Seven of us at Broadway today primarily to fit and adjust the stretchers which set and control the position of the point blades. Also to fit the brackets in readiness to connect up to the hand lever (head shunt points) and the ground frame (south end points).
We came armed with a miscellany of fittings:
A few measurements taken first to set gaps and ascertain the length of stretcher required.
A good deal of tweaking is required to ensure that the gap between blade end and rail is within an acceptable range. We ended up with a gap of 4" (plenty of room to let wheel flanges clear). And then with the blade barred over to make sure it seats well against the rail.
One fitted at last making sure that all bolts are well tightened (note the insulated right angled joint to enable the track circuiting) :
Then to fit the bracket which will connect to the springed point lever - here is the bracket (mounted on Keith L!)
And then fitted to the stretcher bar adjacent to the point of the blade :
The head shunt point has four stretcher bars fitted because of its greater length (a C category point I believe). The other two points have 3 stretchers.
To finish off this "rant" on stretchers, this final shot shows the connector which will drive the 3rd stretcher on the head shunt point once the hand lever is replaced with point rodding control from the signal box ie two of the four stretchers will drive the point blades:
Two more stretcher bars are needed for the Siding Point, these need drilling to get the brackets in the correct position so will have to wait for next visit - and anyway it started to rain at this point so we called it a day.
Malcolm, John P and Len spent time re-fitting the steel plate at the base of platform 1 opposite the signal box tunnel. Now that the track is in place it was decided to raise it on some spacers to give better clearance for the signal wires with the ballast. Pulley wheel positions have been marked out and pilot drilled - ready for the mag drill next time. Final fitting after track tamping is completed. The plate is neatly 2" clear of the sleeper ends - perfect!
And here's a final view of the head shunt point showing the four stretchers and clipped for access from platform 1.
We managed to get through the day without trapping any fingers!
Curly
Correction to latest blog: Headshunt point is a D switch, the other two are C switches.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. In model railway terms, large radius and medium radius points! Coming together nicely isn't it? Regards and thanks for the update, Paul.
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