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.