Continuing Preparations

 Tuesday 20th Dec

We continued today with the preparations for the re-routing of the signal wire to the advanced starter at Winchcombe. John P, John B and myself in attendance with Malcolm W.

We need to install a vertical pulley at the base of the signal to  route the wire across the track . Here it is pre-assemled. 

John P is drilling some holes in  a piece of plate to fit some anchoring legs (4 lengths of screwed bar with bent ends) to secure it in a concrete block.

So... off we go for a walk up to the signal to dig a hole for the concrete .  Some really sticky black clay here with a ballast topping - makes for some strenuous digging!

The base of  ladders are normally secured in concrete - this one isn't but has a couple of rungs below ground. Anyway we have extended the hole to give it added security!

The angle crank you can see at the base of the post will become redundant and will be removed.  We will make a new sling to connect directly  to the balance weight arm.

Any further preparations here will have to wait until the closed season  when we can disconnect the signal and gain access with the railcar to transport the heavy stuff - which we have already got ready as you can see  here:

These two blocks holding the horizontal pulleys will be sunk into the ground - so more digging of ballast.

Also being prepared today is the 8ft long wire sling which will connect to the balance weight arm. The thimbles on each end are securely fixed in position using aluminum sleeves which are crimped with this tool - John B on the handles and Malcolm W on the ground (Sorry picture not terribly clear)

But here is the end result

So that will be it for this year . We have several signal restoration projects for next year some of which will require the erection of scaffolding.  A new metal token exchange platform is in progress for Gotherington - there will be plenty to do. Not sure at the moment whether the plan to replace the bracket signal at Cheltenham will go ahead during the closed season - so the one we have prepared still languishes horizontally in the yard at Winchcombe.

I'll sign off now wishing you all  Merry Christmas and, hopefully , a fulfilling New Year from GWSR S&T

Curly

Signal Wire Re-routing

 Tuesday 29th Nov

It has been decided to re-route the signal wire to the advanced starter situated near the northern portal of Greet tunnel because it currently crosses the access road down the embankment and has to be disconnected when vehicular access is required. (this access road was prepared by the contractors to enable heavy plant to be brought in for the recent repairs to the embankment here at Winchcombe)

The existing stakes supporting the pulleys and wires will be replaced with new ones on the opposite side of the track. So starting adjacent to the bracket signal John P prepares to measure the distance up to the starter. This will enable  us to determine the length of new signal wire we will need , including the additional length to cross under the track twice

At the starter signal we will need to bury the wire in a tube to allow vehicles to pass over, so to determine the heights required for the blocks for mounting horizontal  pulleys  - we check this using a piece of nylon rope passing under the track

Here are a couple of views from each side of the track looking towards the tunnel to show the position of where the wire will cross back to the signal. We will need to re-configure/reposition the cranks on the signal post to lower the connection for the wire.

This is all here for today so we return to base to find some lengths of old point rodding that can be cut to provide our new signal wire stakes.

The old stakes are in pretty poor condition so we will eventually grub them out from their concrete "boots" and scrap them.

Back at base John B re-assembles a re-conditioned crows nest - just needs the footboards cutting to finish it off. We have quite a few signals that are in need of some TLC which we have plans to attack during the closed season - so this unit should end high up on a signal post somewhere on our railway!

Curly

Curly