Hole again

Thursday 19^th February

Another day when our turnout was ten team members. However, the working pattern was a a little different; with a 6-4 split and the two groups heading in different directions.

The group of four, Peter, Dee, Ian, and Martin were soon away as they required only a few tools. Their first site was at Southam Lane bridge (42). Our lineside clearance contractor had reported some cess chamber lids displaced and fallen into the chambers. These were soon located and reset. Next port of call was the section between Greet Road bridge, Winchcombe (23) and the south portal of Greet Tunnel. Here the task was to survey all the cess chambers, 15 on each side of the line. Some of these received some remediable work around 35 years ago as the Railway reopened south of Winchcombe. They now require some further attention. Surprisingly one or two will just require new lids and a few no work at all. With the Heritage Group rebuilding the platelayers hut on the down (Cotswold) side of the line here, we can not let tatty cess chambers from spoiling the view!

Final task for the southern group of four was back in the yard at Winchcombe. This was to sort out our stock of plastic pipe and fittings. Importantly this involved fastening the coils of flexible small diameter pipe. With perforated and non-perforated pipes of at least seven different diameters, we have at least 14 different types of metric GRP pipes. Plus odd lengths of imperial and SGP. It will be a lot easier to find the correct size for a job now.

A tidy stock of different pipe sizes and types.

The group of six (Jonathan, John, Polly, Dave, Nigel, Andrew) headed to Toddington for another day working on the drainage improvements at Stow Road Bridge. First task was to connect the existing land drain outlet to the to the new long length of flexible pipe running to the down side cess chamber. With the correct sized adapter this was a doddle – well the connection was. Standing on a wet slippery cutting side was not quite so easy!

From Stowe Road bridge, the new flexible pipe and raised cess chamber show how neater and (eventually) drier the down side cess is now. Those S&T cables will not be under water!

The main task was to complete the excavation of the hole for the new chamber at the top of the cutting. We had left this for a week to see how stable the sides of the hole are. As the soil is clay, there had been no collapsing. Even so, we will install some shuttering when we are working in the hole laying the courses of bricks.

Jonathan concentrates on the excavation, whilst Polly, Nigel and John wait for the next deployment of the pump.

The pump in action - this 110v unit makes swift work of emptying a couple of inches of water. 

 

The depth and length of the hole did not require any increase, just the width by a few inches. This was fortunate, this hole is about the largest we can dig using our small mini-excavator. Even so, we needed to hand dig out two of the corners where the excavator arm could not reach, As the field drain that will run through this chamber was flowing steadily, every now and then we had to pump the water out.

Final task of the day is to reinstate the temporary heras fence at the site (complete with Danger Deep Excavation notice) and to place safety marker tape around the excavation.

Once again the weather was not a welcome aspect of today. Even though the light drizzle stopped by mid morning; there was no warmth in the air. The top of the cutting by Stowe Road is a very bleak and exposed spot. However, a welcome aspect was a working day with passenger trains running- our first since the end of October last year. The weather did make for a very atmospheric departure of the first up train from Toddington behind 3850. A big bonus was the ability to obtain hot bacon rolls mid-morning, sourced from the buffet car of the first down train. Conveniently this was routed through platform 2, so almost a direct delivery to our work site. Also, with trains running again, we all were able to enjoy our end of day cup of tea in the Coffee Pot cafe at Winchcombe. Here we were delighted to have a visit from Ian Scholey, the former Infrastructure Manager, visiting the railway with his grand children.

Wildlife report: Essentially a repeat of last week’s report – the damp, dull, grey day again not conducive to wild life observations. The resident robin at Winchcombe Yard kept a close eye on the work with the pipes there. Other than that, the main observation was that more spring flowers are slowing appearing, particularly in the station gardens and other planted areas. We noted crocuses and grape hyacinths in full bloom, and a few daffodils just opening out.

Frustrations

Thursday 12^th February

The team of ten managed some progress the drainage improvements at Stow Road Bridge, Toddington, despite a couple of set backs. The weather was our first frustration. The day started off dry, but soon turned damp, then wet. The local weather forecast was for showers, with brighter periods in the afternoon. The showers materialised as one long and heavy one, whilst the brighter spells never arrived. So another day where ground conditions on the cutting side were not ideal. The second frustration was down to human error. Despite our multiple and careful measurements of pipe diameters, an ordering glitch lead to us receiving an adaptor that was too small to connect the exiting clay field drain to the new long length of flexible pipe running to the down side cess chamber.

However, Jonathan started digging the new crest chamber with the mini-digger after having tracked it from the station car park entrance with John acting as traffic control.

Jonathan starting the excavations for the new crest chamber on the line of the field drain. Weather conditions making the Cotswolds appear to be wild windy moors.

At the trackside, Stuart, Dee, Phil and Andrew installed the new flexible pipe, after marking and cutting a section out of the GRP chamber ring. Nigel mixed up some mortar for Polly to cement this ring into place, with a few more bricks underneath it to ensure stability. Roger used the brick saw to cut a length of concrete ducting to cover the short section of S&T cables that were left exposed. Martin and John delivered an extra section of heras fence to the top of the cutting.

After coffee break, Jonathan continued digging the new chamber. He successfully found the existing land drain horizontally where we expected it to be, 4 feet below the surface. The rest of the team were occupied on the main task, placing spent ballast in the down side cess from the end of the platform, under the bridge back to the raised chamber. This involved a long manual barrow from the car park, across the barrow crossing and along the length of platform 2. As usual, access to this work site is not that easy!

Roger and Stuart placing a barrow load of old ballast in the downs side cess under the bridge. Completed raised chamber with flexible pipe from the field drain in the foreground - under the plastic bags to keep the rain off the curing mortar.

Dee arrives with another barrow load of ballast. Under the bridge was one of the few dry spots.

Nigel makes final adjustments to the concrete ducts covering the S&T cables. Note installation of the blue clips holding the blue mesh chamber cover in place.

The new flexible pipe running from the field drain outlet to the cess chamber - but missing the vital adaptor! Note the old ballast now extending almost to the S&T box.

For the second week in a row, we used the MPD mess room for lunch. Hot running water, soap and very efficient hand dryers were much in demand! With the heavier rain after lunch, activities were restricted to some site tidying up, recovering the digger and making the top of the cutting side secure with the heras fence and marking the excavation site. Then an early retreat back to Winchcombe. Final frustration was that the rain stopped just as we began to make our way home.

Stuart secures the heras fencing at the top of the cutting.

Wildlife report: Once again the weather conditions prevented significant wildlife observations. Besides the flock of crows in the field adjacent to Stow Road bridge (who obliviously like the sheep nuts the farmer puts out), the main observations were from the road vehicles on our way to and from Toddington. Two raptors, kestrel and buzzard, a few starlings and gulls. We could here at blackbird at Toddington but he (or she) kept hidden. We had no additional sightings of spring flowers.

Another mucky day

Thursday 5^th February

Another Mucky Day for the team, mainly working on the down side under Stowe Road Bridge at Toddington. Although the temperature was marginally up on last week, and the wind was not quite so keen and not funnelling under the bridge; this was a typical February day. Grey, cool and damp – verging on wet! Ideal for getting boots and gloves covered in mud.

Three of the team, Dave, Peter and Ian formed our regular winter road clearance team. The roads which pass under some of of underbridges are prone to flooding in very wet weather. In most cases the flood water recedes after a few hours; but occasionally a grill blocked by leaves or other debris or a pipe blocked with silt retains the deep water. Over the previous weekend we had heard that the water under Didbrook No2 bridge (16) was deep enough to prevent cars from driving through. One of our local members investigated; he determined that the grills were clear so the blockage must be in the drains which lead away. These are the responsibility of GCC Highways – so an incident was logged with them. Our Thursday three started at Little Buckland Bridge (5). Here there were puddles under the bridge because of the uneven road surface, and a pothole or two, but the drains were not blocked and were doing their job.

Little Buckland Bridge - no flood, just puddles. [Photo by Dave]

Then on to the next bridge down, Laverton Meadow Lane (6). Again the road was not flooded and the drains coping with the amount of rain falling. Surprisingly, there was very little material in the silt traps on either side of the road. These were cleared. One of the team drove home that way later in the day, reporting a substantial flow from the adjacent field on the down side high mileage of the bridge. However, this was all getting away.

Peter and Ian clearing the silt traps under Laverton Meadow Lane Bridge. [Photo by Dave]

Didbrook No1 Bridge (15) was all fine, just a very muddy road surface underneath. So the group of three proceeded to Didbrook No2 bridge.

After the flood, lots of mud under Didbrook No2 Bridge. [Photo by Dave]

The flood from the weekend had receded, leaving a tide mark on the depth gauge. The group swept the road and cleaned the grills. Whilst there, GCC Highways turned up with a gully suction vehicle. They sucked out the exit pipes on the up (Malvern) side; one of which was well blocked with silt. The group then headed to Toddington to join the Stowe Road group for lunch.

GCC Highways sucking out the drain under Didbrook No2 Bridge. [Photo by Jonathan] 

To assist finding the grills when under water, we have renewed the blue marks on the bridge wing walls. [Photo by Dave]

The group progressing the improvements to the drainage of the down side cutting on the low mileage side of Stowe Road bridge were Polly, Nigel, Jonathan, John and Andrew. We had planned on starting the excavation of the new crest chamber and ditch. However, a repair to the mini-digger was not complete, so we have delayed this. (Also with the wetting rain it would have not been a very comfortable day for the digger driver – our little machine does not have a cab). Polly and Nigel mixed some concrete to back fill the small training wall we built last week. Then after John and Andrew had cleaned around the existing cess chamber; a barrow load of mortar was mixed and a row of solid bricks added. This has some gaps in it, to allow the S&T cables to pass through and to allow the new pipe from the cutting side land drain to pass into the chamber.

Polly (l) and John determining where the field drain extension pipe will run.

The brick course raising the chamber to be clear of the S&T cables.

Andrew and Jonathan marked up the location for the excavations for the new chamber and ditch at the top of the cutting side. They also measured up for the replacement fence. One part will be removable to allow our clearance contractor access with the robot flail. A phone call with the contractor confirmed the minimum width this needs to be.

The two groups met up for lunch in the Toddington MPD mess room. A comfortable seat at a table with plenty of space in the warm and dry – luxury! [And of course hot running water in the wash room.] After lunch, both groups, tidied up the Stow Road bridge site, including temporarily placing the GRP catch pit ring on the new course of bricks. Finally, with some effort, we extracted the redundant fence post on the up side of the line. This was slightly easier than that on the down side (which we removed on 1^st January). It was rotten just below ground level, so we did not need to use a saw. However, it took quite bit pushing and shoving and levering with a jemmy bar. These two fence posts date back to the very early ‘preservation’ days. A fence across the (then) trackbed on the Broadway side of Stowe Road bridge helped secure the Toddington Station site.

Peter (l) and John take a breather during the post removal.

End of day - GRP ring and blue mesh cover temporarily in place on the down side cess chamber. Next time we will level the whole area using some spent ballast.

Up side with the redundant fence post removed. Now are we destroying heritage of the 1970s or are we restoring back to the 1950s?

Wildlife report: Not surprisingly for a dull, wet winter’s day we did not spot a great deal. A Red Kite was circling over the yard at Winchcombe, no doubt like the cat last week on the lookout for rodents. Also in the yard, we found a hibernating queen wasp in one of the holes of a perforated brick in our brick pile. Encouragingly the signs of spring are increasing. Snowdrops are probably at there best now (even better if we had sunshine) – the road clearing gang spotted a fine drift at Didbrook. Plus we noted the first daffodil in bloom, admittedly in the shelter by the front door of Churchward House.