Wednesday 5 April 2017

A Bit More Posting Work

Tuesday 5th April

A total of 7 of us at work today. Paul and Mike went off to do telephone and fault finding work which is part of Mikes separate blog.
Just a footnote to add to his blog. I understand that the main reason for the Poor condition of the piece of 30 pair cable he is holding was the repair of this following a lineside bonfire which melted  some of the insulation circa 25 years ago!!

First task of the day was to re-fit the steel "boot" to the wooden post. This has now had all four seams welded. Three of us managed to manhandle it most of the way up the tapered post



However, with just a few more inches to go it got tight so we resorted to a bit of heavy persuasion with Malcolm on the sledge hammer:

      

It wouldn't seat down quite as far as the position it was in when tack welded- it has probably distorted slightly after finishing the seam welds in its free state. A couple of inches of timber protuding at the bottom isn't a problem and is going to allow copious layers of protective paint to be applied. The boot was then secured in place with the original 12 screws that had held the plates prior to welding  (absolute belt and braces)
We then applied a coat of primer paint to boot and timber. While doing this I spotted a date mark on the post (1929):

  

Undercoat and top coats to follow

    


While this was going on John P and Malcolm started to dismantle the arm, spec. plate, ladder and lower angle crank assembly from the direction indicator signal - this will now be lifted out as an assembly (bit of trenching round the base required first) prior to transporting to Broadway

  

 


 The wooden signal post will be held in position inside a concrete block with a layer  of  pea gravel . We have prepared the inner shuttering for this from some plywood kindly supplied by our colleagues next door at Carriage and Wagon. 

 


 All of the large pile of point rodding has had its first stage of cleaning completed and a couple of the badly corroded ones have been cut up and painted for conversion into supports for SW signs along the extension. 

 
Oh, and just after tidying up at the end of play I spotted the decayed end of the wooden post that we cut off prior to restoration - it was in rather a state


Curly

9 comments:

  1. Any chance of getting a proper 3 foot arm on the Route indicating signal? The one fitted to it now is one of the cut-down 4 foot type that NR have used in some places. You can tell them by the fact that the white stripe is too wide and too far from the end of the blade. Also, green glass/perspex in the "Off" spectacle? Is it no longer possible to get the correct blue colour?

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    1. There are no plans to do this. The signal is as it came from sidings at Cardiff docks and is in good condition. Bit more work to do on it yet with the lamp casings. I must say I hadn't clocked the colour in the spectacle plate - will have a look next week.

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    2. The "off " spectacle plate is in fact green and will be fine with the white leds that we will use. The blue would have given a green light with the yellow flame of the oil lamps originally used. We shall however be using original lamp casings.

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  2. Hello, Love reading the blog posts on the work you do for the railway. Can you advise when work will begin on installing the signal posts and associated equipment at Broadway?
    regards Graham

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    1. It is imminent and will probably happen in the next few weeks once the ballasting at Broadway North is complete.

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  3. Thanks for the answer, cant wait to see the signals going up. regards Graham

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  4. Regarding the cable troughing stored on platform 2 at Broadway, is it planned to use this to house a cable run going north up the head shunt or south towards Toddington?
    Do you need to connect Broardway to Toddington before opening and do you have to run a new cable all the way or have you already got a connection at Laverton?
    Regards Paul K

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    1. The concrete troughing is usually used with station and yard areas . Nearly all our cables are armoured and buried directly. I understand that we are awaiting completion of the ballastig and stabilization work before installing it. It is expensive stuff-if you fancy organising sponsorship for it then let us know!
      In the meantime the PAX lines have been allocated and suitable phones for the period (332L's) are being restored for the Signal Box and internal Booking Office use. Also we have in stock rebuilt Signal Post Phones all ready to go. Its a lot of work.

      Mike

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    2. It is planned to instal the troughing between Evesham Road Bridge and Childswickhan Bridge a distance of approx 650 yards. Northwards the cable will be buried.. Cable is already laid as far as the acqueduct - the next stage is 20 pair cable to where the Laverton loop was (1300m) then 2 more runs to Broadway to coincide with the ends of the welded track sections. We already have the cable for the first stage ready to go. It will be buried in a shallow trench - hopefully done with mechanical assistance!

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