December, All in All a busy Month

 Work continued on the preparations for the Cheltenham to Gotherington replacement cable, part of the the exact route of the old Cable has been marked out. During a meeting with the digger contractor John B discovered Other Utilities buried around Cleeve Crossing so they will also be in attendance when we need to get there, we wont be popular if we hit anything we shouldnt!

Meanwhile back at the Ranch ( New Workshop)  Andy, Rich C and Mike E,  have been studying the insides of some of the spare Token Instruments and Mike S has been checking over the spare Track Circuit Relays. They are all working ok but lets be sure we wont know until we have checked them all and rotated them around from the spare stock.

 If you know them well the big coils are linked by copper Braid to the Terminal posts and because the braid was not tinned, just bare copper strands, they've been affected by damp over the years.  These are the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co relays and they called them AFAIK "Shelf relays", looking at Pics of the "Relay Rooms" they were a lot drier and warmer than our Trackside cabinets and I suspect thats the reason.

Still in the New Workshop we have been pondering the best and safest way to move items like Electric Point Motors around for Inspection and tests, has anyone any suggestions, some sort of engine crane perhaps? Properly rated and tested of course.

Meanwhile up at Toddington we have finally reorganised and linked up  cable pairs right up to Broadway, another important stage in the preparations for opening. Kevern's magic watch said he walked 4 miles that day between cabinets, another stage completed!

Happy New Year to all our Readers, promise to have more pics and less words next time.

Mike S 

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

Yard Clearance and more

Because I haven't blogged for quite a while this blog will cover the last few Tuesdays that we have been in action. So...... most of you who attend Winchcombe will have noticed the Grand clear up of all the S &T stuff from the concrete pads at the far side of the yard. A lot of this accomplished with the able assistance of Neil C and the telehandler.  A lot has been scrapped but all the potentially useful stuff is now neatly stored at the side of our workshop.

Now that we have our excellent new workshop at Winchcombe,  the removal of all the equipment from the old coach which doubled as our workshop and mess area is now complete and the opportunity for superior organisation is now in place!

We are now in the process of planning the replacement of lineside cabling between Gotherington and CRC. The existing cables were not suitable for burial in wet conditions and in certain areas are showing serious degradation - this  together with many surface joints in "brick built coffins" are causing serious concerns. The plan is to eliminate all these joints with continuous armoured cable only jointing at the appropriate lineside cabinets where connections to signals and track circuits are required .

The majority of armoured 10 pair cable will be required for the majority of the run as far as the CRC section signal. A shorter section of 20 pair cable will continue from there.

The plan is, as far as possible, to dig an 18" deep trench to bury the cable and to bore a hole under the Bishops Cleeve foot crossing to avoid disruption of the foot traffic there. Where there is limited access for  mechanical trenching equipment it will be out with the picks and shovels!

The lengths of cable have now been determined - a total of approx 4500 metres.

Of course all this work cannot be carried out in one go - as there is potential for ripping out the existing cable while trenching as the exact routing of this underground is not known. A potential embankment slip at Gotherington is giving concern over possible damage to cables so some detection equipment is now on hand to try and find  them.

We have also been upgrading some of track circuit connections to lineside cabinets. These were made originally using BT telephone wire which is thin and very susceptible to damage. The cabinet opposite CRC signal box has been replaced completely and the wiring with a much more substantial cable. 

Here Peter W is re-connecting the 8 cables 

This week Kevern O, Mike E and Mike S have been fault finding within the track circuits at Toddington. Traced to a loose connection in the signal box locking room! 

Curly

 

Gotherington Distant

 Tuesday 2nd Sept

A quick visit today to Gotherington in the white pickup carrying the final parts to complete the restoration of the Down Distant (the longest pull on the railway)

Only the counterbalance unit to bolt on and connect the down rod. Unfortunately because the down rod is shorter than normal the casting has to be fitted about 6ft up the post making difficult to hoist and bolt on. However we have two strong guys namely John P and Neil C to complete the job!

This picture gives the illusion that the signal arm is slightly off but is in fact spot on 90 degrees.

A pull on the signal wire and all appears to move freely

This signal has a detector on it so now off to Gotherington signal box to check everything is OK.

Quite a pull needed on this lever to get a good off. A bit more fettling required!

Curly

Signal Oiling

 Tuesday 5th Aug

Another visit to Broadway to wake the signals  up from their long slumber!

So armed with oil can cans and any necessary tools we started at the north end and worked our way back to Childswickham bridge (stopping for a coffee at the station cafe on the way)

Firstly the direction indicator signal 

And the adjacent ground signal , making sure that all moving parts were well oiled and moving smoothly.

And then down to the station

So far everything is working well.

South of the station the bracket with the single doll was next

And opposite is the wooden post starter signal. The woodwork appears to be in good condition - even the sealant where the post sits in its metal "boot" is in good order and is keeping water from seeping in

All the pulley wheels guiding the signal wires across under the tracks are working freely

Then the bracket signal with the call-on arms. Neil C doing all the up top work with the rest of us pulling signal wires and hoisting balance weights several times to make sure the oil was well worked in

And  to Childswickham bridge  (missed taking a picture of the signal here).

Curly

Relaxing a few more stiff pivots

 Tuesday 22nd July

Off to Broadway again today to continue with the checking of the operation of the point rodding.

Last week we had to remove the seized adjustable crank for the headshunt fpl - again this was solid and will need some heat - so a spare one (well oiled!) is being fitted

A bit of digging out under the steel plate to get a spanner on the bolt heads

And then it's back in position

Report from the signal box that the lever pulls nice and smoothly.  

Meanwhile opposite us on the headshunt 3850 waits for the hand operated points to be changed for the run round down platform 2

Now if you follow the connection from the adjustable crank across the tracks to the 4ft of the headshunt you can see the connection to the facing point lock - all this is now working smoothly, but will not be operational until the hand operated connection is eventually removed.

So this concludes the northern end pointwork - its now off to the Evesham Road  Bridge end to check out all the pivoting units. In each case we are disconnecting the point rodding to make sure the cranks move. No seizures here but some are pretty stiff and need vigorous twisting with penetrating oil to get free movement. 

The temp compensators were  tight and needed the central link removing to free up all the joints

In the end we were satisfied that everything was in order and all runs pulled OK from the signal box.

Next time we will check the operation of the signals.

Stand back to let 2807 past.

Curly