Tuesday 28 August 2018

More Pulleys

Tuesday 28th August

Six of us at Broadway today to carry on with the installation of rods and wires.

Just needed 3 more lengths of rodding to complete the job. Some of this will need cutting up to connect to the four compensators once the new couplings have been delivered. This has left us with a respectable pile of about 30 lengths back at Winchcombe:


The compensators have been positioned on fabricated steel frames to hold them in position once concrete is poured. However concreting and final tweaking will have to wait until everything is connected - unfortunately we are still waiting delivery of the couplings (next week hopefully!) 



And back up north all the components have now been fitted to complete connections to the headhunt point and fpl (left unconnected for the time being of course). Just the fpl to install and concrete to pour round the single support rollers  and then we can concentrate on wiring up the signals:


So on to signal wire fitting. There are to be four wires running up each platform wall. Wires are supported on roller blocks - here is an example of one of many that were bolted onto their support (wait for it!)...... a short piece of rodding - one of its many uses!
We are using nuloc nuts and metric fasteners here to prevent any loosening due to vibration (not strictly heritage but not sure if you can still get BSW equivalent locking nuts) :




There will be one of these positioned every 15 feet. John P and Jim P are in action working back down platform 2 towards the signal box. Each one is fixed with screws using  two rawlplugs



A view of progress looking north


All done in between dodging the trains.  With P & O arriving majestically as usual:


Curly

8 comments:

  1. If you want to use BSW bolts you can get Nyloc nuts for them on ebay.

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  2. Fantastic job, guys! Can't wait to see it for myself on 31st August. Are there to be any track-circuits?

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    1. Yes. We will be fully track-circuited between Toddington and Broadway..Some track bonding to do but luckily most of the track along this stretch is continuously welded rail.

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  3. Well done team S&T. Making Broadway look even more authentic with every visit the team makes to get the signal box working. So looking forward to next year when the box is fully operational. Great work everyone.
    Regards
    Paul & Marion

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  4. The colour change on the left-hand compensator threw me, then I realized the top photo must be the newer one, and it must have been painted!


    Anyway, on to the wiring!!

    Noel

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    Replies
    1. I think actually you're seeing pictures of all 4 compensators - 2 are both red and the other two are white and red. There are 4 rodding runs for the two points - each one has a facing point lock and the actuator and all require thermal compensation.

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    2. Ah, I was wondering about the 4 runs, and 2 compensators: I'd just assumed that two of the devices at the end didn't need compensation. Thanks for the enlightenment!


      Noel

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