Lull before Goretti

Thursday 8^th January

We were fortunate with a window of reasonable weather for today’s work. The overnight drizzle, mist and low cloud cleared as we assembled at Winchcombe, and the first pulse of rain that storm Goretti brought arrived as we were packing away. At one point we even saw a bright patch in the sky!

Ten of the team attending. A new excuse from one who didn’t; he was trapped by heavy snow in Aberdeenshire.

Dave, Nigel and John took one of the Transits and headed to Swindon Lane bridge, on the northern edge of Cheltenham Racecourse. They trimmed the vegetation around all the cess chambers and lineside signs between the RDA crossing and Kayte Lane crossing. Plus a little bit more serious clearance on the down (Cotswold) side cutting just south of the bridge – probably a section we missed last winter.

It is not only vegetation that we clear from drain grills - here are several empty drink cans on the down side high mileage of Southam Lane bridge. [Photo by Dave]

Nigel tackles at least two years of bramble growth near Southam Lane. [Photo by Dave]

John on raking duty with Southam Lane bridge in the background. [Photo by Dave]

Ian, Peter and Stuart also undertook clearance, but this was a bit more serious. This was the ‘Bonsai World’ stream where is becomes a toe ditch on the down side running towards cross drain 40B. We are not sure when this section of ditch was last cleared – hence the initial attack was with loopers and a hedge trimmer. Only once overhanging branches were out of the way could they deploy brush cutters. They managed to clear almost the whole length, frustratingly leaving just a few yards for next time. Some interesting discoveries included an abandoned pipe from the down side cess to this ditch; and three field drains from the adjoining field.

Abandoned SGP pipe that once linked the down side cess to the toe ditch low mileage of 40B. There is a newer connection with a proper headwall a little further along, see below. 

Beyond the new cess connection, Peter uses the loopers to make access possible.

Ian almost totally hidden by vegetation - almost but not quite at the 40B inlet.

Dee and Andrew’s first tasks were to use the coloured dye tracer to establish some flows and leaks. First was the down side manhole on the low mileage of footbridge 39Z (alongside Two Hedges Road); this should flow into syphon cross drain 39B. The tracer dye established that the base of the manhole leaks ending up in the twinwall pipe running from the wingwall of bridge 40 to the down side cess. That will be a relatively easy one to fix – once we have some dry weather. Next was syphon 40A on the high mileage side of Two Hedges Road, where there is a small flow of water emerging from the up (Malvern) side cutting near the syphon washout cover. They put a bucket of dye into the 40A inlet on the top of the down side cutting; but even after an hour no coloured water emerged from the up side leak. This eliminates a broken syphon pipe as the source of this leak. Then the third dye test, as the now infamous Bonsai World stream. With the wetter weather over the past couple of months, we have noticed water flowing through the two twinwall pipes which lead directly to the cess chamber by the stream entry point. The dye test showed that this comes from the joint between the entry manhole and the length of 600mm diameter pipe in the crest ditch. This will be a bit more complex to fix, probably using mastic from the inside. So another job that has to wait for dry weather.

Green dyed water enters the down cess from the wingwall drain pipe of bridge 40. 

But only clear water flowed from the leak by the syphon washout cover of 40A.

The down side cess by the Bonsai World entry soon turned green when the dye was added to the man hole - the two plastic pipes here are those running direct from the crest.

Polly and Jonathan had a trip to Tewkesbury to take the Isuzu truck to a main dealer there. This is to fix a problem with the second set of keys which would open the vehicle but not start the engine. One the way back from Tewkesbury, they called in at Norths Bakery in Bishops Cleeve to obtain some hot Cornish pasties for all the team. They then joined Andrew and Dee clearing bulky items of debris from the up side cutting at the rear of the houses on Pagets Road. This has prevented the clearance contractor from fully clearing the cutting side with the robot flail. A lot of the debris was garden waste, including some large tree branches. Also some old drain pipes, concrete slabs, bricks and other rubble; plus numerous balls (football, rugby and golf).

Dee and Polly dealing with some of the larger branches on the cutting side.

The two lengths of soil downpipe which have probably been on the cutting side for many years.

After a short lunch break, with the help of the group who had completed the Southam Lane work, we brush cut two of these problem lengths of the cutting side. A third length and dealing with larger branches will be on the task list for next week. Then back to Winchcombe before the arrival of storm Goretti – one groups diverting via Working Lane to offload the wood debris there.

Neat and tidy - with just some larger branches and few lumps of concrete to collect next time.

Wildlife report: The most numerous birds we spotted today were sparrows – as the urban section at Bishops Cleeve is one of the few lengths of the railway providing their favoured habitat. Several magpies noted too, and, as usual for Cleeve, quite a few gulls. At lunch time we noted a heron perched on the ridge of a house; maybe eyeing up a garden fish pond. It was soon chased off by two of the gulls and then mobbed by a crow. Finally we noted two different robins whilst working on the 40B toe ditch – maybe partners or maybe the ditch extends into two territories. The only mammal spotted was a grey squirrel.

First Footing

With both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day this winter falling on Thursdays; to avoid loosing two working days, by a majority democratic decision, the team decided on a Friday workday for one week. Maybe this was a desire to work off some the excesses of Christmas!

Thursday 1^st January

However, for one of our team, Friday is a paid work day. So, in his role as vehicle and plant maintenance, Jonathan attended on New Year’s Day. With all the vehicles in the yard, this was an ideal opportunity to give them all a good external wash and for some an internal clean.

The white Ranger gets a foam snow wash. Overnight there was some real snow. [Photo by Jonathan]

Four clean vehicles - a rare sight! [Photo by Jonathan]

Friday 2^nd January

So to break the ice on 2026 (literarily!) seven of the team put in a full day, with help for two others who had other commitments in the afternoon.

We tried our best to keep the three vehicles we used clean – participially be not going tack side and cleaning boots before climbing board. However, the muddy puddles in Winchcombe yard and on on the roads can not be avoided.

All the team headed for Toddington to park in the station car park. Usually we started with a tea/coffee break to warm up – and consume some festive edibles. Then down to work.

Nigel and Peter cleared the vegetation on the top of the down (Cotswold) side cutting on the low mileage of Stowe Road Bridge. This was to enable a survey to determine where to cut a new drainage ditch. This is to catch the field and road run off; routing this to new French drain (or maybe a pipe) to take the water to the down side cess well away from the bridge. Currently in very wet periods, water cascades under the side arch of the bridge, washing down large amounts of silt. A lot of this ends up on the cess, exactly where locos are coupled or uncoupled and in the cess drains. And sometime the water flows across Stowe Road and flooding into Station Cottages.

Dave, Martin, John and Phil set to work clearing the entrance on the up (Malvern) side cutting crest and then continued along the crest fence line all the way to Stanway Viaduct. There is a crest drain pipe for half of this length; with some new(ish) chambers towards the viaduct. Nigel joined the Stanway bound group, clearing around the cess chambers on both sides of the line.  

The 'new' crest drain pipe was flowing slowly so showing why crest drains are so important in keeping cutting sides dry and stable. [Photo by Dave]

The north end of Toddington North cutting where it falls away to the embankment leading to Stanway viaduct is a very photogenic spot. Even with just a stationary line of goods wagons on the siding. One of the 'new' crest drain chambers in the foreground. [Photo by Dave]

The Stanway vegetation cutting group are just visible in the distance. The frost on the sleepers in the shadow of the bridge lasted all day. 

Meanwhile Dee and Andrew began excavating the deposited silt from around the first down side cess chamber by the bridge pier. A tricky job here as there are four S&T cables which run either over the top of the chamber or actually through it. Peter and Phil later joined; enabling the removal of the metal mesh chamber lid and thus use of a grab to remove the accumulated silt from the chamber. Also the lid removed, we were able to finalise a plan for the improvements. This will be to raise the chamber by one brick course, either side of the cable, then to install a GRP chamber ring and blue mesh lid to raise the height of the chamber. Also the plan is to construct a small retaining wall behind the chamber – both of these measures should reduce the amount of silt entering the cess drain. And make for a less muddy path under the bridge to the end of the platform for the train crews.

The cess chamber cleared of silt and the inverted U channels over the top of the S&T cables.

Checking for size and height of the planned rebuilt.

Metal grid lid removed.

Phil, Peter, Dee and John on the chain gang using the grab to remove silt from the chamber and to dispose where it will not flow back in.

Whilst we were there, we removed a long redundant fence post adjacent to the bridge pier. It obviously dates from the time when a fence extended across the track bed under the bridge when operations were only to the south of Toddington. Whoever installed that post intended it to last – no amount of digging or hammering would shift it. So when Ian arrived (see below), he was promptly dispatched to fetch a chain saw to cut the post off. There is a similar post on the up side of the line – we shall remove another day!

John, Dee and Peter attempt excavation of the fence post. Note the deployed red flags, however, no stock movements took place. 

The sawn off fence post stump - well ensconced in a lump of solid concrete.

Temporary covers in place.

Wildlife report: On his way into Winchcombe, Ian cam across an injured tawny owl sitting in the middle of the road. He stopped to investigate, and as the bird was too injured to resist, he put it in the bot of his car. At Winchcombe we found a cardboard box and some paper towels to make a more comfortable bed/nest; and then set about finding a suitable rescue centre to take the casualty to. This turned out to be almost back to Worcester – so a bit of a journey, hence Ian’s later arrival at Toddington. We did save him an iced bun (Ian that is, not the owl).

The injured tawny owl.

Other more mundane observations at Winchcombe were our resident robin in the wooden shed and a very low flying male pheasant who came to investigate the owl. Observations from the top of the cutting sides at Toddington included grey wagtails, Red Kites and buzzards. No sign of any mammals, not surprisingly since the daytime maximum temperature was only 3C (or 37.4 °F on the heritages scale).