The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWSR) has completed stabilising the embankment and repairing a landslip at Gotherington in time for The Cotswold Festival of Steam over the late-May bank holiday weekend.

The slip, approximately 20m long, happened on the west side of the line between Gotherington and Bishop’s Cleeve, and was the third slip in a short section of line.

A revised timetable and a 5 mph speed restriction at the site allowed services to continue running to Cheltenham Racecourse before the slip could be repaired.

Repairing the slip entailed re-grading it with a shallower slope angle, with material removed from the landslip being deposited at the base of the embankment to provide reinforcement.

Stone to reinforce the slip was stockpiled on land at Cheltenham Racecourse, from where it was loaded into dogfish wagons for transport to the site of the slip.

To empty the wagons at Gotherington, a bespoke chute was created to unload the approximately 2,000 tonnes of material required, with each supply train delivering 80 tonnes a time from three train loads of stone a day.

A temporary speed restriction of 10mph and monitoring of the site took place over the weekend of 9th and 10th May.

The final work saw alternate rail joints being welded together to reduce the dipping of rail joints and decrease the effect of ‘hammer blow’ each time train wheels pass over a joint.

Full line speed was reinstated on Friday, 15th May, in time for footplate experience runs at full line speed for the first time since the slip occurred.

Funding to repair the slip came from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust.