SVR S&T Dept.
SIGNALLING NOTES - Chris. Hall
Lever 1 at Highley has been reinstated after some work to remove some plates rivetted to the lever tail. These are thought to be related to the lever's original purpose to operate the Up Distant (probably a spring assister), which would have been fixed in the 1920s as was done on all token worked sections. When the frame was relocked in 1945 to the GW 5-bar design (modified to suit direct lever travel and separation) this lever would have been a spare. The catch rod block was broken during the work so a replacement was obtained with the kind help of the North York Moors and so it is the only one marked 'McKenzie & Holland'.
Lever 1 reinstated and secured normal on 22 October 2023. [Photo: CKH]
The signal here is not new, it a temporary replacement for the concrete post signal which had deteriorated. [Photo: CKH]
Finishing touches to the 'new' Down Starting signal at Highley on Thursday 26th October 2023.
The concrete post signal has been removed and the fittings will be stripped down and refurbished. A new concrete post signal is planned at some point. [Photo: CKH]
We have been working on the wooden post that was once Highley's Down (Fixed) Distant for some time. The portion above ground was in excellent condition. It is now installed as a permanent replacement for the Up Starter at Highley. [Photo: CKH]
The only thing we have not yet fitted is the signal ladder, which is currently in the workshop at Bewdley getting its final coats of paint.
Another view of the Down Starting signal at Highley. [Photo: CKH]
The switches and crossing block can be seen, moved out of the way to allow the ballast to be levelled and sleepers laid. [Photo: CKH]
It is Sunday 29th October. Work has started by the P-Way at Foley Park to lay the siding end of the crossover.
Meanwhile some blue paint has been used to mark where the points toe will go, 98′6″ is the dimension but I'm not sure from where. The mark is, however, pretty close to the estimate of 66211mm (from the main line points toe) given to us on 6th March 2020. The outstretched left hand indicates where the drive rod will run and the black outline is where we would like the P-Way to dig us a hole, 24½″ deep (below the top of the rodding), clear of the sleeper ends into which the two 5-hole concretes can be placed. It is Sunday 29th October. [Photo: CKH]
We asked for a hole to be dug (see black outline) and the rodding stool removed.
Sunday 19th November. The crossing block has appeared along with a bit of marking out.
We measured 25m from the crossing block nose and it looks like the switch toes will be where we expect.
A new set of switches on 14 points has been installed by P-Way and a new point machine was commissioned on Friday 17th November.
The point machine had been on test ready for this work and a long day on the Thursday saw work complete ready for commissioning the next day.
Sunday 26th November. The P-Way have kindly dug us a hole and we have levelled up a pair of concretes, a cast plate and an adjustable crank.
We had to extend the hole a little further left (West) and spend some time using wooden mock ups of the concretes to get the positioning and levels about right. We then manhandled the concretes, end over end and into the hole so that we could level them up and align them under the rodding.
The crossover is taking shape, enough for us to be fairly confident where the points drive needs to go.
Confident, but we have left space to move the concretes sideways a little if necessary.
Sunday 3rd December, the first weekend of Santa services from the north end. Not a very promising start to the day at 0815 with half an inch of sdnow on the ground.
The forecast is rain or showers depending which web site you believe. The snow was precisely as forecast: 2mm of precipitation with 60% chance of snow (which means 20mm of snow). Fortunately the roads were clear.
The crossover is complete and track panels for the headshunt and siding are laid out ready to be connected.
It is cold and wet but we just need to measure up the length of rodding that we need so that we can pick up the chop saw from Bewdley, get some lunch at the Museum, find a length of rodding at Kidderminster and cut it to size before returning.
The points drive is connected to the crank after a visit earlier in the day to measure up. The drive stretcher hasn't been drilled until everything has settled down.
After cutting the rodding to length (213″) we sought the assistance of the Operating Department and conveyed the rodding to site courtesy of the engine for the 2.30 departure (which had been put back to 2.45 due to delays at Arley). It fits! We have only fitted the earpiece as the switches will move around under load and have not yet settled into place.
All of the rodding is connected up except for the points and FPL which awaits commissioning.
We have reinstated the rodding stool and reconnected the rodding but need to fill the concretes with ballast before filling in the hole,
The siding crossover has been laid and just awaits ballasting and tamping.
The crossover itself is all put together and there are two insulated rail joints so that the siding end of the crossover, the siding and the headshunt are not part of the track circuit on the single line.
The box diagram has been updated to match what is now on the ground.
Previously the diagram showed only half of a crossover so we are just keeping up with the progress of the P-Way.
Paul Marshall stands proudly on the new ground frame just as light was beginning to run out so we were not able to mark and drill the drive stretcher.
On Sunday 17th we were diverted to an intermittent fault at Kidderminster on the detection of 42 points - this was blowing a fuse in the location cupboard for no apparent reason, then behaving for a while. The effect was to hold the Up Loop Inner Home at Danger. The cable from the location cupboard to the detection box was showing strange voltages and so we spent most of the day digging out the troughing and replacing about 25 yards of 4-core cable. We then went to Foley Park and put down some anti-slip on the wooden boards and attached the name plate.
The P-Way have made some progress: a short section of headshunt has been laid - this will be about 85 yards long when completed. The siding itself will be up to 400 yards long once completed and will have two sidings and a run round between the two sidings.
It is 4pm and light is failing - we'll drill the drive stretcher another day. Back to Bewdley now and there are 600 sticky labels to attach to luggage labels - these are for running the new wires in Bridgnorth box. A rather late finish today at 7:25 pm!
The label shows that this wire runs from 22 Down roUte Lock Stick Relay (ULSR) terminal 3 Front (ywo wires on this terminal shown by the asterisk) to 1(DN)ULSR 1A (arm). Relay contacts for shelf relays are 'Front' (normally open) 'Back' (normally closed) and Arm (common).
A reminder that this article, as well as other information on Signal Engineering, can be viewed in full colour on the unofficial Signal Engineering web site at \\://www.svrsig.org/ (or look for 'svrsig' on google).