a bit of a soggy day

Thos of you that have seen out outdoor workbenches will apprecviate that progress can be frustrating on wet or showery days. Well  last Tuesday was certainly that.

But not to be put off we got on with reassembly work inside the old shed

John P and I got stuck into a ground signal which would have come to us as another  rusty hulk and now will have been completely stripped greased and repainted to look almost as new.




Whilst Carl, assisted by Malcolm, did the same with a Crows Nest.
Carefully trimming the timber to fit the steelwork.


















Later in the day, the weather was a bit kinder so the redoubtable Mr Collier was able to put a coat of red oxide on one of his favourite signal ladders assisted by  Andy P and Keith.

 Welcome back Richard, good to see you again !


Mike S

The Gap is Filled!

Been a bit of a gap in our Blogspot recently, your Blogger has been away, too many holidays. But here we are back in Sunny Gloucestershire ready for the winter sunshine.

Before I start can I just say thanks to everyone who organised the Volunteer meeting on Saturday, although these Blogs let you hear bits and pieces of News, its always best to get it "from the Horses Mouth". Any way, thanks- it was very interesting and helpful.

A lot has been done here in S&T, under Malcolm s watchful eye, mainly with regard to renovating items for the Broadway Extension of course but also on other projects.
We recently acquired, through contacts made by Carl Smart, a  signal post, ground frame and cabin from a benefactor near Wotton under edge. This is in the process of being erected at Toddington as an extra Visitor Attraction.

Cabin Awaiting Roof tiles

The cabin will contain a small 4 lever frame which will allow visitors to see exactly how a signal works

 

Sorry about the cluttered background to this pic, we hadn't got round to tidying up since the Broadway Lever Frame was dismantled for measuring up and eventual shift up to the New Signal Box.

Broadway Lever Frame before its dis-assembly in preparation fo the  move up to the New Signal Box

 Aye, it will be a big frame and there are, apparently, only a couple of spares!

Carl and John P enjoying life between the showers assembling the pole for Todd.

Meanwhile work has also continued on the new standardized SPT's and on the Concentrator Project. We have several different designs out there and it makes it difficult when we have to do field swops if we don't know what to expect.

This case (ex Gotherington Mk1) will likely go to Racecourse this winter, hopefully it will look a bit more like someone loves it! It will also have completely new internals.

To our Friends in Carriage and Wagon who helped with plasma cutting and welding, this is what we were aiming  to make

And back at base work also continues on the rodding roller assemblies, again for Broadway, dozens of the things.

Finally, I must send best wishes a for  speedy and ongoing recoveries to the two Richards' -Collier and Etherton- Dont worry we will save some painting for you!

Happy Days

Mike S S&T

Steady Progress

Two of us, Kevern and I,  spent  Monday morning in Gotherington Locking Room repositioning items , namely the ringing current generator for the newly installed concentrator system.

The spare container from Todd also arrived on Monday- no sorry I don't think you would be impressed by a pic of a grey container!

Into it we (they, I was absent) have started to load the stripped out Levers from the Broadway Frame.

You will remember that the whole Frame has been assembled for some time now, it was the best way to be sure we had all the bits we needed.
Also,  having it assembled meant that detailed measurements could be taken so it should fit when it gets there.

The container will provide secure storage when it gets to site and perhaps also  workshop facilities if we can't squeeze a temporary one into the locking room.  The poor old MSC shed looks a bit disheveled at the moment with the partially stripped frame filling the central area

Work also continues on the smaller dem signal for Toddington.
On the Telecom's  side I have now delivered into stock the first of the Broadway SPT's and with the help of C&W today we have some internal metalwork to hold the pcb cards inside two of the new concentrators.

Very many thanks for that. A little job that was easy for you but saved me hours of hacksawing or worse, spending railway money!

As I said, "Not a lot to see but quite a lot of steady progress"

MS

Mix of Pics, some steamy

A varied set of pictures this time some of which were taken from the windows of the new Upholstery dept, yes I know I should have putting in the cabling for the Carriage and Wagon Office phone but it was a very hot afternoon and I just had to stop by some of the new windows and have a breather.

I have also included some from last winters trip to Spains' "Museo de Ferrocarril" .the Catalonian museum of the Iron Road this one was at at Vila Nova i la Getru, about 20miles sth of Barcelona but I think there are two or three more around the country. 

Interestingly and wonderfully they have preserved the interior of the signal box, I presume it was the one at  at some are of their version of a Lever Frame, obviously  the spanish signalmen were not made of the same stuff as our superhuman signalers- no long levers for them!

You can see the resemblance beween this track diagram and ours! Also, just a  little glimpse of the vertical locking trays under the levers- y'see Malcolm I am learning those mechanical terms.

But back to Winchcombe yard where work continues on painting up the fully welded Broadway Bracket, good old John P gets stuck in assisted by Richard C

 

Meanwhile Carl and Keith had returned from Gotherington where they had been undergrowth beating so Keith, now happily recovered from his bruising encounter and having got  a bit left in his sprayer started to tackle  the yard undergrowth ( yes, he is fully qualified to use these chemicals)

And then just to top off a perfect day, we had tea!

Just a couple more pics from the Museum visit, Andy wouldnt you like one of these!

Thats about all for now, see you soon

Mike S

PS We hope  to complete the new C&W phone wiring this week which means that we can  also re connect the S&T phones.

Progress, slow but sure

It's been a little while since the last posting,  for which I apologise.
Your blogger hasn't been as much in evidence as before largely due to domestic duties but she is now well on the mend so hopefully I will be able to get out more - as they say!

I have been over to HQ a couple of times recently and took pics of the progress but unfortunately my computer offered to download them and erase from the camera and now won't tell me were it put them, so I fear those gems were just put into ram and are now lost forever. Sorry Richard C, you were tightening up all those base nuts with such enthusiasm as well!

Progress still continues on the assembly of the point rodding rollers for Broadway, I saw yesterday that they are now neatly stacked in stillages ready for dispersal along the track when the time comes. Some have also been bolted to the concrete supports as well, you don't realise how big those supports are until you see them out of the ground.

On  personal level I am still refurbishing Signal Post Phones as domestic duties permit ( see above).
This is the casing of the old unit as it came out of Gotherington. The new one is much more hi tech and  no longer an ex-PO unit  which this was. It will have done  many thousands of operating hours in a previous life.  You can see just how tired it is- but it did still work!

 













You may have already experienced the first of the new generation of concentrators which has now been installed at Gotherington. So far it has proved reliable. We are now starting to get  ready for the build of the second concentrator unit which will go into CRC which should clear some known faults at that location. All the new ones are similar in appearance, they are simpler to operate and look more in keeping with the rest of the blockshelf equipment.

Incidentally, one big change is that users of these new systems will hear a ringing tone whilst they wait for the signalman to respond. This will confirm to them that the system is working.

Meanwhile, back at the yard, I see that work continues on the Broadway Bracket Signal. From what I could see it has now been turned over ready for the flanges which were underneath to be welded now they are on top, if you know what I mean!

Answers and more News

Well, we have a question and it  seems like I should know but being a 'phone man I don't so I asked the powers that be and sure enough I got a succinct answer

"The best I can find is that BR(WR) started painting posts with aluminium paint (black bottom section) in the 50s.  Since we are broadly aiming to recreate the 30s/40s then black and white is correct for us.

Regards,


Neil Carr BSc(Hons)
GWSR Operations Manager 

If I was good at blogging then perhaps it could have been posted as a response but I am a mere mortal.

Thanks however for the question- it goes to show that our pageview statistics are not just automatic web crawlers!

In the meantime, since I last looked, the post has been squared off, the base plate has been cut to size and delivered so the Base Plate and Flanges now await welding not only that, but I am reliably informed this will erected nicely in time for the Steam Gala. 

That is welding, floods and anything else permitting.

Meanwhile back in the dusty depths of S&T The workers have been getting on with the point rodding brackets for Broadway, in fact you could almost say that we are now awash with them. After we had split down the 6 way units we inherited, they now become  



   The four way, three way,  and then the two ways that we need. By Crikey we will be busy!

Well done chaps! and welcome back to Richard E who ventured across the yard this very afternoon, dont forget the gate code, see you soon Richard.

Mike S

Slow and Steady Progress

Spent quite a bit of time in the last couple of weeks trying to get things ready for the first of our new Concentrators to be installed.
This will be at Gotherington- you may ask why? The reason is that the older unit (that 2+4 GPO unit) is in the sort of wooden box that we need to be able to reuse later on! And they are a bit in short supply. Watch out C&W we might be asking you to do some more of those tip top varnishing jobs for us!.


So here's a pic of what we started with ( Its actually a teleprinter Key and Lamp type unit of about 1950 or so)

Which changed internally to the all electronic version shown below

 

Shortly we hope to report that its working away nicely and you can enjoy its many little advancements.

Just to be serious though, the project has taken quite a lot of man hours and worn out quite a few of Mr Olivers brain cells, However he does remain confident that the next ones will be much easier.

In the meantime, back at the Ranch aka Winchcombe Yard, Progress continues on point rodding rollers. We seem to have an awful lot of 6way ones but we only need a max of 4 way for Broadway so lets take 'em apart and reassemble them

Good ol' Carl Smith getting on with it.

Meanwhile, across the Yard a discussion continues re the Broadway Bracket

Richard C, Andy P, John P and Malcolm of course

I am told that the base plate has almost completed cutting to size, then for the welding and we are away.
Best wishes for  speedy recovery to Richard E and to Keith- Keith argued with  a four legged cow and the cow won. Get well soon both of you, we need those rollers finished and Toddington Steps.

Mike S