Inspections complete, demolition started, roads cleared

The title of this post neatly sums up the achievements of the team on (so far) the coldest day of the winter.

Thursday 9^th January

Eight of the team braved the cold weather. Minus 5C was the lowest temperature reported on the journeys to Winchcome, at Sedgebarrow. The maximum day time temperature was not much above 3C, but at least it was sunny.

First the inspections. John, Polly and Andrew headed to Cheltenham, south of the station to undertake the annual visual inspections and clearance of culvert 45A at Wymans Brook and 44A just south of Hunting Butts tunnel. More evidence of the autumn and winter storms at the later, with fallen trees and branches lying on both the inlet and outlet headwalls. Removing these will be a task for a bigger group with saws. Fortunately there were sufficient gaps in the branches to see the headwalls, and nothing in the stream impeding the flow. Then it was back to Gotherington, to complete the inspection of culvert 33B at the yard by the Skew Bridge. In our haste to finish at lunchtime last week, we had overlooked checking the small chamber where the low mileage down side cess is piped to the culvert inlet. How we forgot that is a mystery; it was one we rebuilt early last year. Then the final inspection; cross drain 25B at Gretton. Unusually this claimed the accolade of the last item inspected this season as it required low water levels. The outlet from this briefly enters the adjoining field on the up side; the landowner has recently excavated his section of ditch; so the water level was back to normal.

The down (Cotswold) side entry to culvert 45A, Wymans Brook, is a very deep manhole. This is just inside our boundary, on both north/south and east/west axis. The brook is piped from the lake in Pittville Park; the pipe then enters the original culvert bore to the right of this manhole.

We are going to need more than a hedge trimmer to clear the fallen trees on the access to the down side of culvert 44A.

On the west side of the road by Gotherington Skew bridge is an odd headwall constructed of fake Cotswold stone blocks. Maybe these were sourced from a garden centre many years ago.

 

The chamber we missed last week - 33B low mileage down side cess.

With the water level below the outlet pipe, we can now see what passes for a headwall at cross drain 25B.

 

Next the demolition. Jonathan and Martin travelled to the top of the haul road opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton. The task was the preparations for the rebuild of the outlet of culvert 24A. First item was the removal of the temporary parapet wall alongside the vacant up side track bed. Temporary in this case was just under 5 years.

Gone! The great (temporary) wall of Gretton above the outlet of culvert 24A. [Photo by Martin]

 

Next was clearing of vegetation to create a working space for the required plant and materials. Useful assistance for this came from the robo flail of Tom Clarke, as this was on site to clear some of the vegetation towards Greet tunnel.

Robo flail making short work of clearing a working space. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

Then some manual excavations in the outlet pond between the trackbed and the haul road to confirm the exact location of the concrete base for the new chamber. We had cast this back in 2019!

Inside of the 24A extension (probably BR(W) era) with brick walls and now corroded steel plate roof. This we will replace with a pipe to the new chamber. [Photo by Jonathan]

The outlet pool of 24A between the trackbed and the haul road; this is where the new chamber will go. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

A very temporary safety barrier now above the 24A outlet. (Yes the modern red plastic items do have some useful deployments.) This will be very temporary; will be gone by the time Gold Cup race trains run. Note the Malvern Hills in the distance.

 

The road clearance team was Nigel, Dave and Peter. Following the heavy rain and snow melt the previous Monday; we suspected some flooding still to be present under some of the troublesome underbridges. The first location checked was bridge 6, Laverton Meadow Lane. The flood had receded there; so it was just a case of clearing the silt traps under the bridge and ensuring the roadside gully grills were free of debris. Then a similar exercise at bridge 16, Didbrook No2. Same situation; apart from the fact this bridge does not have hard silt traps at the roadside beneath it. At both locations, we think the main cause of the flooding after heavy or prolonged rain is that the exit pipes of the roadside gullies are too small to handle the volume of water. Hence the deep puddles form and take a few days to drain away.

Bridge 6, Laverton Meadow Lane from the down (Cotswold) side before clearing. [Photo by Dave]

And from the up (Malvern) side after cleaning. [Photo by Dave]

Bridge 16, Didbrook No2, down side low mileage roadside gully cleared. Roadside verge here is soft. [Photo by Dave]

The PWay team working on the Didbrook track relaying above bridge 17. [Photo by Dave]

 

All three groups then met at 24A opposite the Royal Oak. Although midday and sunny; a cold wind had now got up. So not a comfortable spot for lunch. Hence the decision to return to Winchcombe and the warmth of Churchward House. But before that, a couple of quick jobs. Peter tested his wellies (waterproofing and warmth capabilities) by wading into the outlet pool of culvert 24A with tape measure to measure the diameter of the pipes under the trackbed and under the haul road. The new chamber will fit between these. Finally three of the team attended to the outlet ditch of culvert 24C at the foot of the haul road. Clearing the grill at the boundary fence here is another one of our regular winter tasks.

Regular blog readers will recognise this - the outlet ditch of 24C (up side) at Working Lane. One day we will build a proper silt trap here - but even then that will still need regular cleaning out.

 

After warming up over lunch, the whole team attended to some housekeeping tasks at Winchcombe. This included moving a delivery of cement under cover. Also we combed our stock of twinwall pipes to see if we had any that would be suitable for the 24A rebuild. Unfortunately not, hence we will have to order a new section.

Wildlife report: Working in an urban environment at Wymans Brook we noticed quite a lot more garden birds. Identified were sparrows, yellow wagtails and wrens. Plus the inevitable robins. Behind a large sheet of plywood propped up against the wall of the shed in Winchcombe Yard we discovered a neat nest – again this probably belongs to a robin.

Duck and dive starts with legs eleven!

Well more accurately 22 legs, (all the team have two each). On the first Thursday of the New Year a new attendance record for the Drainage team was achieved – all eleven of the team attending. A very cold but bright and sunny day; ideal for working off the excesses of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. (And for some stunning photos of steam trains with low sunlight highlighting the exhaust against a blue sky.)

But first, in Two Ronnies style, some late news from the end of last year.

Friday 27^th December

Just before Christmas we were notified that the puddle under Didbrook No2 bridge was not receding, in fact the depth of water was around 1 foot. This was despite us clearing the gullies back in November – just another example of the wet autumn/winter we have experienced. So on Friday we dispatched the small locally based emergency response team (aka Jonathan) to attended. Using a small hand rake he cleared the gully where the down side high mileage cess drain enters the roadside, this was the source of the water. Then after fetching one of our new long handled three prong kebs, he went back and cleared the three gullies under the bridge. As the pipe on the down side is a perforated one, the air in the pipe blasted up through the ground and the up (Malvern) side drain creating impressive but short lasting fountains. After a quick sweep to clear the bigger debris, a request was put into to Gloucestershire Highways to attend with a sweeper truck.

Before (the picture that accompanied the report to us) .... [Photo by Mike Jaye]

... and after the initial cleanup. [Photo by Jonathan]

The small gullies which drain into the GCC roadside drains become clogged with debris quite easily. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

Thursday 2^nd January

Nigel, Dave, and Martin formed the A team. They loaded up the blue Transit with brush cutters and the other tools required for culvert and cross drain clearance and examination. Destination was cross drain 30B by JJ Farms, accessing the trackside at Stanley Pontlarge. But first a stop at Tunnel Bridge (30) to offload two brush cutters for team C to use. The Transits are the better vehicles for carrying brush cutters, as fitting these into the back of either the Ranger or the Isuzu is tricky. Their designation as the A team was well earned – they cleared cross drains 30B, 31A and then the outlet of culvert 31B by Prestcott Road bridge. After short break for coffee and to let the first southbound train of the day pass, they resumed with clearance at Tirle Brook (the flume culvert 32A in Dixton Cutting) and finally cross drain 33A and culvert 33B at Gotherington Yard. Only then did teams B and C catch up with them!

Another location where our improvements have reduced the frequency and severity of flooding is the outlet of culvert 31B at Prescott Road bridge.

 

3850 heads the first southbound train of the day between bridges 30 and 31.

Team B was Jonathan, John, Roger and Polly. First job was to deliver a wheelchair to the First Response base at Toddington. Then on to Didbrook No2 bridge, as Gloucestershire Highways had not managed to find a sweeper truck to clean the road. All remaining mud on the carriage way was scraped up and barrowed away from the gullies. All the gullies were opened up and the small grab used to remove as much silt as possible from each.

The short grab was the ideal tool to remove silt from the roadside gullies at Didbrook No2 bridge. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

A clean and almost dry road. [Photo by Jonathan]

Then they headed back to Winchcombe to offload the wheelbarrows and then on to Prescott Road bridge meeting up with team C. Here their first task was some clearance of the inlet ditches and gullies by the roadside of 31B.

Andrew, Peter, Ian and Stuart were team C. First task was at Tunnel Bridge to complete the clearance of culvert 30A (the up side outlet - the down side was cleared back in October) and it’s visual inspection. Then it was following behind team A to undertake the visual inspections of 30B, 31A, 31B, 32A, 33A and 33B. Plus with the combination of team B, all the up and down side cess chambers in Dixton cutting were cleared; plus some of the stream side vegetation alongside the Tirle Brook.

The Tirle Brook flowing strongly through culvert 32A. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

Documentary evidence of when the GWR or BR(W) made changes/improvements to our infrastructure are rare. However on the low mileage end of the down (Cotswold) side parapet of culvert 32A is cast  14-12-60; so this obviously dates from December 1960. The high mileage end has 14M-62C cast; its distance from Honeybourne.

7820 Dinmore Manor in Dixton Cutting approaching Tirle Brook culvert. We shall miss seeing her whilst away for the 10 year overhaul. But what a perfect day for the last run.

 

Finally all three teams met at Gotherington Yard, for a combined effort clearing and inspecting culvert 33B. This one has a section that runs under the road.

The inspection chamber of the under road portion of 33B just inside the boundary fence at Gotherington Yard. This is the area where some of the first excavations from Broadway platform 2 were used to raise the level. [Photo by Dave]

 

A unanimous decision was taken to return to the warmth of Churchward House mess for lunch. As the full team size (and their efficiency) had completed all the planned work; most of the team took a ride on the whole line starting with the 13:27 train from Winchcombe to Cheltenham with 3850 in charge. A useful exercise as this enables us to spot places where our attention is required, and to observe the progress of our vegetation contractor’s clearance operations, and how our neighbours at Little Buckland are getting on with their drainage operation. The largest construction site adjoining the Railway is at Pry Lane, with Severn Trent’s expansion of the sewage works there. Our diesel enthusiast member was pleased with the haulage from Broadway back to Winchcombe, the green class 37 (D6948).

Andrew carefully cuts a chocolate cake into equal slices watched by Nigel and Polly (right) whilst Dave (left) keeps an eye on the photographer. [Photo by Jonathan]

Wildlife report: A dark tortoiseshell cat made a rapid exit from the old wooden shed at Winchcombe as soon as we opened the door first thing. As we have not encountered any rodents in the shed, she is obviously doing a great job. We did spot a rodent at culvert 30A; but it made a disappearance too rapid for proper identification, so might have been a small mouse, or shrew, or vole (too big to be a rat). Otherwise it was mainly birdlife, the ubiquitous friendly robins (there is probably a resident at every culvert) and lots of gulls.