Inspections complete

Thursday 11^th December

The main task that the team undertook today was the clearance and internal visual inspection of cross drains 40B, 41A, 41B and 41C. This completes this year’s programme of cross drain and culvert clearance and visual inspections, part of the ‘Predict and Prevent Asset Management’ programme. Completing these inspections a week before Christmas is a first for the team. The main contributory factors being an increase in team size and some of the larger culverts not requiring internal inspections as they were covered in detail by external examiners. We have almost managed to stick to the schedule planned back in August when we commenced at Little Buckland. Strictly we have all of January as contingency, as the 'year' aspect coincides with both the Railway’s financial year which ends on 31^st January and the accepted bird nesting season which starts on 1^st February.

Ten of the team enjoyed an almost pleasant winter’s day, without rain and with some sunshine. However, a stiff wind kept the temperature down, so lunch was taken inside the vehicles.

Dave, Nigel and John left Winchcombe Yard first, destination Bishops Cleeve. Then they reversed down the vacant track bed to start clearing at cross drain 41B. This is one of the smaller structures, also one which only seems to flow during very wet periods. It certainly had been dry for most of this summer and autumn, as the outlet chamber required animal (most likely badger) bedding removed. Then on to syphon cross drain 41C at Kayte Lane foot crossing. This is a much larger structure, with two syphon pipes cages over the outlets. This was flowing quite steadily – we have only once seen this stream run dry.

41B outlet, removing the badger bedding. Yes it does take three of the team to do that, while three more supervise from above!

Jonathan, Polly, Dee and Andrew formed group two – again heading to Bishops Cleeve. First task for them was checking up on a few items around Pecked Lane crossing and Two Hedges Road bridge. Then a tidy up of the up (Malvern) side embankment south of Two Hedges Road. This involved clearing some debris from the clearance operations of the past month from the above the up side cess drain, and extracting some larger items which had prevented our clearance contractors robot flail from fully cutting the scrub on the embankment back to the fence line. It was obvious that some of these items originated with some of our less considerate neighbours.

Our contractors large robot flail can not cope with this size of tree branch - up side cutting south of Two Hedges Road.

Group three, Roger, Peter and Martin, first had a small task near the low mileage portal of Greet Tunnel. One of the PWay track inspectors had reported broken lids on one cess chamber. These we replaced with a blue mesh cover; and the old thick concrete lids used to weigh it down. Most of the cess chambers between the tunnel and Winchcombe station received some minimal attention over 30 years ago as part of the reopening through the tunnel. The intervening years have left their mark, so we plan to address these in a similar manner to the cess chambers in Dixton cutting that we rebuilt a couple of years ago.

Cess chamber near Greet Tunnel with cracked lid and deteriorating brickwork. Those lids are very heavy, and identical replacements are not available. We think they may date from GWR days in the 1930s or BR Western Region times in the 1950s. [Photo by Peter]

Group three then also headed to Two Hedges Road, and formed the clearance team for cross drain 40B (apart from the Bonsai World stream entry and down side crest ditch – cleared last week) and cross drain 41A.

Martin climbs back up the embankment from the up side outlet of 41A, whilst Peter finishes off the racking out. This cross drain rarely flows; which is a good job as you can see there is no outlet ditch into the playing field.

Once again the size of the team enabled the clearance and inspecting to proceed at a good pace. So the ‘inspections completed’ state was reached at lunchtime.

Job done - loading up after finishing the final clearance and inspection at 41C, Kayte Lane.

After lunch group three took all the collected debris to add to the piles at the bottom of the haul road at Working Lane. Whilst groups one and two spent some time investigating the Bonsai World inlet stream. We found that there is some water seeping from the crest ditch through the French drains in the cutting side down into the cess. Following the burst water main on New Road a month of so ago, and some work undertaken upstream, it appears that this Bonsai World stream is carrying more water; with a less flowing in the streams further south. The landowner of the small holding adjacent to the main inlet of 40B is also of this opinion. Hence we are now thinking of extending the piped section of the crest ditch. This will require some realignment of the ditch; so we undertook some exploratory excavations. Our main conclusion was that any work will probably be lot easier in late spring when the clay has dried out a bit but not become rock hard. Looks like we will have a busy 2026!

The current outlet of the Bonsai World stream in the crest ditch. To get another section of pipe to join will required digging out roughly where the photographer was standing.

Wildlife report: As usual at Bishops Cleeve, the resident gulls announced their presence mid morning. It was certainly noticeable that this urban stretch of line has a different bird life profile that the rural stretches. No sign of any raptors today; but several robins, thrushes, and black birds. Whilst in Winchcombe Yard there was evidence of visitations by pheasants.

Facing serious competition

Thursday 4^th December

Some of your may have noticed an item on the news page of the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) or have read an item regarding the shortlists for the HRA’s 2026 Awards. If you have, you will have seen that the GWSR’s submission in the Infrastructure category achieved a placing on the short list. What you probably don’t recognise is the name of the project – ‘Predict and Prevent’ Asset Management. The full title is more descriptive - “Predict & Prevent: A Whole-Railway Asset Management Approach to Water and Infrastructure Resilience on the GWSR”. Below are a couple of extracts from the description of the project, as in the HRA Award submission.

The Predict and Prevent project … recognises that water is not a discrete maintenance issue, but the most pervasive long-term risk to track stability, earthworks, and structural integrity.

Historically, drainage works were carried out reactively - culverts and ditches cleared when blocked, blockages addressed when flooding occurred. The GWSR is transforming this into a systematic, risk-based asset-management project rooted in the principles of predict and prevent.

This philosophy is all about ensuring that water management activity directly supports the preservation of track quality, maintaining dry and well-compacted formations that reduce geometry defects and maintenance effort. It protects earthworks, preventing slips, slumps and loss of bearing capacity, and safeguards bridges and culverts through recognising scour and undermining risk. In short, good drainage serves as the foundation for every other engineering discipline on the line.

The HRA Annual Awards are the biggest and most prestigious in the heritage rail world. The winners will be revealed at a high-quality event in the Welsh coastal resort of Llandudno during March 2026. However, we are up against some serious competition. The other shortlisted projects are: The National Railway Museum’s refurbishment and reinterpretation of Station Hall in York, The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway’s ‘Independent Line’ project and Peak Rail’s traditional locomotive watering facility.

Thanks to John Dora and Ian Crowder for compiling the submission.

Seven of the team were at the forefront of implementing ‘Predict and Prevent’ today, with the continuation of our annual programme of culvert and cross drain clearance and inspection. Nigel, Peter and Martin started with the clearance around the large culvert 39A at Pecked Lane, Bishops Cleeve. As most of this structure is pipes under the tack, the vegetation clearance here is minimal. They then moved on to syphon cross drain 39B on the low mileage side of Two Hedges Road; then the second syphon cross drain 40A on the other side of the bridge. Finally they started the clearance of the crest ditch that carries the ‘Bonsai World’ stream on the down (Cotswold) side of the line towards cross drain 40B. The vegetation clearance here is far from minimal!

Clearing the access up the cutting side to the inlet of 40A was helped by the recent work of the Wednesday Lineside Clearance team who have cut back the dense scrub well clear of the running line.

The other group, Jonathan, Stuart, John and Andrew, headed to the playing field off Millham Road in Bishops Cleeve. This was to access the outlet (on the up or Cotswold side of the line) of culvert 38A, which is now outside of Railway land.

Jonathan (in the stream), Stuart and John work on the outlet of 38A in the playing field. A fence post of the old boundary fence is just visible on the right.

After removal of vegetation around the exit and in the stream; they then checked on the inlet on the down side of the line. The wet days in the past week had made their mark, as the water level was up and the speed of flow greater than last week. All the water courses inspected today were flowing at something like normal rates – this year’s hot dry summer is fast becoming a memory! Next to 39A at Pecked Lane to open the lid of the manhole above the railway boundary exit to remove debris which collects where the bore splits into two pipes.

Only a small amount of debris to remove through the manhole of 39A outlet. 

No obstructions in the main bore of 39A under the railway. [Photo by Jonathan]

Also they undertook clearance of the trash screen on the inlet.

The inlet channel of 39A is shallow enough to clear without wearing Wellingtons; as demonstrated by John (left) and Stuart.

Another manhole lid to open was a 39B on the inlet side; where we noted most of the flow was heading for the down side cess rather than taking the pipe to the syphon. We rebuilt or repaired the two syphon chambers of 39B earlier this year, so, not surprisingly these were noted as in fine condition. Finally for the today’s inspections was syphon cross drain 40A. Rebuilding the down side inlet is on our ‘to do’ list; but probably not on next year’s schedule.

The two teams met up for lunch – fortunately by then the rain had stopped. However it was not a deckchair lunch. After lunch all seven attended to removal of some debris from the up side cutting side south of Two Hedges Road. Work by our clearance contractor with a robot flail, and by our colleagues in the Wednesday Lineside Clearance team had unearthed various items that need removing. We loaded some onto the Transit truck we had, but the rest will need to wait until we take an empty vehicle there.

A discovery by the fence line at the top of the up side embankment near Pecked Lane crossing was this manhole with a displaced collar and lid. Although inside the fence line, this is not railway drainage, but a residential sewer. So one for Severn Trent Water to deal with. [Photo by Jonathan]

Wildlife report: Unsurprisingly with a dull, grey wet morning our wildlife spotting was minimal. A large black domestic cat at Millham Road probably does not count as wildlife! On the journey back to Winchcombe when the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared a bit, we did spot a pair of buzzards, the usual gulls of Cleeve, several magpies and flocks of LBJs (little brown jobs!)

14 degrees

Thursday 27^th November

On arrival at Winchcombe Yard this morning, the air temperature was 11C. Last week at the same time it was -3C. A difference of 14 Degrees, and we are one week closer to winter. Mind you, it did not feel at all mild, with no sunshine and a strong westerly wind. Certainly a day to keep warm by working and not one for a deck chair lunch break.

Peter Brown, the Railway’s Chief Civil Engineer, joined six team members heading to Manor Lane at Gotherington. Nigel, Martin and Dave arrived first with most of the tools on the LWB Transit van, they proceeded with the clearance of cross drains. Commencing with a little bit more at 37C; they then continued south dealing with 37E, 37F and 37G. 37G is an unusual structure in that it does not run under the railway; instead it runs under a footpath on the down (Malvern) side; the footpath goes under bridge 38.

Roger assisted Peter inspecting and understanding the drainage systems and what went where. Also they looked at embankment stability. Between Manor Lane and Station Road at Bishops Cleeve there are two sites which we are closely monitoring. One is where small gaps have appeared between the concrete cap of piling installed to correct a previous slip; and the other where a short length of the vacant trackbed has subsided. The later is potentially a site where we can trial a new product, plastic piling.

Jonathan first undertook some additional clearing on the outlet of cross drain 36B. This is the Dean Book, where the ditch in the adjacent downstream field is being substantially dredged. He then helped Roger and Peter, by digging some trial holes at the sites of the embankment cracks.

A major transformation of the Dean Brook beyond our boundary (cross drain 36B). [Photo by Jonathan]

Meanwhile, Andrew undertook the visual inspections of cross drains 37C, 37D, 37E, 37F and 37G. Even with some very wet days in the past week or so; all of the watercourses connected with these were only flowing slowly, or not at all. A big difference to last year's inspections, when we noted “flowing fast” or “flowing strongly” for many watercourses. In places, there was evidence of greater flow in recent days; obviously run off from the heavier rain. It looks like the recovery of the water table from the dry summer is going to take a few more weeks.

Looking towards the Malvern Hills over the outlet ditch of 37D. Our clearance contractor with a robot flail has made good progress. 

Where the outlet ditch of 37E exits the railway. Unusual to find this with out any standing water at all.

All seven met up for lunch at the site of Bishops Cleeve station. After lunch all worked on the final task for the day; clearing and inspecting the down side of culvert 38A. This included the toe ditches, one running alongside the mobile home park from cross drain 37G, the other on the high mileage side is fed by three pipes which we believe are connected to the myriad of streams which run down from Cleeve Hill. Not surprising this ditch was flowing, but only slowly. The main inlet of 38A had the strongest flow of all those inspected today.

Jonathan on trash screen clearance in the inlet stream of culvert 38A. Normally far too deep to stand in the stream here.

Peter and Roger checking their embankment inspection notes at Bishops Cleeve.

Wildlife report: The raptor count today was just two – Red Kite and Buzzard. No sign of the Gotherington kestrel. Crows and magpies abounded and, as expected, at Bishops Cleeve, several gulls were circling overhead. The closest bird encounter was inside the old wooden shed at Winchcombe yard – the resident robin. It seem he (or she) uses a hole in the bottom of the main door as access. On the vegetation front we noted some curious red roots in one of the toe ditches. Google’s ‘AI overview’ gives a likely explanation: “Roots of certain trees, like willows and alders, can turn red when exposed to light because they produce pigments called anthocyanins for protection.” Every day is a learning day!

Red roots at Bishops Cleeve. [Photo by Dave]

 

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.