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]

Wet and dry

Thursday 9^th October

Eight members of the team attending today – with an equal division into two groups of four. One group had potentially wet work; whilst the other encountered dry conditions at all their work sites.

The wet work group, consisting of Jonathan. Polly, John and Martin, headed south. Late last Thursday we received a report from an adjacent landowner that water was flooding his field on the down (Cotswold) side south of Two Hedges Road. Severn Trent had attended earlier in the day, but found no evidence of a burst in the water main that runs under the field (and also under the railway by the abandoned bridge 41). The landowner also reported that the ‘Bonsai World’ stream was running strongly. This was perplexing, it was before the arrival of storm Amy, and no other watercourse in the area had suddenly increased flows. So our locally based team member went to investigate on Friday morning.

(Friday 3rd October) Debris washing down the Bonsai World stream to the grill on the new pipe under the footpath adjacent to the railway. [Photo by Jonathan]

 

 

 

 

Severn Trent had also returned on Friday morning, this time they did find a burst water main under New Road, the Woodmancote to Southam road. Water was cascading out of the break and finding its way into the ‘Bonsai World’ stream. The road was closed. Further visits, including by our Infrastructure Manager, confirmed that the recently installed pipe that takes the ‘Bonsai World’ stream under the footpath by the railway boundary was not leaking; there was some leakage from the crest ditch that this leads into, and the flooding in the adjacent field came from where this ditch (now a toe ditch at the bottom of an embankment) runs into the inlet of cross drain 40B. The amount of water entering the down side cess was not excessive , and there was no silt or other debris lineside. However, the volume of water was just too much for the toe ditch to cope with. Without heavy plant on site, we could not tackle any work to alleviate the situation until Severn Trent had fixed the burst main. This did not happen until Wednesday (8^th October) – apparently due to problems arranging alternative water supplies to Woodmancote and Southam.

(Friday 3rd October) Severn Trent find the spot where their water main had burst.  [Photo by Jonathan]

The ‘wet’ group managed to clear vegetation from the crest ditch to enable an inspection of the effects of the torrent of water. They also cleared some of the obstructions from the inlet of cross drain 40B and the toe ditch at its junction. We will return with a bigger group to continue with the clearance of the toe ditch. Dealing with the crest ditch is a more complex problem – as often the case, access for plant and bulk materials is difficult. We are evaluating a number of potential methods.

Scouring on the crest ditch caused by the torrent of water.  [Photo by Jonathan]

Temporarily replaced twin wall pipe sections in the crest ditch to reduce further scouring.  [Photo by Jonathan]

Meanwhile the ‘dry’ team, Peter, Nigel, Roger and Andrew, headed north to Toddington. First task was to collect the remaining items from the Drainage team exhibit at the Railway 200 weekend event. These were stored for safety in the First Response office – hence the requirement to have a First Responder with a key.

Then they headed trackside south past Hayles Abbey to commence the main job of the day. This was to clear and inspect culvert 17B, and cross drains 18A, 19A, 19B and 20A. None of those had water flowing through them; so this enabled some internal inspections (following our Confined Space working procedures). 17B had some pooling water in the bore, but the others were bone dry. Looking inside 20A is a very valuable and rare opportunity – none of the current team can recall this happening before. 20A was extended many years ago by butting up sections of GRP twinwall pipe against the old headwalls. We have always wondered how well the butt joints are fairing – now we know. The down (Cotswold) side inlet is not too bad; but the up (Malvern) side outlet will need some attention within a few years.

17B is the largest culvert we have; anything larger is a bridge. The horseshoe bore is tall enough to walk through, but it is rare to be able to do so without wellingtons or waders.

Adjacent to the high mileage end of bridge New Farmers Accommodation Bridge (19) is cross drain 18A. Both sides are chambers with the old style heavy concrete lids.

One of the smallest cross drains on the line is 19A - this is the up side inlet. Only in very wet conditions does water flow through it.

One man went to mow - Roger brushcutting to the fence line at 19A.

Peter clearing around the inlet of 19B. The orange posts are there to warn operators of robot flails. No signs of badger activity here this year.

Inside 20A, showing where the outlet extension GRP twinwall pipe butts against the original headwall and bore. 

As usual when clearing vegetation, the group also tackled mileposts and cess chambers. Additionally in a couple of places where the vacant track bed is wide and flat enough, we clear spaces to enable the road vehicles to be parked the required safe distance from the nearest running rail. Another odd job for today was the clearing of the gully covers under Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20). A unmetalled farm track passes under the line here so the result low point collects mud and silt.

Gulley under Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20). [Photo by Peter]

 

Autumn colours just beginning to appear - 2807 with an afternoon down train crosses Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge (20).

Finally, back at Winchcombe before our end of day cup of tea, we replaced the mess room whiteboard with the all line OS map on it; one of the items we had on display at the Railway 200 event.

Martin (l) and John become acquainted with our dumper prior to attending training in two week time.

Wildlife report: Despite not working by the River Isbourne today, two of our sightings were water birds. First was a heron on the roof of one of the houses adjacent to Winchcombe station; then we spotted a cormorant flying overhead at Didbrook. A little further south there was a very large flock of pheasants in one of the adjoining fields. We regularly see Robins when clearing ditches; but today one came very close at the outside benches by the footbridge at Winchcombe Station. Obviously plenty of crumbs there. Mammals spotted included muntjac and roe deer and a hare.

Baker's Dozen

Thursday 2nd October

Two new volunteers joined the team today, making the total team size 13 (hence the Baker’s Dozen). Welcome Phil & Dee. Also we were joined by the Railway’s Civil Engineering Director, Peter Brown. Peter hopes to join all the Civil Engineering teams for a day each month; thus we could say the total team size is now 13¼. One challenge of a large team size is finding sufficient space in road vehicles to get everyone and our tools & materials to the work sites. An additional Ford Ranger will shortly be added to the vehicle fleet. The purchase of this is as a result of a very generous donation from one of the team. It will certainly be a very useful asset.

The ten of us attending all headed for Chicken Curve. Ian, Stuart and Peter (D) took the high road along the vacant trackbed. They cleared cross drains 20B and 20C, plus the complex network of ditches that take the cess drainage from the Defford cutting. Not surprisingly following the hot and dry summer, none of the ditches and streams were flowing. But the vegetation had grown tall; fortunately this was mainly grass. One of the benefits of regular clearing is to stop bramble and other scrub and small saplings becoming established. Once access was cleared, Andrew completed the internal visual inspections of these two cross drains.

20B outlet - not a drop of water!

The other seven took the low road (Beckets Lane) to access the foot of the down (Cotswold) side of the embankment from the main B4632 road. Martin and Polly commenced the task of locating more of the manholes on the piped toe drain. Finding the first of these was a challenge, it was hidden by many years of bramble and brush growth alongside the boundary fence. Dee, Peter (B) and Andrew equipped with a long tape measure and the plans of the Chicken Curve rebuild marked out the likely locations of all four manholes. After a bit of raking of the undergrowth all were found. Surprisingly we we able to open all the metal lids – none had rusted solid! Also surprisingly, there was only a small quantity of silt in each chamber, easily removed with a grab.

A small quantity of silt removed from the second manhole.

Standing water below the pipe level but little silt in the next manhole

Meanwhile, Jonathan donned a set of disposable overalls and then after following our confined spaces working procedure climbed down the first manhole near the road. Using a short shovel, he managed to dig out several inches of silt and decaying old roots. Phil hauled all this out in a bucket on a rope.

Jonathan preparing to enter the first manhole.

Unusually we returned to the Churchward House mess at Winchcombe for lunch – one advantage of a close work site. After lunch we all returned to the toe drain. The prime task was to use our set of drain rods to clear a constriction in the upstream section of pipe from the first manhole. Despite repeated attempts by many of the team pushing on the rods, this constriction proved obstinate. Most likely this is a big bundle of roots – best tackled by bringing in a contractor with jet vac equipment. Finally with a can of blue marker spray we marked the location of all the manholes – so we can find them a lot easier next time we come to inspect and clear them.

Phil, Polly, Peter (B) and Martin during the attempt to rod the pipe upstream from the first manhole.

Cleared and marked manhole - easier to spot next time.

47105 passes with a down afternoon train.

Wildlife report: For most of the morning we had a buzzard circling overhead. No doubt the long grass on the embankment sides at Chicken Curve provides good hunting for small rodents. A pair of magpies also appear to have taken up residence on the up side of the line. Whilst in the orchard on the down side we noted quite a few LBJs (little brown jobs); probably finches, but just too far away for a full identification. Plus the obligatory friendly robin, keen to take advantage any of our diggings.

Railway 200 weekend

Along with most of the Railway’s departments, we had an exhibit at Toddington for the Railway 200 celebration weekend on 27^th and 28^th September. Ian master-minded our display, set it up and manned it on the Saturday. Whilst Peter (D) was in charge on Sunday. Thanks to those two for the extra hours over the weekend, plus also thanks to the First Response team for providing temporary storage for some items at Toddington before and after the weekend.

Ian waiting for the first visitors to our Railway 200 exhibit at Toddington. [Photo by Ian]