A tale of two sites and two diggers

Thursday 20^th February

Two teams of four working at two sites with two diggers, but both of those were at one site.

Dave, Nigel, Peter and Polly headed to Little Buckland Bridge (5). The main task was to clear overhanging trees and undergrowth from the path of the outlet ditch of cross drain 5A. This runs along the border of a triangle of GWSR land on the high mileage end of the up (Malvern) side of the bridge. Outside of the railway land, this then becomes a roadside ditch; or rather it should! The roadside ditch is very overgrown and shallow; and all the water discharging from 5A seeps into the ground. With the improvements to the drainage on the down (Cotswold) side of the line; 5A is likely to take a greater flow. Hence the need for ensuring it can effectively drain. Today we just scraped debris from the ditch on the railway land; further deepening it can only happen when the roadside ditch is improved. There is a temporary dam in the toe ditch on the down side which is diverting some of the flow to run south to cross drain 5B. This is to ensure that the 5A outlet ditch does not overflow onto Little Buckland Road, this causes deep puddles under the bridge.

5A outlet headwall with Polly & Nigel clearing access to the fence. [Photo by Dave]

 

Looking downstream away from the railway - line of outlet ditch now accessible. The fence is not the railway boundary; the field edge to the left of the ditch is the boundary as far as Little Buckland Road. The thick scrub in the rest of the triangle of land by the bridge will have to remain until the end of bird nesting season. [Photo by Dave]

Looking back up the ditch to the railway - Peter just visible. Water now flowing after some minimal cleaning of the ditch. [Photo by Dave]

 

Beside clearing access to permit later ditch deepening, the team checked and cleaned the roadside gullies under the bridge.

Our other four workers, Jonathan, Martin, Roger and Andrew, headed in the opposite direction to culvert 24A opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton. Here they were joined by Mark with a 8-tonne excavator from our contractor, Tom Clarke. The task of the day was to fill in the hole around the new chamber in the outlet of 24A between the track bed and the haul road.

First we used some large stones which we had brought from Winchcombe. This was followed by the material which had been excavated a few weeks ago, and finally several tonnes of spent ballast. The spent ballast had come from the Didbrook relaying on Wednesday, again courtesy of Tom Clarke with a tractor and trailer. One pile of ballast was at the top of the haul road; the second at the bottom. Jonathan used our telehandler with the bucket to bring the material up the haul road. Or most of it, as some was required to fill in some deep ruts on the haul road itself. At times this operation was like a ballet for two diggers; telehandler dumps material then the excavator nimbly moves it into place and compresses it down. The caterpillar tracks and the weight of the excavator were used to good advantage to compact the infill forming the reinstated vehicle access on the vacant trackbed on the up (Malvern) side.

First into the hole was some medium size stone - left over from the Rive Isbourne gabions. Note the Royal Oak pub in the background, at 9am there was a delicious aroma of breakfast wafting across!

Next Mark reinstates the infill that was excavated a couple of weeks ago.

 

The bucket of the excavator is used to carefully compress the infill.

Spent ballast from Didbrook is placed with the Telehandler.

A coordinated ballet for two diggers!

Mark levels out the last of the spent ballast.

By just after lunchtime the infilling was complete. We removed all the temporary barriers; and fitted brackets to the blue mesh lid on the top of the new chamber.

 

Job done 1 -  from the vacant up side track bed.

Job done 2 - looking towards Gretton from the haul road.

Job done 3 - looking towards Gretton from the vacant up side track bed.

 

So structurally the rebuild of 24A is now complete. There is plenty of scope for using more spent ballast and the infill from Broadway platform 2 for landscaping the area between the culvert and the top of the haul road to give a more gradual slope to the embankment. Plus we have two items to complete. First we will obtain and install one more GRP chamber ring to make the chamber well proud of the uphill embankment line. Secondly we will replace the old sleepers we have placed at the edge of the vacant trackbed with permanent safety markers to prevent vehicles leaving the vacant track before the top of the haul road and thus damaging the chamber.

With the bucket fitted telehandler at Gretton, we (well Jonathan and Martin mainly) took the opportunity to tidy the parking area at the bottom of the haul road. This has made the parking area a bit larger and is a start on our project to improve the drainage there. As a bonus, we recovered two lengths of bridge rail from the pile of debris. Although these were one time fence posts, we can remove the corroded sections for reuse as milepost uprights. So we took them back to Winchcombe to join our bridge rail stockpile at the far end of the wooden shed.

Wildlife report: Whilst the weather was much warmer (the warmest Thursday of the year so far); it was far from spring like! Frequent heavy showers and longer spells of rain – but a few brief shafts of sunshine. A welcome sight was some snowdrops flowering alongside Working Lane where a few years ago we improved the outlets of culverts 25A and 25B. The resident robin at Royal Oak welcomed us with plenty of song; but some pheasants soon scuttled away when we started work. At Winchcombe, the local Red Kite was circling very low above the yard; no doubt there is plenty of small mammals hiding amongst our stacks of materials.

UK Plant Operators Magazine YouTube Video  The YouTube video shot by UK Plant Operators magazine of the excavation operation at 24A (16th January) is now published. The link is https://youtu.be/7-untMqWyOc?si

 

One tonne each

Thursday 13^th February

Just one task to occupy the team today – inserting pea gravel and other small aggregate into the bottom of the hole surrounding the new inspection chamber on the outlet (up or Malvern side) of culvert 24A opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton.

With eight of the team in attendance, and around 8 tonnes of material to transport and inset, the average was one tonne each. It certainly felt like it!

Earlier in the week, one of our aggregate suppliers, Elliot’s of Bishops Cleeve, had delivered five tonnes of pea gravel to the bottom of the haul road at Woking Lane. At Winchcombe Yard, we extracted three more part-filled dumpy bags of pea gravel; plus two other bags of contaminated sand and small aggregate. As usual, our plant operator Jonathan loaded these using the telehandler onto the two Transit vehicles, then set off for Gretton. The rest of the team (Dave, Nigel, Martin, Polly, John, Stuart and Andrew) followed in the Transits and the Isuzu pickup. We need the telehandler at Gretton to carry the loaded bags up the haul road; as it is too steep and currently very wet and slippery. A loaded Transit would not reach the top.

Five tonnes of pea gravel awaiting use at the bottom of the Working Lane/Royal Oak haul road.

Haul road transport - telehandler with forks to carry each dumpy bag.

Inlet and outlet pipe of the new chamber surrounded with pea gravel.

We placed all 8+ tonnes of this material in the hole – concentrating on surrounding the plastic twinwall pipes and creating a level surface around the concrete blocks courses of the chamber. We also located some larger and heavier pieces of rock and infill, we carefully placed this on top of the pea gravel at the edge of the hole nearest the running line.

After 8+ tonnes of small infill and some of the larger items; the chamber is hole is ready for the excavated material to be replaced.

Just one other subsidiary task, was the use of the electric breaker to break up the sections of the old brick headwall removed a few weeks ago. Dave, Nigel and Polly did the honours for this. We also collected as much broken bricks from the debris pile – old brick is not good for infill as it will eventually crumble leaving voids. We transported all the old broken bricks back to the yard at Winchcombe. There is now quite a quantity of broken brick there, the plan is to call in a contractor to crush it all and to spread the crushing around the down side yard, hopefully eliminating the puddles.

One wall broken up and bagged, one to go. All the workers on coffee break - inside the vehicles!

 

The final task at Gretton was to place a blue mesh lid on top of the new chamber; temporarily covered with some ply wood to prevent material from entering when the rest of the hole is in-filled. Back at Winchcombe we part filled two dumpy bags with stone that had overflowed a damaged metal cage. That, and another bag of spoil will go to Gretton next week.

From the vacant track bed where the up line was the size of the hole is still considerable.

Before then, we expect one of our contractors to attend with his large digger to replace the material excavated from above the old headwall. Also the spent ballast and other spoil from the track relaying at Didbrook will be transported to Gretton; we will use most of that for the top surface of the vacant up side track bed. Plus some will be used to fill in the worst ruts on the haul road. Finally we will use the two wagon loads of spoil from the Broadway platform 2 building excavations to grade the area at the top of the haul road. Moving the wagons to Gretton and unloading them is now likely to be after the Cheltenham Gold Cup Race days – midweek when no passenger trains are running.

Wildlife report: A gang of people in orange hi-vis clothing does deter most animals from coming too close. So, as usual, most of our observations were of bird life. A pair of magpies on the electric power lines, the resident robin and a low flying Red Kite were all spotted at Gretton. At lunchtime a few crows flew overhead followed by a large flock of seabirds – too small to be gulls, they are most likely one of the species of terns. Weather wise it was not quite such as harsh winter’s day as the last couple of weeks – plus we could just see the Malverns in the distance.

Where have the Malverns gone?

As we have remarked before, the view North West from opposite the Royal Oak at Gretton is one of the finest from the GWSR. Usually! On our first working day in February there was no view – just mist. Freezing mist at that, thick enough to be fog at times. This did not shift until gone 2pm. However, with a job that needs completing before the beginning of the running season, eight hardy soles from the team pressed on.

Midday - and the outline of the Royal Oak pub is only just visible.

Thursday 6^th February

First task at Winchcombe was to extract some dumpy bags of pea gravel surplus from other projects. Jonathan loaded these onto the white tipper Transit using the telehandler, then set off for Gretton with the telehandler. The rest of the team, loaded all the other required materials and tools on to the blue LWB tail-lift Transit and the Isuzu. So it was a convoy of four vehicles that headed to Gretton. We required the telehander there to both unload the bags of material and convey them up the haul road; the slope is too steep and currently too muddy for heavily loaded Transits.

The telehandler with the first bag of pea gravel looms out of the mist approaching the top of the haul road.

Roger and Nigel set up the submersible pumps. One on the down (Cotswold) side to pump out the 24A inlet chamber and thus stop water running through the bore whilst we are working. The second was to pump out the base of the chamber – that did not have to run all day. Then Polly assisted by Roger got to work laying the concrete blocks of the final courses of the new chamber. Nigel was manning the mixer. We also used some grouting to seal the lower courses of the chamber.

Pumping out the down side inlet of 24A.

 

No hills to be seen in the background - just mist. Getting ready to lay the final blocks of the new chamber.

Meanwhile, Dave and Martin took some brush cutters and loopers down to the exit ditch of cross drain 24B; to clear that out down to the boundary hedge. The plan was also to make a start on the clearing of the access to the ditch by the hedge that flows down from 24A. However we abandoned this; the growth is thick willow trees that will need cutting with saws. A job that has to be done outside of the bird nesting season. Andrew barrowed some of the broken concrete slabs down to 24B to use as anti scouring material where the outlet ditch is being down cut.

Martin attempts to work uphill from 24B along the ditch line by the boundary hedge.

After delivering the first bag of pea gravel to the top of the haul road; Jonathan accompanied by John set off for Bishops’s Cleeve to collect more building sand from Elliot’s. They also made an important stop on the way back – at North’s Bakery to obtain some large hot pasties for the team. Once back at 24A, all work momentarily stopped whilst the team had an extra break to devour the tasty pasties. On a cold, frosty, misty day, some hot food mid morning is a necessity not a luxury!

The supplier of essential hot pasties! [Photo by Jonathan]

 

 

 

Once back to work; Jonathan fetched the other bags of pea gravel, carefully delivering them to the top of the bank by the track. Andrew and Martin the carefully shovelled the gravel to cover the length of new twinwall pipe leading to the chamber. Nigel, Roger and Polly continued with the chamber build – installing the six GRP chamber rings. Dave and John descended to 24B to install the anti scouring, not quite such a crazy paving appearance here as the outlet ditch is narrower and deeper than that of 24A.

Anti scouring concrete blocks and broken slabs in the outlet ditch of 24B. [Photo by Dave]

 

All blocks laid; so next task is a mortar bed for the first GRP ring. Note first loads of pea gravel on the low mileage side of the new twinwall pipe.

 

Nigel - you have been framed! The first GRP chamber ring goes on. (Don't try a one man lift with a concrete ring!)

Roger (l) and Polly make sure the first ring is level and square to the blocks

After lunch, Jonathan returned the telehandler to Winchcombe, as he had to make some repairs to the towing hook and electric socket of the Ford Ranger. Martin and John returned with the white Transit at the same time – as we need an escort vehicle for one right hand turn with the telehandler. Back at the yard, they unloaded the building sand and reorganised our storage in the old wooden shed; essential as all the tools were coming back from Gretton.

Dave and Polly undertook one of our regular winter tasks, clearing debris from the grill where the exit ditch of culvert 24C enters a pipe under the neighbouring property. This grill is essential to stop medium and large items from entering this long pipe and potentially blocking it.

Regular blog readers will not doubt recognise this at the 24C exit grill at our boundary. Cleared again! [Photo by Dave]

 

Roger, Nigel and Andrew stayed at 24A tidying the side and loading all the remaining tools onto the blue LWB tail-lift Transit. To keep the 24A bore and new chamber dry for as long a possible, the last items loaded were the generator and the submersible pump from the down side.

Chamber build complete. All that we need to do now is back fill the hole! That will need 5 more tonnes of pea gravel; then some stone and the excavated material replaced. Then we will use the infill from Broadway platform 2 excavations, which contains a lot of clay, to grade the whole of the area at the top of the haul road. Plus of course the new chamber needs a lid!

 

All back to Winchcombe for a welcome cup of tea in the warmth of the Churchward House mess. Of course, just at that moment the mist and fog lifted to reveal a deep blue sunny sky. Almost spring like!

Wildlife report: With the cold, frosty and misty conditions, most animals and birds were sensibly not venturing out. We did note a kestrel; and a robin which followed us from 24A to 24B and back again. The number of snowdrops in bloom was greater than last week; and we spotted a couple of daffodils just about to bloom.