Little and large

Thursday 15^th October

A ten strong team today to continue with our annual programme of clearance and visual inspections of culverts and cross drains. The increased team size also enabled us to undertake vegetation clearance around cess chambers and a few other odd task. Didbrook No2 bridge (16) was the starting point for today’s work as we progress southwards.

Roger, Jonathan and Phil started by tackling the chambers on the cess drains that start south of culvert 16C. These run south, through Hayles Abbey Halt where there is a very short section in the old 6 foot, to discharge in the stream that flows under bridge 17A. The lids of one chamber were dislodged, so they had to be recovered from inside and replaced. A couple of chambers had some minor silting, so the group used a long handled grab to clear them.

Lids recovered and silt removed from an up side cess chamber. [Photo by Roger]

Peter, Nigel, Martin (S), Martin (J) and Stuart commenced with the clearance of cross drains 16A and 16B – two of our smaller structures. Meanwhile, Dee and Andrew climbed down to the road beneath Didbrook No2 bridge (16) to clear a cess drain outlet and the roadside gullies. As the leaf fall increases, keeping these gullies clear mitigates against floods across the road.

Neat, tidy and dry. The down side inlet of 16B, which just carries the out flow from the cess/toe drain. The up side outlet of 16B is piped under the garden of the adjoining property.

Dee clears a roadside gully at Didbrook No2 bridge.

After a coffee break, the clearing and inspecting team moved on south of Hayles Abbey. Here is structure 17A, which is large enough to be considered a bridge rather than a culvert. Hence the inspection is the responsibility of the bridges team, but we keep the vegetation down and the inlet and outlet channels clear.

Nigel, Martin (J) and Peter busy on the up side of bridge 17A.

Whilst on the down side of 17A, Martin (S) and Stuart take a breather whilst waiting for a down train to pass.

 

Thirteen chains further is culvert 17B. The bore size is six inches smaller than 17A, so this is a culvert and is on our list to inspect. There was no flow in the stream, and just a very shallow puddle of water at the exit. This enabled a closer inspection of the ends of the bore allowing us to take a look at some of the cracks that the last detailed survey of the structure highlighted. If the dry weather continues in the next couple of weeks, we plan to fill the smaller cracks with mortar. Then next year we will be able to see if those cracks are still growing.

Three of the team start clearing the access paths to 17B. Winchcombe down fixed distant signal is in the background.

Jonathan by the inlet of 17B, which shows how high the arch of the bore is. No doubt some wag will make a comment about billy goats and trolls!

2807 passes over 17B with a down train. 

Whilst Dee, Stuart, Martin (S), Martin (J) and Jonathan were occupied with 17B, Peter, Nigel and Andrew worked on cross drain 18A just south of New Farmers Accommodation Bridge (which is bridge 19). 18A is another small structure and is easily accessible by the bridge wing walls. It does however have some of the old thick and very heavy concrete lids on both the inlet and outlet chambers. Apart from the stream at 17A and the cess outlet by Didbrook No2 bridge, all the water courses we examined and cleared today were bone dry. This is certainly the direst summer and autumn the team have known.

Wildlife report: Today the highlights included a weasel at Didbrook and a hare in the Defford straight cutting south of Hayles Abbey Halt. In the air we spotted several red kites, lots of crows, and a trio of skylarks. Whilst on the ground there were certainly signs of autumn. Lots of horse chestnuts (conkers) and walnut shells at Didbrook, and even a whole walnut under a cess chamber cover. Most likely a local squirrel has been busy. As expected for this time of year, most chambers contain spider webs; and quite a few are home to beetles and other insects.

Conkers.