At Broadway

Catching up in October

The last few weeks have been concerned with the work required to get the Broadway signal box commissioned in November. A lot of testing is being carried out to ensure that all the mechanical and electrical safety systems are operational.

One problem that has arisen is that with the emergence of the platform 2 waiting room the visibility of all the northern end signals has been obscured from the signal box. It has therefore been necessary to install detectors on these 7 signals - four of which are ground signals.

Thankfully there have been sufficient spare connections in the cabling between the lineside cabinets and the signal box to accommodate this. Additional cabling has been installed up the signal posts to the detectors.

Here is a view looking north from the signal box without a signal in sight!

Additional indicators have been fitted and wired in on the blockshelf

Here are some pictures of the signals with their detectors fitted

Because of lack of use we have been finding some of the signal wire pulley wheels have gone stiff or seized, so these have been removed and lubricated .

There has been a problem with the arms of one of the compensators below platform 2 fouling with the adjacent unit so we have raised it up by 3" using some 3" x 6" channel plus longer bolts. The holes in this have been pre-drilled using another compensator base casting as a jig. 

Here Mike E  is is connecting the new cables in the cabinet from the detectors on the direction indicator signal (nos 2 & 3) and the adjacent pair of ground signals (nos 10 & 12)

The lamps in all the signals at the north end of the station were checked and confirmed to be working.

There is still some work to do with a modification to the mechanical locking and finalising the acceptance lever system. And a lot of testing.

So plenty still to do including the eventual removal of the ground frame and reconnecting the point rodding for signal box operation.

Curly

Working at Broadway

 Tuesday 4th Aug

We meet at Broadway signal box to discuss the actions for the day.

While in the box I notice a new addition to the RH end of the block shelf. This is the SPAD alarm system which is activated if a train passes the section signal at danger. This is triggered if the train enters the track circuit directly after the signal. 

This unit flashes and emits a warning note. I believe that there is also a warning light on the signal.

A bit of polishing needed on the lever handles to remove some rusting. We are now embarking on the work required to ensure that everything is in good working order. 

Firstly we need to sort out a problem with the temperature compensators in the point rodding runs going up to the North end. The arms on one of these are too close together in the normal position so we need to shorten two of the rods and redrill bolt holes.

A bit more work to do here next week.

John B is preparing a list of all the actions and testing that will be required before the box can be commissioned -  We have started checking that all the electrical locks are  working but this needs to be done in conjunction with the signals on a on-running day - a lot of electrical testing still to be done.

Here's a picture of the electrical control board in the locking room with track circuit relays, etc. 

Quite a complicated set up!

Curly

S&T Workshop Open for Diesel Gala

 During the Diesel Gala last weekend we opened up the S & T Workshop with an exhibition to demonstrate some of the signalling systems used on the railway. All of this is true heritage and is being kept in full working order. (Apart from the model diesel which was being used to demonstrate how track circuiting operates). You can just see this on the LHS of this picture together with the block bell and token machine (with its covers removed)

 

And the token machine at the other end "station"

Here are a couple of close ups of the mechanical locking trays used in signal box locking rooms. These connect to the levers "upstairs" and , for example, prevent a signal being pulled off if pointwork is not set correctly.

A working demonstration of the Strowger telephone system which is in full operation on the railway 

Some more views of the workshop as set up for our visitors

Many visitors came through on the day and enjoyed the visit.

Curly

More Preparations

 Tuesday 14th July

C & M have made us a grand new workbench which we have moved into the workshop today. This will be a great addition to cope with all our work in progress

We'll soon fill this up!

With the Diesel Gala rapidly approaching it has been decided that we are going to open up the S & T workshop with some demonstrations of signalling stuff!

Some of the critical systems for operating a safe railway will be on show. The first of these will demonstrate the token system which enables  only one train to be in a section between two stations (signal boxes) at any one time. 

Two of these token machines are set to represent one in each of two adjacent signal boxes and a token has to be carried by the train crew to activate signal control on arrival at end of section - fine details of this system will be explained should you visit  the Gala.

You will see on the right hand side of these  photos are  bell units. These are used by the signalman to communicate codes - this will also be explained with the bells working.

Track circuiting is also going to be explained with the use of a model train set up on the bench - here it is being set up by Mike and Andy

We have also been reconditioning signal motors and which have been languishing in storage for a long time and our now much stronger electrical team has got these working.  Here is one on the bench

And George has been exercising his artistic talent by highlighting the cast letters on the cover plate in "gold paint"

Now back to this Tuesday where there has been a lot of problem solving going on.

Firstly four of us off to Cheltenham to replace the green lens in the spectacle plate of section signal 22 which has fallen out

 

Sam is putting in the replacement glass up top. We needed the extension ladder to get decent access - a bit awkward here so a bit of ballast shovelling to get a stable base for the ladder

Glass lens now securely installed 

We called in at CRC signal box to resolve a problem with stiff/sticking levers which we think was probably being caused by tightness in the locking frame. So some oiling has been applied . Hopefully no problems during the Gala!

Back at Winchcombe in the signalbox one of the track circuit indicator lights on the track diagram has failed - this has now been replaced.

That's all for now

Curly

Cable Tidying

 Tuesday 16th June

I have to apologise for the lack of S &T blogs recently, but I have been absent from the railway for domestic reasons. 

Paul D has sent me a couple of pictures of Tuesdays activity in the yard at Winchcombe. Some of the cable drums with significant lengths of 10 pair  cable are rotten and in danger of spilling their contents. So an attempt is being made to re-spool the onto better drums. 

Looks like a 5 man job!

Curly

Tidying Up

 Tuesday 24th March

Having successfully  completed the replacement of new cabling between CRC and Bishops Cleeve Station Road bridge - we have decided today to tidy up trackside by removing the now redundant "coffin" joint enclosures . These are fairly substantial brick built structures which required a good bashing with a sledgehammer to break up

They have a tinplate metal cover held on with 4 stud bolts. Here's the before during and after:

All remaining visible cabling has been cut off and removed. We ended up with probably 1.5 tons of bricks and concrete to take back to Winchcombe for disposal. 

John P and myself did this while the rest of the team went back to Gotherington to complete the replacement and commissioning of the point motor

Curly

A Bit of Training

 Tuesday 10th March

A great turn out today with 10 of us attending at the S & T workshop at Winchcombe for what was to be a day of demonstration,  fault finding procedures  and education.

Initially Peter W presented a slide show to explain how the electrical circuitry of  token machines worked:

And then a practical demo of the machines in action. To do this a pair of the token machines have been wired up to operate on the bench and Peter W and Andy D volunteering to be the signalman  at Winchcombe and Cheltenham to show how the tokens worked in practice.

With a very interested audience!

And as if that wasn't enough excitement , there followed an equally interesting presentation on telephone technology given by Mike S on the BT 700 handsets used on the railway and how to maintain them.

Then off to Winchcombe signal box locking room where a Strowger " telephone  exchange" is installed for a working demo

 We now have a lot of electrical knowledge between us, boosted by our new recruits Martin H and Mike C - this bodes well for fault finding in the many and varied systems on the railway. Kevern O continues with the setting up of the acceptance lever system between Toddington and Broadway and a SPAD warning system. More on this in the future when I understand a bit more about it!

I have been a bit tardy in publishing the previous weeks work so here is a brief summary of March 3rd.

A bit of Finishing Off at Cheltenham with a good turn out with 8 of us. Some work still to do at the new pointwork to set up the detector linkages to the point motor

Peter W checking that we have power to the unit

And two more bits of track bonding to finish off - Martin on the drill unit

The electrical work has now been completed  and all the stage one cabling replacement  project is complete. Testing has been carried out and,  except for a few small problems which have been ironed out, all is working well. 

Congratulations to all involved for carrying out a complicated project which was completed on time for the new running season.

Curly

PS

While we were in the Winchcombe locking room being Stoweraged  I took a photo of the locking trays which I think you will find interesting - here is a fine example of the mechanical lever locking that keeps the signalling safe. Worthy of a bit more training for us here to understand all the interlocking sequences  - one for the future!

Note the electrical locks connected below.