Here and there

 

This time last year we were in the middle of our major project at Stanton, the up side diversion of the outlet of cross drain 11B. And the weather was hot and sunny! Finally in the past month we have commenced the work to improve the entry to 11B on the down side; plus alternating visits to Gotherington.

Thursday 23^rd May

Another day with a magnificent seven in attendance! The very heavy rain of Wednesday daytime and evening fortunately had stopped - but its legacy was a lot of water flowing in all the watercourses, so we had to abandon all the planned jobs that required dry conditions.

Dave, Nigel and Polly completed the additional brickwork on the inlet of cross drain 33A at Gotherington. This is where the pipe from the re-excavated boundary ditch on the high mileage end enters. What a neat job from out professional brickie!

Master bricklayer at work. [Photo by Dave]

The finished job - very neat. [Photo by Dave]

Martin, Jonathan, Roger and Andrew went to Bishops Cleeve to collect a part used dumpy bag of red building sand which had been donated. This was probably over two thirds full - so financially around £50 at least. Then on to the Rugby Club at Southam Lane to view the proposals for the cycle way which will cross the line at Cheltenham Racecourse on Evesham Road bridge 43. This is now going to be a shared cycle way and footpath on the east (low mileage) side; at normal kerb height (125mm). The road carriage way will be narrowed to accommodate it. As far as we are concerned the plans look good - there will be only one drain off the cycleway leading down to our down side cess. All the run off from the road will go into the existing road gullies.

All of the team then met up at Manor Lane. Here the most obvious sign of the previous days heavy and prolonged rain was the backing up in the entry of cross drain 36A. Water was flowing out from the exit at a similar rate to that we noted last week - but obviously the obstruction in the bore reduces the flow so hence the build up during wet spells. We were able to rod from the outlet side a greater distance than last week. The sticking point is approximately under the down side running rail - which was where the rodding from the inlet side stuck last week. We were not able to rod from the inlet side this week as the camber was full of water. However, it was very slowing going down. We also dis some investigation of the road side and field drains further up the hill to Manor Farm. Most of these seem to feed into the roadside drain which runs under bridge 36 on the high mileage end.

Inlet of 36A with water overflowing the chamber.

 

One task we did manage to complete was to repair the fencing on the up side of the foot crossing by cross drain 37C at 16m 28c. Finally back at Winchcombe we unloaded the acquired sand - now in two strong dumpy bags that have proper telelhandler loops. We also moved a recent delivery of GRP chamber rings from Aqua Fabrications, so all the drainage items are neat and tidy for when the gala visitors are in the yard.

Fencing repairs at the foot crossing at 16m 28c.

And on gala visitors - we we very pleased to see 6880 Betton Grange on a test run from Toddington.

Every blog has to have a picture of 6880!

Thursday 30^th May

A smaller team of six attending due to holidays and post gala recovery for our multi-department members.

Polly, Nigel and Dave rebuilt the very end of the up side high mileage wing wall of Stanton Road Bridge.

Bridge 10, Stanton, repaired end of up side high mileage wing wall. [Photo by Dave]

 

Jonathan, Stuart and Ian inserted clamps on the blue mesh lids on the chambers of the 11B to 11A up side diversion at Stanton. So that part of the 11B project is finally complete. They then made a start on the down side by rodding the bore of 11B. This removed a lot of mud and other debris, but the rods stuck somewhere in the bore. Then they used the CCTV to examine the bore, this showed quite a few broken pipe joins near the inlet end.

Blue mesh lid clamped down. [Photo by Dave]

 Wildlife report: a very colourful scarlet tiger moth.

Tiger moth. [Photo by Dave]

Thursday 6^th June

An even smaller team of four today, maybe those absent were attending D-Day 80^th commemorations.

The work site was Manor Lane, Gotherington.

Jonathan used the mini-digger to reinstate the ditch in Manor Lane above the top gulley on the down (Cotswold) side. This will prevent some of the water running down the road to the lower bridge gulleys.
 

Cleared roadside ditch in Manor Lane.

 

Roger, Martin and Polly worked on clearing the bore of cross drain 36A from the down side chamber after pumping out the standing water. They removed around 150mm of silt from the bottom of the chamber. Unfortunately, all attempts with our two sets of drainage rods did not shift the obstruction. An attempt to use the CCTV was also abandoned; the CCTV cable is too short to use from the up (Malvern) side; and there is too much standing water upstream of the obstruction on the inlet (down or Cotswold) side. The obstruction is in the most inconvenient place, under the running line. We are now considering some options to ensure the bore is cleared and water flowing freely before yet more wet weather arrives.

Inlet of 36A, now no water overflowing the chamber.

Thursday 13^th June

Seven team members in attendance. Jonathan and Polly went to Tewkesbury to collect sand bags which the borough council has supplied. They then joined the rest of the team (Nigel, Stuart, Ian, Martin and Andrew) at Stanton. Here we took advantage of a non-running day to have possession of the Broadway-Toddington section to enable excavation on the down side at Stanton. This is the rebuilding of the entry of cross drain 11B.

First task was to rod through from the up side using our heavy duty (red) rods to check for any obstructions in the bore. We temporarily removed the blue mesh cover and the top two concrete rings on the first chamber on the up side diversion constructed last year to enable a shallower angle for the rods.

Rods entering from the outlet (up or Malvern side).

42m (or 137 feet 9 inches for the heritage folk) of rods later the plunger emerges from the inlet (down or Cotswold side) - so the bore is clear.

Looking into the bore, before we removed the first length of SGP pipe.

Then some serious digging - by hand to minimise any damage to the 100+ year old SGP pipes and to ensure no collapse of the embankment. Actually the latter item was not applicable, the embankment at this point is mainly clay apart from an inch or so of spent ballast on the top, so it is stable. We removed the first length of broken SGP pipe, the old supermarket basket which had been the grill and the short length of big diameter SGP pipe which was the entry from the low mileage ditch. Probably this had been installed about 20 years ago as part of the build back to Broadway work. We discovered that alignment of 11B does follow an old field drain - the clays pipes for that are still there, slightly below and on the high mileage side of the bore.

High mileage inlet excavated - the supermarket basket was the inlet grill for this. Low mileage inlet in bigger SGP pipe was probably added during the Broadway extension work.

Nigel on archaeological digging revealing the old clay pipes of a land drain.

End of day - with the old supermarket basket as temporary grill. Our plan is to build an L shaped headwall here.

View from above - with safety marker tape in place.

Additionally we started clearing along the down side boundary hedge/fence back to bridge 11 to allow access by the minidigger and the dumper. We did not quite get back to bridge 11 - as the vegetation was quite extensive. The dumper will be used to bring in all the materials as the embankment is too steep; plus other work days will have trains running. (One team member did remark the team's productivity is higher on non-running days as we don't have to stop working when trains pass!)

Partially cleared route alongside the down side boundary hedge/ditch to enable access with the mini digger to excavate the ditches and with the dumper to bring in sand, cement and bricks.

 

Wildlife report: a surprisingly high number of worms and various insects in the clay; plus spiders in the bore. Skylarks singing overhead and rabbits encountered before work started.

Cuckoo

In April,
Come he will.
In May,
He sings all day.
In June,
He changes his tune.
In July,
He prepares to fly.
In August,
Go he must.

The Cotswold cuckoos may have arrived in April, but it was the second week of May before we heard one singing. That was at Bishops Cleeve. The same day we sighted swifts for the first time this season. All we need now is one swallow to make a summer!

Thursday 2^nd May

The heavy overnight rain on Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, coupled with a reduced attendance, meant a slight alteration to the day's plans. Five of the team arrived at Winchcombe in pouring rain, at which time working indoors seemed preferable. But within an hour, the rain stopped so we headed to Gotherington Yard. However, we did not take the excavator as planned.

The first task of the day was to repair a down side boundary chamber on the low mileage of culvert 33B. This involved removing a small ash tree - it was dying with ash die back. The rebuild of the top two courses was achieved mainly with the original bricks. The left over mortar was then used to repoint a down side cess chamber and the up side exit chamber of cross drain 33A.

Repaired boundary chamber at Gotherington; stump of ash tree shows how close that was to the structure.

In preparation for the re-excavation of the down side boundary ditch to take field run-off back to the inlet of cross drain 33A, we cleared some overhanging vegetation (ash, hawthorn, bramble and elder). Also we began cutting a shallow trench to take a pipe from this ditch into the 33A inlet.

Martin digs the trench for the pipe to take the water from the ditch into the entry of cross drain 33A.

Finally whilst at Gotherington we checked on the condition of the up side slip in Dixton cutting. All posts upright and inline and no obvious signs of further movement.

The Dixton slip (Malvern, up side). A couple of miles away there is a much bigger slip in one of our neighbour's field.

35006 P&O SN Co. approaches Gotherington Yard.

 After lunch we carried out an explorative trip to Millham Park at Bishops Cleeve. This is on the up side, and the southern boundary is where the stream which flows through culvert 38A exits. The parish council have given us permission to take a vehicle across the playing field upto the railway boundary so that we can clear the stream and view the outlet of the culvert. The objective of the trip was to determine the best vehicle access and to see what is going to be involved in clearing the stream. It certainly is a job for wellies - and best when the water level has dropped.

Milliham Park before clearing - the extension to the exit of culvert 38A is under there somewhere.

Wildlife report: Gotherington - woodpecker heard (but as usual not seen); crows and rooks. Blue-grey worm (Octolasion cranium). In the undergrowth near the boundary hedge/fence we identified Snakeshead (Arum maculatum), and Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum).
Bishops Cleeve - flock of starlings.
River Isbourne - wild garlic  (Allium ursinum) in flower (and aroma!)

Thursday 9^th May

Six of the team enjoyed on the warmest and sunniest work day so far this year. An ideal day for working near, and with wellies, in water courses.

Jonathan, Dave and Martin initially headed to Millham Park, Bishops Cleeve to tackle the clearance of the exit of culvert 38A. At some point in the past this culvert was extended beyond the railway boundary and the garden of the last house on Oxmeads Close constructed on top. Bishops Cleeve Parish council have granted us permission to take a vehicle across playing field from the parking place at Bootenhay, off Millham Road. The task was to clear vegetation from around the exit and to visual inspect the extension. Also obstructions downstream alongside the park were removed and partial clearing of the area between the boundary of the park and a gate which leads from Oxmeads Close. This exit is now accessible for external and internal inspections, however a close inspection of the original headwall is not possible without entering the extended culvert.

Milliham Park after clearing - the garden is over the top of the extension of culvert 38A.[Photo by Dave]

Looking inside the extension of culvert 38A.[Photo by Dave]

Meanwhile Polly, Nigel and Andrew went to the Rive Isbourne bridge to complete the replacement of the coping stones on the low mileage up side wing wall. Also undertaken was re-pointing of some cracks in the wing wall - at least as far as could be reached. Measurements for the missing portion of safety fence were take - this is the part that was left during the flood alleviation works a few years ago. Apart from installing this section of fence; the wing wall repair here is now complete.

The gap for the last coping stone to be replaced.

All complete.

 

Chief bricklayer Polly (l) and chief mortar mixer Nigel with the results of their labour.

After lunch the combined team worked on removing silt and debris from the River Isbourne adjacent to both banks on the exit (up or Malvern) side. Also we improved the steps down from the vacant track bed to above the up side headwall. And finally we tightened the bolts and grub screws on the fence around the end of the down side bay platform at Winchcombe station (by the Father Christmas coach).

Thursday 16^th May

Seven of the team in attendance, split into two groups either side of Gotherigton Station.

2807 on a down train at Manor Lane.

Jonathan, Roger and Martin used the mini-digger to excavate a boundary ditch on the down side high mileage of culvert 33A at Gotherington. This will take the run off from the field into the inlet of culvert 33A. The final connection is a length of 225mm twinwall pipe - completion of bricking around the exit of this to be done next week.

The new (or rather reinstated) boundary ditch on the high mileage down side of cross drain 33A.

Nigel, Polly, Stuart and Andrew went to Manor Lane at Gotherington. First task was to effect a repair to the top brick course of the roadside chamber of cross drain 36A. This is on the up side by the corner in the road and the field gate. This is where the ditch flows into and joins roadside gullies in a pipe under the corner of the field. Two blue mesh lids were added - with the old thick concrete ones on top as weights.

Roadside exit chamber of cross drain 36A with repaired top course.

Blue mesh covers deployed - with the old concrete lids as weights.

The rest of the day was spent rodding the under railway section of cross drain 36A. This has got an obstruction - somewhere! The inlet chamber on the down side has standing water to over half of the bore diameter - so this prevents use of CCTV unless pumped out first. We rodded 11m from the down side entry (12 lengths of our black rods); before hitting an obstruction. This is approximately underneath the down side rail. On the up side we rodded 27m from the exit (30 lengths of the black rods); this gets to inside the current fence line. Potentially there is a bend and/or join at that spot; as we believe the bore was extended some time in the past. (Location approximately at end of rods in photo below).

Nigel holds the drain rods to show the approximate location of the obstruction on the up side of cross drain 36A.

Wildlife report: Small toad at culvert 33A; Wild roses in bloom at Manor Lane; and yet another woodpecker heard but not seen!

Toad - but not a GWR brake van! [Photo by Martin]

April showers, or not!

 

Surprisingly for this wet spring, two of our working days in April were dry. At least, dry in terms of precipitation – however the ground conditions are far from dry. The last Thursday of April was more typical – and temperature wise more like February!

Thursday 11^th April

A very good day - on two counts. Firstly it did not rain at all, secondly we achieved more than the planned tasks. Six of the team in attendance.

First task was to replace the spark plugs in the generator and the cement mixers - we expected to need the generator later.

Jonathan and Martin headed to Cheltenham - to collect an order of Postcrete from Travis Perkins. Also collected from a scaffolding contractor at Leckhampton was several length of old scaffold pole which had been donated. We will use these to construct safety markers for culvert and cross drain headwalls.

Stuart, Nigel, Dave and Andrew first went to Southam Lane bridge. The main task was to investigate the manhole by the side of the racecourse perimeter road which had been overflowing during Gold Cup week. We had expected to pump this out - but the water level had dropped naturally. This revealed the exit pipe, a 6" diameter blue plastic than runs down to the down side cess chamber. We rodded this out and also removed the silt from the bottom of the chamber. This reduced the standing water level even more. We used some tracer dye to confirm that both the larger diameter pipes that enter the chamber (on the right in picture below) run from the ditch alongside Southam Lane (south side uphill) - one of which flows well but the other is obstructed. As these are outside of railway land we did not attempt to rod them. We also cleared silt, debris and rubbish from the down side cess chamber - will come back later to fit an extended cover to prevent the rubbish accumulating.

The blue plastic pipe is the exit to the down side cess, whilst the two larger pipes on the right are the inlets from the roadside ditch on Southam Lane.

 

As concrete lids become broken, we will be deploying metal grill lids.

Whilst at Southam Lane we replaced two broken cess chamber lids on the up side between the bridge and the RDA crossing. The replacement lids are the metal grills; as we have no spare reinforced concrete lids which fit the concrete chamber rings.

Sunshine on the smoke-box of a northbound train - a photo not that easy to obtain. 7903 Foremarke Hall at the RDA crossing with the first up train of the day (10:15 from Racecourse). From 7th May the first departure is 40 minutes later.

 

Then after coffee break, all six of us went to investigate the security barrier at the south portal of Hunting Butts tunnel. One of the sheet piles was loose. We developed a plan to fix it - and determined that we had sufficient manpower, tools and materials to execute it after lunch. This involved some of the bags of just collected Postcrete to cement in lengths of rail to wedge the sheet piles. Hopefully this will keep the trespassers out - for a while at least!

Stuart and Dave cementing the footings of the security fence at the south portal of Hunting Butts tunnel.

 

Wildlife report: We noted a large spotted slug in one of the cess chambers, probably a leopard slug or Limax maximus. Skylarks heard and seen at Hunting Butts. Bluebells in flower on the cutting sides at Racecourse Station.

Thursday 18^th April

Surprisingly another dry day - so we were able progress with some bridge work that required no rain. Again, six of the team in attendance.

Roger, Dave and Martin spent the day working on the low mileage up side wing wall of the River Isbourne bridge. Most of the effort was in cutting some imperial solid bricks to triangular shapes; replacing those which broke when being removed or attempting a clean-up.

Roger and Martin progressing the Isbourne wing wall repair. [Photo by Dave]

Jonathan worked on plant maintenance - giving the dumper and the telehandler a steam clean (courtesy of Halls); then greasing the dumper. The dumper was used to ferry mixed mortar from Winchcombe yard to the Isbourne bridge. Jonathan also started a bit of silt and debris removal from the Isbourne - but more is required when the level drops a bit more.

Ian and Andrew first went to Stanton Aqueduct. We used two tubes of mastic in the cracks between the down side brick/concrete inlet through and the concrete abutment. These cracks had widened since repointing last year; also some of the flaunching in the inlet had come away and there were brambles growing in the inlet. Underneath the 300mm pipe was some shallow water - so unable to put mastic there. From the ground conditions on the down side cutting underneath the trough, it appears that there is only minor leakage from the inlet.

Mastic filling the cracks between the inlet trough and the concrete abutment, high mileage side ...

 

... and low mileage side.

We checked the slip marker posts under the downside of the aqueduct. The two directly under the aqueduct have a very slight downwards lean; the rest are all still in line and upright.

After lunch we prepared some more lengths of bridge rail for milepost uprights - we now have 6 ready to go. Also we made up a culvert headwall safety marker from some of the old scaffold poles. This is destined for 37F.

Wildlife report: birds this week. A wren and chiffchaffs at Stanton and a flock of noisy sparrows at Winchcombe.

Thursday 25^th April

For the first time for quite a few months all nine members of the team attended. Hence we spilt into three groups of three.

Nigel, Dave and Roger continued with the rebuilt of the low mileage up side wing wall of the the River Isbourne bridge. Good progress was made until a very heavy rain shower just after lunch made it too wet to lay mortar and too slippery to work safely. Four more coping stones remain to be replaced.

Roger evaluates the next replacement for the Isbourne wing wall. [Photo by Dave]

 

Jonathan, Martin and Stuart, with the mini excavator, went to Gotherington Yard. The task of the day being to move some of the spoil that had come from Broadway to the low mileage side of the inlet of culvert 33B by the road side fence; also to fix the yard gate. The pile of mainly clay from Broadway is starting to dry out - or at least the top foot or so. As the arm of the excavator is not that long; quite a bit of the moving took two steps. The roadside fence was dismantled to enable the arm to reach behind the outflow headwall of the under road part of the culvert. Another job where the heavy early afternoon shower hindered progress.

Stuart and Martin begin to replace the roadside fence at Gotherington Yard. It was removed to enable the excavator to access  the low mileage side of culvert 33B to level our the clay infill.

Polly (welcome back!), Ian and Andrew completed the fabrication of the first two headwall safety markers - three lengths of old scaffold poles bolted together. We then went to Bishops Cleeve to install these on both headwalls of cross drain 37F. No excuse for robo flail operators to miss these structure now! (At least a dozen other culverts/cross drains will be similarly marked).

Polly and Ian fix the safety marker to the outlet (up side) of cross drain 37F.

 

37F inlet (down side) also now has a safety marker rail.

Then along to cross drain 37D to attend to some repointing of joints in the up side exit headwall and wingwalls. Next a look at the upside exit of 37A where three concrete slabs in the low mileage wall are displaced. We noted that the concrete base of the exit channel is cracked; so decided that the best approach here is a more substantial rebuilt when the flow of water is less. Finally we joined the Gotherington Yard team to make a minor brickwork repair to culvert 33B and after a quick trip back to Winchcombe to collect long nails to assist with replacing the roadside fence.

Waiting for the next train to pass before moving the vehicle. Between Bishops Cleeve and Gotherington there are limited places to park with at least 3m between the vehicle and the nearest running rail. This is the minimum safe distance required by our Personal Trackside Safety rules. (Here the distance is 3.046m - we used a tape to measure it!)

Wildlife report: Lots of snails at Gotherington Yard. Also noted buzzards being mobbed by the crows in the up side field. More blossom on the pear trees between Bishops Cleeve and Gotherington; plus several clumps of yellow primula in full flower. These probably are Primula veris, cowslip.

Moving earth

Thursday 28^th March

Seven of the team in attendance - all involved with earth moving. Actually at Gotherington the earth was mostly clay and at Woodmancote it was silt.

Ian attended Toddington to assist with the unloading of the Broadway spoil wagons into Ken Pink's tipper lorry. The Heritage Herald blog post “A grab lorry came” has some pictures and a description of this part of the operation.

Jonathan and Andrew went to Gotherington Yard to handle the unloading of the spoil. The telehander was used to get most of the first load, which was almost entirely clay, into the hollow behind the inlet headwall of culvert 33B. Because of the slope and the limit of the telehandler boom, quite a lot of this load was placed by lifting over the boundary fence. The heavy manual processes were moving the clay off the lids of the chamber by the boundary fence - and removing that which was getting stuck in the telehandler bucket. Just like the folk at Toddington, we found this clay stuck to everything! The third full load and the final part load did have less clay content - these were tipped between the entrance gate and the culvert ditch. At least there was very few broken bricks and other debris in the spoil. We will be using the piled spoil as backfill for various structures south of Gotherington in the next few weeks. Whilst at the yard with the telehander, we took the opportunity to tidy the piles of ballast and increase the parking area - it should now be possible to turn the trailer with the minidigger on it there.

Making room for the tipper lorry to dump the Broadway spoil at Gotherington Yard.

 

First load of spoil arrives - grab out of way to enable tipping.

Second load is tipped.

 

Temporary shuttering to prevent spoil entering the ditch of culvert 33B.

Meanwhile Dave, Nigel, Stuart and Martin paid a second visit to the mobile home park at Woodmancote. They removed yet more silt from the down (Cotswold) side toe ditch between culvert 38A and Station Road. This caused the level in the inlet pond to drop significantly - which revealed at third inlet pipe. This and the second (middle) pipe resisted all attempts of clearing with the rods with a corkscrew head - probably the pipes are obstructed by tree roots. There are some willow tress growing on the line of the pipe around 20 yards from the exit. Most of the flow into the ditch was coming from the inlet pipe closest to the track; and the flow noticeably increased following a heavy shower of rain. We believe the road gullies in Station Road feed into this. Once we get a drier spell of weather, we plan to investigate the many watercourses in this area. This toe ditch is now flowing well down the whole length to the inlet of culvert 38A; so hopefully will not require any more work until the autumn.

Now three inlet pipes to the mobile home to ditch! [Photo by Dave]

 

Cleared and deepened ditch - flowing well. [Photo by Dave]

 

Back at Winchcombe after a late lunch we moved two completely painted lengths of bridge rail out of the shed and then painted the undersides of three lengths of bridge rail. These three lengths should therefore be ready for flipping over to paint their top sides next time we want to escape the worst of any rain.

Wildlife report: As ever robins were very quick to investigate the disturbed soil at both sites. At Gotherington a large flock of crows were noted, occasionally mobbing some buzzards.

Thursday 4^th April

Fortunately the very heavy overnight rain had stopped by 8am and the days rain did not start before we finished - so at last we had a dry day. That is excluding the water on the ground! The overnight rain was extremely heavy - team members coming in from west of the Severn and north of the Avon reported a lot of flooding.

Six of the team attending. Initially Dave, Nigel and Martin headed for Working Lane to clear the exit grill of culvert 24C on the up side at the foot of the haul road. This is a regular task - the grill gets obstructed with twigs and small debris. It is far better the obstruction is on the grill than a blockage inside the pipe. Removal only takes a few minutes and then the water drops; over 6 inches today.

24C exit before cleaning of the grating .... [Photo by Dave]

... and after cleaning. [Photo by Dave]

 

The main task of the day was backfilling of culvert and cross drain head and wing walls between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve. As most of those which required attention were on the down side, we deployed a barrow crossing. Hence we had arranged a line possession with the Operations Manager and installed stop boards at Manor Lane. This was possible as public trains on Thursdays do not start until next week. Jonathan manned the telehander for loading at Gotherington Yard, whilst Roger and Andrew delivered the first load of spoil. Dave, Nigel and Martin collected a second load of spoil. We used all this to backfill both sides of 37B, and the down side of 37C, 37E, 37F and 37G. Additionally we measured up 37B through to 37G for headwall safety markers. These will help all staff and contractors working lineside to spot where the headwalls are, particularity in the summer after the vegetation has grown.

 

Backfilling of the gaps behind headwall and wingwalls makes for a much neater appearance. But more importantly it is a safety matter - there is no gap in which to trap a foot which could lead to twisted or broken ankles.

Cross drain 37G is unusual in that it does not pass under the railway - it goes under the footpath which runs under bridge 38.

 

Roger and Nigel load up after delivering the final barrow loads of spoil at cross drain 37G.

Meanwhile at Gotherington Yard, Jonathan used the telehandler to further tidy the piles of spoil and ballast. There is now plenty of room for manoeuvring vehicles and for another delivery or ballast. It was still too wet to complete the levelling out of the ex-Broadway spoil behind the inlet headwall of culvert 33B.

Following the heavy rain overnight there was a lot of water running off adjoining fields. At Gotherington we noted on the down side water flowing from the field by cross drain 33A - there is a shallow ditch there; we have added a task to deepen that.

Run off water from the adjoining down side field collecting behind the wall of cross drain 33A inlet channel. [Photo by Roger]

 

At Woodmancote, the stream which becomes culvert 37G was overflowing outside of railway land, probably due to obstructions in the pipe under the footpath. Most of the water is then flowing down the footpath and pooling under bridge 38; walkers beware!

Water flowing down the footpath then under bridge 38.

We checked on the state of the toe ditch on the down side alongside the mobile homes between culvert 38A and Station Road bridge. The work there in the past two weeks has paid off - the level of the ditch was well down, enough to see two thirds of the inlet pipes. We have confirmation that this ditch does carry the runoff from the road drains in Station Road. So no doubt earlier in the day it was flowing stronger.

After another late lunch at Gotherington, we headed back to Winchcombe. A spot more painting of bridge rail lengths for mileposts and some plant maintenance tasks were completed. The later covered work on our cement mixers, the generator and a wheel change on a wheelbarrow. We noted that the flat tyre we replaced was marked “General Wheelbarrow Tire”!

A check was made on the level of the River Isbourne - it was certainly too high and the flow too fast to have safely progressed the wing wall rebuilt.

Wildlife report: The highlight was a very close encounter with a muntjac deer - we disturbed it in the vegetation near bridge 38. Otherwise the most noticeable item was the number of butterflies, mainly cabbage whites, no doubt due to the welcome sunshine. Two more positive plant identifications (at Gotherington): common comfrey (Symphytum officinale) and Thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia).