Thursday 31 May 2018

Still not Finished

Tuesday 29th May

A smaller group of us at Broadway today to continue with the point rodding installation up to the southern points.
We finished setting in the last four stools up to the point and fpl connections. It has been slow going because the alignment to meet up with the angle cranks which will be set on the concrete blocks at the points has proved a little problematical and has involved the moving (by large crowbar) of the blocks holding the compensators that we buried last week! Anyway, after much grunting and groaning we have got the rodding runs looking respectable. Here's Carl S fixing the steel plate to the first set of blocks - the level of these will need adjusting once the angle cranks are fitted:


And here is the second set of blocks with steel plate fitted at the fpl connection.  Note that we can do all this without disturbing the existing connections from the ground frame. It should then be a relatively simple operation to eventually change over to signal box operation:


I don't think you want to see any more pictures of rodding today, but just to finish off here is a close up of a roller assembly on which the rodding sits. This enables the stub shafts to roll rather than turn therefore minimising friction:


A signal wire has now been connected from the signal box to the wooden Post (platform 1 starter - lever 7) to check the clearance with the platform 2 ramp brickwork. It's all a bit tight here and may need a bit of brick "pruning" - anyway it works OK and we tried it out on Oliver Cromwell!


And the wire being diverted under the tracks by the pulley at the base of the bracket signal:


We were treated to some excellent views of both Oliver Cromwell and P & O coming and going today.

Cromwell running round:


And P & O running round


A fitting wind down from last weekend's Gala!

Curly

7 comments:

  1. Curly - you're getting there! Still a lot to do though, as I'm sure you realize. I assume that you take care that the rollers are "mid travel" in their slots on an average temperature day so that there is the maximum movement available to cope with temperature variations? And I see that that you have different wire round the pulley. I assume this is multi-stranded for flexibility, so does that mean that the straight runs are single strand? Is it galvanised steel?

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    1. Yes, all the wires are multi-stranded and coated.
      All the wheels will be in a myriad of different positions at installation. I am sure that after a few pulls and a combination of rolling and sliding they will tend to centralise. I will test this theory next week!

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  2. Excellent pictures. Especially the one with Down Starter in the off position for Oliver Cromwell.
    Regards, Paul.

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  3. Thanks again Curly for another excellent report. We all know this is not the easiest of jobs and it will take time but stick with it and plenty of pictures for the bloggers amongst us (me) who are trying to learn a bit more about your department, after all, with out the signals no trains will run!!! And what about the pictures of Ollie and PO, well pictured sir! Again thanks for your efforts to keep our railway running safely.
    Regards
    Paul & Marion

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your encouraging remarks. I will try to keep the ongoing saga of the rodding as interesting as possible!!

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  4. Agree with Paul. S&T is a sadly neglected area, yet very interesting and essential. Keep up the good work - and Blog!!

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  5. No, great work Curly, blog much appreciated

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