That Monday feeling

Monday 20 May 

Typical Monday, the plan goes out of the window before we start. The first job for this morning was going to be producing another batch of concrete lids, but as with a lot of plans it went awry. We had to abandon the production run because the concrete poker had gone walkabout, this vibrates the mix in the mould to remove any air bubbles, essential for load bearing.

After tip off that some gully drain tops were being stored in the yard we went on a quick reconnaissance mission to track them down, they were hiding, but not well enough.  

Stored gully drains ex Broadway, these will need mechanical handling 😉

Next off was to go and change some catchpit lids down at Bishop's Cleeve, a ToDo list item that's been waiting for a while to be completed. While down that end of the line we called into Hunting Butts to do a quick inspection south of the tunnel.

Hunting Butts Tunnel South Portal, vegetation growing fast  

We only found 1 chamber where the lids had been tipped off, not sure what the attraction is that makes people do it, there's nothing to see in there. We did spot one that has been used as a target for ballast throwing as well.  

Dave and Michael wondering why these have been tipped off 

Lids back on 

There's not much flowing down the down side cess, but what there is seems to be soaking away at the scour pool on the outfall. 

Down side cess outfall 

Next we went up to Southam Lane to check the cess drains are still running and look at the water running out of Bridge 42. 

Still a bit of water running out of the
down side abutment 

More greenery bouncing up 

Eventually we worked out way back down to Kayte Lane to do the lid swap. The original lids had been damaged by the contractor with the vegetation flail back in February. Needless to say the chamber furthest from the access point needed the most lids. 

Dave swaps the first lid 

Last chamber = 3 lids needed 😒

Job crossed off the list  

The afternoon saw us training for 'Worcestershire and All Comers Brick Chucking Contest'. It might as well have been, as we loaded the truck with concrete and brick that has been accumulating in Winchcombe Yard and took it up to Stanton to await its eventual disposal for recycling. 

Concrete products 

All in all, a less strenuous day than of late.  

The dig at Stanton

Saturday 18 May 

Another wet start, first off we brought the rest of the pallet of bricks down so they are ready for starting on the up side cess headwall. 

Michael unloading the bricks 

Concrete footings have set 

That will teach Roger to have a day off 😉

Then the real work begins, only 3 of us here today, quite a difference from the 7 we had on Thursday. We concentrated on digging out the old salt glazed gully pipe, we're doing this early in the project to keep the track under the bridge drained. There's not much more to say about digging a pipe out, the pictures will tell the story. 

Alastair and Michael picking 

The gully drain end is wet 

First pipe out 

Alastair pump the water out after the digging is done 

The pipe in the barrow is how it was in the ground
(Photo: Alastair) 

Michael gently removes the only 2 good
pipes in the whole run 

Last bits coming out
(Photo: Alastair)

The north side wall top is cleared
(Photo: Alastair) 

Stuart digs out the end round the wing wall
(Photo: Alastair) 

The new twinwall pipe was dropped into the trench to check the length, we'll take some levels next week to make sure there is a fall on the pipe 

Gully at the end of the brick arch 

Pipes in the trench ready for cutting to size 

Outlet end, a bend needs to go on here 

The spoil heap is always a good reminder of how much has actually been dug out. This will be used later to backfill the new pipe on the down side cess. 

Not bad for couple of days work 

On the way out we dropped the new lids onto Chamber 3 on the down side crest. It's a shame all Michael's brick laying so far has been hidden by lids. 

Chamber 3 headers 

Chamber 3 with the lids in place 

Back at base there was a couple of surprises, first there was a bag of milepost number patterns, thanks to Eddie and the woodwork team. We now need to get some moulds made so that the numbers can be cast.  

What! no 6's 

James from the C&W metal work team has nearly finished the covers for the inlet end of the siphon at Culvert 7A. Next job is to take it up to Stanton for a trial fit and work out the best way to fix them onto the walls. 

2 cover sections hiding behind
some corridor connector sides 

Thanks again to the Carriage and Wagon volunteers for all their efforts, it's a great demonstration of the skills we can call on and the interdepartmental co-operation that thrives on the railway.  

Not another visit to sunny Stanton

Thursday 16 May 

We are back at sunny Stanton, the ground is drying out so the digging is harder but turning the truck round is easier. First off we dropped Michael up at the down side crest to finish off the headers on Chamber 3. Then we moved down to Bridge 11 to start on the up side cess headwall and to do some more site set-up. 

Michael can see an end to kneeling 

Andrew and Roger square off for the footings 

Toe boards fitted to the bridge railing to protect the workforce below 

Working under the bridge means that there is a potential risk of objects falling over the side, preventative measure have been implemented. 

Heras fencing clipped to the railings 

Dave was keen to get the remaining bricks out of the culvert, only we forgot to load the ropes so that job was abandoned for today. 

Bricks taunting us from the safety of the culvert 

Andrew and Roger concreted the footings for the new cess outfall headwall 

Concrete being shovelled in 

Alastair on mixing duty again 

Dave, Stuart and Dieh continued unearthing the gully pipe 

Digging along the gully pipe
(Photo: Alastair) 

Andrew stamps his mark on the job
(Photo: Alastair) 

At last! you could hear the sigh at Toddington
(Photo: Alastair) 

Once the footings were in and Michael had returned from the north most hands concentrated on the gully pipe dig. 

What's going on here then 

Danger - men at work 

The verge on the down side of the culvert holds a cache of bricks so the hunt for more tapers moved to there. 

Culvert 11A, down side 

In the afternoon a walk down to Culvert 11C revealed that the small footbridge on the fence-line has silted up; another job to go on the list. 

Culvert 11C, up side fence 

By the end of the afternoon session, the progress was evident. 

Haul of bricks from the down side verge 

Wrapping up for the night 

Now that the channel wall is exposed, the damage is more apparent. 

Up side channel - Culvert 11A

Thursday is the most popular day for volunteering evidently, Alastair managed to catch the rest of us having lunch. We'll have to start an appeal for more folding chairs (although they aren't good for productivity, as getting back up is hard work 😊) 

The team at lunch
L to R: Stuart, Michael, Dave, Dieh, Andrew, Roger
(Behind the camera: Alastair) 

Taking up residence at Stanton

Monday 13 May 

It seems like we've spent the whole year at Stanton, if things go according to the latest version of the plan we will be here until the end of July. Looking on the positive side, there are a lot worse places to work along the line. It was more pre-project site preparation today, finding out more about what needs to be done to the gully drain, looking at the up side cess outfall, and clearing bricks from the brick arch culvert. 

Before we started, peace reigns 

Roger and Alastair digging out the gully drain 

Dave assembles 2 sets of rods 

You may think removing the odd brick from a culvert is a simple enough task; it can be if the bore is marginally wider than the largest rod scraper. In this case the bore is way bigger than the scraper, which means that when it hits a brick it jut runs round it. The idea was to use 2 sets of rods tied together and sweep down each side trawling the middle, well it didn't work, the rod tools just bounced over the bricks. The plan was revised to add a length of wood to the rods, but that just bounced over. Next revision was to add a brick for ballast, that failed as it fell off, there is one more brick to extract now. 

Revision C(ii) brick tied to the rods 

At this point a rethink was called for. So Stuart went to finish cutting the side up to Culvert 11B, (it's being kept clear ready for the next phase of the project) and Dave joined Roger and Alastair extracting the gully drain cover. 

Pumping out the gully to see what state it's in 

Up side towards Culvert 11B 

It wasn't all wasted effort, the gully top came out, replacement now on order. 

110 year old cast iron, made for horse and cart traffic
not large tractors with 20 ton harvest trailers 

The gully chamber will need the top 2 courses of brick replaced. Next the focus moved to the gully pipe, we believe it is completely beyond repair, but a bit more digging was done to prove it. 

Dave, Roger and Alastair assessing the gully pipe 

View from the top 

After lunch, Steve arrived with the JCB to move the sleepers that we stacked so nicely on Saturday. As we had saved him some work, he saved us some by excavating the up side cess headwall. When we could see the state of it, it was decided that it needs to be replaced, it's beyond being repaired. 

Labour saving device employed 

It's worse that that! 

After the excitement of finding out we need to do even more than we thought it was back to grindstone. 

Alastair and Roger back in the gully 

Brick extractor Mk6b 

The Mk6b extractor actually worked, we managed to get 5 bricks out, one haul was even 2 still joined.  

2 for the price of 1 or BOGOF 

The Mk6b in action 

We should be back on Thursday with the improved Mk7 brick extractor, if we can lift it 😊