More Signal Recon

Tuesday 19th Nov.

Malcolm W is on a 4 day telehandler course this week so Neil C was leading operations with six of us in attendance.

Signal 6 adjacent to Winchcombe signal box has now been completely re-furbished and is back in operation:

And next is a similar project to re-furbish signal 4 opposite. The scaffolding has been erected round this signal and its fittings removed ready for the big clean. Here is a close up of some of the rusting:

Carl S makes a start cleaning up the crow's nest prior to a re-paint. The boards have gone rotten and will need replacing

We managed to get the whole post wire-brushed and prime painted in the day.

The main post for the Cheltenham replacement bracket has been rescued from the back of Winchcombe yard  by the tele- handler so we have made a start cleaning it up. Two of us spent the morning with angle grinders getting it ready for paint. Quite a lot of surface area here!

And a coat of primer put on before end of play.

Several lengths of cable have been measured out on the concrete roadway using a measuring wheel ready for connecting the point machines, and other services at Toddington south points. These have been laid out at Toddington ready for connecting and placing in the recently positioned troughing.

Curly

Signal Box Progress

Tuesday 5th Nov.

Another excellent turnout today so plenty of activity going on.
But first, a quick update on Broadway Signal Box. Neil C has been busy installing the batteries and charging units required for powering the signal box equipment in the event of mains power interruptions. These have been mounted on the North wall of the locking room.

On the lower shelf are four 12volt batteries and above them are four individual charging units. These are now operational and the orange light at the bottom RH of each unit indicates that the batteries are now charging. This changes to green when the batteries are fully charged
This system allows the selection of either 12, 24, 36 or 48 volts for the different systems/instruments.

News Flash:  It has now been decided to transport the bracket signal to Broadway by lorry this Thursday. To do this the two dolls are being removed:

Once the main post has been secured on its base the two dolls can then be lifted in with straps using the Hiab. We will then erect scaffolding to continue putting all the fittings in place (a day without wind and rain would be good!!)

At trackside of Winchcombe signal box some re-furbishment work has started. Signal 6 has had its fittings removed to clean up its fairly rusty post. The whole post has been wire brushed with an angle grinder and given a coat of green primer :

The adjacent ground signal was also looking its age so we have replaced it completely with a spare unit. John H wrestles with four heavily corroded nuts to get the old one off:

While Jim P and Malcolm W wrestle the re-conditioned one into place:

Tumbling ballast has been falling onto the base of this signal so we have put in a concrete retaining wall to tidy it up:

And topped it off with a covering of fresh ballast to key into the concrete

For most of today Neil C, John P, Carl S and Keith L went off to Toddington to continue the fitting of the second point motor at the southern turnout. This now leaves the installation of cabling to the motors, adjacent phone and track circuits. (no pictures I'm afraid)

Curly

Thursday Special

Thursday 7th Nov

At last the bracket signal has arrived at Broadway! Sound the trumpets!
Firstly a reminder of where it is going
- on these 4 studs on the concrete block adjacent to the South end points.

This is probably the last "new" signal that will be erected on the GWSR

Not without its problems - bit of a worrying moment trying to get the Vic Haines lorry reversing up the ramp from the entrance to the car park but having turned round it shot up the loose ballast on full power

And made it to the top without further incident

The plan is then to lift off the main post and lower it horizontally to the ground

Then to re-fit the two dolls. These are manageable with a two man lift to "wriggle" them back into their clamps  and bolt up. securely

Now to re-sling the assembly to lift it  vertically.

Luckily this hiab has got a phenomenal lift height. So taking things slowly it was manoeuvred to a vertical position

And positioned onto the four studs. It fits beautifully (the wooden template used to set the studs in the concrete some weeks ago did its job well!)
Each stud already has a nut fitted underneath the baseplate so that fine tuning to get the post absolutely vertical can be achieved - just needed a few tweaks.
The assembly that holds the four pulleys to direct the signal wires vertically has to be fitted at this stage  for final bolting - this fits over two of the studs on top of the baseplate

So here we are all secure and vertical - just a matter of retrieving the two slings from up on high- out with the ladders

Job done in just over an hour. Roll of honour goes to Vic Haines' driver, Neil C, Andy, George B, Malcolm W and yours truly behind the lens.

Scaffolding required next!

Curly