Wet and dry

Thursday 16^th July

Today’s score was not 2-1, but 29-11. Maximum temperature 29C with 11 team members in attendance.

Jonathan, Phil, Dee, and Martin [S] continued with vegetation clearance on the down (Cotswold) side of the River Isbourne, that is up stream of the bridge. Most of the vegetation removed was Himalayan balsam. Martin [J] initially helped with some brush cutting around the safety rails on the bridge parapet. He then joined Roger at Working Lane. The plan was to brush cut around the ‘No trespassing’ signs adjacent to the Royal Oak pub. However, the new pub garden fencing and height of vegetation is a better deterrent to the trespassers.

A clear passage for the low mileage down side ditch to flow into the river. [Photo by Martin (S)]

Dee clearing the foot of the wing wall safety rails. [Photo by Martin (S)]

Down side Isbourne access steps all cleared.  [Photo by Martin (S)]

On the 'to do' list is clearing the down side low mileage ditch - like a lot of places this year's growth is enormous. [Photo by Jonathan]

Nigel, Peter and John headed to Manor Lane with our drain rods to rod out cross drains 37A, 37B and 37E. They also took lifting straps to recover the ‘6-foot’ cess chamber lid at Bishops Cleeve.

All clear through 37F. [Photo by John]

Dave and Andrew travelled to Two Hedges Road. Taking advantage of the dry weather, they investigated the inside of the now famous Bonsai World inlet of cross drain 40B. With only an inch of water in the manhole and nothing flowing through it, they were able to identity cracks around the 2 foot diameter twin wall exit pipe. If the weather stays dry, we should be able to attempt a repair next week with some grout.

Crack around the exit pipe of the Bonsai World inlet.

Nothing flowing into the down cess at the Bonsai World inlet.

Next was a check on the water levels in the road inlet to syphon cross drain 39B, on the down side just on the low mileage side of Two Hedges Road bridge (40) – well actually adjacent to the footbridge 39Z. This chamber also has a leak. Despite the dry weather, there was a dribble of water flowing trough it.

39B roadside inlet manhole - some silt needs clearing and then we can plug the leak in the base.

The leak eventually runs into the down side cess; so Dave and Andrew checked that too. Surprisingly the cess was flowing well – but from where. Checking the upstream chambers (back towards Pecked Lane); they discovered a chamber almost full of water.

Dave investigates one of the filled down side cess chambers.

So hence a major obstruction in between. So Nigel, Peter and John came down with the drain rods, and with help from the Railway’s Chief Civil Engineer, Peter Brown, six of us attempted to remove the obstruction. This was only partially successful, we managed to get the water flowing better and the level in the chamber went down by several inches. But as it was then well past lunchtime, and the afternoon heat was increasing, we decided to leave the full unblocking to next week. So we are hoping that there is no rain in the next seven days, so we can undertake all three tasks.

The rodding team take a break as an up train hauled by 24081 (D5081) passes under Two Hedges Road Bridge.

Back at Winchcombe, we met with another new recruit to the team, Laurence. So the team size is now up to fifteen. One member jokingly suggested that we need a longer railway to look after!

Wildlife report: Very much an insect day. Inside the Bonsai World chamber we found many peacock butterflies sheltering from the sun – initially we thought they were moths. Lots of other butterflies and insects including hover flies flitting around, plus several water boatman (Corixidae) in the cess chambers. The group at the River Isbourne reported brown trout. Plus several of us found some ripe blackberries - ripe enough to eat!

Peacock butterfly. [Photo by Dave]