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.