More Bracket Work

Tuesday 17th Sept

Again just a small perfectly formed team of 5 at Winchcombe today!
While we are waiting for the welding and machining of the remaining parts to complete the trial assembly of the Btoadway Bracket (need to ensure that everything fits before we dismantle prior to going  vertical on site) - we are going to do some preparatory work sorting out the main parts for another bracket signal which will be constructed to replace the one at Cheltenham which is in need of serious repair.
We have two of the main side assemblies which are about two feet longer than needed

So step forward John P with the large angle grinder to cut off the excess

A bit of searching then to find all the end plates, platform supports, doll clamps and bracing bars - plus a bit of drilling to match up bolt holes

All of these parts will need cleaning and re-painting.. George B has made a start with the priming of some of the smaller parts - the never ending re-conditionimg  of signalling equipment!

Curly

PS. I mentioned some time ago that  we were short of block shelf plungers for Broadway Signal Box - - a blog reader has very kindly donated donated three of these to us!   Re-cycling is alive and well - they have come to a good home!

More Painting

Tuesday 10th Sept

A lot on holiday today including the boss so a select band headed off to Toddington to continue with the tidying up of the two starter signals and the replacement of the ground signal spectacle plates.
We arrived at Toddington to be confronted by two huge Allely low loaders bringing Dinmore Manor and its tender back from its holiday on the Dartmouth Railway. Here's the tender being unloaded

Amazingly manoeuverable these machines with the rear wheel steering.

And the tender being eased back out of the way with a post!

Bit of congestion happening as a lorry with trailer turned up with a load of blocks for the new building

Not a lot to report this week - We have cleaned and painted both starter signal posts and their  balance weight arms north of the station. Both bases of these signals have suffered from the ravages of the weather as well so a clean and repaint needed with black gloss

Plus the replacent of the spectacle plates on the ground signals. We are leaving the replacement of the lenses until we have some expert supervision. To do this the backplate has to be taken off which entails disconnecting the linkage to which the detector is attached - we didn't want to risk locking up the points on a running day!

Curly

Tidying up at Toddington

Tuesday 3rd Sept

Six of us departed to Toddington to do some signal maintenance and to progress the fitting of the electric lock in the signal box (for the motor operated south pointwork).

Some of the signals at Toddington North need a bit of attention. The paintwork on platform 1 starter signal has got some unsightly damage and rust staining where the down rod has been "slapping" against the post when the signal arm bounces back against its spring loaded stop.

We decided the best solution was to fit an additional guide to re- align the down rod and prevent it whipping against the post. So the existing guide was re-positioned at the top and a new one fitted lower down (the black one in the picture.)

This left an unsightly ring of chipped paint which needed attention. We primed the damaged areas and returned after lunch to put on undercoat. We will return next week to finish the job with topcoat.

The North facing sides of all the posts here have a significant coating of black mould on them
  I think we will bring a bucket of water and copious rags to give them a good clean and slap on another coat of white gloss while we are at it.

The next task up here was to adjust the spectacle plates on two of the ground signals where the horizontal red stripes have wandered slightly towards the vertical. It appeared that some slack bolts have allowed the castings to slip a little which has affected the correct alignment. This one is at the base of the bracket signal.

And this one is the one that controls exit from the North siding

The red perspex lenses in both of these signals have deteriorated badly and are frosted over. We have some re- conditioned spectacle plates back at base which we will bring and replace next week.

Most of the afternoon was spent under Toddington box wrestling with the positioning of a bracket which attaches to the point operating lever to drive an electric lock. Access here is extremely limiting  - a bit more work required to get the positioning correct.
Couldn't get any meaningful pictures of the set up - here's the best I could do with Carl P contorting!

While we were at the bracket I climbed up to check the condition of the fittings just in time to get a shot of P & O approaching from Toddington

And heading off to Broadway with 2807 on the back.

Hopefully this should be the last week of topping and tailing as the repaired point work is due to be re- installed this Friday at Broadway.

Curly