Most of today was spent continuing the re-furbishment of the wooden signal post which we are going to instal at Broadway. The main problem was a significant amount of rot on the bottom end. This has now been cut out and a piece of good timber screwed in. To bring it back to full strength we are fitting a steel "boot". This consists of 4 pieces 60" long , tapering from 10"wide at the base down to 9". These are temporarily screwed on. Here's the first one in position:
Next stage will be to remove the plates and finish paint the woodwork. Plates will be screwed on again and tack welded. Hopefully the boot can then be slid off the small end and have all the seams welded up. Failing this it will have to be welded in position and suffer a bit of scorched timber!
Here's the "boot" with all four plates fitted:
Three quarters of the steel will eventually be below the surface. Plenty of painting and waterproofing to follow. This is turning out to be quite a lump!
Some of the fittings had been bolted on last Wednesday by Carl and Keith but still needed a bit of checking and adjustment to ensure that the Spec Plate was aligned correctly. The counter weight fittings will be mounted on the top of the boot ( some tappings will be necessary). It's all beginning to look rather fine:
Curly
When we renewed the post of the Down Inner Homes bracket at Bewdley South on the SVR in 2005 we had the portion of the post that was below ground level coated in bitumen. It might be worth considering doing that as a final coating of the steel boot, and particularly the open grain at the bottom of the post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestion - we will dig out the can of bitumen!
DeleteThanks for the informative blog. Where is the wooden post going at broadway?... and why does it require a wooden post instead of the normal semaphore type? Thanks
ReplyDeleteIt will be the Starter Signal at the southern end of platform 1.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a nice traditional touch for the station and it will be a semaphore type probably with a wooden arm with a lower quadrant spectacle plate.
Very interesting item. Yes, it will be nice to see an older piece of infrastructure used. Regards, Paul.
ReplyDeleteHow many signals of which type do you see being needed initially. Lovely work BTW. Regards David A
ReplyDeleteTo summarise, there will be a total of 9 main signals, 2 call on signals and 4 ground (disc) signals. The main signals will be as follows: A distant and outer home coming from Toddington, 2 signals controlling the north headshunt, a route indicator for entry to platform 1 or 2 from the north end, 2 platform starters out of the station towards Toddington, an advanced starter at Childswickham bridge and finally a bracket signal 70 yards south of Evesham Road Bridge. So, a bit of work to do yet. We have all the steel posts, ladders and fittings ready to go. Note that the Route Indicator signal has already erected in Winchcombe yard (there is a photo of this in a previous blog)
DeleteWhat a great piece of kit! Suggestion for you, when you dig the hole for the post, use an old oil barrel with the top and bottom removed. This is fixed into the hole, the post is put in and the barrel is filled with gravel and packed around the post. If the post has to be removed for maintenance in the future the post is pulled from the gravel with a tele-handler then only the gravel has to be removed! My builder has just done this on a smaller scale with large gate posts, he says he learnt this from doing a contract with the highways agency for large signage. Just a thought for you to consider. But great work every one, cant wait to see it in place and working1
ReplyDeletePaul.
Thanks for your comments - a great idea. However, when we were discussing the erection of this post (over the second cup of tea on Tuesday!) the boss was suggesting that we cast a concrete block with shuttering on the inside to produce a square hole into which the post would be supported in pea gravel. I presume that if we used an oil drum this would need to be set in concrete itself to stop it from working loose? I will table your suggestion over tea next Tuesday. Also if the bottom of the post sits on a decent thickness of pea gravel this will improve drainage and reduce deterioration of the base.
DeleteCurly
Presumably you haven't got the concrete butts that the signals were originally fitted with?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'm not understanding signaling. I thought their was a bracket signal at the start of platform 2 up already, and this controlled trains leaving both platforms for toddington 🤔.. now your gonna put another wooden one on platform 1...
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a bit confusing. The bracket signal which is already erected was intended to control a passenger loop to give double track to beyond .
DeleteChildswickham Bridge - this is no longer going to happen in this phase so the bracket will only operate as a single signal (the one on the LH side) .