Tuesday 2nd Sept
A quick visit today to Gotherington in the white pickup carrying the final parts to complete the restoration of the Down Distant (the longest pull on the railway)
Only the counterbalance unit to bolt on and connect the down rod. Unfortunately because the down rod is shorter than normal the casting has to be fitted about 6ft up the post making difficult to hoist and bolt on. However we have two strong guys namely John P and Neil C to complete the job!
This picture gives the illusion that the signal arm is slightly off but is in fact spot on 90 degrees.
A pull on the signal wire and all appears to move freely
This signal has a detector on it so now off to Gotherington signal box to check everything is OK.
Quite a pull needed on this lever to get a good off. A bit more fettling required!
Curly
A normal down rod wasn't available?
ReplyDeleteThey are all 'made to measure'. We just fitted the original kit in the same place that it was when we stripped the post. If we'd dropped the balance weight casting down the post and welded up a new down rod then the wheel sling would have been too long and would also have needed replacing and jointing into the signal wire.
DeleteNot sure of the reason but probably the only complete one available at the time without having to cut and weld one that was too long.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you blogging again. The distant looks complete again now.
ReplyDeleteHad you ever thought about putting a motor on this signal, and reducing the height of the controlling lever?
Regards, Paul.
Unfortunately they are like hens teeth.
DeleteAlso the cable to the Distant is fully populated so no spare cores to charge the battery and operate the signal.
DeleteNo plans for that.
ReplyDelete