Hot

Thursday 28th May

Whilst this was the hottest working day for the Drainage team so far this year, thankfully the day time maximum for Winchcombe (30C) was reached mid afternoon, whilst we were enjoying a cup of tea in the shade back at Winchcombe station. Also, thankfully, it was not quite as hot as over the Bank Holiday Gala weekend (maximum 33C on Monday afternoon).

Ten of the team attending – with breaks compulsory, not voluntarily, and consumption of water rather than coffee.

Jonathan and Dave first headed to Honeybourne to collect some more bags of postcrete from Fairview Building supplies. This took a little longer than intended due to road closures near Willersey.

The other eight, Stuart, Martin (S), Martin (J), Nigel, Polly, Roger, Peter and Andrew, headed to the now repaired slip site between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve.

Polly and Nigel worked on more bricking to raise the height of the final outlet chamber of cross drain 37D. Peter and Martin (S) inserted bolts to secure the grill on the inlet headwall of the exit bore of 37D – a job that has been on our to do for a long time. Stuart excavated a hole for the foundation base of the extended headwall which will take the exit of the new pipe in the slip infill area into the outlet ditch of 37D. Roger headed a little further south to de-rust and then paint with black MIO the bridge rail uprights of mile posts 16½ and 16¾. Andrew and Martin (J) started on the clearance of the down (Cotswold) side toe ditch back from the foot crossing to cross drain 37C.

Polly on bricklaying.

 

Peter installing bolts.

Grill bolted down.

Repainted bridge rail post. We will fit a correct GWR style replacement head once we manufacture more number sixes.

Martin (S) and Peter in the down side toe ditch - note the amount of dead dog rose. The damp ditch in the shade of the hedge was marginally the coolest spot. 

After the first break for drinks, and to admire loco 78022 on the first southbound train, a bit of a swap around. Peter and Martin (S) joined the toe ditch clearing, whilst Nigel and Stuart mixed and laid the concrete for the extended headwall base. Polly finished the bricking of 37D exit and then cut the blue mesh GRP lid to fit snugly.

78022 on the Cambrian Coast Express.

Concrete foundation ready for the extended wall to take the new pipe.

Raised exit chamber of 37D completed.

When Jonathan and Dave arrived, the set too to install another replacement section of fence alongside the footpath on the up (Malvern) side of the foot crossing. This was to make the section alongside the now cleared exit ditch of 37C a lot safer.

Martin (J) helps Dave and Jonathan remove old chicken wire between the footpath and the outlet ditch of 37C.

After the lunch break we tacked a few more odd jobs. These included a trim around the exit chamber of 37C and the installation of posts for badger monitoring on the up side near milepost 16½. The Gotherington badgers seem to have taken up residence there.

Roger and Stuart installing a post for a badger monitoring camera. In the foreground is some of the digging from the sett.

Jonathan and Dave with the completed section of replacement fence. (Contrary to popular belief, the drainage team are not taking on responsibility for all the lineside fences!)

Wildlife report: There is an abundance of wild flowers along the embankment and in the boundary hedges are in full flower. Most noticeable are the daisies; we also spotted poppies and wild roses. Plenty of bird life today: blackbirds, robins, chiffchaffs, skylarks, pheasants, gulls, kestrels and red kytes. Whilst in the cooler and slight damper conditions in the toe ditches we spotted several centipedes, or perhaps they were millipedes. We were not able to correctly count the number of legs.

Wild (or dog) roses in the boundary hedge. We had to trim this bush to remove the dead wood that was obstructing the toe ditch beneath. Dead rose wood is tough!