S & T Notes - issue 138

SIGNALLING NOTES - Chris. Hall

The cold weather has just started to make an appearance as I write these notes in early November and the days are closing in (and getting colder) which will cut down the length of our working days. We have some success to report on work behind the scenes to bring into use two new signals at Bewdley North, which is well advanced but, so far, showing little evidence on the ground.

Kidderminster

The bonded rail joint in the road crossing under the footbridge provides ideal conditions for corrosion of track circuit bond wire. Intermittent problems were reported on 2 August that BC track circuit was slow to pick up behind trains. At this stage fault finding would have been difficult but on 24 August it was reported that the sealed releases on 25, 29 and 33 (the relevant facing point lock levers locked by this track circuit) had been broken to release the points as the track circuit indication had remained at occupied.

Our investigation the same day showed that the track circuit was operating again but that one of the rail joints in the crossing was deteriorating. We then spent all day on 26 August digging out the timbers and renewing the bond wire. Replacement of a broken bond wire near Hoo road bridge, replacement of a signal wire stake close to the box (failure could have caused a few problems) and adjustment of the detection slide on 52 points (platform 1 run round crossover) were the only other non-routine tasks here.

Bewdley South

The Down Distant Signal is a long walk from the box and requires a ladder to be carried to the signal to gain access. So when the lamp was reported to be out, we knew that changing the bulb would not be a trivial task. In this case the ladder proved unnecessary because the fault was that the coil of the lamp relay in the location cupboard had gone open circuit. After an exhaustive search a spare coil was found and the relay rebuilt (spare relays proved slightly too large for the metal case) and refitted on 19 August. A further fault was reported on 14 October (that the signal would not respond to the lever and the lamp was out) but this has not reappeared.

The off aspect shown by the Down Inner Home to Back Road was reported to have faded to show a white light - we were able to confirm this by personal observation when riding back to Bewdley on the light engine on 14 October. Some blue-green plastic sheet had to be ordered as we had run out of stock. The green spectacle has been cut and will be fitted shortly. A simple job in September to replace a broken catch handle on 11 lever turned into a marathon as the parts were found to be non-standard and holes had to be redrilled and pins manufactured.

Bewdley North

A team of six people Derek Jones, Dave Wittamore, Tony Neath, John Smith, Dave Carr and myself carried out the necessary electrical work here on 21 October for the new calling-on signal on the Down Main Home. This was provided for when the box was last rewired in 1975/76 but the mechanical and electrical work for this signal was not included when it was commissioned in Easter 1976 (25 years ago). The work involved fitting an electric lock on 34 lever, repositioning the lock plungers for 34 and 36 signals, making the necessary wiring alterations and running a new 7-core cable at the signal to replace the existing 5-core cable (the location cupboard was already wired for the new signal).

On 4 November the same team minus Dave Carr (who joined us later in the pub) plus a new recruit, Richard Heap, completed this work by fitting the lock slide to 34 lock and terminating the 7-core cable to a distribution box on the doll. All that remains is to fit the new fittings for the signal including the relevant castings and balance weight. A good start was also made on the signal wire run across Wribbenhall Viaduct for the new disc signal reading from Up Inner Homes to Rock. By the time that these notes are published the new signals should have been commissioned.

Northwood

The road lights were reported to have failed on 24 October and this proved to be vandalism - the down direction feed location cupboard had been broken into and the signalling battery stolen. A temporary repair was effected the same day, leaving it working straight from the mains. A permanent repair to the location cupboard including the fitting of a new battery will be carried out in due course.

Arley

On 23 September the up distant signal was reported as faulty and Adrian Hassell, Tony Neath and myself attended and spent a few hours clearing the vegetation from the signal wire run, recalling as we did the provisions of Rule 221(j) that should have made this work unnecessary for us. We restored the signal to normal working order and tested it to the satisfaction of the Signalling Manager (Operations) who was the rostered signalman. The balance weight has since been adjusted so that the signal is easier to clear but its operation could be affected if the vegetation builds up again. A fault on the Up Starting signal which was occasionally not being released by the withdrawal of a token appeared to be either due to excessive use of Brasso metal polish by the signalman (unusual at Arley) which had dripped onto the passing contacts which operate the lock or dirty contacts on the BCR relay. We cleaned the contacts and the problem went away. On 29 September investigation into reports that the track circuit was slow to pick up found that the feed end track cables had been speared by a tamping machine. A small team visited on 27 October (Dave Wittamore and myself) to continue the annual location maintenance from the Down Distant and to replace the track ends. Various small and not so small trees and undergrowth at the top of the bank by the Down Home Signal had completely cut off all access to the location cupboard that had been installed on the embankment adjacent to the Down Home. This will have to be removed to regain access to the location which powers the lamps in the Down Home. In the time available we were only able to replace the relay end track cables (the feed end track cables were repaced on 4 November).

Highley

Nothing to report except that power supply testing will be required to confirm whether battery endurance is sufficient.

Hampton Loade

The south end rodding run was reported to be very heavy to operate and to have tilted towards the track and be jamming. The formation was being squeezed out at the base of the embankment each side of a culvert causing the rodding run to look like a switchback ride. Derek Jones, Dave Wittamore, Tony Neath, Adrian Hassell and myself spent most of the day on 30 September with the rodding disconnected because we found that we had to jack up the compensator bed by about nine inches to restore the elvel. We then concluded the day's work by resetting the height and position of some concrete bases. The work was completed on 14 October and the south end points now operate with very little force on the lever.

Bridgnorth

Some difficulties were reported on 27 September with the operation of track circuit 14T and this was found to be due to a crust of sand on the rails in the headshunt which was removed.

Planned work

Work planned for the immediate future is to replace the timbers on the ground frame at Eardington, fit a ladder to the Hampton Loade Up Distant and rewire the signal, replace the ladder and crow's nest on Hampton Loade Down Home, continue location maintenance (eviction of spiders, cleaning with WD40) northwards from Arley, complete power supply testing and commission two new signals at Bewdley North. This work will be fitted around the normal routine testing programme as resources allow.