Dodgy Cable and Rotten Board

 Tues 16th Dec

Off to Broadway today , among other important things, to replace a rotten wooden plank on the steps over the signal wires adjacent to the ground frame at the southern end of the station. Signal wires and point rodding  here are a bit of a trip hazard for the engine crew getting to the frame.

Now all looking much better with chicken wire fitted and a good dose of creosote.

The points at the north end into the siding needed some adjustment . These will remain clamped but if access to the siding is required the blade seating is now within tolerance but could do with another tweak when we have a crowbar to hand. 

Now, onto the main event. Unfortunately I had to leave early so wasn't there to record stuff, so thanks to colleagues for the photos and descriptions.

There has been a problem with failed track circuits at Broadway. Mike E  Kevern O, JohnP, John B, and Mike S headed up to the cabinet F at signal 43 where there is significant damage to rodent damaged track circuit  cables - not only sheathing but damage to the copper conductors

Of the nine cables that appear in the cabinet the only one - the armoured one from Broadway signal box - has survived animal damage ( any ideas which rodent/animal enjoys rubber!). There was also concern over crudely repaired cables with a layer of pvc tape - so all these were replaced and buried

There was quiet rejoicing when the relays in the cabinet were operating and all was back to normal in the signal box. 

We will now be checking all the other cabinets on this stretch of track 

Stop Press:

The replacement 10 pair cables for the Gotherington to Cheltenham replacement project have been delivered!

An excellent day's work by all concerned!

Curly

More cable preparationns

 Tuesday 2nd Dec

Several things happening today after a very useful morning briefing. A lot of stuff for us to focus on in the coming weeks.

Firstly Andy and Peter go to Winchcombe Box to resolve a problem with the Token Machine 

Then John P and Peter W dismantle point rodding which impedes the replacement of sleepers, adjacent to Winchcombe box,  by the Pway on Wednesday. We will re-connect on Thursday

The replacement of the cabling between Gotherington to CRC needs further investigation and planning. We want to have an understanding of the routing of the existing cable to avoid damaging it when we do the trenching for the new one. So off we go with some hi-tech Cable Tracing equipment that we have borrowed for a few days. This tells us the direction of the cable,   it's depth and its alignment. So a bit of track walking between the CRC down distant signal and CRC - plus a visit to the Bishops Cleeve foot crossing.

We have marked the run with white spray paint which I think you can just make out on the following photos. Most of the way from the distant signal to the RDA crossing the cable is approx 1.5 metres from the adjacent rail and is at an average depth of 0.4m.

At the Bishop Cleeve foot crossing it is consistently about 18" from the rail. Here is Mike S with the detector

Curly