Yet Another One

 Tuesday 25th Aug

Just two of us in today and another ground signal to remove and recondition - the double  one adjacent to the bracket signal at Winchcombe North.

Luckily this one is mounted on a steel plate secured to a concrete block with studs - so no clearing of ballast required this time.

We got most of the fittings off in situ so no heavy lifting required.

We haven't got another one of these double units so this one needs to be sorted out and replaced. It is an original GWR version. Here is the stripped casting ready to be cleaned. Unusually, the two balance weights came off easily with no drama!

So cleaning continues...........

Curly

Find the Signal Wire

 Tuesday 17th Aug

A good turn out today with a total of 5 of us. 

Report of signal 33 (advanced starter) at Winchcombe not returning to normal without a lot of lever jiggling. We suspect that a significant amount of vegetation growth is resisting the return of the signal wire - the balance weight at the signal is not overcoming the friction.

So off we go armed with bill hooks and clippers in the direction of Greet tunnel.

Smoke was still seen to be billowing out of the tunnel portal some 15 minutes after the train had gone towards Cheltenham - - nice breeze blowing it out. 

For most of the way between the bridge and the advanced starter the signal wire is invisible, pretty well buried in dense vegetation.

We cleared the wires but this will need some further strimming to make a job of it. Anyway we reached the signal after a good hour of clearance

This seems to have resolved the problem.

Then it was back to base for (guess what!) more Ground signal restoration.

I shall just pop back with a catch up of last Tuesday's work on dismantling the GWR signal which we had removed from Toddington. In order to get the balance weight arm out of the casting both the pivot pin and balance weight have to be removed - both were well seized and required concerted hammering before they yielded

So, today with all parts dismantled we proceeded with the continuous round of cleaning, restoring and painting. 

This lamp case getting the piece work treatment

The balance weight arm primed

The spectacle plate primed

The casting primed

And the boss inspecting the days work

Carl S found this paint brush in our store - it has an afro haircut - can't imagine what it has been used for - not much use for painting! 

Curly

More Ground signalling

 Tuesday 3rd August

Three of us in today with Malcolm W  in charge. The mission being to replace two "weary" ground signals at Toddington.

The two signals that we took out at Winchcombe have now been fully re-conditioned and these will now have pride of place at Toddington.

We attacked the easy one first (no 15 out of the parlour road) which was mounted on a sleeper with four coach screws which were fairly easy to remove. So this was a straightforward replacement. But no 16 at the South end of platform 1 was a different kettle of fish. This was mounted on two submerged concrete blocks with bolt heads inside in ballast and clay. So we spent most of the morning on our hands and knees scraping out clay and ballast to be able to get a spanner on. 

And eventually got the signal off

Luckily there was a trolley parked up by the coal store which greatly facilitated moving the signals about - just had to be careful not to walk into the pit while pushing! 

Bact to Winchcombe and made a start on dismantling. Laid out all the parts off the Western Region one ready for cleaning. A lot of congealed grease and muck to be removed. 

And the balance weight locking bolt is seized solid so removing the weight will be a challenge - a combination of drilling and hammering in prospect! 

I took a photo  of Malcolm W with his 40 year presentation medal - two weeks late I'm afraid but here it is. 

Curly

 

Is This a Record?

 Tuesday 6th July. 

Sorry about the delay with this blog - too much Wimbledon, cricket, football, house decoration getting in the way - but better late than never. 

Today was going to be a bit of a challenge. Not sure if the Guinness Boook of Records has any records relating to steam railways apart from Mallard - but try this one. The ground signal (yes, another one !) by the platform 2 starter signal at Winchcombe needed changing. After the first train of the day had passed there was to be a shunt of the parked rake in platform 2 into the carriage sidings

ml

Malcolm was in the lead carriage as guard. Then a slow reversal into the siding

Then we leapt into action (not quite formula 1 pit change performance but not bad for two  elderly volunteers. This signal is mounted on a fabricated pedestal to improve visibility for the drivers. We dismantled as much as practical to make handling easier and then attacked the four  mounting bolts. So a quick unbolt (most bolts on heritage railways are not quick)

John P in the process of dismantling

And the spare refitted and working just 1.5 hours later to perform the carriage shunt

Since taking this picture the base has been cleaned up and given a coat of black gloss.

A lot of activity going on around us with the gunpowder van being meticulously prepared by C & W for a makeover. To be filmed by a model making company I believe.

 Curly

One of Each

 Tuesday 29th  June

Just a brief blog today - to round off the ground signal saga.

The Signal we removed from Winchcombe (South end adjacent to the bracket signal) has been fully dismantled and its post has now received its 3 coats of paint. Bit more painting to do on the other parts - we should have it finished next week ready to replace

This signal is for shunting movements into the platforms. We do not have calling-on arms on the bracket signal for shunting. 

The two ground signals we removed from the PWay and C&W sidings recently have now been fully restored and rebuilt - one Western Region and the other GWR

Another lineside cabinet is being prepared for non-lineside duties - electrical stuff in Churchward House yard I believe. This one is in quite good condition (only the best for head office!!) 

For those of you who did not get a chance to see the photograph of the inside of the lineside cabinet at Stanton Aqueduct when Neil C was investigating a track circuit fault - here it is again. Note the bird's nest lined with the insulation it has pecked off the relays! 

Curly

Another Swap

 Tuesday 8th June

John P and myself in today with Malcolm W today with a couple of jobs on the list and good weather in prospect.

Firstly a jaunt to Toddington to bolt down a lineside cabinet. You may remember from previous blogs that the cabinet just north of the road bridge (platform 2 side) was in a very unstable state. This has now been replaced with a reconditioned one and re-wired by Neil C. However, it still needs bolting down to the concrete blocks on which it sits. A simple task I hear you cry! But..... because the bolting uses  studs with nuts buried in the muck underneath the blocks, it needed pick, shovel and handwork to gain access to get the nuts on. John P was the ferret! 

This was the interior of the old cabinet

And here is the re-wired replacement with the new track Circuit feed equipment fitted - much tidier!

And securely bolted down.

Back at Winchcombe we embarked on another ground signal replacement. The one we removed from the PWay siding has now been re-conditioned and will replace the one we are about to remove. Here is the freshly  painted one:

The one to be removed adjacent to the rear doorway of C & W (ground signal no. 26) sits on the end of an extended sleeper and is again through-bolted with long studs with a nut on each end. So more burrowing was required to access for spannering to stop the nuts from turning. Got the four nuts off at the top eventually 

And slid the unit along the sleeper to release it from the detector blade - you can see this at the side of the sleeper here:

Then re-fitted the refurbished  one

We left all the dismantled parts on the bench for the Wednesday and Thursday gangs to clean up! A lot of coagulated grease to get off - we think that this signal had been in position for about 30 years (since the track was originally installed at Winchcombe). Luckily the 20lb weight came off this time without too much drama! 

End of day shot of P & O departing Winchcombe for Toddington:

Curly

Ground Signal Swap

 Tuesday 18th May

You may remember from last week's blog that we had an eventful  wrestle with the turnbuckle on the detector rod at the Winchcombe PWay yard points - so this week it was decided to replace the ground signal controlling these points - it has shed most of its paint and is in a rather sorry state.

So here we go with  John P and Malcolm W - luckily most of the bolts yielded without too much drama. 

And a barrow load of bits:

We have the replacement ready to go in the barrow- here's the "before and after"

In order to fully dismantle, the balance weight has to be removed from the arm. To do this the securing bolt has to be removed, but you may have noticed in the above picture that this bolt, at some point in the past, has been sheared off. Attempts to drill it out failed

So we resorted to more serious tactics. It came off quite easily using a sledge hammer!! Luckily we have spares of these 20 pounders. 

So off to the metal skip with the bits. 

The re-conditioned signal was put in position and secured to its sleeper with four new coach screws (the old ones were suffering some serious rust). 

The yellow and white  spectacle disc needs a re-paint before it is replaced so the signal will be out of action for a short while - job for the Wednesday or Thursday gang 

Since we have been able to come back in limited numbers on any one day we have spread ourselves over several days so there is a bit more continuity. 

Curly