Life in the Signal Box

It was a hot day on Sunday but we still had quite few passengers and lots of engines on the raised track.

Views from the Signal Box  – Click on picture or wait 10 secs

As you will know if you have tried it, life in the signal box can be hard work. You need an alert mind and nimble fingers to keep up with the demand.   Which track to put the next train on the loop or the main, now the bell rings to tell you that a train has just left the platform and you must lower a signal to call on the next train then reset it when the train has passed.  Then you get three bells and having made sure nobody has gone past the box you put the traverser signal to danger to allow operation of the traverser, now two bells to say the traverser is clear so off with the traverser signal, by now another train is approaching on the ground level track and so it goes on.

Mike Keighley found himself in the box all day and it was very hot

The funny thing was the trains seemed to continue running – no one had the heart to wake him up.

Hope you like the new format  for the web site which has been introduced by Harrison Fletcher.

The Workshop in Action

Daniel Hamilton came with his dad Donald to the auction on Wednesday evening at Ashton Court and asked if he could come along on Friday to do some work on a Go-Kart he is building.  This is Daniel at work on one of the stub axles under the watchful eye of workshopmanager Phil Bridgeway.  Daniel had already done some lathe work at school but no doubt learnt a lot from Phil who introduced him to turning between centres.   It is  delight to see the machinery being put to such good use and Daniel will be back next week to make some more parts.   The go-kart will be powered by a Honda look-a-like engine and Daniel has already completed the front end.   We look forward to seeing the kart in action.

 Alan Church with 3 1/2 F

Alan Church brought along his scratch built Gauge 1 engine and tender.  It was intended to be a 4F but Alan got the dome in the wrong place so now it is a 3 1/2F or as Alan puts it an “Irish” engine.  Wheels came from our sale last year and the rest from Alan’s scrap box –  he must have a big scrap box.   Based on “the project” it has single cylinder with slip eccentric, water pump and is exquisitely made to a total cost of £30.  We have got some clever b’s in our Society.   Not sure what contribution our chairman was making but it is good to see him at the track because he takes a lot of rubbish away.

  Mike Keithley and a Polly Tender

Mike Keithley brought along the tender of the club’s Polly  – yet another smashing piece of work – spoilt with things to photograph this week.   He and his team have been working hard , particularly on the paint work and this made it quite difficult to photograph with the bright sun reflecting on the highly polished service.   Looks too good to me for the members to use, I think we will have to get Frank Gibbens to make a glass case for it! .

More Action

There was a lot more action with a very good turn out of members enjoying the sunny day. David Giles was working on the paved area around the new lift and a boiler awaits test.  The tailstock die holder and dies were purchased at the auction on Wednesday night for the club workshop.  We are building up quite a collection of tools to go with the machinery.

It is about time I had a holiday so I am away for the next threeFridays but will try and get some news to you.

Clicking on the pictures should blow them up – it does and gives a black screen!!  Back to the experts.

Signals  -Tuesday update with Pictures – It WORKS!!

Busy day at the track Friday and Tuesday.  Now the ground level track has been re-layed leaving the station through to the bridge we no longer have metal ties joining the rails and we can have track detection to see if the  track is occupied.  The detector can then be used to operate a signal at the station which will inform the driver when it is safe to pull away.  Two purposes, firstly the vision is obscured by the hedge at this point and it is not easy to see if the track is clear and secondly it adds to the railway “atmosphere” and gives something more for passenger  to watch – they seem quite taken by the various signals.

Work started early this year when I designed the system and brought the components.  These are mainly sourced on ebay which provides plenty of choice and good reliable service.  You have to wait a bit if the part comes from Hong Kong so you need to start early.  Having got all the bit these were put together into  a cabinet, the circuits tested and the cabinet bolted onto the wall in the station.  At the same time Mark Phillips was getting the bits and building the signals.  We will eventually be installing two systems, one for the ground level and one for the raised track but at the moment concentrating on the ground level.

Once the track was in place Terry Phelps set to work welding electrical contact straps onto the rails with silver soldered bolts in the straps.  These are then joined together with wire loops to maintain the circuit across the fishplates. Roger Sykes, Derek Todman and I then pulled in the cables and today we completed the wiring to the signal which Mark had mounted under the bridge and also to the beginning of the new track where Mark and Terry had fitted isolating fish plates.

With me so far – I seem to be going on  a bit but there is quite a bit of work to be done.

On Tuesday, Mark and  I hope to get the signal working so next time you are down on a Running Day have a look – We did except Mark was at the dentists.

Why no pictures on Friday Well shortly after lunch three members from Stockport ME turned up. The are driving an old Lagonda from Lands End to John O”Grouts and as they were passing, called in on the off chance.  So, by the time we had chatted, given them a ride on Telford and had a cup of tea the afternoon had gone andI  had to rush and pack up.

Back from my fascinating tour of Eastern Germany including Berlin, Dresden and Colditz normal blogging service will now  hopefully be restored.

We had a great trip up the Broken in the Harz mountains behind this beast.  Specially built for the job they haul large trains up to the 3,000ft summit on narrow gauge track with no cogs. A splendid sight and sound.

We also visited the world’s largest garden railway – Eisenbahnwelton in Kurort Rathen – which included the Harz railway in miniature. Trains running everywhere, fully signalled, sound, uncoupling and running round at the end of the line etc.   We should have one at Ashton Court but perhaps not as big as this – you would have a job to fit it into our whole site – but the control systems would present a super challange.

Back to our world –  on a brief visit I was pleased to see that Alan Hooper has been getting on with the new fence by the bridge.  A number of people have been concerned by the hazard presented by the unguarded drop and it is good to see it in position.  Alan has already given it a coat of creosote and he was not alone with the creosote brush.  There were five people all busy round the site putting protection on the various fences.   Not a pleasant job but one of many carried out by members to keep Ashton Court in such fine condition.

Following work by the track and bogie gangs we seem to have got on top of the derailment on the ground level track and had trouble free running over the Bank Holiday weekend.  Lots of locos, passengers and helpers.

Now we have planning permission for the workshop I am busy obtaining prices and quotes so that we can put together a realistic cost for the project and aim to have something by the end of June.  We can then get back to the members and get their views on whether to proceed.  Planning requirements are not too onerous but we will have to carry out planting to replace shrubs we remove and fit a bat box on the new building.