Up with the Larks

Like any outdoor team we certainly notice the changing seasons. Sometimes the weather does as well, but we often experience all four seasons in a single day. The hours of daylight are more reliable. A few weeks ago I was getting up on work days before dawn and just as the dawn chorus was starting. Now the birds start singing before I awake, and the journey to Winchcombe is all in daylight.

Our wildlife event this time is also a herald of spring – a skylark singing. With the clearance of most of the down (Cotswold) side embankments and cuttings, there is now more open ground for these and other ground nesting birds to establish nests. There is still plenty of scrub on the up (Malvern) side for the likes of robins, yellow hammers, thrushes and bull finches. That is biodiversity in action. (See https://www.gwsr.com/facilities/nature-between-the-fences for some more notes on what the Estates Management teams have found on the railway).

Thursday 16th February

Not yet back to full strength, two of the team still off sick, so only five attending.

A group of two attended to Bridge 9, Stanton aqueduct. They completed all the repointing of the two pillars. The gap in the inlet channel brickwork was filled with new bricks and the cracks in the original (well from a few years ago) brickwork repointed. The slip marker posts were checked, good to report no movement discerned. Next task was to add the extra 300mm diameter pipes which were donated by our Civil Engineering contactor, Walsh. This hit a problem. The existing pipe through the head wall was too close to the concrete bottom to fit the joining collar. The concrete floor of the channel was too hard to break out to form a deeper channel. After discussion with our Infrastructure Manager, a plan B was formulated. This is to remove the exiting pipe through the inlet headwall and to fit the replacement pipe through the headwall, around 30mm higher. So bricks were removed from headwall and the first length of new pipe fitted.

New pipes in the aqueduct inlet channel. (Photo by Roger)

 

Up side pillar of aqueduct after repointing. (Photo by Roger)

Down side pillar of aqueduct after repointing; slip marker post visible in background. (Photo by Roger)

The other three formed a heavy lifting gang. They moved 30 concrete chamber rings from the former garden centre site at Toddington to bridge 11 at Stanton. These have been a ‘feature’ at Toddington for over 3 years. They are for the project to divert the outlet (up side) of cross drain 11B to avoid a small diameter land drain in the adjoining field – this has caused some flooding in previous years. This project would have commenced in 2020 had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with LWB Transits equipped with tail lifts this was heavy work. The remaining 18 rings at Toddington (two bound stacks of 9) will be moved later – this time with using the Telehandler to load and unload them.

Thirty concrete rings neatly stacked near bridge 11 at Stanton. They will not be there as long as they were at Toddington (hopefully!)

 

Thursday 23 February

First the very good news, the two team members who had been off ill returned and we were joined by our new recruit (welcome Stuart). So a team of 8!

Hence division into three sub teams; and another change of plan.

First group (of two) attended Stanton Aqueduct (bridge 9) again. Armed with the correct jointing lubricant they made a permanent joint in the sections of the new 300mm id pipe which runs from the inlet headwall to inside the aqueduct trough. They then bricked up the hole in the headwall. So the inlet (down side) repair is now complete. Once again they checked the slip marker posts – all are still upright and in line, so no discernable movement in the cutting side.

 

Nigel (l) and Roger inserting the new pipes in the aqueduct inlet and rebuilding the headwall.

 

Completed repair to the aqueduct inlet channel with the new 300mm diameter pipes through the headwall to the trough. (Picture by Roger).

 

Second group of 3 measured up the pipes which exit from Churchward House yard to the ditch in the embankment at the edge of Winchcombe Yard. This is in correction with the building of the new S&T workshop – for which we need to ensure this ditch does not overflow. Our recommended plan is to pipe the ditch for 25m; as the ditch is too deep to build a concrete wall. The group then headed to Stanton Aqueduct to assist there. But a call from the third group meant a return to collect a pump from Winchcombe and head to Prescot Road.

The final group of three set off to Prescot Road bridge (32) to take advantage of the road closure. The objective was to rod out the pipe in the outlet ditch of culvert 31B; this is beside the road and well outside of railway land. This pipe has been blocked for a long time, causing the water in the bore of culvert 31B to back up. The exit of this pipe is about 40m from the railway boundary and about 1.5m below road level - the entry has never been found. It is probably about 4m from the boundary. After some forceful rodding, the flow in the ditch increased marginally and a few air bubbles appeared near the suspected pipe inlet. However, one of the rods broke (the screw connection came off) - leaving around 30 rods in the pipe. Hence request to group two for a pump.

Thirty six rods went in but only six came out! The exit of the the pipe in the outlet of culvert 31B. (Picture by Dave)

With the pump running over lunchtime the water level went down from around 2ft to around 6". This enabled use of grabs to extract some silt. But then the pump failed (suspect it is the float switch which has played up before.) So we still have not found the inlet to the pipe! It feels like there is at least a foot of silt and rubble in the bottom of the outlet sump.

The advantage of a road closure - our vehicles parked next to the outlet of culvert 31B, Prescott Road. New fence installed as part of the bridge 32 rebuilt prominent.

There must be a pipe inlet down there some where! Martin tries his luck!

So not so a very successful day, but we did notice the puddles in the corner of the adjacent field (up side low mileage) disappeared during the day; so there is probably a greater flow in the outlet ditch than when we started. Also with the roadside fence in place it is slightly safer to work there when the road is open. So we will return soon, with new rods and a working pump.

Certainly never a dull moment

I finished the last blog post with the comment that there is never a dull moment in the Drainage team. Very apt, as three requests came in in close succession.

First was a report from our Clearance colleagues (Wednesday team) regarding a french drain on the up side at Broadway headshunt that appears to have lost some of its stone.

A day later a phone call - usually a sign of urgency. This certainly was, the Bridge Engineer requested us to investigate Stanton Aqueduct where cracks had occurred in the inlet channel on the down side. Consequently the stream was flowing down the cutting side and into the cess.

Finally a note from the PW team working on the sleeper replacement at Didbrook. There was a large tree branch fallen onto the inlet on culvert 15A.

Obviously the second item was the more urgent; so it became the only item of work for the first Thursday of February.

Thursday 2nd February

A team of four collected various items of plant and materials which might be useful for a temporary or even a permanent repair of the aqueduct.

First two of the team took Thunderbird-1 to Working Lane to collect some plastic pipes which might be useful as a bypass to the inlet channel. The other two loaded various items of equipment into Thunderbird-2.

When we arrived at the aqueduct, John Sreeves and Pete Lewis from the bridge inspection team were already there. The inlet pipe from the adjoining field has a diameter of 300mm - unfortunately this is the diameter that we do not have any of in stock. So we first laid a temporary 100mm flexible plastic pipe from the inlet to well inside the trough; fixed in the inlet 300mm diameter pipe with clay. This stopped the water flowing out of the cracks in the inlet channel down the embankment side. Next was to use some of the quick setting cement to fill the larger cracks in the channel floor and brick sides. Loose brickwork was removed and cleaned up. Normal cement was used to make concrete to plug the void under the channel. Other brick joins with cracks cleaned up, ready for repointing.

Temporary pipe inserted in to inlet headwall of the aqueduct. Rapid setting cement ready for the reparis to the concrete base.

Lower portion of damaged brickwork replaced - strong plastic cat food bag in use as shuttering!

End of first day temporary repair - a dry inlet channel...

... and water flowing where it should, out of the up side end of the aqueduct trough.

John & Pete used the ladder we borrowed from C&M to check the rest of the structure. We cleaned out the exit ditch on the up side; also installed a row of slip marker posts on the down side either side of the aqueduct to monitor for any bank movement. Unfortunately our spray can of blue line marker paint choose this moment to run out!

Also we located the three land drains that enter near the crest of the cutting on the down side between the aqueduct and bridge 10. Probably inserted whilst the railway was closed. Like one we found south of Stanton Road bridge a few years ago, these need proper piping down the cess. Fortunately they appear to only flow in very wet weather.

Finally, one team member checked on culvert 7A by the B4632 road bridge. The repair made in October is working well; nothing escaping into the up side cess and a good flow noted in the ditch in the adjacent landowners overgrown wood.

Thursday 9th February

With three team members off sick and one away on a dumper driving course we had to re-plan the work for today. Essentially the brick replacement and repointing work at Stanton Aqueduct (bridge 9) had to be postponed for a week. Fortunately the last seven days have not seen any rain; so our temporary pipe at the aqueduct is still coping with the flow of the stream.

So it was a small team of three who first attended to the fallen tree branch on the down side (inlet) of culvert 15A at Didbrook. Fortunately it was resting on the low mileage wing and the headwall so had not created a blockage. Easily removed, so a good start to the day, one job ticked off by 09:30!

Culvert 15A inlet after removal of fallen tree branch. (A before picture is in the Heritage Herald post of 8th February.)

As we had the laser level with us, we took the opportunity to measure the difference between the bore outlet and the onward pipe exit on the up side of culvert 14B near Didbrook Brige No1. This is where the adjacent landowner diverted the stream a few years ago. The height difference between the bottom of the brick invert bore and the bottom of the plastic exit pipe the landowner inserted is 450mm, with the exit being higher. So we are always going to have a pond here. The depth of water by the failing high mileage wing wall is approximately 500mm. Will need to think about how to drain sufficient of this to repair the wing wall.

Next on to the former garden centre site at Toddington to count and check on the stacks of concrete chamber rings which are for the cross drain 11B outlet to culvert 11A diversion at Stanton. There are 48 rings; we devised a plan to move half of these to Stanton using the LWB transits with tail lifts. The second half will need the telehandler for loading.

Dave & Nigel discussing the cunning plan to move concrete rings from Toddington to Stanton.

Then back to Winchcombe for coffee break in a warm mess (and to collect the one item of equipment we had forgotten).

After break up to Stanton to bridge 11. The cleared area of the hardstanding on the low mileage side was extended, and all the undergrowth removed from the stacks of pipes there. These were delivered in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. After lunch we used the laser level to check the lie of the land between the existing cross drain 11B outflow and the culvert 11A outlet under bridge 11. This diversion will run under the farm track, as 11A outlet is on the low mileage end of the bridge. The ‘new’ pipes under the farm track were laid back in 2019. Having the embankment cleared almost to the fence line between bridge 11 and cross drain 11B was a great help - thanks to Tom Clark's team with their robo flail. We checked access for the minidigger, the easiest and safeest route will involve access from the farm track for which we need to obtain the landowner's permission.

With all vegetation cleared we can see exactly what lengths of pipes and collars we have at bridge 11.

Dave and Nigel using the laser level to check the levels of the existing and new cross drain 11B outlet. Existing outlet is the small diameter pipe disappearing under the hedge and diagonally across the field. It is too small to cope with heavy rain fall.

Finally up to Stanton aqueduct to check on the temporary pipe on the inlet. It is holding, just a dribble of water through the clay in the inlet; the low mileage crest is now just damp and no water running down the cutting side. With a new can of blue marker paint the tops of the slip markers either side of the aqueduct were painted - and the posts checked that they are still in line and upright. So no detectable movement in the embankment in the last week. We have been able to source some 300mm internal diameter pipe to extend the inlet from the stream through the headwall and into the trough. Thanks to Jason from Walsh’s for those.

Temporary bypass pipe on the Stanton aqueduct inlet holding, just a wee dribble through the clay dam. 

Slip marker posts all still in a line and upright, and now with blue tops. (The wheelbarrow under the trough is not to catch any drips - it contains sand for the next round of repairs. We were not going to wheel it down just to push it back up next time!)

So next time the plan is to install these pipes and complete the bricking and repointing on the aqueduct; plus move concrete rings from Toddington to to Stanton. And after that take a look at the french drain at Broadway. As ever, the plan is flexible!

Mission accomplished

Delay to blog publishing does not constitute lack of work by the team! Far from it. The main focus of January was to complete the programme of internal visual inspections and clearance of the culverts and cross drains. This internal programme covers all those drainage structures which are not externally inspected and which are not bridges. Ideally we inspect and clear these once in each financial year, which ends on 31^st January. Last winter some overran into February and even March – a hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with our month out back in October to concentrate on the rebuild at culvert 7A (by the B4632 Bridge at Stanton) and the loss of one working day before Christmas due to snow and ice; we have succeed this year. Just. The final four inspections took place on the last Thursday of January. Hence mission accomplished.

Thursday 5^th January

All seven team members in attendance, eager to work off any Christmas excess!

A group of two fixed the missing coping stone on the high mileage up side parapet wall of bridge 37. Then spent most of the rest of the day repointing the wall. At least the track side and the end of the outside which can be reached with out scaffolding.

Our plant operative (singular) took the repaired flail and cut the vehicle parking area adjacent to milepost 16; then proceeded south reaching the foot crossing at 16m30c. In the process discovered more badger activity just south of bridge 37. The flail is working well, but it best to trim waist high brambles with a hedge cutter first.

The culvert clearance and inspection group of 4 continued with the inspections and clearance. They started with the down side cess drain to 37B which was missed before Christmas; then completed cross drains 37C, 37D, 37E, 37F and 37G.

The one we missed before Christmas. Down side cess drain to inlet ditch of 37B. [Photo by Roger]

The last, 37G, is the one that runs under the footpath on the down side at accommodation bridge 38; it empties into the down side ditch alongside the mobile home park which flows into culvert 38A. Thankfully, no major deterioration to report. A couple need some loose bricks fixing, and a couple need the silt/clay fully removed from the inlet (down side) traps, it was far too wet and slippery to do on this visit.

Two more loose bricks for the bricklayer to reset - otherwise all fine. Cross drain 37E up side (outlet as you can see from the water flowing out)

Thursday 12^th January

The team formation today was 3 + 3.

The rebuilding group attended to the minor brickwork repairs on cross drains 37A, 37B, 37E noted in the recent internal inspections.

Cross drain 37A up (outlet) side - loose bricks fixed and gaps repointed. A minor repair but will prevent further frost damage. [Photo by Dave]

They also continued with repointing of high mileage up side parapet wall of bridge 37 (Gotherington accommodation); really the joints were too wet after previous nights rain. Then back to bridge 36 (Manor Lane), where the down side parapet only has cement rendering as coping. The exercise here was to measure up for proper replacement coping stones. Unfortunately a search around our stock piles failed to find sufficient of the correct size. So maybe we rebuild using solid bull nose bricks. That requires another pallet of 400, which are not cheap. But this is the price of heritage rebuilds!

The clearance and inspection group tackled cross drains 39B, 40B, 41A, 41B and 41C; between Two Hedges Road bridge and Kayte Lane crossing. As there had been a lot of heavy rain the night before(and quite a bit in the proceeding week); this was a valuable inspection. [Does make getting up at 6am in the dark and a very wet drive to Winchcombe worthwhile!]

One of the inlet chambers (down side) of cross drain 39B is this circular manhole. The actual cross drain is a syphon, one of a number we have on the railway.

40B takes the water from two streams coming down from Cleeve Hill, the northern most enters at the crest of the cutting just south of Two Hedges Road. Most of this now flows down two pipes to the down cess (installed in 2019); whilst some takes a right angle turn to run in the crest ditch which eventually becomes an embankment toe ditch to join with the input of the other stream.
This originates at a spring part way up the hill. This crest then toe ditch is very overgrown, but is flowing well. The down cess also empties into it. So quite a lot of water passing through 40B which leaves by the ditch across the playing field. Fortunately this appeared to be draining well. The next cross drain south, 41A, is one which rarely has a flow. This time it did, mainly from high mileage down side toe drain. On the down (outlet side) there is no proper exit ditch in the adjacent sports field. So not surprisingly water was pooling to about 4" by the outlet. We will keep an eye on this one, to ensure the ponds disappear in once the wet spell is over.

The pipes down the embankment from the northern stream at 40B enter the down side cess. It was a very wet night before this inspection.

Another syphon is 40C at Kayte Lane crossing - but this has these large open inlets. Back in the summer the inlet here was completely dry.

 

Thursday 19^th January

Initial plans for today had to be changed at the last minute as the Gretton to Gotherington road was closed for resurfacing. So this meant we were not able to inspect and clear culvert 30A at Tunnel Bridge (30); or visit Prescott Road bridge (32) to speak with the contractors working on the bridge regarding culvert 31B downside old headwall.

Again six of us working; but this time the formation as 2 + 4.

The team of two took the drain rods to top of the Working Lane haul road opposite the Royal Oak. They attempted to rod the out outlet pipe from the pond on the up (Malvern) side, near the tunnel mouth. They may have partially shifted the blockage – which appears to be a long way in. However, they did discover the outflow, it is in the adjoining field at the far boundary. So it does not enter the outlet ditch of culverts 24A and 24B which runs down hill inside of our boundary. After the rodding, water was noted flowing out of the outlet, but not much flow from the pond.

The up side pond near southern end of Greet Tunnel. There are plans to expand this as part of the biodiversity scheme which includes planting trees on the old navvy camp. (Our Lineside Clearance colleagues have the full story). [Photo by Jonathan]

The team of 4 undertook the clearance and visual inspections of cross drains 35A, 35B, 35C and 35D. These are those by the loop at Gotherington. Ability to use a permaquip trolley whilst the line is closed was a bonus.

Dave, Nigel & Roger get kitted up and load the permaquip trolley at Manor Lane. It is almost half a mile back to cross drain 35A near Gotherington Signal Box.

No serious problems to note; but some animal (probably badger) activity on down side at 35A and 35B. Also the vegetation has grown thick here; up side access to 35A was cleared along the boundary fence line from 35B; thorn trees behind the signal box make that route impossible.
Interestingly even after the recent wet weather 35A was just damp; no water flowing through it. Like 41A at Bishops Cleeve, this is effectively a storm drain.

Outlet on up side of cross drain 35B has an unusual shape to incorporate a run-off from a cess drain.

A good flow through 35C even after a couple of days without rain.

 

Weather wise this was a spectacular winter’s day – cold by bright sunshine. At Gotherington, some of the morning coffee break time was spent watching a kestrel, perched on the nearby power lines. The kestrel was in turn watching a robin, who was scavenging in our freshly cut scrub.

Gotherington Loop 19th January.

 

Gotherington Loop 26th January - after our clearance contractor had cleared to the fence line on the down (Cotswold) side and a strip on the embankment top on the up (Malvern) side. We can now drive a vehicle as far as the up home signals.

Thursday 26^th January

Down to five members today; the missing two both absent with medical situations. So a very reduced 3 + 2 formation.

The group of thee cleared and inspected syphon cross drain 40A at Two Hedges Road. They then started clearing the down side crest ditch which runs between 40A and 40B. Took the rest of the day to reached the point where it becomes a toe ditch at bottom of embankment – this just shows how much as grown over the past couple of years. They recovered the two loose sections of 59cm diameter pipe installed by our contractors about 3 years ago. We are planning to pipe the rest of the ditch where it is on the crest, we have some lengths of large diameter pipe in stock which may be suitable.

The down side 40B inlet ditch along the crest of the embankment after clearing, reveals two lengths of big pipe. [Photo by Dave]

An unwelcome discovery was a leak from the ditch through the embankment; almost opposite milepost 17½. We had not noticed this leak two weeks ago (January 12^th) when clearing and inspecting cross drain 40B. It might be due to snow /frost melt; but most likely a crack in the ditch. We will keep it monitored. Fortunately the water is running into the down cess and thence eventually to cross drain 40B and away.

The team of two cleared and inspected culvert 30A (Tunnel Bridge 30) - this involved being escorted along the road closed for resurfacing. Then along the track to Bishops Cleeve, stopping to speak with the clearance & fencing contractor working the big flail. This is an impressive pieces of kit and the clearance results impressive too). Met with the group of three at Bishops Cleeve for coffee break and to observe the reported leak. Then on to Cheltenham to clear and inspect the two culverts south of Hunting Butts; 44A and 45A. On both of these there was noticeable deterioration in the condition of the up side structures. However, we have an abandoned railway here, no track and certainly no trains. Intriguingly at Wymans Brook we could here the mainline trains on the nearby former Midland line to Cheltenham Landsdown station.

Looking into the manhole on the down side at culvert 45A, Wymans Brook. The inlet is in a pipe all the way from the lakes in Pittville Park.

Next time

We might be able to make a start on our long planned work at Stanton; diverting the outlet of cross drain 11B to avoid a small diameter pipe in our neighbours field. Plus we need to return to Two Hedges Road to monitor the cutting leak; and return to Gotherington to check out 41A. Or we might get diverted elsewhere. There is never a dull moment in the drainage team!

Branching out

Diversity is a current buzz word in the Estates Management Department. During 2023 we will be assisting with the planting of over 150 new trees at several sites along the line, and digging out a new pond in the Orchard at Chicken Curve. Some of the trees will draw out ground water, thus reducing the water run off which we have to deal with.

We keep a close eye on the existing lineside trees. Previously we have written about the apples, damsons and pears; two more crops to add are walnuts and mistletoe. Unfortunately the squirrels beat us to the walnuts at Dixton and Gotherington. However, there was plenty of mistletoe – particularity on the boundary trees at the navy camp site at Greet Tunnel (up side, Cheltenham end). We found some on lower branches of an apple tree at Manor Lane, this was reachable with the loppers from the ground. Maybe next year we can join forces with our Clearance colleagues to provide a festive greenery provision service. Must check the Risk Assessments and Method Statements to ensure they cover Christmas decoration collection.

Mistletoe

Thursday 8^th December

A very cold and frosty, but sunny day. By carefully choosing sunny spots, it was just possible to sit outside for coffee breaks and lunch. With 100% team attendance, we split into a team of 4 and a team of 3.

The team of 4 tackled culvert/cross drain internal visual exams and clearance. This covered 27C, 28A, 30B, 31A and 33A. This competes all those on the internal programme as far south as Gotherington - except for 30A at Tunnel Bridge, Middle Stanley. We omitted this today as with frost on the ground it was too dangerous to approach from the railway embankment, the sides here are steep and there is quite a fall from the bridge wing walls. Glad to report no major deterioration in any inspected today from their previous inspection.

The team of 3 tacked the access drive repairs at Stanley Pontlarge. We found some suitable small stone at Winchcombe; in dumpy bags that were just about to fall apart and on pallets that were rotten. Loaded this onto the tipper and spread it on the top part of the drive; getting the bit under the gate level with the no1 stone put down by the Clearance team the previous Saturday. Then on to Gotherington yard to collect the dumpy bag of pea gravel that had been sitting there for around 18 months. But it had gone! Looks like it disappeared recently as there was the impression of the dumpy bag on the ground. Finally manually moved some of the pile of logs at the toe of the embankment on the down side low mileage of bridge 29. These were on the line of the new fence, which our fencing contractors are installing. The embankment is too steep for wheeled vehicle access. A friendly request to the fencing team resulted in recovery of the logs using their tracked fence post driver.

Unloading stone on the access at Stanley Pontlarge. Reduces the churning from vehicle wheels and tracks during wet weather.

You can almost feel the cold! Stanley Pontlarge, fencing contractors using their tracked post drive on left; chamber of cross drain 28A in foreground. Note our Transit in the background parked in a sunny spot!

New fence line and logs at the toe of the embankment on the down side low mileage of bridge 29. Impressive clearance by our contractor's remote controlled flail.

 

 

 

Thursday 15^th December

Snow fell on the Cotswolds in the early hours of Sunday (11^th December) and the temperature did not rise much above freezing for several days. Overnight Wednesday/Thursday, Winchcombe was one of the coldest places in the Midlands, recording an overnight minimum of -12C. Not surprisingly we cancelled our work planned for today.

Thursday 22^nd December

Just four of the team in attendance – well it was 3 days before Christmas!

Jonathan and Polly took the Drainage LWB Transit truck for a longer run to charge the batteries and to collect the overhauled Efco flail from Blockley. The flail is almost like a new machine now! They called in at Toddington on the way back with the intention to move some of the 150+ trees delivered. Unfortunately timing of the Santa ECS trains and associated loco movements meant it was not possible to use the loco department's telehandler.

Efco flail loaded for return to Winchcombe. With new control cables and sharpened blades it will be working hard in the Spring. [Photo by Jonathan]

Martin and Andrew continued with culvert/cross drain clearance and visual internal inspections. This covered 36A, 36B, 37A and 37B south of Manor Lane, Gotherington. Quite an achievement for just two, particularly as Santa trains were running one had to be a lookout when working near the line. The cold damp air meant the exhausts from both Foremarke Hall and 4270 were impressive on the climb from Bishops Cleeve to Gotherington. Once again no new major problems discovered on the inspections; the main item of note was at 37A down side with evidence of animal den use in the dry summer.

Outlet (up side) of culvert 36B has a unique footprint!

Foremarke Hall with the first up Santa train of the day approaching Manor Lane.

4270 approaching bridge 37 - having just passed the source of our mistletoe. Probably the last time we will be passed by this loco.

New Year Resolution?

If you would like to work off the excesses of the festive period, why not consider joining our team for regular workouts in the fresh air. It is cheaper than joining a gym! If you are interested, please contact the Estates Management HoD or the Railway Recruitment Office; alternatively email draingangGWSR@gmail.com.

Wishing all our readers a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year.

Circumnavigating the Pole

The North Pole that is. Over the past few weeks the focus of our work has been on the Toddington to Winchcombe section. The normal routine is to drive along the track bed north from Winchcombe, then back from Toddington along the public roads. Thus we circle Winchcombe station, or the North Pole as it is known for the Santa trains season.

Thursday 17^th November

A great boost to team productivity today. Not only all 7 team members in attendance; we had three working heavy duty brush cutters after their return from repairs and servicing. Consequently we were able to complete the clearance and visual inspections of 6 culverts and start work on a 7th.

First task for a team a three was to head to Southam Lane to investigate the cess drains. Just north of the bridge is an area which has a wet bed and the rail joins are ponding. This has been in this condition for several years. PWay are relaying it this winter; we had been asked to check to see if any leakage from the cess drains. The team inspected the manholes adjacent to rail lengths 12 and 13; they found no evidence of leakage from the cess. A couple of years ago the drainage on the down side under Southam Lane bridge was improved to handle what we think is run off from the road. This is working well, the area has not flooded since.

Down side cess chamber on low mileage side of Southam Lane, with pumping rail joint in background. [Photo by Dave]

The culvert inspections and clearance started at Chicken Curve with 20C and worked northwards (towards Toddington, or in the up direction), so thus 20B, 20A, 19B, 19A, and 18A. Finally undertook some clearance of culvert 17B, the big one. The bridges team have already inspected that one; and most of the stream side growth is outside GWSR land. Occasionally we do cross the boundary to fix problems, for instance at 20A we cleared some obstructions from the outlet ditch (up side. This resulted in water dropping a couple of inches.

Cross drain 20B has some connections from the up side high mileage cess drain; these take an indirect route to avoid a high pressure gas main resulting in two right angle bends with inspection points.

 

Outlet (up side) of 20A showing extension pipe and tide mark where the water level dropped after clearing the exit ditch.

Looking inside 20A you can just see the old headwall; the extension plastic pipe is only a couple of feet long.

We took the flail and were able to widen the vehicle track (old up side formation) for most of the length from Winchcombe down home signal to New Farmers Accommodation Bridge (19). The flail does need servicing - reverse is hard to engage as the cable for that gear is fraying and is at the limit of adjustment.

Also by taking sand and cement we were able to attend to some of the minor repointing and resetting tasks. These included 20B down cess outlet and 19A down side headwall.

19A is one of the smaller cross drains; down side headwall after the minor repointing attended to.

At bridge 20 (Old Farmers Accommodation Bridge), we cleared the drain in the farm track under the bridge. This is taking a lot of water flowing from the adjacent field on the down side down the farm track. We noted the condition of the up side high mileage wing wall of bridge 20 is very poor (large crack) and water is dripping through the deck beams.

Similarly at bridge 19 (New Farmers Accommodation Bridge) we improved the flow of water under the bridge. Here we noted two missing bricks (one each in both low mileage wing walls) which we will replace next week. We didn't take any spare bricks with us today.

Another brick in the wall required (bridge 19). However, Pink Floyd not with us today!

At Hayles Abbey Halt bridge (17) we measured up the broken high mileage up side coping stone. Unfortunately we could not find any of that size in the piles at Winchcombe yard, so this will be another repair job.

Fortunately weather was reasonable; rain had stopped before we arrived at Winchcombe. But the effects of a week with several very wet days was obvious; some of the streams were flowing fast. So too were some of the cess drains, however, some (like 19B) are still dry!

The wet conditions under bridge 19.

Thursday 24^th November

All seven members of the team attending today, but one (our plant operator) was booked for the telehandler refresher course; so only six of us working on our tasks.

We split into two teams of three. The first team spent most of the day in Winchcombe yard attempting to map out what grills are connected to what drains and where they eventually go to. This is in connection with a new concrete apron at the low mileage end of the C&W building. Some 'non-railway' sewers were identified; plus using die tracing we confirmed that water from the surface drain in Churchward House yard; plus those from the grills in the main yard do eventually exit into the down side ditch. This exit is marked with a blue top post; it is about 15 yards upstream from the point where the ditch enters a pipe which runs into the River Isbourne, on the upstream (down side) of the river bridge. We also found a chamber near the end of the old goods shed part of C&W which also is likely to be connected to this exit. Unable to trace this one; as currently the scaffolding for the C&W roof repairs prevent the cover being removed.

The tracing dye turns the water green - it is harmless to wildlife. This is a chamber in the main yard at Winchcombe, the two inlets at the top come from Churchward House yard - we now know where both come from.

The second team attended to various odd jobs identified in the past couple of weeks on the culverts and cross drains between Chicken Curve and Didbrook. We removed the bits of cement bag acting as weather-protection at 20B and replaced the covers with grills at 19B up side.

At 19B up side, one of the old covers was just an unreinforced slab; however the other, larger, old cover was reinforced and took some breaking up. We removed the extensive grass bedding (badger maybe), below which was standing water containing a lot of silt, which we also removed. This work revealed that this chamber is actually quite deep, presumably to act as a silt trap at this point. The water level was below the level of the pipes, so no water was flowing through.

We replaced 2 missing bricks in the wing walls at bridge 19 (New Farmers Accommodation Bridge) and reseated a third which we noticed was loose.

Spot the reseated brick (bridge 19). [Photo by Dave]

We repaired the broken coping stone at bridge 17 - a replacement complete stone would look a bit better, but none of that size in stock.

Repaired coping on high mileage up side at Hayles Abbey bridge. [Photo by Dave]

We did the rebuilding at 16C down side low mileage wing wall. The by now heavy ran meant our master bricklayer was struggling to achieve a result here which met his high standards! Will need to return to clear up the newly-laid bricks smeared with mortar.

Rebuilding the down side wing wall at 16C - despite the sign says 16A (the signs were made before what is now 16A and 16B were discovered. Making new signs is on our 'To Do' list!) [Photo by Dave]

Heavy rain forced all work to cease around 2.30pm!

Thursday 1^st December

Six of the team attending on a very misty/foggy day. A new novel excuse from the 7th member, he had broken his unbreakable glasses.

Again we split into two teams of three.

Team A initially headed for Southam Lane to rectify three down side cess chambers where either lids had been knocked into the chamber or the whole ring structure had been shifted. We used blue plastic mesh covers temporarily as the lifting straps were on the truck team B had.

Southam Lane in the fog - the bridge is just visible.

Then back to Working Lane to continue internal visual inspections of culverts/cross drains. Four completed – culvert 24A and cross drains 25B, 25C, 27A. Really this is only 3 and half as the inlet to 25C is outside of the railway boundary beyond a sturdy fence.

The outlet ditch of 25B has a additional runoff pipe which then heads diagonally across the field to the field boundary. Unblocking the mouth of this resulted in a satisfying 'glug glug' sound and water starting to flow.

 

Team B took the LWB Transit van for a longer run, which gave the batteries a good charge. The main objective was to deliver the flail for a service at Blockley (south east of Broadway). They then returned to Toddington and completed the minor repairs to the brickwork of culverts/cross drains 16B, 17A and 19B. So on next year's internal inspections some of the recommended actions can be crossed off as complete. Also returned to 16C to complete the pointing and to tidy up using a wire brush to achieve a neat finish. (See last week’s report above.)

Pub with No Beer

A railway theme beer festival - now that is a splendid idea!

Since the finish of the regular passenger trains at the end of October, and thus the Coffee Pot on Winchcombe Station not opening, we now retire to the Churchward House mess room for our end of day cuppa. This does mean that someone has to remember to bring in some milk! Whilst supping our tea, we look longingly at the board in the photo above, dreaming of a pint of one or more of the advertised drinks!