No mists and very little mellow fruitfulness

Thursday 17^th September

Once again we were able to from two groups, one to progress this year’s programme of culvert and cross drain inspection and clearance, and one to undertake some of our other tasks.

Andrew, Roger, Peter, Nigel and Martin(J) formed the inspection and clearance group. Initially Nigel and Andrew tackled culvert 5C, adjacent to the first foot-crossing north of Laverton Meadow Lane bridge. Roger, Martin(J) and Peter cleared the vegetation around the five toe drain manholes on the up (Malvern) side that run from cross drain 5D north to culvert 5C. They opened each manhole to check for no obstructions.

The headwall on the inlet (down or Cotswold) side of 5C.

After coffee break, Nigel and Andrew moved south to cross drain 6A near milepost 7. This is one of our smaller structures, with both inlet and outlet chambers close to the trackbed and without a great height difference. They then moved south to the foot crossing near milepost 7¼; clearing a parking spot so the other three could bring the rest of the tools in one of the vehicles.

Up train with Black 5 45110 in charge approaching 6A.

The first afternoon job for the group was to deal with culvert 6B. This is one of our larger culverts, with a 3foot by 5foot brick arch. It carries a substantial stream that flows down from the hills above Stanton, and was running steadily. Surprisingly, the amount of vegetation requiring removal was a lot less than we expected. Finally, the group dealt with syphon cross drain 6C, just on the low mileage side of Stanton Fields Bridge 7. This one very rarely flows – the inlet and outlet pits are shallow and easy to clean out. The main item of regular maintenance is the clearing of the access paths down the embankment sides.

Nigel starts clearing the access to the outlet of 6B.

Result - headwall clearly visible.

Martin (left) and Nigel at syphon cross drain 6C.

Roger clearing the down side access at 6C. The syphon cross drain runs under both of the cess drains, the chamber on one visible at the bottom.

Green diesel in a green landscape. D6948 with an afternoon down train approaching Stanton Fields bridge (7). 

Dee and Jonathan were the other group. They first headed to Chipping Camden to pick up some bridge markers we have been given. Then on to Pecked Lane foot crossing at Bishops Cleeve to sort out some issues with the pedestrian gates. That took quite some effort as adjusting one of the gates required freeing some very rusty nuts and bolts. Finally they attended to a small fence repair near Two Hedges Road.

The replaced nuts on the crossing gate at Pecked Lane. [Photo by Jonathan]

Wildlife report: Red kites are now such a common sight along the line we may well stop reporting sightings. However, they are a magnificent sight, particularity when coming to roost on a tree less that 50 yards away at Laverton. Another sign of autumn we spotted was a flock of finches. Unlike other lineside apple trees, that by the crossing near culvert 5C bore quite a large crop of fruit. However, they were all very small. Most of the blackberry bushes look like they are now past their best. Hence, so far, this autumn is definitely not one of mellow fruitfulness; and no sign of any morning mists either. Maybe things will change with the autumn equinox occurring this coming week and thus astronomical summer coming to an end.

Just half a dozen

Thursday 10^th September

Another week with more team members away than attending, but a different set and for different reasons. However, we were able to progress both the rebuilding at 31A and the programme of clearance and inspections.

Polly and Peter continued with the rebuild of the up side exit headwall of cross drain 31A. This is almost complete – just one more course of coping bricks to finish.

The new headwall of 31A outlet almost complete. Note the use of steel bar to support the final courses. [Photo by Peter]

Jonathan, Martin (J) and Andrew headed to Little Buckland to continue this year’s round of culvert and cross drain clearance and inspection. After attending to some H&S issues, Roger joined them later.

The first tasks at Little Buckland were to clear a space on the embankment to enable us to park vehicles on the vacant trackbed (the former down line here) at least 3m away from the nearest rail of the running line. Also attended to were the roadside gullies underneath the bridge – this was mainly removal of grass rather than silt as the dry summer has meant very little run off from the road in the past three months.

One of the roadside gullies under bridge 5 (Little Buckland) prior to removals of the vegetation. [Photo by Jonathan]

The group then cleared and inspected cross drains 5A, 5B and 5D. Not surprisingly because of the dry summer, none of these were flowing. However, there was considerable growth, particularly in the exit ditch of 5A and in the toe ditch on the down side of the line by Archer Farm.

The 5A exit ditch on the up side high mileage of bridge 5 forms the boundary of the railway land but is outside of the fence line. All cleared after sterling work by Martin(J). [Photo by Jonathan]

Roger and Martin(J) pause work as 2807 passes over bridge 5 with the 11.35 down train from Broadway.

Bone dry - the inlet end of the bore of 5B.

The final task of the day was the clearing of the access at Laverton Meadow Lane bridge (6). We omitted tackling culvert 5C as there is nowhere safe to park a vehicle near it. Hopefully with a larger group we will include that next week.

Wildlife report: A sign that the summer is definitely over was a group of swallows congregating on electric wires at Little Buckland prior to starting their migration south. Still lots of ripe blackberries in the hedges. The dry summer seems to have had not effect on the growth of brambles, nettles and old-man’s beard.

Nine miles apart

Thursday 3^rd September

Even with several members of the team absent for various reasons, we were able to form two groups working at locations over nine miles apart.

John, Polly and Peter formed the construction group. Their location was cross drain 31A at 14m 30c. They commenced the rebuild of the outlet headwall on the up (Malvern) side of the line. As the level of the water in the outlet ditch had dropped since last week, they were able to complete the excavation for the concrete footings and cast them. The chosen option for the rebuild is to use brick, a mixture of reused solid imperials reclaimed from the old headwall and new metric perforated blues. This choice considerably eases the delivery of materials to the site, which is at the bottom of a steep embankment. Additionally the width of the vacant up side trackbed at this location precludes parking the road vehicles above the cross drain; unless we have a line block or a possession.

The first few courses of the rebuild headwall for 31A outlet. [Photo by Peter]

The other group headed in the opposite direction, initially to Peasebrook Fram, cross drain 3A at 5m 50c. Nigel, Dave, Stuart, Martin (J) and Andrew formed this group; later joined by Jonathan after he completed some vehicle maintenance which involved a trip to Cheltenham. The group cleared and inspected cross drain 3A and culverts 3B and 4A. They also cleared overhanging brambles, rose, elder and hawthorn from the vehicle access at Little Buckland bridge and the old farm gate near Peasebrook Bridge. This allows turning of vehicles, thus avoiding a ¾mile reverse. Also undertaken was some clearance of the up (Malvern) side toe ditch alongside the Severn Trent works at Pry Lane. And finally near the Peasbrook Farm accommodation bridge they filled in a hole in the vacant trackbed, probably caused by badger activity. The Peasbrook area is well known for badger activity; the group spotted evidence of their activity at 3A and in the down (Cotswold) side cess drain north of 4A.

Dave, Stuart and Martin [J] (at foot of ladder) completing the clearance of the outlet headwall of 3B.

The effect of the comparatively wet past week following the very dry summer is very interesting. None of the cess drains are yet running; the input to 3A was just damp, but 200 yards away the stream flowing through 3B was running well. The big surprise was at 4A, this was bone dry. Looking at the inlet stream, we noticed a void in the adjoining land, but even upstream of that there was no trace of water.

3A input - just damp

3B inlet - flowing

4A inlet - bone dry

Wildlife report: The construction group at 31A spotted two muntjac deer. Whilst at Peasebrook the calls and antics of several buzzards were most noticeable. Also a sizeable flock of wood pigeons, no doubt interested in pickings from the adjoining farm fields. Being nocturnal animals, we did not spot any live badgers. Plenty of ripening blackberries, sloes and rose hips in the hedges. The consensus of the clearance group was that the blackberries at Little Buckland Bridge were the sweetest.