Inspections Begin, is it a sign

Thursday 28 May 2020 

Inspections have started, something must be going to happen. No it isn't! The railway is still closed and likely to remain that way until the end of August as the earliest. 

One of the essential tasks to be completed during the COVID-19 lockdown inspection of the structures that support the railway. The Bridges Team only have 1 inspector and as Lone Working is prohibited at present, the Drain Gang were called on to provide a 'Second Man'. This fully Social Distanced activity was only allowed after a raft of Risk Assessments and Method Statements had been completed and signed off by the Safety Department.  

Dave drew the short straw and became the first volunteer to venture out. The gang is sadly depleted at present due to the lockdown of vulnerable people, this will have a wider impact than just drainage. With an earlier than usual start, he bounded off to meet up with John the Inspector at Broadway and start to work south from there. 

All the images have been provided by Dave. 

Station Road, Broadway - Bridge 1 

There's an eerie silence still around the Railway, it should have been a busy half-term day with happy visitors milling around int he bright sunshine; but here we are all shut up and empty. 

All quiet at Broadway Station 

The bridge inspections provide an opportunity to check on the nearby culverts. The dry spell has made a huge difference to water flows since we went round them late last year. 

Childswickham Road - Culvert 2A Up side 

Childswickham Road - Culvert 2A Down side 

Little Buckland - Culvert 4A Down side 

Little Buckland - Culvert 4A Down Side 

The next Culvert south of Little Buckland is 5A, this one was rebuilt just before the track was relaid. The bridge contractors had smashed the old pipe when they rebuilt the bridge abutment, hence we have a new twinwall culvert. 

Culvert 5A - Little Buckland up side 

Culvert 5A - Little Buckland up side headwall 

Round the corner from Bridge 5 at Little Buckland is Culvert 5C, again the up side was repaired before the track was relaid and the headwall was replaced by Gabion baskets and a concrete slab, not a particular 'Heritage' look and feel, but nobody can see it from the train. Despite the drought, the vegetation is going a bit wild here. 

Culvert 5C - Laverton up side headwall 

Culvert 5C - Laverton, up side barrel 

There are no culverts within easy reach of the Aqueduct at Stanton (Bridge 9). Dave took pictures of the drought conditions instead. 

Stanton Aqueduct - Inlet from the field 

Stanton Aqueduct - Down side Inlet 

Stanton Aqueduct - Internal view, Down Side

Stanton Aqueduct - Up side outlet

Last bridge on the list for today was at Toddington Station, no culverts close at hand here either. 

Stow Road Bridge at Toddington 

Gotherington Landslip Update

Several images have been sent in over the last week showing the work on the slip at Bridge 37. 

 

View from the field 
(Photo: Fraser Andrews) 

The next batch of images are from Peter Muir. They show the detail of the fixings for the 10 metre piles to the soil nails. 

10m Pile Wall almost levelled 

Steelwork for attaching the piles 

Attachment in progress 

Inside tie bars between the nails and the piles 

Lastly another image from Martin Thornley who was passing on his exercise walk. The landscaping against the piles will tone down the impact so they should be invisible from this location.  

That's it for this week, more activity next week wit culvert inspections. Stay safe 

Back to work at Gotherington

Friday 15 May 2020 

It seems strange starting another blog after a 6 week gap, a whole new routine has developed around the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. The drainage team are not in a position to restart work yet, it's likely to be a while before work can resume and even then only half the team will be allowed to return until the lockdown is lifted further. That's not the only issue, the requirements for social distancing and enhanced hygiene need to be considered, the practicalities for working in remote lineside locations are not insignificant. Then there's another elephant in the room; Budget! in that there isn't one. The railway is closed to visitors, there is no income being generated, there will be no funds to continue the work at Royal Oak or any other rebuild work. The Royal Oak project will go into abeyance, probably until 2021. 

It's not all doom and gloom though, thanks to the generosity of the supporters of the GWR Trust a massive £225,000 has been raised for funding the landslip repairs at Bridge 37 near Gotherington. This sum is approximately 50% of the cost of the repair, the GWR Trust has provided a grant for the remainder to cover interim payments to the contractors. This has allowed work to restart following the initial easing of lockdown. 

Contractors at work on Gotherington Slip
(Photo: Fraser Andrews) 

Work started on Monday 11th May to bring plant and equipment back to site. The pile driver didn't arrive on site until Wednesday, in the meantime the contractors have been getting on installing the counterfort drains. 

Counterfort Drain trench
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

Drain holes in the 5m Steel Piles
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

Permeable membrane added
(Photo: Peter Muir)

Drain backfilled with free draining stone
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

It may look line the pipes have been forgotten, but the bits by the hedge are off cuts 😊

Once the piling rig was on site, work started on completing the placement of the 10m piles which line the crest of the embankment. These had been left since lockdown started when the vibrating piler was being replaced with a pile hammer. 

Driving home the 10m piles
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

35 tonne excavator with pile hammer
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

North end of 10m piles nearing the correct level
(Photo: Peter Muir)

The Gotherington residents will soon have their uninterrupted view of Nottingham Hill restored, the alien cityscape of the 10m steel piles will be gone for ever. 

One of the problems with the pile installation through the hard clay was the heat build up from the friction where the piles linked. 

Molten steel from friction heat build up
during pile installation 

When the 10m piles have been driven home to the correct level the tops of the piles will be connected to the heads of the soil nails. An animation of the slip repair process is at: Repair Animation

The site is already starting to return to its original shape. 

Overview of the up side slope with the counterfort drains -
one troublesome pile left to be truncated
(Photo: Peter Muir) 

The view from the adjoining field is returning to a more rural vista. 

Site viewed from the footpath in the adjoining field
(Photo: Fraser Andrews) 

If you would like to help top up the appeal fund, you can do so by visiting: Emergency Embankment Appeal

There'll be another update as the job progresses. in the meantime, stay safe. 

The downside of lockdown, no up side work

No work going on at present, it looks like the COVID-19 lockdown may go on for a while. The Gotherington slip work ground to halt last Friday when the contractors had to leave the site. There's a video showing what happened with the slip, including a short animation. It doesn't explore the causal factors though. The most likely cause will be the prolonged wet weather, the year March 2019 to Feb 2020 is the 2nd wettest on record. 

The video is HERE

The last pictures of the site at Gotherington have been supplied by Peter Muir, the GWSR Civil Engineer. They are from Friday 27 March. 

The 10m piles at the crest have been placed but the vibrating pile driver was having problems getting them down through the clay. A hammer was brought in but there was a technical hitch that meant it didn't get used before the site was closed. 

Gotherington up side slip, 5m and 10m pile in place 

35 tonne excavator with the pile hammer 

The 10m piles will be hammered down when the site reopens, then they will be attached to the middle row of soil nails by tie bars that fit into steelwork behind the piles. 

Soil nail end that will be tied to the piles 

Between the lower line of piles and the boundary hedge, a series of drains are being installed to take water from the embankment. The 5m piles have a line of holes in the top metre that allows water to drain through, 

Trench opened to install a drain to the toe 

Some of the landscaping has been done, the toe snout has been graded back and the spoil used to re-profile down to the toe and some compacted into the haul road. 

Gotherington up side slip, looking towards Bridge 37 

More news will be posted as and when work starts up again. The appeal for funds is going well, if you haven't seen it yet it's on our website - All contributions gratefully accepted 

The story of the slip has been published on the Civil Engineering Blog. This shows how it developed from November through to March.  

Stay safe out there 

Is this the end

Monday 16 March 

A fine day for a change, just the sort of day to be out and about digging things. One thing that was noticeable today was the lack of overflying aircraft, besides a couple at lunchtime and a low flying C130 in the afternoon, it was very quiet. Michael was in today to get on with the down side crest chamber at Royal Oak which left Dave and Stuart to do the concrete base for the new headwall on Culvert 24A up side. 

C130 from RAF Brize Norton on low level transit 

We had some heavy rain on Sunday and it washed the dam out on the end of the bypass pipe on Culvert 24A. Luckily the concrete had gone off so there was no appreciable damage. 

Culvert 24A up side end, bypass pipe dam washed out 

One of the reasons for doing the refurb on this end of the culvert is that the steel over the brick walls is laminating with rust. 

Culvert 24A up side steel plate on side walls 

Over in the down side cess, the run off was back 

Run off form the field cascading into the cess 

Down side cess, blocks not draining quickly  

Now we have added a pipe to the down side crest chamber, we can see that there is a trckle of water coming in. It looks like there was once a ditch over the fence but it has become overgrown and filled in 

Culvert 24A down side crest chamber, new inlet 

Culvert 24A down side crest chamber, the headers going to go on today 

The headwall excavation had to be enlarged to get it into alignment with the haul road pipe, after that the bypass pipe was installed so that the base could be concreted 

Culvert 24A downstream, headwall site bypass pipe 

Dave preparing for concrete to arrive 

Headwall excavation ready for concrete 

Another root extracted from Culvert 24A up side 

Dave clearing up the concrete base for the new chamber 

Dave laying the concrete base for the headwall 

Levelling the concrete base 

Michael gets ahead with the headers 

It's a lonely old life being a brickie 

Wrapping up for the night 

Concrete base for new headwall in 

Markings for the new pipe 

Health and Safety gone mad... 

On the way home, a stop off at Gotherington to see how things are going and chase off any intruders 😁

Alien craft landing in the field near Bridge 37 

Haul road is sinking 

5m piles levelled off, bar one 

Phase 2 soil nails almost completed 

Mesh and plates going on the soil nails 

Toe snout, still surviving despite the spoil on top 

Thursday 19 March 

Well the fine weather didn't last did it, it has turned wet, cold and miserable today. A big change of plan today, the COVID-19 measures mean the the railway has closed to the public and that means no income so no money for works. The Gotherington slip repair has taken all available funds and then some. The focus now is to batten down and off hire all the equipment. Michael was set to finish the headers on the down side crest chamber. The rest  of the team installing the pipe from the new chamber site to the haul road. 

Martin, Andrew and Michael setting up the mixer 

Culvert 24A up side chamber site 

Andrew mixing the mortar for Michael 

Michael setting up for the headers 

Digging out the new pipe line 

Martin went over to look at the down side cess, the run-off water is cascading in, but it disappears before it reaches the cess pipe. 

Run-off grips flowing again 

Martin digging out to find
where the water is going 

To install the new pipe we need to fit a collar on the haul road pipe, this meant we had to dig the end out. The last bit round the pipe has to come out by hand 

Andrew with the collar, Martin digging under the pipe 

New 4.2m x 450mm pipe connected
The angle needs adjustment 

New joint seems watertight, the flood is building 

Pipe rising with the water level 

Is it a submarine rocket launcher 😊

By lunch Michael had more headers on, but he had to keep them covered to stop the joints washing out 

Down side crest chamber, Culvert 24A 

The cabin was the first casualty of the straightened financial state, Carly from Welfare4Hire Gloucester depot arrived to take the cabin back. Lunch was relegated to the trucks. 

Our lunchtime being re-planned as the cabin goes 

Despondently we went back to the wet pipe, first job was to drain the trench then it was backfilled

A little pressure to get the angle right -
or the right angle that isn't a Right Angle 😩

Flood washing downstream 

Backfilling and levleling 

While backfilling, the flow turned green!  

Dye in Culvert 24A 

In order to trace the flow of the run-off water, Martin dropped some biodegradable dye into the hole where the water disappeared... 

Dye going in to the cess 

Andrew watches the next chamber 

No dye yet... 

Here's a new mystery, the dye went in the cess and came out of the culvert but wasn't seen in between. 

Andrew spotted a mystery pipe in the last chamber, hidden under the cess 

Second dye test appears at the culvert 

The dye runs in to the end chamber from the mystery pipe 

Our conclusion now is that BR must have realised the cess drain with the hollow blocks was a complete failure. Therefore, they installed a second pipe, or as we haven't found another pipe along the cess, probably just a permeable stone corridor. Finding this, has changed our plan slightly, it means more digging out behind the cess drain. We'll CCTV the pipe in the end chamber to see how far it goes. 

Down side cess drain, excavations around the run-off entry 

While all this was going on the road was reinstated past the new joint 

An extra load of spent ballast onto the haul road 

There was a train today, the Class 03 D.2182 took the rest of the 10m piles down to Gotherington 

Class 03 D.2182 on the way back from Gotherington 

Michael got the headers onto the C24A crest chamber, but the rain meant the covers were on before the camera got there 

Culvert 24A crest chamber brickwork completed 

The culvert 24A crest rebuild has taken more time that usual even for us, a search of the archive found that we dug it out and removed the loose bricks on 2 December 2015. Hopefully the rest of this job will not take as long. 

2 Dec 2015, Culvert 24A crest headwall excavated 

With the railway closed, the restrictions on travel and some of the team being in the 'Vulnerable' category. We wrapped up the job tonight. The Digger went back to Winchcombe to be collected by Elliott's. 

Smaller excavation now the pipe is in 

Andrew, Martin and Michael cleaning the kit 

Gotherington slip work is being scaled back slightly. The hiatus in the Railway's income stream means that the Phase 3 nails will have to wait until September. A cross section drawing of the Bridge 37 up side slip at the face shows how the nails and the 10m and 5m piles are being installed. 

Cross section trough the embankment at Bridge 37 Gotherington 

The 10m piles are being installed now 

Bogie flat with the next batch of 10m sheet piles 

Another 10m pile going in 

Lining up the joints 

The 35t excavator holding the pile 

The clamps on the piling head leave marks where they nip into the steel... 

Jaw mark on the pile 

Trace marks from the piler jaws 

The piling is a multi stage process, first the vibration head clamps onto the pile and threads it into the previous pile joint. Then the pile is pushed down to ground level, the head is moved up a bit and the pile driven in a bit further. Eventually it gets in deep enough to move the piler onto the top of the pile to drive from there 

Driving the pile down 

Driving from the top 

The 5 m piles are all installed some will be cropped 

Second machine for feeding the pile forward 

The vibration hasn't destabilised the toe snout 

Pile being driven down as into the clay 

The 5m piles have drain holes pre-cut into the top end
(See the pile sticking up)  

Phase 2 soil nails, mesh and plates are all in. 

Phase 2 soil nails finished 

Phase 2 soil nails 

10m piles will follow the line
of the slip face 

10m piles installed so far 

Lastly, a short video of the vibrating pile head in action... 

Not sure when we will be back, it's possible there will be some odd jobs done over the next couple of weeks. It all depends on the severity of the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Here's hoping that all the gang, the wider GWSR community and all our supporters will get through this episode unscathed; take care out there, it's a cruel old world 

Bye for now, Stuart and the Drain Gang