GWSR General Discussion and Operations

so pleased that Didcot have allowed the railcar to visit a couple of lines have booked my ride with it on 4th May having also sampled it on the fierce inclines on the East Somerset Railway it is a lovely experience.

 

Not so much in the way of inclines here but it's very much all about letting it stretch its legs a bit. Certainly the longest it's run in quite some time yesterday!

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Would anyone know if HRA privilege passes are valid tomorrow? I see it’s a vintage weekend. I’ve tried calling the railway but they’re not answering.

 

They are not valid I am afraid, its a special event. I am a volunteer Booking Office Clerk on the GWSR, and we have been instructed thus.


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Thanks Roger.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B8tdMesm1/



PASSENGER ANNOUNCEMENT: The GWSR has suffered a land slip on the Malvern side of the embankment between Gotherington and Bishop’s Cleeve. As a result, we would like to advise supporters and visitors planning to travel that there are short-term service changes while essential repair works are undertaken.

From Tuesday 21st April until Thursday 14th May (please note this end date may be subject to change), services operating on midweek days only will run to a revised intensive timetable between Broadway and Winchcombe Stations. During this period, the Blue and Purple timetables will be replaced with a different timetable.

These changes are necessary to allow safe and effective access for engineering teams working to stabilise and repair the affected area. Wherever possible, services will continue to operate using available traction from our fleet, including our vintage rail car (affectionately known as the 'Bubble Car' No. W55003) and steam locomotives hauling seven-coach trains.

This still provides an excellent opportunity for passengers to explore the northern section of the line, including visiting Broadway Village, or stopping off at Hayles Abbey Halt to enjoy local walks to Hailes Fruit Farm and the historic ruins of Hailes Abbey.

Visitor Group Bookings from Cheltenham Racecourse and Footplate Experience days during this period will also be amended. These services are also expected to operate between Winchcombe and Broadway, with revised timetables currently being finalised for the Footplate Experience days. All parties will be notified of the changes shortly by one of our team.

At present, weekend services are planned to operate as advertised through to Cheltenham Racecourse. However, there remains a possibility that engineering work may affect this. Should this occur, services will be amended at short notice, and trains may instead operate over a reduced section of the line, likely between Gotherington and Broadway, with a combination of steam and diesel services.

The railway is working hard to maintain as much of the advertised service as possible while ensuring the safety of our passengers, volunteers, and infrastructure. We will continue to provide updates as work progresses. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.

The railway is deeply grateful to the supporting Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust (GWRT) which is funding the repair costs. Donations to the Trust’s general funds can be made here: www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/how-to-donate

For the latest updates and timetable information, please visit our website www.gwsr.com or follow our official social media channels.

 

Worth highlighting that as GWR railcar No.22 is only planned to be used on selected Saturdays (and bank holiday Monday) and the line remains completely open with a full service at weekends, those railcar services are also unaffected. The plan is for work to be complete before the steam gala.

 

Good, I was thinking of a visit for my birthday which is rapidly approaching.

 

Concerning stuff. What is it about the civil engineering of the original construction that has seen so frequent landslips?

 

These railways were built before people fully understood soil mechanics, I guess the soil here is prone to being affected by rain and over time will decide to move around. I believe at the time of previous slips the line recognised the issue , you can take preventative measures to mitigate but short of rebuilding the whole line I guess there will always be a risk.

 

Geotechnical engineering knowledge was approximately zero in that day and age, basically.

E.g. I seem to recall, in the original Chicken Curve repair, that when they dug down, the found a buried grass layer; the earth of the original embankment had just been dumped straight onto the pre-existing turf! Needless to say, that provided a nice shear surface for the embankment to slide on! They just didn't know any better.

Noel

 

It wasn't really engineered, just plonked on top of the landscape! Doesn't help that you've got the Cotswold escarpment on one side which is all sliding downhill anyway, with the embankment getting in the way of surface water flows. As it is that earthwork has a large number of culverts in it; I understand an element of the remediation works involves a new toe ditch along a length of the embankment to hopefully reduce the risk of this in the future.

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Effectively true, but if I might quibble slightly. Scientists were beginning to formulate theories that today are recognised as the first steps towards what we know as soil mechanics; notably, Coulomb towards the end of the 18th century and Rankine in the 19th. However, most builders of canals and then railways had no knowledge of their theories as they had no formal scientific training.

When I was an undergraduate in the 1960s, we learned some interesting history because at the start of a course the subject, eg. soil mechanics, hydraulics, structures etc., was introduced by looking at its development over time. AFAIK that is not usual today.

 

But this railway was built in the twentieth century- so they should really have done better! The collapse of Stanway viaduct while it was under construction suggests that corners were being cut, even then.

 

That may be a bit harsh.
For the 15 arches the contractor did try and save money, by working with 3 sets of five formers, instead of one of 15. That worked for arches 1-5.
When he finished arches 6-10 and moved the formers up to 11-15 the 10th freshly built arch gave way when a small crane was stood on it. The fatal error was putting the crane on the new arch before the mortar had properly cured.
An interesting story...

 

I don't think they really started to understand soil/track etc movements until the 20s after a few incidents when heavier and more powerful engines etc became more common.

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20th century - just barely! The line was built in 1904-1906; and I'm not sure if you appreciate how limited scientific and engineering knowledge was that early. For instance, that was contemporaneous with the Wright brothers (first flight 1903), who were not just 'lucky tinkerers', they were very first aeronautical engineers. ('Engineer' here defined as 'someone who uses scientific knowledge to predict how something they build will perform'. They very accurately predicted the efficiency level of their first propellors before they were ever built.) Every field has a different time-line, of course, but the Wright example is a reasonable and informative one.

I agree that it's instructive to hear the history, not just entertaining; I can only suppose that the body of knowledge has grown so large recently that, with a fixed, limited amount of time to cover material, the history is less important than other things that are more important to cover.

Noel

 

The Wright brothers were pioneers at the cutting edge of technology, and that example rather contradicts your claim about the limitations of engineering knowledge at that time. The builders of the Stratford - Cheltenham line had over a century of canal and railway building experience to inform them, yet the infrastructure of this particular railway continues to reveal weaknesses, in contrast to other contemporary routes such as Risborough-Aynho and Northolt-Wycombe. It's poor workmanship.

 

Karl von Terzaghi known as the Father of Soil Mechanics didn't publish his ideas until after WW1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Terzaghi