GWSR General Discussion and Operations

Any more news on the Gotherington slip and if enough work has been done to run past this 1st weekend back in operation?

 

All looks good for running as planned with enough of the repair work being completed, albeit with a speed restriction over the area.

 

Big materials being moved to the site today:


5m and 10m long sheet piling for Gotherington. Big Telehandler to load them on to a bogie flat, which was then pushed down to the site.

AFAIK the soil nailing will get the services up and running for the very important race trains; the sheet piling will follow.

 

Great news

Do we think there is a long term solution to these land slips; i.e. even more or bigger civil work on the land drainage etc. or is just a case of dealing with them as and when they occur.

I wondered if there is any predictor or tech. that they use on network rail that might help relieve the uncertainty?

 

I believe there are devices that you can plant into the ground that will detect movement and thereby give early warning.

But - bear in mind even Network Rail, with all their resources, suffer these things. The two NR lines I am particularly interested in - Salisbury to Southampton, where I commute, and East Grinstead to Oxted, which is the mainline connection to the Bluebell - are both closed for an extended and indefinite period due to land slips. I'm sure there are many others.

Tom

 

Almost the whole length of the GWSR is in either a cutting, or on an embankment of clay. Both have been slipping for a long time, with mentions in books about the line about problems the contractor had with keeping the clay in shape.

Ironically, the most stable bit is probably the section north of Broadway, which is almost flat all the way to Honeybourne. But there you have 9 awkward bridges.

 

Like I said in an earlier post, geology will win in the end and, until it does, there will always be the risk of these slips. The GWSR is not alone in this of course. At least, thanks to hard work by volunteers and staff, the line will be able to open for business on 7 March and the efforts of the land drainage team and others has done much to mitigate the situation.

 

Email through today to say emergency repairs to the slip at gotherington have been completed and the go ahead has been given to start the new season tomorrow. (7820 rostered) - these repairs are costed at half a million pounds and donations are welcome. Work will carry on with the repairs until at least late April or early may. But at least we can start running again and currently the race trains are still scheduled for next week.

 

See more photos and update on the Gotherington slip repair work:
https://draingang.blogspot.com/2020/03/gotherington-slip-update.html

Although I'm not able to visit the GWSR for the 1st day of services (at least Union of South Africa & Britannia will be at York Stn today!) I'm mightily relieved (as I am sure are many others!) that services are cleared to start on the GWSR today for the start of the 2020 season. Thank you GWSR and contractors for all your efforts in this regard.

 

"Union of South Africa" sadly wasn't on the West Coast Railways special to London yesterday but "Britannia" put on a good show. I trust all went well on the GWSR yesterday.

 

Certainly did, here's the first train of the season back from Cheltenham yesterday:



Looked reasonably busy as well, so good news on that front.

 

Spent a lovely day on the railway today, travelling through the Cotswolds with a beautifully turned out Dinmore Manor. Landslip repair work at Winchcombe and Gotherington clearly evident, but it looks like GWSR have got it all under control ahead of the busy Cheltenham Gold Cup week.

 

Glad you enjoyed it! Not sure if it's been mentioned here, but I've been assured that the massive concrete blocks at the Winchcombe slip are temporary for this season only pending a more permanent solution, but that concrete Lego was quick for now so the track doesn't get submerged in clay!

 

O/t- ish, I know, but made me laugh:

 

My coverage from today of 9466 steaming through the Cotswolds.

 

GWSR has opened an emergency support fund, full story here: https://www.gwsr.com/Emergency_Embankment_Appeal.html

The long and short of it is that not only has this closure come just after the usual winter shutdown when there's been lots of spending and little income, but during that time we were also hit with a half a million pound bill to repair a landslip, exacerbated by the dry summer and extremely wet winter. It would now be more expensive to stop this work and reconvene it later than let it carry on. The GWR Trust has made a substantial donation already but we need another £250,000 pretty sharpish.
You can either:

• Do a direct bank transfer to Sort Code 30-90-89 Account 47638368 using the reference ‘Support the GWR’
• Send a cheque payable to GWRT to The Chairman, GWRT, Churchward House, Winchcombe Railway Station, Winchcombe, Glos GL54 5LD

In either case, the gift aid form is here which can be scanned and emailed to trust.chairman@gwsr.com or sent to the above address.

Many thanks for your help.

 

Corona and the slip is a double whammy which hit us at the worst possible time - the end of the winter shut down, when we traded with no income for several months. This is serious.

I'm taking my cheque down personally this afternoon.

 

First cheque delivered:



By special courrier

Got the 'Diva' out from her wintersleep, a useful opportunity for a bit of a gallop.

No other cheques visible in the letterbox yet, so please try and help us. In due course we will need to pay for the B4632 bridge repair too, that isn't covered.

 

The joys of looking at the thread on a phone - I thought the letter said Court Appeal and that I'd wandered into the WSR thread by accident!

 

Sent my donation by Bank Transfer, it's already in the GWRT account.

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk