North Dorset Trailway Gains Cross Section

[Matthew Arnold]

My dad and i took the dogs out at about lunchtime and i decided to take my camera. Got some nice pics of an S.A.M that we are currently clearing of patches of scrub o nthe ramparts. Also took pictures of a bridge top which was at the begining/end of an old tunnel that went under the hill. Sadly we cant dig it out as it is filled in with asbestos waste. We plan to clear it of brambles and the big willow will also be coming out.

[rapidlee]

apparently the yew forest on hod hill is the biggest in europe. or so i am told.

[Will Hinchliffe]

Ive been told you can find glow worms up there. I never knew there was a tunnel through it. Pity they cant dig it out.

[Matthew Arnold]

apparently the yew forest on hod hill is the biggest in europe. or so i am told.

 

Hambledon Hill my man. Hod Hill is to the right just out of shot. The largest Yew forest is in Kingley Vale, Chichester, West Sussex. Ive walked through the yews at Hambledon Hill and the trees in there are immense.

[rapidlee]

woopse. hambeldon your right there are glow worms. the trees are amazing all contorted. have been there a few times now, kinda spooky

[Matthew Arnold]

We were working on the other side of it today. Bit damp n windy but had a decent bonfire. Had good fun gettin to and from the job site as it was very well used farm tracks with a chalk/clay mix base. Very slippy and very difficult to stop on (bounced into farmers gate).

[Treewolf]

...

Also took pictures of a bridge top which was at the begining/end of an old tunnel that went under the hill. Sadly we cant dig it out as it is filled in with asbestos waste. We plan to clear it of brambles and the big willow will also be coming out.

...

 

Matt, whereabouts is that bridge/tunnel? I don't recall one round there apart from the long bridge that took the railway under the A350 by the A350/A357 junction and bridge over the Stour, is this the one you mean?

 

Great photos, and the trailway you're working on looks really good. It is a stunning route up the valley there.

[Matthew Arnold]

Matt, whereabouts is that bridge/tunnel? I don't recall one round there apart from the long bridge that took the railway under the A350 by the A350/A357 junction and bridge over the Stour, is this the one you mean?

 

Great photos, and the trailway you're working on looks really good. It is a stunning route up the valley there.

 

It is at the top of Gains Cross hill just off the main road. Whilst speaking to members of the public who used to travel on the line there was a tunnel that gave the farmer (Pitt-Rivers) access to fields on the other side of the old railway line. This has since been infilled with asbestos contaminated waste ( so will cost mega money to have dug out and removed). We had Stourpaine (river bridge) rebuilt by our in house county contractors. The bridge number for the bridge that crosses the stour is number 185. We have just secured the bit of land at the A350/357 junction. All that remains is to clear out the trees on all sides of the bridge to make a thorough assessment. Although the A350 goes over it we dont know what sort of state it is in underneath. We do have some big (150+ ton) contaminated soil heaps to get shifted and some Japanese Knotweed on the section too but if we can clear it so the diggers can get in and dig it out then we can use the cleaner soil to fill in the hole. Here is a link showing the route from Shillingstone rec to Stourpaine.

 

RR Photo Gallery Group 49

[Treewolf]

Interesting, thanks!

 

You guys are doing a fantastic job on this, it's already a huge improvement and it will be a really nice local resource.

[Matthew Arnold]

We are hoping to be at Blandford in the next year or so. Most of the landowners (bar one) are up for it. We have 5 heaps (150+ tons each) of contaminated soil to get shifted after we get the trees felled. We have already made a small start at the blandford end by removing about 200 trees (only 3 inch things all done with clearing saw). Just to give us a head start as we have some bigger stuff to remove. These are pics of the bottom of the Gains Cross slope after we felled loads of coppice stools and some dodgy looking Ash.