headwall is on our 'to do' list - hopefully we can tackle it next year.

Once again two other team members were active else where on the railway. Jonathan was undertaking a telehandler operators refresher course; whilst Roger was attending a Health & Safety meeting. He also undertook a quick stock take of our supplies of building materials. Once the round of culvert and cross drain inspections is completed (hopefully by Christmas); we can make a start on some of the repair and rebuild project.

Overtime: There were a couple of other odd jobs undertaken by the teams. Firstly, Dave, checked on the tracked at Bishops Cleeve between Pecked Lane and Two Hedges Road. Following the heavy rain on Wednesday; we had received a report that several streams were flowing strongly and some ditches were over topping. Fortunately all back to normal by Thursday morning; but very noticeable that the ‘Bonsai World’ stream had washed a lot of fallen leaves onto the trash screen upstream of our crest ditch. It looked like that ditch had overflowed a bit; but no silt and spoil was deposited in the cess.

'Bonsai World' stream, upstream from the embankment. Grills and trash screens do stop the large items entering the pipe; but at this time of year got blocked with fallen leaves. (Note the ditch here is not inside railway land). [Photo by Dave]

 

Good news for our PW colleagues! No water or silt or debris in the cess by the recently repacked rail joint at the foot of the cutting where the 'Bonsai World' stream enters. [Photo by Dave]

The other odd job was fitting durable easily cleaned floor mats to the new (to us) white Ford Ranger personnel carrier. Andrew and Ian collected the mats from JT Autos in Bishops Cleeve, and then Ian fitted them whilst the kettle was boiling for our end of day tea break back at Churchward House in Winchcombe.

Wildlife report: Firstly an omission from last weeks report. At Gotherington the team spotted a sizeable dragonfly. This week we also spotted a late in the season insect; a butterfly (probably a red admiral) at Middle Stanley. During the lunch break we were able to closely observe the differences in hunting strategies between a pair of buzzards on the down side and a single red kite on the up side.

 

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]