Cables In and Cables Out

Tuesday 14th Jan

Not a day to be working outside but we need to get some jobs under our belts. A good turnout with 9 of us (plus Mike S and Paul D on comms work).

So first of all its off to Toddington in the diesel railcar to lay all the cables required for the new southern point machines, ground signal and trackside phone.

Some shallow trenches need digging in the ballast to route the cables from the yellow tubes under the track to their appropriate connection points.

And then the removal of the concrete lids from the cable troughs

And then the threading of the cables through the yellow plastic tubes under the track. All the cables are routed from the troughing which runs down the Cotswold side of the track

Cables then fed into the troughs

All the cables have been previously cut to length leaving a generous allowance at each end for connection - none were too short!!

Then all cables are  buried and  the troughing lids are replaced again--no sign of anyone having been here!

So, an explanation of the cables of which there are seven
 Two go to the ground signal for its lamp and its detector. One goes to the phone situated next to the ground signal and two go to the  adjacent point machine - one cable serves the motor for normal and reverse position and one serves detection for normal and reverse positions.
The final two cables serve the other point machine.

This picture shows the layout looking towards Toddington signal box

Having fed the cables through the troughing they will terminate at the adjacent lineside cabinets from where  cables ready feed back to the signal box.
All connections here still to be made but now far too wet and windy for further work - lunch beckons!

I may have regaled you with these shots before but just in case here are the two point machines now fitted with all their detection bars and stretchers

So, that's all of "cables in" - now for "cables out". The job we didn't finish last week was the removal of three remaining lengths of redundant 30 pair cable along the southern stretch from Greet tunnel. We used the railcar to assist using Malcolm W's new fixture to clamp this rather unwieldy cable to the trailer

And then dragged it out to deposit it back in Winchcombe yard. This shot taken  out of a rather wet railcar window (warped the track a bit!) Three trips via the tunnel 

 Carriage and Wagon have agreed to weld the baseplate to the CRC bracket post for us on Wednesday, so the final act today was to manoeuvre it into their workshop. Tele handler to the rescue

And position it on a pair of pedestals - important that the baseplate is in the correct orientation relative to the two holes at the top which locate the clamping blocks - Malcolm W will be on hand to advise. 

Curly

Re-furb Continues

Tues 7th Jan

Start the New Year as you mean to carry on!
What is that I hear you cry - more cleaning and painting!
Prior to the removal of track from Stanway Viaduct, a small team was despatched to remove track bonding and disconnect cables. The lineside cabinet on the viaduct has been removed and returned to Winchcombe for refreshment - we availed ourselves again of the BS workshop to get out of the drizzle which seemed to go on for most of the day.

The bottom end of the main post for the replacement CRC has now been cut off to square it up ready for welding on the baseplate - this is having its holding down bolt and drain holes drilled by John P and the mag drill (allowing a bit of extra clearance for margin of error in our measurements - don't want this hanging on the crane and not fitting the existing studs!)

Also in the relative comfort of the BS workshop Peter W is assembling a series of lampholders for all the new Broadway signals - about 17 of these needed I think. These have small bayonet fittings for LED bulbs and have wooden bases which will fit snugly into the lamp cases

One of the crows nests removed from signal 4 needs a complete refurbish - now dismantled ready to clean up and make some new boards for the base. The distant signal south of the tunnel is earmarked for renovation - the boarding here on the crow's nest is rotten so we will do a complete swap with this one :

And the final job of the day was the organising parts for the platform of the CRC bracket. This needs four support arms to support the planking  and eight bars to support a handrail.

Support Arms primed

Eight handrail supports cut ready for threading on both ends

Curly

Cables Galore

Tuesday 17th Dec

A super turnout today with 10 of us (must have been the potential of  mince pies at break time!)

Lots of activity on the cabling front today.
The existing cables between Far Stanley and the distant signal just south of Greet tunnel (a distance of 1700 metres) have to be replaced. These are a collection of 25 pair and 30 pair cables with two lineside cabinets and 5 troughing joints. The troughing joints are pretty basic and not well protected and subject to rodent "nibbling" and water ingress causing intermittent faults.
So - the whole of this 1700m will be serviced with one continuous 10 pair cable (we only need 7 pairs over this section).
Steve W and his JCB have been digging a 12" deep trench over this length to bury it:

A small lineside cabinet is being installed at the distant signal to terminate this cable. This will join to the remaining bit of (overkill) 30 pair cable down to the electrically operated signal just before Greet tunnel. This cabinet will service the lamp on this signal and the  adjacent treadle (triggered by the engine wheels) which rings a bell in the signal box to alert the signalman of a train approaching the tunnel

Neil C then wrestles with removing the outer coating and steel wire armour on the 30pair cable - it really is difficult to prepare the ends to reveal the wires inside - there is a knack to it combined with brure force! .Connections to the box will be done tomorrow

Here's what the inside of a 30 pair looks like:

One of the large lineside boxes we removed was a connection nightmare - don't quite know how it got into this state - been here from the dawn of the railway I should think!

And removing a cable joint from a concrete trough

OK that's got rid of the old stuff now the new cable can go in. This had been unrolled from a drum on the diesel railcar previously and had already been terminated at its southern end so this was now a track walk to feed it into the trench.
We passed Lineside Clearance doing a grand and noisy job with a 360 machine with an awesome flail mincing everything in sight!

But I digress. Having installed the new cable in the trench (which Steve will now fill in again with the JCB) we turned our attention to removing the now redundant cables. These are buried in ballast up near the ends of the wooden  sleepers and because P Way have an imminent program of life expired sleeper replacement over this section we need these cables out of the way.
So the cunning method of getting them out is to attach an end to the railcar trailer and slowly pull them out

Then drag the extracted length along the track and deposit it in Winchcombe yard.
This was repeated for the second length.

Back at Winchcombe we dismantled the scaffolding round signal 4

And here it is finished with the scaffolding team posing:

And finally a photo of the whole S & T team gathered in front of our notorious "workshop". We don't all fit in at mess-time so here's hoping that all those rumours of a new workshop will materialise in the new year!

Seasons greetings to all my blog followers

Curly

Signal Box Electrics, etc

Tuesday 10th Dec

Work on two fronts today. Neil C and Jim P went off to Broadway to do some preparation for electrical wiring.
While the rest of us remained at Winchcombe to carry on with cleaning and painting.
But first, a quick report on progress at Broadway. In order to carry wiring (tidyly) from  the electric locks and contact boxes trunking has been installed from the lever frame to the connections board:

Progress on the connections board showing external cables terminated, some wiring clips and power distribution holders to lower right :

Batteries, 3-stage chargers and lamp and track circuit charging power supplies powered up

(above pictures courtesy of Neil Carr)

Back at Winchcombe we are re-conditioning a large lineside box which is going to be installed in the yard of Church ward House for outdoor electrics.

Will need a second coat of aluminium paint on the outside surfaces next week, the top to undercoat and then black gloss - inside colour to be decided. It was raining for most of the day so we retreated to the Building Services workshop to find some respite, hope they don't mind us invading their space!

And there are always more Signal parts to sort out. Finials taking centre stage here:

Curly

Winchcombe Signal Refurb Continued

Tuesday 3rd Dec

At least it remained dry today so working outside to do some painting was OK.
But the first objective was to re-assemble all the fittings on the freshly painted signal post No. 4 (Winchcombe platform 2 starter). The crows nest has been cleaned and re-painted with new "creosoted" boards fitted.

Starting at the top, we have to haul these heavy parts up by rope and pulley - heavy lumps. And then finishing at the bottom with the balance weight assembly

Because the ladder is concreted in at the bottom this has to be cleaned and painted in situ - John P starting with rust removal

Job complete at the end of the day - the scaffolding can now be removed (and taken to Broadway next?!)

It just remains to fit new cabling for the light in the lamp casing - this can be carried out from the crows nest in due course. No detector on this signal so wiring is a minimum.

We have now put the undercoat and top coats on the new CRC bracket post - looking a lot tidier now

One of the two remaining pieces to complete the part count for the new Broadway bracket is now complete after machining in the Toddington machine shop. The pivot bracket that holds one of the double balance weight arms - the pivot pin slides in beautifully - a precision fit! Well done the machinist. 

Curly

More Signal Recon

Tuesday 19th Nov.

Malcolm W is on a 4 day telehandler course this week so Neil C was leading operations with six of us in attendance.

Signal 6 adjacent to Winchcombe signal box has now been completely re-furbished and is back in operation:

And next is a similar project to re-furbish signal 4 opposite. The scaffolding has been erected round this signal and its fittings removed ready for the big clean. Here is a close up of some of the rusting:

Carl S makes a start cleaning up the crow's nest prior to a re-paint. The boards have gone rotten and will need replacing

We managed to get the whole post wire-brushed and prime painted in the day.

The main post for the Cheltenham replacement bracket has been rescued from the back of Winchcombe yard  by the tele- handler so we have made a start cleaning it up. Two of us spent the morning with angle grinders getting it ready for paint. Quite a lot of surface area here!

And a coat of primer put on before end of play.

Several lengths of cable have been measured out on the concrete roadway using a measuring wheel ready for connecting the point machines, and other services at Toddington south points. These have been laid out at Toddington ready for connecting and placing in the recently positioned troughing.

Curly