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

More Cleaning and Painting

Tuesday 29th Oct

An excellent turnout today with twelve of us  - just about room for us all in the mess coach.

We continued with the painting and re-assembly of the replacement Cheltenham bracket signal - not room for many more hands in here!

Got it together at last - a good job all the parts were matchmarked because a bit of twist and bolt holes need pulling into alignment. Are we pleased?!

The fittings removed from the soon to be installed Broadway bracket needed a bit of paintwork touching up after the rigours of bolting and unbolting. Screw threads also needed a good clean up and greasing.
I believe the decision has been made to transport the signal by rail to Broadway - and use the telehandler to  erect it. Watch this space.
Here are some of the fittings now ready for action

Next main task for the  CRC bracket was to find a suitable steel baseplate which will have to be welded to the main post. This post is currently in a pile at the back of the yard, will need the telehandler to get it out ready for cleaning and painting. Not sure yet if the  bottom end of it will need squaring off prior to welding.
Keith L found suitable plate and trailered it in for examination

Unfortunately there was some confusion over the size of the plate and hole spacing to suit the existing foundation block at CRC so John H and Jim P were despatched to CRC to take measurements. This subsequently meant that this plate would need cutting down to size - however, pilot holes have now been drilled on the correct centres, and the edges marked up for cutting.

Various other cleaning and painting activities were going on including a cover for one of the point machines stored in the yard - this is fibreglass and has a split in it which needs repair to keep the rain out - George B cleaning it to remove all loose "muck"ready for the repair kit

And Carl S cleaned and painted the side covers for this point machine

Our telecommunications experts Mike S and Paul D spent most of the day in Churchward House removing all the computer and telecom wiring and sockets  from the offices ready for installation of the new system.
Paul de-commissioning some plastic trunking:

And Mike disposing of the rubbish

Another sub-team set off to Toddington to complete the replacement of the ground signal lens plates that was unfinished business from a few weeks ago.

So  all in all a day of mixed activity

Curly

Preparations at Broadway

Tuesday 22nd Oct.

Rather short-handed today with four of us plus the boss.
I understand that the round of fire extinguisher checking/replenishment was happening today so Carl S and John P went off to Gotherington Signal Box by train to bring the two extinguishers back to Winchcombe - a bit difficult for the contractors to access.

Peter W and Richard C continued with the painting of the Cheltenham bracket signal parts - nice sunny day for a change.

After lunch it was decided to depart to Broadway to do some preparatory work for the wiring up of instruments in the signal box.
We had already mounted the block diagram unit on its brackets hanging from the roof, but this is not a very practical position to do the art work and fitting of the track circuit lights - so we struggled this down and mounted it horizontally on a pair of trestles ready for Malcolm W's artistic talents:

Once the artwork and lamps (LED's) have been fitted we can remount it ready for wiring up.

Some of the plungers have already been mounted on the blockshelf and the holes drilled through ready for the wiring. Today we had 3 more to fix (those generously donated to us by blog reader Aardvark!). They are being positioned over levers 39, 40 & 41.  40 & 41 are the levers for the main arms on the new bracket (still to be erected) and 39 is the North siding signal.
We are still have to find one more plunger.

Neil C has cut the entry cables to length in the locking room and mounted the connection blocks. Just a few connections to make now from these 20 pair cables!

And finally, a shot of the renovation of the signal box steps which have now been completed by George B - with  the shiny black treads re-fitted

Curly

PS  Relating to the question about the lock stretcher on Toddington points last week - this type was designed to pass under a slip/third rail. All the rods and stretchers here were purchased new. This is now probably considered a universal fitting - I am open to comments on this point!!

Point Motors and Brackets

Tuesday 14th Oct

Two groups in action today
Neil C, Carl S, Keith L and John P set off to Toddington to continue with the installation of the two point motors at the South turnout. The motors had been taken to site last week with a great amount of muscle power - they are pretty heavy.
All the new components are here loaded on the pickup ready to go :

The screwed rodding (M20) will be cut to length and used to secure the units to the extended sleepers. The large yellow tubes are to carry the connecting cables (safely) under the tracks to the adjacent lineside cabinet.

The following photos are courtesy of Neil C (I stayed behind to continue bracket work at Winchcombe)
Keith L halfway under a sleeper attempting to get a nut and large washer on! (camera lens a bit steamed up here I'm afraid)

And the completed installation with stretchers and detector rods connected

The fitting of the second unit wasn't completed today so will have to wait for the next visit.

Back at Winchcombe Malcolm W, Richard C, Peter W and Jim P set to with sorting and restoring parts for the building of the replacement bracket signal for Cheltenham. We found a pair of suitable length dolls in our stockpile in the yard - these have been de-rusted and primed (a morning's job for two of us)

Peter W and Jim P continued with the de-rusting and painting of the main structure

The weather was kind to us today so we managed to complete our painting objectives in bright sunshine

The Broadway bracket signal has now had all its fittings removed after their trial assembly and is ready for transportation to Broadway sooooon!

Curly

A Bit Wet

Tuesday 1st Oct

Not a lot achieved today - a lot of rain somewhat curbed the outside activity.
Carl S went for a bit of woodwork to prepare two "out-of-operation" crosses to fix to the main signal arms of the Broadway bracket.

Most of this could be carried out under cover in the C&W workshop - just needs coat of white paint to finish them off

All the down rods have been cut and welded to length so this completes all the work we need to do on it before it goes vertical.

As far as getting this signal to Broadway is concerned we can now dismantle all the fittings and then wait until transport is arranged - hopefully this will be done by the end of November. By rail or by lorry with hiab? To be decided.

In between showers a bit more progress is made on the next bracket for Cheltenham
 The magdrill is brought out to produce some additional holes to bolt on the four outriggers which will support the wooden platform

This is now dis-assembled for cleaning and painting. A few hours of wire brushing with an angle grinder to remove rust and loose paint

Two brackets have now been fabricated to mount the lamp cases for the call-on arms on the bracket signal. These will attach to the dolls using existing clamps - hope you can make this out here:

Curly