Busy bees at Stanton

Friday 10 May 

The drain gang don't work on Friday, but today was different with 5 gathered for a Working at Heights course at Winchcombe. Drains aren't usually 'at height' but the definition is work in 'any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury', that includes falling into holes or trenches, or off headwalls and the like, hence the need to be aware of the risks involved. After the course we unpacked the new brick cutting jig; was this a case of too many hands 😉  

As a last resort Roger reads the instructions :-)
(Photo: Alastair) 

Saturday 11 May 

Back to Stanton, this time to start the site preparation for repairing the up side cess drain outlet headwall. This is a forerunner to a bigger project to repair Culvert 11A and the down side cess outfall. 

Before starting we carried out a birds nest survey to ensure it was safe to take down the clump of blackthorn, it's pretty inhospitable stuff so perhaps it was no surprise that we didn't find anything. 

Up side cess outfall and scrap sleeper pile 

Roger and Stuart start the clearing
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair stacks the blackthorn for disposal  

The headwall area had to be cleared so that we can see what needs to be done to either build it higher or dish the area around the top to prevent it being overwhelmed by the surrounding ground. 

Site cleared and headwall exposed 

The headwall in danger of being swamped 

After a break we headed over to the up side to measure up for an extension to the down side cess drain. This job was rapidly abandoned when a swarm of bees were spotted on a fence post. After a quick risk assessment, we shot back over the track out of their way. 

Busy Bees 

The grass seems to be growing rather fast this year, so the proposed pathway down to Culvert 11A was cut, this will become the main access route for the upcoming work. Alastair spent some time breaking rocks, didn't this used to be called hard labour  😁 

Stuart with the flail machine
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair breaking rock in the hot sun 

Rock 0 - Alastair 1 

The clearance down at Culvert 11A on the up side came up with half a roll of pig netting, looks to have been run over while hiding in the grass. 

What you don't need near the brush cutter or flail 

From Culvert 11A 

The water in 11A is higher at the inlet end the outlet, a quick shufti found that some bricks have been washed in, roughly mid way through restricting the flow.   

Is anybody in? 
(Photo: Alastair) 

11A Internal - brick profile visible 

Moving the stored timber sleepers was the last bit of tidying up, these were neatly stacked out of the way along with a collection of through bolter chairs.  

Roger and Stuart apply leverage to the sleepers
(Photo: Alastair) 

The oversize Jenga 

After the sleepers had been stacked we had a visit from Steve the JCB driver, he informed us that he is moving these same sleepers up to the yard on Monday! If only we'd known... 

While the flail was handy the toe of the embankment between 11B and 11A got a trim (at least it started to get a trim). 

Stuart under the tree
(Photo: Alastair) 

Route of the proposed pipe from Culvert 11B to 11A 

Back in the yard at Winchcombe, the Lineside Clearance Manager report finding a manhole just to the north of Culvert 21A (River Isbourne) on the up side fence line. This called for a another quick shufti. It looks more like a foul water cover than one of ours, possibly part of the sewage system from Greet to the works at the other side of the railway. 

Looks to be too solid for one of ours 

Stanton in the wet

Tuesday 7 May 

A bit thin on the ground today with Andrew and Michael on a First Aid course it just left someone fresh from holiday to hold the fort. Carriage & Wagon have done a lot of favours for us lately, so today was a chance to repay them by transporting two platform trolleys they had rebuilt to Broadway, these will add to the period atmosphere on the platform. 

Trolleys at Winchcombe waiting for a lift north 

Loaded one at a time 

Parked on Platform 1 for the Broadway group to fine it a home 

While in the vicinity, a pallet with 18 chamber lids was spotted on Platform 2, these may need to be recovered to Winchcombe for redeployment. 

Standard catchpit Lids 

It would have been churlish to pass Stanton without dropping in to see how the excavation went last week. It's rather a big hole! 

Stanton down side slope excavation 

Thursday 9 May 

Rather a damp day with rain blowing over every now and then. That didn't dampen the spirits of the gang, especially when the end of a stage is in sight. Michael carried on with chamber 3 rebuild while the rest of the team focused on the slope excavation.    

Chamber 3 almost at ground level 

Andrew and Roger fitting the replacement pipe
(Photo: Alastair) 

Joint concreted for added strength  

Once the pipe was in the backfilling could start, you dig them out then fill them in 😧 The pipe was surrounded with 10 mm shingle to help protect it. 

Dieh and Stuart loading peas shingle into the barrows
(Photo: Alastair) 

Roger and Andrew on the barrows 

Andrew levels the shingle 

Next layer is the slag blocks 

All hands to the pumps 

Backfilling completed 

That's one part of the job completed. 

Michael hasn't been forgotten, he had managed to get as far as doing the headers on the back wall, the rain had slowed the job down as trying to keep the mortar dry proved to be time consuming. 

Chamber 3 headers going on
(Photo: Alastair) 

We managed one last job before we left to dry out, that was shifting some scrap sleepers that have been buried in the undergrowth. These need to be moved so that we can start the repair of the up side cess outlet headwall just to the north of Bridge 11. Our Permanent Way colleagues will no doubt come and dispose of them when they get the chance. 

Timber sleepers moved out the way of the next job 

A quick plug here for the Cotswold Festival of Steam on the late May bank holiday (25 to 27 May). With 8 engines in steam and an intensive timetable it should be a great weekend. The GWR 2-8-0 Tank 4270 will be running, at 100 this year, it's older than most of our volunteers 😊 

Token exchange with 4270 at Toddington 

More surprises at Stanton

Monday 29 April 

Just Alastair and Dave in today and they started off by tackling one of the jobs that has been on the list for a while. One of the chambers in Winchcombe Yard had a knock by machine last year. The top 2 courses of brick were dislodged so they have been removed to make the structure safe until it can be rebuilt. 

Winchcombe Yard Chamber
(Photo: Alastair)

Dislodged bricks
(Photo: Alastair)

Dave tides the wall top
(Photo: Alastair)

Lids back on and high visibility fence added 
(Photo: Alastair)

The bricks were taken back to add to the recycling pile. Being hollows, these can't be reused they will just go for backfill somewhere. 

Wasted bricks
(Photo: Alastair)

To round the day off another set of concrete lids was manufactured. 

Dave prepares the moulds
(Photo: Alastair) 

(Photo: Alastair) 

Thursday 2 May 

Back to Stanton to see if the weather would allow the chamber builds to carry on. Michael managed to complete Chamber 2 headers and then moved on to Chamber 3. 

Chamber 2 nears completion
(Photo: Alastair) 

Recycling the bricks on Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Andrew started on the excavation of the collapsed pipe from the crest down to the cess. As usual, this proved not to be a straightforward job. The stub pipe from the cess chamber and the pipe down the slope were offset by 300 mm, with no sign that they had ever been connected. Why anyone would dream of installing this arrangement beggars belief, but they did. 

Andrew starts the excavation
(Photo: Alastair)  

The hole gets wider 
(Photo: Alastair)  

Roger, meanwhile, finished off the headers on wall 4 (it only has 3 sides so it's not technically a chamber and as the pipe run through the wing wall it's not a headwall). 

Construction at Wall 4 and Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Fearing they might miss out on a spot of digging, everyone had a go in the down pipe excavation. 

Michael, Roger and Andrew looking for the pipe end
(Photo: Alastair) 

The end of the pipe down the slope (Photo: Alastair)  

Slope pipe internal view
(Photo: Alastair) 

The rains came in at this point which encouraged the team to head for home. 

Saturday 4 May 

Chambers 1 and 2 on the down crest at Stanton are now completed, lids on, backfilled and landscaped. A great team effort has seen the cess dry out and the incoming flow diverted. 

Chambers 1 and 2 Down side crest
(Photo: Alastair) 

Wall 4 is finished and backfilled, the last job for Roger was to clear the end of the stream under the fence. 

Roger clearing out the incoming steam
(Photo: Alastair) 

The focus now was on the pipe down from the crest to the cess. The pipe was located and all it needed was digging out to the last good pipe section. Easier said than done as the pipe was covered with large slag blocks that had become set in clay 

Roger clearing up the slope
(Photo: Alastair) 

Alastair takes a turn at digging
(Photo: Hand unknown) 

Another pipe section removed
(Photo: Alastair) 

This is why the pipe is coming out
(Photo: Alastair) 

The eventual size of the dig
(Photo: Alastair) 

Michael managed to get more done on the repair of chamber 3. 

Painstaking work on Chamber 3
(Photo: Alastair) 

Single skin on the back wall to avoid a root
(Photo: Alastair) 

By the end of the day a section of 225 mm plastic pipe had been added to the end of the pipe down the slope, this will be routed round to the chamber stub, probably completing what was originally intended when the pipe was installed. 

Replacement pipe will be routed round into the cess chamber
(Photo: Alastair)