Rediscovered

Thursday 25^th September

Only half a dozen of the team attending today for various reasons. So an even split into two teams of three.

Roger, Dave and Peter set forth for Toddington. Their first task was to clear an area of brush and bramble between the signal box steps and the boundary fence. We suspected that there was a cess chamber under this, sure enough there was. It is an original from the construction of the railway, so had very thick and heavy lids. Removing these took some effort; once removed they revealed that this chamber is just for a right angle corner in the cess to toe pipe. So our hunt for connections from the adjoining field and the former drainage of the down platform two building and Railway cottages continues.

Original cess to toe chamber with heavy GWR lids by the signal box at Toddington. [Photo by Dave]

Inside this chamber - a very slow flow of water. [Photo by Dave]

Next for this group was the removal of the remains of a telegraph pole stat at culvert 16C, Didbrook. This required some digging; then the use of our angle grinder. As this is a mains powered tool, it required the generator. As we had not used the generator for a while, we discovered that the battery was flat. Fortunately the generator has a hand start as a backup.

Telegraph pole stay remains - best removed before being caught by a brush cuter or a flail. [Photo by Roger]

Gone! [Photo by Dave]

The final task was the clearance of bridge 17A south of Hayles Abbey Halt. Even though this carries the railway over a stream, it is large enough to be classified as a bridge rather than a culvert. Hence it is the Bridges team that carry out the annual visual inspection of it – they undertook that in August.

Peter raking cut vegetation on the down side inlet of bridge 17A. [Photo by Dave]

Neat and tidy - the long headwall on the outlet (up or Malvern side) of bridge 17A.

As the clearing of 17A tool a lot longer then anticipated and the weather was by now quite warm and sunny; the two brush cutter operatives in the group decided to call it a day. The next structure to clear is almost as big, culvert 17B – so best tackled in the morning with a fresh team.

A train picture not a drain picture! Low autumn sunshine provides wonderful lighting as 7903 Foremarke Hall heads to Winchcombe over bridge 17A (down side marker post on extreme right).

Meanwhile the other group of three, Jonathan, Ian and Andrew, we making another rediscovery – but of a much more recent structure. They were working on the down (Cotswold) side of Chicken curve, at the foot of the embankment alongside the footpath which runs from the B4632 main road. The objective was to find inlet for the box culvert which runs under the road. In amongst several years growth of bramble and brush were some quite large dead branches. These had to be removed manually before brush cutting the area. Eventually a circular concrete chamber with metal lid emerged from the undergrowth and overburden by the fence line. Amazingly the group managed to get the rather rusty lid open. This revealed plastic twinwall pipes coming in and out; and around 8 inches of silt and root debris in the bottom of the chamber. Clearing this out (following our confined spaces working procedures) will be on the job list for next week. We suspect this chamber dates from 2010/2011, constructed as part Chicken Curve slip rebuild. The group then explored along the footpath attempting to locate the next chamber. The thick vegetation prevented this; but they did find a very small oblong chamber under the fence to the adjoining property – it was heavily silted. Further exploration will be undertaken after some more clearance along the boundary fence line. Behind the scenes we are also trying to located any plans from the rebuild; they might shed some light on the path of this pipe run.

Ian (foreground) and Jonathan clearing the corner between B4632 and the Chicken Curve footpath.

Metal lid discovered.

Circular concrete chamber now visible. And less overhanging vegetation on the footpath.

The silt and root debris inside the rediscovered circular chamber. [Photo by Jonathan]

After lunch, the group collected all the items for the Drainage exhibit at the Railway 200 celebration weekend. These were then transported to Toddington, this required two vehicles because of the size of some of the items. Setting up of the exhibit will be the first job for the department members putting in overtime to man the stand over the weekend.

Wildlife report: Nothing of great interest to report this week. However we noted that there are several Himalayan balsam plants near the top of the up side embankment over the River Isbourne.

Himalayan balsam well away from the edge of the River Isbourne.