SVR S&T Dept.
SIGNALLING NOTES - Chris. Hall
After some frenetic activity during the closed season, we turn to some of the simpler jobs that can be done with a full train service running. In early May we discovered another signal wire pulley dislodged from the edge of platform 1 at Bewdley. A four foot length of injector overflow pipework, rather distorted, had appeared outside North box. On 8 May this was reunited with the engine concerned and it appeared that a weld on the pipework had fatigued and it had drooped down foul of gauge and the fire hose connection on the end had struck the pulley, bending the pipework out of shape. The signal wire pulleys have now been relocated much further from the track so this problem should not recur.
The Down Inner Homes bracket signal at Bewdley South is now fully functional - the Down Distant motor was commissioned in time for the diesel gala - and the cabling is all now neatly terminated. The signal lamps and arm repeaters have been adjusted.
The cables at the base of the Bewdley South Down Inner Home Bracket have been very neatly arranged and painted to blend in with the colour of the post. The work on this signal has been entered in the NHRA competition. [Photo: M.Morgan]
The location cupboard at Bewdley South's Down Main Distant suffers occasional vandalism. The existing damaged doors are being replaced by a set recovered from the recent location renewal at Kidderminster. These are being refurbished and fitted with more robust and permanent protection for the locking mechanism constructed from 10mm steel plate welded onto the cupboard door.
On 27 June we had booked Dave Evans and the road railer to assist with some cable replacement from the Down Home to the Down Distant at Highley. The cable had several joints, some visible and some buried and had deteriorated so that replacement was the only option. The work required a possession and so there was an early start for Matt and two of us who were qualified as signalmen (Tom Boynes and Paul Marshall) to arrange this. The rest of us had a more relaxed start at 9.15am! The first task after the possession had been granted was to disconnect the cable each end and at the intermediate joint location near the Home signal. The plan was to drag the cable out of the ground using the road railer from the Distant to the Home. The road railer would disappear into the distance until either the cable broke or we were too far apart to communicate. This disturbed the earth making the task of burying the new cable a bit easier. This stage went rather well.
By mid afternoon we had mounted the cable drum (which had seen better days) on the trailer and paid out about five hundred yards of this heavy, armoured cable and there was still another seven hundred yards on the drum when the cable drum fell to pieces. We then spent several hours man-handling an unwieldy coil of very heavy cable along the four foot with a scaffold pole and piece of tree branch supporting the coil from the jaws of the road railer grab. Meanwhile the end of the cable at the Home signal was being terminated and a trench was being dug to the joint location.
By six p.m. the Distant end of the cable had been cut to length and two of us were able to slope off for some food at the Ship (not having eaten since breakfast) while the last cable end was being terminated. The last step was to test and commission the new cable with a signalman at Bewdley North, Arley and Highley (who was also a S&T technician), supervised by our tester, Fred Cotterell. The testing includes checking the correct operation of both the long- and short-section single line token machines in all possible combinations of tokens being withdrawn and replaced at each end of the section. It was not until 8.45 p.m. that the testing had been successfully completed and we could stop for food or to travel home.
Over the next week the mid-week staff worked their way steadily along the route with a (brand new) trenching machine. The cable is now very neatly buried for almost all of its length, with just a short length remaining. The next cabling job will be in August when we will replace the cable from Bewdley South over Sandbourne Viaduct to the Up Starting signal. Purchase of the necessary cable has been authorised.
Other jobs which have been recently completed include replacement of the Yard exit disc at Arley, replanted on new timber. Draught excluders have been fitted at Kidderminster and repaired at Bewdley North. Substantial new cable stock has been purchased for renewals. Cable troughing is being laid between the motor points at Kidderminster and the Down Outer Advanced Starting signal.
The list below indicates jobs that must be done in the foreseeable future to keep running safely and compliantly: Bewdley North Down Main Inner Homes - renew lower fitings; Arley Up Distant - remove, fit reflectorised board temporary signal, repaint and cut down the signal post at Arley, and shoe and replant it. Highley Down Starting concrete signal - renew Upgrade track circuit feed sets from Bewdley South to Kidderminster - in hand by Dave Stowell and John Taylor. Bridgnorth - rewire the block shelf. Departmental procedures, method statements and competency standards are being reviewed and rolled out. Cataloguing and testing relay stores to facilitate systematic renewals. Mass tidy up of storage areas in hand by the mid-weekers.
The ground frame at Foley Park has decided, by 29th May, to blend in with its surroundings. [Photo: J. Smith]
the injector overflow pipework found outside North box has been taken to Bewdley MPD and seems to fit the culprit, who will remain anonymous. [Photo: J. Smith]
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