Trip Hazard Reduction

Tuesday 15th Feb

Mixed activities today at Broadway .
But first a shot in Winchcombe yard of the base of the second bracket signal due to be installed just south of the southern end points. This base will be bolted to a concrete block of approx one metre cubed. This will be progressed once Steve has dug us a suitable hole with the JCB (I gather he's rather busy at the moment though).

A lot of finishing off today starting at the northern end barrow crossing where John P busied himself with the mag drilling of holes to secure the two metal plates.

And then Keith L arrives with two barrow loads of concrete to finish off the retaining wall at the end of the platform slope:

Signal 8 up by Childswickham Bridge then got a bit of attention. It is now fully connected with all its fittings in place - here it is pulled off.

A bit of fine tuning of the alignment of the signal wire to prevent rubbing  was required so a "swinger " pulley has been fitted (seen here on the right )

Now that the bottom of the ladder for this signal has been securely fastened to its concrete block, the opportunity was taken to climb up  to touch up the scuffs to the white paint. It's pretty impossible to avoid damaging the paint when assembling the fittings. Anyway, this signal is now complete except for its electrical fittings which will have to wait until the cables are installed.

A notice is to be attached to this post to warn of the limited clearance between the caravan club fence and the track:

Opposite signal 8 the pulley to direct the wire up to the Home signal (you can just see this in the distance) has been aligned and its mounting plate set on two concrete blocks. We are going to leave the installation of the signal wire posts up to this signal until the trenching and burying of the main cable has been completed (heavy plant and signal wire posts don't mix in restricted areas!)

Neil C arrived later with the diesel railcar to uncoil another length of cable and to deliver two large concrete blocks (seen on the LH side of the trailer - the purpose of these I will describe shortly:

The railcar together with Carl S and Keith L then disappeared south to the distant signal, loaded with all the necessary equipment to install a large line-side cabinet:

The buried cable from Toddington will connect into this cabinet. You can see the cable emerging from the ground.
This cabinet will contain all the necessary equipment for this motor operated signal. A further identical cable will then connect here to carry on to Broadway (more cable trenching required)

Right, block time. The two large concrete blocks are part of a temporary platform to enable train crews to get access to the ground frame without the hazard of tripping over point rodding and signal wires. A couple of planks are bolted to the blocks:

And then  an old scaffold board is sawn up and screwed to the top:

A couple of sleeper halves and fence posts form the steps:

So hopefully safety reigns!

Curly