The closed season is the time major work is carried out, whilst passenger trains are not running. This January and February we have undertaken several tasks involving drainage and have used the services of an engineering train on many occasions. The train consisted usually of ballast hopper wagons, the new shark brakevan, Lowmac and a couple of open wagons for small drainage stone and finally a SR brakevan.

The work we needed to do required the use of Kevin Cooley's digger. He has done many jobs for us in the past and the routine of getting his machine onto and off the Lowmac has become quite simple for him but still looks very strange to on-lookers.

The digger climbs onto the Lowmac at Smallbrook.

The first job was at Smallbrook, a drainage pipe had collapsed under the engine release loop line and much of the drainage ditch along side the loop had slipped and filled in blocking the flow of water, the formation being mainly clay had sunk as the ditch filled up causing the track to drop and although we had packed the loop many times to correct the level the underlying problems always saw the track sink again soon after. The collapsed drain had manifested itself during the season when a hole had appeared in the ballast at the side of the drain catchpit. We could tell then that a track out job would be needed during this winter.

The track drain repair about to start.

So once everything was in place we removed a single panel of track, rails and sleepers moved out of the way and a start made on digging out the broken drain. The offending pipe was quite deep around 6ft under the track. The digger made short work of producing a sizeable hole and we soon found the broken pipe. It was a clay pipe of around 9" diameter and had cracked and broken completely. We dug more clay out to try and find an unbroken section of the pipe further along the run. This proved rather tricky as each new section we found was badly cracked and it was not until we had uncovered the pipe for several feet that we found a piece of pipe to connect to. This done the hole was filled in with small stone and then larger track ballast to correct the level. We then made a start on the ditch, digging down and removing the old broken pipes and replacing them with new. The blocked ditch was dug out and twin walled plastic pipe laid in to stop any further collapse then back filled with stone to allow good drainage. The track was then replaced and packed to temporary level so we could run the engine round. Finally the excess spoil was spread over the new pipe and compacted to finish the job.

The trackside drain is renewed alongside the loop at Smallbrook.

The next job was to install a track drain on the Wootton single line in Briddlesford Woods from the Forest crossing to the small culvert towards Woodhouse. This has always been a badly draining section of line, never having had any proper drainage. The formation floods whenever heavy rain falls and we decided that a proper drain would certainly help in this situation. A trench was dug with the plant and after fitting the flexible plastic pipe it was backfilled with stone. This job was completed without a hitch in a couple of days.

Clearing the drainage ditch at the Forest Crossing.

The job is finished off at the other end of the run.

We then moved onto Wootton where several jobs awaited us. The first task was to dig out the drainage ditch behind the signal box. This carries water from the station area down to a stream at the Haven Street end. Movement of the clay on the embankment had blocked it. We put in strong twin walled plastic pipe of 225mm diameter and then filled up with stone. After piping most of the ditch we used the digger to move the soil on the bank to give a better slope, which we hope will stop much of the movement on this particular section of embankment.

Work in progress at the rear of Wootton Signal Box.

After finishing at this location we move to the loco release headshunt. We have had serious flooding problems here for many years and the ballast had become badly contaminated with mud and vegetation. Whilst rodding the drain that runs from the catchpit towards the headshunt it appeared blocked we decided to open up the pipe where the obstruction seemed to be. This proved very difficult as the 12" concrete pipe was a sealed carrier and had been secured in a concrete surround this giving little drainage benefit to the headshunt.

Exposing the blocked drain in the headshunt.

Once we had broken in to the pipe we found that two thirds was full of clay making it impossible to get any flow of water anyway. We have replaced this concrete pipe with more twin-walled plastic and the drains are now flowing well. We dug out the whole of the headshunt and got the water draining into the new pipe and have replaced all the old mud and stone with clean track ballast.

Why the drain didnt drain - the exposed pipe more than half-full with clay.

A bonus find was an old clay pipe hidden in the bank adjacent to the headshunt. This bank has been excessively wet for many years and has contributed to the flooding in the headshunt significantly. Whilst Kevin was removing some of the earth from this bank the pipe was uncovered. We carefully dug out some surrounding clay and could see water leaking from it into the bank. We decided to break the pipe to stop the seepage into the clay and direct the flow down a drainage channel to the new trackside pipe instead. Immediately we broke the pipe a tidal wave flowed from the pipe down the new channel, slowly receding to a small trickle. Later we discovered the old pipe was originally taking wastewater from the old station building under the bridge to a cesspit located at the top of the cutting near the present headshunt. Although the station closed in 1953 and the cesspit was subsequently filled in, the pipe was still obviously carrying some clean drainage water from the bridge area but had nowhere to take it. A small flaw in the pipe was allowing the backed up water to trickle into the bank, and had presumably been doing so for a long time. We should find the bank will now dry out.

The new section of pipe is lowered into position.

Whilst the digger was in attendance we also took the opportunity to remove some old fence posts alongside the loop. A new fence had to be put up to encompass a strip of land purchased by the company recently, which rendered the old fence line and posts redundant.

So a few very busy days for both the civil engineering department and the Mechanical engineers, the latter providing the trains and the drivers. Thanks to all those involved from both departments in making the above work run so smoothly.

The Works Train, headed by BR Class 03 No. D2059, waits in the platform road at Wootton.