A Bit of Wiring

Tuesday 21st August

A shortened report today as blogger had to leave at lunch for a hospital app. Nevertheless here is a summary of Broadway North in the pictures I managed to take.
Firstly, to make a change from point rodding (but only for a short while!) we have to sort out the routing of the signal wires along platform 2 ramp and across the barrow crossing. This has to be done before the tapered slabs are put back in place - the overhang restricts access for fixing the pulley blocks. John P starts off by finding the best place at the end of the ramp:

And George B poised with the plastic tube through which four signal wires will pass through:

But first a bit of ballast removal by Keith L:

And the tube set in adjacent to the rodding. The sleeper at the side is only a temporary measure. Probably have a concrete base here for a steel plate to sit on and span the rodding:

In the next picture with a pair of wires temporarily fitted, the roller block has been fitted upside down to bring the wires down to pass through the tube. There will be a similar block at the other end of the tube so that the wires will lift up again to clear the rodding stools:

Looks OK from here - a bit of tube alignment to centralise the wires:

Meanwhile, back to rodding. Now that both lines of rodding have been inserted a bit of re-alignment is required to straighten them up. So a bit of raking out of the ballast needed to ease the stools over. Keith L and Carl S taking some exercise!

Looks OK from the North end

P & O running round between operations:

A single roller support is needed to support the length of rodding that passes through the 4ft, both for the fpl and the headhunt point blade - so a bit more ballast removal and a shuttering boxes required for concrete blocks. All this probably completed in my absence later in the day

Cranks have been bolted to the sleepers in the 4ft for both fpl's :

I will catch up with the rest of the day's work next week.

Curly

More Rodding Notes

Tuesday 14th August

A good turnout today with 8 of us in action at Broadway and hopefully the last batch of rodding delivered (19 lengths transported - all we should need if we have calculated correctly) .
Again carried over the platform onto the PWay trolley for transportation to site:

The only other remaining heavy hardware required  are two large concrete blocks on which to mount the crank for the headhunt points connection. We borrowed a trolley from Winchcombe to wheel these up to the end of the platform to meet the PWay trolley - not easy to manhandle:

These two blocks will carry the crank which will connect with the headhunt point blade. Malcolm W and Jim P are digging out to level up the plate carrying the crank. To the right is the plate carrying the second, crank to connect to the fpl.

Note here that the connection to the headhunt point has to pass under the rails of the siding, so a bit more ballast removal required :

This connection requires four additional components - a drop link from the crank, a short piece of rodding, an adjustable turnbuckle and a connecting link to the blade:

Meanwhile a points length back towards the station, similar activity with the fpl connection for the siding points - fpl still to install:

And the adjustable crank connected to the point blade - this is now complete but will be left disconnected until D-day:

While all this was going on two of us continued with the setting of the twin roller stools  - these have all now been installed. We used a piece of rodding with chalk markings to set the distance from the track and with the rodding just touching the top of the roller frame to keep constant height :

So here we are, destination reached. Only one run of rodding set up so far - we ran out of time and temporary bolts at this stage. Still waiting for delivery of the proper t-bolts!

We have only part filled the holes round the stools yet in case we need to do a bit of crowbar tweaking to improve alignment when all rods are in and bolted up. However careful we are with setting these stools there is nothing as critical as the final visual test to get it all looking spot on! Doesn't look too bad so far though:

A couple more jobs completed since last week by Malcolm and George B. The angle crank which will carry the signal wires from ground signal 14 (in the 6ft between the head shunt and siding) under the siding tracks has been connected up ready for action:

This then passes round a trackside  pulley set on another plate on two small concrete blocks - now ready for the long run of signal wire back to the signal box - I can then start to bore you with pictures of signal wire pulleys!!

We still can't install the rodding compensators as we are still waiting delivery of the special connecting links. Without these in position we can't determine the lengths of rodding required to complete the joining up. So I thought a picture of the first two lonely compensators languishing by the signal box might cheer us up!!  (Don't ask me why they are different colours)

Curly

Points Reached

Tuesday 7th August

Six of us at Broadway today to continue the northwards push of the rodding.
We loaded a further 35 lengths of rodding on the pickup - about as much that can be safely carried in one go, but should be enough to complete the four runs up to the siding points.

Once the first train had cleared the station we availed ourselves of the PWay trolley to carry all our hardware up north, including the remainder of the twin roller stools needed to get us all the way to the headhunt points. Just the right number of us to get everything off the pickup, across the station platform, onto the trolley and unloaded before the next train:

Keith L in charge of trolley

The trolley was finally  lifted  on to the sidings well clear of engine movements. Made it with time to spare.

A close up of one of the twin roller stools . It is a casting:

Having dropped off lengths of rodding along the track - they have been fitted on the rollers and bolted together with fishplates. Unfortunately we are still waiting delivery of the proper tee-bolts so our temporary  bolting with M12's will be replaced in due course.
Keith L spannering up:

Having removed the shuttering from our concreted repair of the platform 2 ramp you can see a nice clear run for the rodding, leaving sufficient room for 4 signal wires to pass through. We still have to fit the 2 angled slabs back in position:

And the rods now pass smoothly through the barrow crossing

And here's a view looking north with the four sets running up to the siding points:

Which next leaves us with the positioning of the blocks and steel plates for the cranks which will direct the rodding at right angles under the rails. Firstly the crank for the FPL:

And then the one for the points:

The three wise men pondering the best way to fit the crank and hoping that the pre-drilled holes are in the right orientation!

A bit of adjustment required with a crowbar to get the plates to line up with the rodding and then we are ready to connect. Job for next time.

A pause in working as Foremarke Hall prepares to run round:

Neil C and gang were up here on Monday and have loaded more concrete cable troughs onto the ELF wagon. This has cleared a total of 320 troughs  and left platform 2 north of the signal box completely clear - so now looking a deal more tidy:

Hope to carry up the rest of the rodding next week - not too many more required now. This is the remainder of our stock in Winchcombe yard - more than enough! To be continued...........

Curly

Stool Report - 4

Wednesday 1st August

Couldn't make Tuesday this week but have taken some pictures of the steady advance made.
Steve (of JCB fame) has made a sterling job of tidying up the alignment of the top of the catchpit at the North end of platform 1:

And a thick walled pipe has been laid at the barrow crossing through which the north bound signal wires will eventually pass. This will be repeated at the other side of the crossing:

Significant progress has been made with stool installation and the concrete stools have now been set and aligned up to the first set of points. You will notice that they are progressively moving away from the track so that the rodding is in the correct position to connect with the cranks:

The blocks for mounting the cranks have been carried up - these will be set with steel plates bolted on top next week:

While Steve had the mini digger here he had excavated the rest of the holes up to the second set of points. This is particularly helpful because the 3-wheeled and 2-wheeled stools need significantly deeper holes and saves us a lot of ballast shovelling!

Forward to today.
As I mentioned previously we have had to modify the end of platform 2 ramp to allow the rodding to pass through. The slabs have been angled off and some of the brickwork removed:

The LH sleeper will be removed to allow the rodding to pass through, the blue tubing for the signal wires where the RH sleeper is - will then covered with (probably ) a steel plate to re-instate the crossing.

Then to tidy up the ramp. The two angled slabs have been pushed back to leave enough room to form a concrete wall against some shuttering:

Should look nice and tidy when we get the slabs back in position.

Another rodding task is required back at the signal box.
The rods which pass through the tunnel are unsupported over a significant length. To overcome this Malcolm has produced a frame with rollers. This will be bolted to the concrete floor of the tunnel at mid span. A job for a day when we have a bit more muscle and time  available!

All change from rodding to signals. We have taken delivery of a batch of  short signal  wires with pre-formed "eyes" for fitting round pulley wheels. These can be a tight fit through the frames , so we have had a trial fit - some are a bit tight and need some gentle persuasion - but better this than having to dismantle:

Here's George with a batch of them:

And 8 of them in situ ready for onward connection. These are the pulleys opposite the signal box at the base of platform 1:

 I feel signal wire report no. 1 coming on!
However, the rodding story will be continued for the time being.

Curly