Chambers as far as the eye can see

This and the next couple of blog posts may get a little repetitive! Our current reconstruction project is the cess drain chambers in Dixton cutting – and there is a lot of them! However, in practice each one is a little different. Plus there are always a few odd jobs to do.

Looking in the up direction from under Dixton Road bridge; the cess manholes that require replacing stretch right away into the distance!

Thursday 26^th May

Six of the team in (one on holiday) - so for the first time in a while we did not split into groups.

Our telehandler operator loaded around a dozen concrete rings at Winchcombe onto one of the long wheel base transit trucks. We off loaded one each to up and down side chambers from culvert 33A back to Dixton road bridge and just beyond. During the loading, we did C&W a favour by loading scrap heavy metal sinks from the RBR into the metal skip. We needed to do that to get at the stacks of rings. We managed to reconstruction four chambers (three down side and one up side) and prepare a fifth by removing the decomposed top brick course.

This manhole requires some replacement bricks in the second and third course as well as the replacement of the top course by a concrete ring.

A down side chamber rebuilt with a single concrete ring as the top course.

 

Also we repointed the head and wing walls of the up side outlet of culvert 33B.

Outlet of culvert 33B undergoing repointing. One completed job to tick off on our master list!

One other odd job was cutting down ash tree saplings on the down side between Dixton Road bridge and culvert 33B.

Thursday 2^nd June

As this was a bank holiday, the first of the Platinum Jubilee four day weekend, attendance was a down a little. So only five of us working at Bank Holiday rates!

As this was the Queen's official birthday; the morning passenger trains were carrying the Royal Train lamp code, all 4 lamps. Just in case a Royal was on board we stood to attention as the trains passed! Gala visitor 92203 Black Prince with a down Cheltenham bound train.

Three more of the Dixton cutting cess chambers were completed today with concrete rings; another rebuilt with two courses of blue bricks; one had original brick repaired and repointed; and one had the top course of bricks removed. So a bit of variety. Two were temporarily covered with blue mesh panels as the mortar was not sufficiently set to put the heavy concrete lids back on.

The up side chamber on the high mileage side of Dixton Road bridge had damage to two course of bricks, so we are rebuilding this with two new courses of engineering blues and no concrete ring. Chief bricklayer and chief mortar mixer in action.

Temporary cover of blue mesh on the chamber that we only were able to deconstruct today. Note the wire of the Gotherington down distant signal - it runs right over a lot of manholes!

We also started the demolition of the small headwall behind the down side chamber immediately on the low mileage side of Dixton Road bridge. This requires rebuilding, it is where a pipe from a road drain enters the cess.

The top loose courses of the headwall on the down side by Dixton Road bridge were easily removed. Still a lot of pea gravel here from the washout a couple of winters ago.

 

The odd job list for today included rodding the cess drain for one chamber length on low mileage side of culvert 33A. There is standing water in the first chamber; the rods went right trough from the high mileage side; water level dropped a bit but not completely. Will need to return with CCTV to see if there is a dipped joint.

The standard Dixton chamber rebuild - one concrete ring replacing the old top course of decayed dricks.

Another task undertaken was the trimming of the vegetation on the roadside at Gotherington Yard exit, this improves visibility when exiting the yard.

Finally back at Winchcombe some rust patches on the new (to us) excavator were brushed down and painted with black hammerite. We are eagerly awaiting a trailer so we can get this, and the small dumper, out to sites and put them to use.

With the black paint looking smart, the mini excavator heads back to Churchward House yard at it's top speed - 2mph!

Cuckoo

Working outside makes you very aware of the change of seasons; particularity the rapid changes of spring. One event we eagerly anticipate is hearing the first cuckoo of the year. This year it was a little later than previously, in early May. But in compensation, we heard two, one at Far Stanley and one at Gretton.

Thursday 5^th May

Six of the team in today - the one absence due to Covid.

Construction gang of three worked on culvert 24C at Working Lane, haul road exit headwall. Laid the last three courses of normal bricks and some of the top course of bull nose. Also they started building the small headwall on the entry from the boundary hedge ditch pipe.

Almost complete - the coping layer of bull nose bricks on the big 24C outlet headwall.

The first few bricks on the little headwall where the pipe from the boundary hedge ditch starts.

Also at Working Lane they removed some of the metal rubbish from the garden centre junk on the hard standing to the metals skip at Winchcombe yard. Plus sorted out some of the burnable wood and non-burnable plastic waste.

Meanwhile, the odd job gang of two first investigated culvert 35C at Gotherington as this was reported to have standing water. Up side outflow check running fine; down side inlet checked, minor vegetation clearance needed in the silt trap. Water flowing normally. (Actually the water level was low as nothing flowing from the embankment toe drain south of the stream inlet). Next job was the installation of a new bridge rail post for mile post 14 at Stanley Pontlarge.

The new (well refurbished) length of bridge rail for mile post 14.

Whilst there they noted several ash trees in the area which are suffering from ash die back. On the way on to Working Lane, they pruned the sycamore sapling that is growing from the high mileage up side wing wall of Gretton Village Bridge (26). It is impossible to remove entirely from above! The final job of the day was to test fit the Michael Beveridge memorial plaque to the culvert 25B junction inlet headwall at Working Lane.

GWR 2-8-0T 4270 passes with an up train.

Finally our plant operative (gang of one!?) spent the day at Winchcombe yard using the telehandler to move spoil material from the Churchward House boundary fence to the up side near the Usk building.

Careful operation of the telehandler required - we don't want Churchward House fence demolished.

Thursday 12^th May

With all seven team members attending we adopted a 3-3-1 formation.

The construction gang of 3 progressed the culvert 24C haul road exit headwall build at Working Lane. This is now structurally complete, the last brick was laid. The last brick was actually on the small headwall from the boundary ditch, which actually turned out to be not that small as it used over 60 bricks.

A big smile from master bricklayer Polly as the last bricks go in on culvert 24C (well the last on the up side, we will return to down side in the future!)

The height of the main exit headwall of 24C is apparent here. Certainly needs the safety fences and back fill added.

Yet more metal and other other rubbish was sorted out from the former garden centre rubbish on the hard standing.

The odd job gang of 3 first went to Toddington to collect a refreshed first aid kit for our main Transit truck. Then on to Broadway to install new milepost 4 and three quarters. This is a new hollow head so is mounted on a wooden post. As it is located by the run round points north of the platforms, very few passengers will see it.

The new 4¾ mile post.

Next it was investigation of the up side embankment by Station Road bridge in connection with the platform 2 building construction. The Wednesday clearance team had cut the vegetation on the embankment side, which has exposed evidence of a small slip near the road, classic dish shaped slope. Also exposed are two drains leading into the ditch at the foot of the embankment which is then piped under the road. One drain enters the ditch close to the road boundary; this appears to run from behind the bridge abutment. The second drain is 12" SGP which exits in a 5 course headwall about 12 feet up from the ditch. This drain is inline with the last track drain manhole in the 6 foot. However there is no evidence of a connection with that - the track drains at Broadway are in the 6 foot and run from the summit by the Station Road bridge north. So this drain down the embankment would carry very little from water from the track drains. We will have to return with the CCTV probe to investigate further.

Where is the other end of this cross drain?

Then the odd job team proceeded to Stanley Pontlarge to install the new head of milepost 14 on the length of bridge rail planted last week.

The second milepost finished today - mp 14 at Stanley Pontlarge.

Finally back to Working Lane to properly fix the Michael Beveridge memorial plaque to the inlet headwall of the culvert 25B entry to the 25A/25B junction.

To the memory of
MICHAEL BEVERIDGE
25 July 1946 - 11 December 2021
Member of the Drainage team,
builder of this and many other structures

The plant operative gang of 1 spent another day at Winchcombe yard. First using the telehandler to clear more of the area where the new shipping containers are going.

Jonathan touching up the paint work on the new (to us) mini dumper.

Then taking delivery of small dumper from Halls. Some minor cosmetic was undertaken on this, particularly the paintwork on the floor.

Thursday 19^th May

Another day with full attendance – this can’t last!

The odd job team today was three strong. First they installed a second set of slip marker posts at Toddington North cutting up side - mile 9 & quarter. All of these are 8m down from the first row; so now any movement above and below the slip face can be monitored. The tops of these were painted yellow to make them easier to spot once the vegetation has grown. The tops of the existing row of markers at the top of the bank similarly treated. The top row are still all vertical and inline - so no recent movement on the slip.

Second set of slip marker posts on the up side at Toddington North; yellow tops for easier observation.

Then proceed to Working Lane to meet the plant operative operator who had taken the telehandler there after waiting for Winchcombe school traffic to finish. The telehandler was used to fill around the headwalls on the haul road exit of culvert 24C. Infill was a mixture of garden centre rubbish (with anything metal or wooden removed) and soil.

More careful operation of the telehandler to get infill as level as possible.

Even with the mechanical aid, there was a fair bit of manual shovelling and raking. The final job was fitting three lengths of two rail safety fences on substantial posts well clear of the headwalls. That essentially completes that bit of 24C, at 22 courses high it is one the tallest headwalls we have built. Just a bit more top soil required, when we find a convenient source.

The final rail of the safety fence for 24C haul road outlet headwall get nailed in. (L to R: Jonathan, Nigel, Polly).

24C up side - job done!

The (re-)construction team of three headed for a new location – Gotherington Yard. All the cess drain manholes from here through Dixton cutting back to Prestcott Road bridge require attention. When rebuilt (probably 20 years ago), the final course or two of bricks were normal house bricks. These have deteriorated; so need removing. With 20 manholes on each side of the line between Prescott Road bridge and Gotherington Yard this job will keep us occupied for quite a few weeks. Today the team completed three on the down side, those nearest the yard, just on the low mileage side of culvert 33B today. A fortunate discovery is that the oblong concrete rings we have in stock at Winchcombe fit well; so this will reduce the amount of new bricks needed. One manhole required two rings; the other two one each.

Before rebuild ... [Photo by Dave]

... rebuild in progress (Roger laying mortar) ... [Photo by Dave]

... after rebuild. Only 39 more to do! [Photo by Dave]

Back at Winchcombe we took delivery of a 360 mini digger from Halls. Together with the small dumper, these two pieces of plant will significantly increase the scope of work that we can undertake, thus reducing the need to call in contractors. Initially they are restricted to Winchcombe, as they require a suitable trailer to be moved from site to site. That should hopefully arrive in the summer.

The new plant awaiting first use in Churchward House yard.

Concrete & Clay

Concrete and Clay is the title of a record by the group Unit 4 Plus Two which topped the UK singles chart for one week in April 1965. Also Concrete and Clay are the two substances that the Drainage team spend a lot of time shovelling. Clay comes out of the excavations for new structures and concrete goes back in!

Thursday 21st April

Five team members in today, one away on holiday and one with family commitments.

The construction gang of three continued with the build of the haul road exit headwall of culvert 24C at Working Lane. They laid 8 courses of bricks and three courses of blocks. That used up our supply of small solid concrete blocks, so the final course contained a couple of the large heavy hollow BR blocks we recovered from the down side cess at Royal Oak. Some more of these were added as back fill. The block courses are now complete, there will be two or three more courses of bricks. This headwall is turning out to be one the larger builds we have undertaken. The temporary extension pipe was removed, so the bore is back to full diameter throughout.

Master brickie Polly in action. Note the two big hollow BR concrete blocks on the left top row.

Dave and Nigel on the mortar mixing.

End of day on 24C - next up is to fill the big void behind the headwall.

The odd job team of two first headed to Prescott Road Bridge (32) to under take an internal visual examination of culvert 31B. This flows under the bridge, adjacent to the low mileage abutment and right by the road. The main issues here are the upstream inlet pipe and the downstream outlet ditch – both of which are outside of railway land.

Inlet (down side) chamber of culvert 31B along side Prescott Road. The covers here are heavy kerb stones.

Next they checked the slip markers at Far Stanley (mile post 14¼). There was no obvious signs of recent movement.

Slip marker posts at Far Stanley, still all in line.

Then on to milepost 14 where the old rotten head was removed. Also removed the bridge rail back to workshop for de-rusting and painting. Quarter mile back they touched up the paint on the head of milepost 13¾.

Second coat of paint on the screw heads finishes milepost 13¾.

Along the way they trimmed various bits of vegetation and removed some saplings between Stanley Pontlarge and Royal Oak. After lunch it was off to Manor Lane to milepost 16¼ to paint the bridge rail and install the new head.

Sometimes it is easier to brush down and repaint the existing bridge rail posts in-situ. Martin applies the Hammerite to milepost 16¼.

Another one complete!

Finally back at Winchcombe they completed the painting of two more lengths of bridge rail and all the remaining new cast numerals that we have in stock. 

Thursday 28th April

A much reduced team of four in today - holiday, sickness and other commitments kept the other three away.

So no splitting into gangs – all proceeded to Working Lane. The telehandler was used to move some of the garden centre rubbish from around the willow tree stump on the hardstanding. This infill was moved to the uphill area where the hardstanding is to be extended. It was not possible to level it out as (a) it contains too many big items and (b) the land there is too soft to drive the telehandler off the haul road.

The telehandler was also used to add final layers of top soil to the infill of the new headwalls of culvert 24B.

Jonathan is distracted from telehandler operations by the passing of a train.

And this was the train, unusually a morning down train hauled by Peak class diesel 45149. This had replaced 2-8-0T 4270 due to steaming problems.

 

Concreting was the main task of the day at culvert 24C. A vast amount of it! Ten bags of cement and around 3 tonnes of aggregate were mixed and poured into the void behind the new headwall. This required a trip back to Winchcombe to bring over additional supplies of cement and aggregate. Yet more of the large hollow BR concrete blocks and some of the concrete lumps from the garden centre rubbish were also inserted into the void to reduce the required quantity of concrete.

Ten bags of cement, 3 tonnes of aggregate and several concrete blocks...

... results in a very solid back fill for the large up side haul road exit headwall on culvert 24C.

A small amount of concrete (well three barrow loads) were used to form an apron for a small headwall by the entrance to the pipe which will take water from the ditch by the boundary hedge.

Andrew levels off the small concrete apron at the entrance to the pipe from the boundary ditch. (Photo by Roger).

 

Finally, another quick visit to culvert 31B at Prescott Road Bridge (32). This was to take some more pictures of the inlet and outlet and to investigate water that is running across the road. This looks like it is a leak from a mains water pipe well uphill of the entry to our culvert.

Was It Bill or Was It Ben?

Note for younger readers: The title of this entry is a catch phrase from a popular BBC Children’s TV programme of the 1950s, back in those days the brand was ‘Watch With Mother’. Bill and Ben were The Flowerpot men; they lived in some large flower pots. One of the items we cleared from the former Garden Centre rubbish pile at Toddington was a large flower pot. So was it Bill’s or was it Ben’s? Or maybe neither, since it was plastic!

Thursday 31^st March

Six of the team in today; one last minute no-show because of COVID-19 positive test and thus isolation.

Construction of culvert 24C haul road exit headwall at Working Lane progressed. Today the concrete backfill was added up to to the level of the blocks laid last week.

First backfill concrete mix for 24C haul road exit. That kept the mixer and the mixer operator busy all morning!

Today the first loads of material from the Garden Centre rubbish site at Toddington arrived at Working Lane. The contractor was using a tractor/trailer and a 42-tonne tipper wagon. We moved the piles of logs, recycled red bricks, and reusable paving slabs to allow better access for these vehicles. The material is very mixed, unfortunately removal of the large concrete rubble, metal items and tree stumps did not take place when loading at Toddington. Also the area where the hardstanding is being extended was too wet for the lorry and tractor to get on to. We are going to need either a bulldozer or a large 360 excavator to level this out. The contractor finished moving the material from Toddington on Friday. The area at Toddington will become the C&M material store.

One of the first loads of the very mixed 'infill' from the old garden centre site at Toddington is tipped at Working Lane.

A small amount of brush cutting was undertaken on the up side of the embankment at Working Lane to enable the Saturday Lineside Clearance team safe access to some trees to be felled.

Area cleared around the two trees to be felled on Working Lane embankment - Winchcombe up fixed distant visible at the top of the slope. We think this is the highest embankment on the line. Despite the blue sky, it felt more like winter than spring today.

Another attempt to CCTV the upstream culvert which becomes culvert 25A under Working Lane bridge was abandoned. Still too much water flowing. However, we examined the entry to this covered channel, it is about 100 yards up Gopshill Lane on the east side south of Apple Orchard Close. Upstream ditch from there has a lot of silt.

Another replacement milepost head fitted – this time to 13 & three quarters, between Gretton & Stanley Pontlarge.

Milepost 13¾ looking pristine. Photo by Roger.

 

Back in the workshop two lengths of bridge rail were painted with black Hammerite.

Thursday 7^th March

Again one team member away due to a COVID-19 positive test and thus isolation – but a different person than last week.

First item for the whole team was storing the items which one of our builders merchants had delivered the day before. Always worth while getting bags of cement under cover as quickly as possible.

Then a division into three sub teams of two each.

Construction sub-team progress at culvert 24C haul road exit; laid 7 courses of bricks and 2 courses of concrete blocks.

Getting higher; 24C haul road exit. Pipe to drain boundary ditch in place to enable marking and cutting of bricks and blocks. Photo by Polly.

Milepost installation & odd job sub team. Measured distances at Broadway from milepost 4 & half (north of Springfield Lane), taking this as our zero origin as it has not been disturbed from BR days. Removed milepost 4 & three quarter house number style head for replacement. Installed replacement milepost 5 using bridge rail at its correct location. Measured up the gap where coping stone is missing from up side low mileage wing wall on bridge (culvert 2A).

Milepost 5 - a complete replacement in heritage style with bridge rail post. This by the trackside access from the 'new' Broadway Car Park. Photo by Roger.

Milepost manufacturing sub team. Progressed priming with red oxide and painting black the lead numbers and the prepared steel bar for dividers and quarter marks. One bridge rail painted on all sides with Hammerite; two bridge rails painted on one side with Hammerite. Thanks to C&W for ‘loaning’ some more Hammerite – old bridge rail soaks up the paint! Two long lengths of bridge rai which were formerly fence posts were cut down to 6 foot; old fence fixtures removed and wire brushed down.

Another piece of bridge rail cut to length, fence fastenings removed and wirebrushed. Ready for painting with Hammerite. Photo by Dave.

Thursday 14^th April

Only five in today - one off sick (suspect COVID-19 again, the third team member in three weeks) and one on holiday.

Construction sub team of two continued on culvert 24C haul road exit at Working Lane. They laid 8 courses of concrete blocks and 6 courses of bricks. This has exhausted the supply of small concrete blocks - the final course will use the recovered big heavy hollow BR blocks. Also dug ditch from the new headwall back to the boundary hedge along side the haul road and inserted 14ft of flexible pipe. This will then take the water from that boundary ditch – clearing it out back to the entrance gate is one item on our ‘To Do’ list.

You can tell which courses were laid today - the mortar is still damp. The smaller diameter pipe entering in the angle between headwall and wingwall drains the boundary ditch by the haul road. Photo by Polly.

Looking the other way; the length of pipe now buried. Dig it out in the morning, fill it in the afternoon. Beats a workout at the gym! Photo by Polly.

Odd job team of three first went to Toddington Station, two in a Transit and one in the Telehandler. This was for the final clearance from the new C&M compound (old garden centre dump). Moved remaining tree trunks and stumps to outside the compound where our forestry contractor will be able to cut them up.

Jonathan driving the telehandler removing tree stumps from the C&M storage compound, the former garden centre dump at Toddington.

Also moved a metal turnstile to just outside the compound. Loaded up the remaining rubbish, including the big flowerpot and plastic mesh and took to general skip at Winchcombe. Whilst with the telehander at Toddington we were able to fullfill a request from the Friends of the station. This was to move to move three large concrete plant troughs back to be inline with the old access road.

Repositioning concrete plant troughs at Toddington.

Then it was off to Working Lane. Attempted to use telehandler to clear some of the rubble from around a willow tree stump which is now in the middle of what will be the hardstanding area. Not very successful; this rubble contains some items that are too big for the telehandler bucket and the haphazard arrangements of the piles makes it impossible to scoop much at a time.

Telehander versus big concrete rubble.

Finally more milepost work. We checked the mileposts between Bishops Cleeve and Gotherington (17 back to 15 & three quarter). All are at correct distances apart; and all are on bridge rail. We did intend fitting the new head to 16 & quarter, but the old bolts would not shift! Annoyingly we did not have a big spanner or a can of WD40 with us.

Milepost 15¾ at Gotherington is high on our list for replacement. The BR style yellow metal head is loose and the bridge rail post is leaning at the wrong angle in both planes.

Back at workshop we experimented with two method of fitting the new hollow milepost heads to the wooden posts used between Laverton & Childswickham Road. Decided use of two screws at an angle into the back of the head was best. Unless we find some more suitable lengths of bridge rail, we will have to continue to use wooden posts in some places.