Lull before Goretti

Thursday 8^th January

We were fortunate with a window of reasonable weather for today’s work. The overnight drizzle, mist and low cloud cleared as we assembled at Winchcombe, and the first pulse of rain that storm Goretti brought arrived as we were packing away. At one point we even saw a bright patch in the sky!

Ten of the team attending. A new excuse from one who didn’t; he was trapped by heavy snow in Aberdeenshire.

Dave, Nigel and John took one of the Transits and headed to Swindon Lane bridge, on the northern edge of Cheltenham Racecourse. They trimmed the vegetation around all the cess chambers and lineside signs between the RDA crossing and Kayte Lane crossing. Plus a little bit more serious clearance on the down (Cotswold) side cutting just south of the bridge – probably a section we missed last winter.

It is not only vegetation that we clear from drain grills - here are several empty drink cans on the down side high mileage of Southam Lane bridge. [Photo by Dave]

Nigel tackles at least two years of bramble growth near Southam Lane. [Photo by Dave]

John on raking duty with Southam Lane bridge in the background. [Photo by Dave]

Ian, Peter and Stuart also undertook clearance, but this was a bit more serious. This was the ‘Bonsai World’ stream where is becomes a toe ditch on the down side running towards cross drain 40B. We are not sure when this section of ditch was last cleared – hence the initial attack was with loopers and a hedge trimmer. Only once overhanging branches were out of the way could they deploy brush cutters. They managed to clear almost the whole length, frustratingly leaving just a few yards for next time. Some interesting discoveries included an abandoned pipe from the down side cess to this ditch; and three field drains from the adjoining field.

Abandoned SGP pipe that once linked the down side cess to the toe ditch low mileage of 40B. There is a newer connection with a proper headwall a little further along, see below. 

Beyond the new cess connection, Peter uses the loopers to make access possible.

Ian almost totally hidden by vegetation - almost but not quite at the 40B inlet.

Dee and Andrew’s first tasks were to use the coloured dye tracer to establish some flows and leaks. First was the down side manhole on the low mileage of footbridge 39Z (alongside Two Hedges Road); this should flow into syphon cross drain 39B. The tracer dye established that the base of the manhole leaks ending up in the twinwall pipe running from the wingwall of bridge 40 to the down side cess. That will be a relatively easy one to fix – once we have some dry weather. Next was syphon 40A on the high mileage side of Two Hedges Road, where there is a small flow of water emerging from the up (Malvern) side cutting near the syphon washout cover. They put a bucket of dye into the 40A inlet on the top of the down side cutting; but even after an hour no coloured water emerged from the up side leak. This eliminates a broken syphon pipe as the source of this leak. Then the third dye test, as the now infamous Bonsai World stream. With the wetter weather over the past couple of months, we have noticed water flowing through the two twinwall pipes which lead directly to the cess chamber by the stream entry point. The dye test showed that this comes from the joint between the entry manhole and the length of 600mm diameter pipe in the crest ditch. This will be a bit more complex to fix, probably using mastic from the inside. So another job that has to wait for dry weather.

Green dyed water enters the down cess from the wingwall drain pipe of bridge 40. 

But only clear water flowed from the leak by the syphon washout cover of 40A.

The down side cess by the Bonsai World entry soon turned green when the dye was added to the man hole - the two plastic pipes here are those running direct from the crest.

Polly and Jonathan had a trip to Tewkesbury to take the Isuzu truck to a main dealer there. This is to fix a problem with the second set of keys which would open the vehicle but not start the engine. One the way back from Tewkesbury, they called in at Norths Bakery in Bishops Cleeve to obtain some hot Cornish pasties for all the team. They then joined Andrew and Dee clearing bulky items of debris from the up side cutting at the rear of the houses on Pagets Road. This has prevented the clearance contractor from fully clearing the cutting side with the robot flail. A lot of the debris was garden waste, including some large tree branches. Also some old drain pipes, concrete slabs, bricks and other rubble; plus numerous balls (football, rugby and golf).

Dee and Polly dealing with some of the larger branches on the cutting side.

The two lengths of soil downpipe which have probably been on the cutting side for many years.

After a short lunch break, with the help of the group who had completed the Southam Lane work, we brush cut two of these problem lengths of the cutting side. A third length and dealing with larger branches will be on the task list for next week. Then back to Winchcombe before the arrival of storm Goretti – one groups diverting via Working Lane to offload the wood debris there.

Neat and tidy - with just some larger branches and few lumps of concrete to collect next time.

Wildlife report: The most numerous birds we spotted today were sparrows – as the urban section at Bishops Cleeve is one of the few lengths of the railway providing their favoured habitat. Several magpies noted too, and, as usual for Cleeve, quite a few gulls. At lunch time we noted a heron perched on the ridge of a house; maybe eyeing up a garden fish pond. It was soon chased off by two of the gulls and then mobbed by a crow. Finally we noted two different robins whilst working on the 40B toe ditch – maybe partners or maybe the ditch extends into two territories. The only mammal spotted was a grey squirrel.