{"id":410986,"date":"2026-04-22T19:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=192315"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:13:33","slug":"landslip-repairs-under-way-on-gloucestershire-warwickshire-steam-railway-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=410986","title":{"rendered":"Landslip repairs under way on Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) suffered a further embankment slip earlier this year, between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve, about three miles north of Cheltenham Racecourse station. Work to repair the embankment is underway by R J Clarke Contractors, which has previously undertaken work for the GWSR.<\/p>\n

The railway’s infrastructure team believe the slip was caused by a very hot summer last year, leading to shrinkage of the clay soil structure.<\/p>\n

GWSR Infrastructure Manager Sarah Clayton explains: “We noticed cracks forming along the top of the embankment in September, so we have been monitoring the area for potential movement since then. In January, we suffered prolonged and intense rainfall, which appears to have triggered a sudden failure which happened late in February.<\/p>\n

“Fortunately, this happened on the vacant former Up (or Malvern) side of the embankment, away from the present track. It’s not far from a similar failure that happened three years ago. However, a civil engineering assessment concluded that it was safe for trains to pass, albeit at a 5mph speed restriction.”<\/p>\n

Remote monitors, which alert the railway to even the slightest ground movement, remain in place. The railway has also put a lot of effort into managing drainage and, indeed, won the Heritage Railway Association’s Infrastructure Award for its ‘Predict and Prevent’ strategy.<\/p>\n

“This effort has already mitigated earthworks failures elsewhere on the line.,\u201d said Sarah. “However, we are dealing with assets that are well over a century old and whose builders had much less geo-technical understanding of earthworks construction.<\/p>\n

“We understand that the clay dug out of the Greet Tunnel and cuttings along the route were used to construct the embankments. If such embankments were to be built today, their construction would be much different and with less steep angles to the sides, given the local geology.”<\/p>\n

Repair work involves removing the failed material and replacing it with crushed stone at a shallower angle, providing optimal drainage and long-term stability. The GWSR will deliver the stone to site by rail.<\/p>\n

While work continues, the railway has altered train services. With immediate effect until Thursday 14 May (subject to change), services operating on midweek days only will run to a revised intensive timetable between Broadway and Winchcombe Stations with stops at Toddington and, for some trains, also at Hayles Abbey Halt. Weekend services will continue to Cheltenham Racecourse as normal, albeit with the speed restriction past the affected section of embankment.<\/p>\n

Image credit: GWSR \/ Ian Crowder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) suffered a further embankment slip earlier this year, between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve, about three miles north of Cheltenham Racecourse station. Work to repair the embankment is underway by R J Clarke Contractors, which has previously undertaken work for the GWSR. The railway\u2019s infrastructure team believe the slip was [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2305,4920,343,47,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-heritage","category-infrastructure","category-rail-news","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410988,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410986\/revisions\/410988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}