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An interesting survivor


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Looking at this photo reminds me.....

 

Leaving aside the situation of a shunt signal 'elevated' by putting it on a bracket attached to the front or side of a post that is already carrying another 'main' signal above it, in all the cases of 'free standing' elevated shunt discs that I have seen (such as the example in the photo) then the disc is simply put directly on top of a lattice post of the required height. Has anyone ever seen (not in the heritage railway context) a case where a 'free-standing' elevated disc has its own post, but is bracketed off that post, with the main part of the post continuing up past the disc and having any sort of finial?

 

I hope it's clear what I mean :-)

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Looking at this photo reminds me.....

 

Leaving aside the situation of a shunt signal 'elevated' by putting it on a bracket attached to the front or side of a post that is already carrying another 'main' signal above it, in all the cases of 'free standing' elevated shunt discs that I have seen (such as the example in the photo) then the disc is simply put directly on top of a lattice post of the required height. Has anyone ever seen (not in the heritage railway context) a case where a 'free-standing' elevated disc has its own post, but is bracketed off that post, with the main part of the post continuing up past the disc and having any sort of finial?

 

I hope it's clear what I mean :-)

 

Like you, I can't think of any actual examples, Chris, but there certainly could have been places where a combination of physical constraints on where the post could be placed and sighting constraints for positioning of the (shunt) signal would have meant that an offset signal would have had to be installed. Given the large number of these elevated dollies that were once installed around the Southern, it does seem likely that an offset one must have been installed somewhere.

 

It is also just perhaps worth noting that many were installed on short rail-built posts, rather than lattice ones, but this must have been a matter of convenience rather than date of installation, since short lattice posts (for use on gantries) remained available long into BR(S) days.

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A standard SR disc signal mounted atop a short lattice post - no doubt for sighting reasons - it is one of three surviving mechanical disc signals (one of the others is visible in the wider view) at a place where colour light running signals replaced semaphores a long time ago.

 

Depends what you mean by 'Mechanical' because we have an identical looking one outside Kinscote box that is rotated by an electric motor and I seem to remember the ones that came out of Horsham before that was resignalled were the same.

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At least some of the elevated SR examples seem to have replaced full sized shunt or goods signals (i.e. a normal sized signal with either a short arm or a full sized one with a ring on it). 

 

The SEMG have some good photos here: 

 

http://www.semgonline.com/proto/semaphore_09.html

http://www.semgonline.com/proto/semaphore_10.html

 

(The Southern also installed some full sized shunt signals, there's a photo of one of these on the second page) 

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Depends what you mean by 'Mechanical' because we have an identical looking one outside Kinscote box that is rotated by an electric motor and I seem to remember the ones that came out of Horsham before that was resignalled were the same.

The ones there were at Horsham and still at Dorking are operated by solenoid and if I remember correctly would of been a full disc. Some at Horsham were mechanical and were like the one in the photo. Can't remember any being on a separate post

 

Michael

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Looking at this photo reminds me.....

 

Leaving aside the situation of a shunt signal 'elevated' by putting it on a bracket attached to the front or side of a post that is already carrying another 'main' signal above it, in all the cases of 'free standing' elevated shunt discs that I have seen (such as the example in the photo) then the disc is simply put directly on top of a lattice post of the required height. Has anyone ever seen (not in the heritage railway context) a case where a 'free-standing' elevated disc has its own post, but is bracketed off that post, with the main part of the post continuing up past the disc and having any sort of finial?

 

I hope it's clear what I mean :-)

 

Chris I've an idea lurking in the back of my mind that there might have been one on the Windsor side at Clapham Jcn but it was an electric one and bracketed off a lattice post.  i did go there to take a photo of it but I was several years too late!  I definitely remember seeing one years ago somewhere on the South Western although I'm fairly sure it was power worked.

 

Depends what you mean by 'Mechanical' because we have an identical looking one outside Kinscote box that is rotated by an electric motor and I seem to remember the ones that came out of Horsham before that was resignalled were the same.

 

Mechanical as in a lever in the signalbox pulling a wire which runs along a wire run to the signal, i.e.  a quite ordinary mechanical signal in the normal meaning of the term  (the wire run has three wires in it - one for each disc, as can be seen in the, cropped, photo below).  All the running signals are colour lights, and have been for many years but these three discs (12,13, & 29 on the diagram linked below) have survived although judging by the diagram one of them (No. 29 exit from the Down Siding) has at some time replaced a semaphore signal.

 

post-6859-0-05384000-1507821312.jpg

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elmtreephotos/8407742527

 

And Brian the 11 mile section between Wokingham and Aldershot South Jcn has never been electrified - hence it is worked by Great Western from a local passenger train viewpoint and GWR manage the intermediate stations.  Really it's an accident of history as it was part of the original SE&CR route from London Bridge to Reading which was joint with the L&SWR from Wokingham.  In SR years, and during the era of major electrification, this meant it had virtually no trains between Reading and London as the LSWR route via Ascot to Waterloo is more than 20 miles shorter than the SE&CR route to London Bridge and all that was left was a route across via Guildford to Redhill and Tonbridge which was also not electrified in various places.  The last service from London Bridge which ran that way through to Reading was a newspaper train which finished back in the steam era.

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How many times have I travelled past that without noticing it?

 

The Berkshire Area Group of the N Gauge Society are building a layout portraying Wokingham in the 50s/60s but unfortunately [for those interested in signalling curiosities] their plan is for the scenic area to finish just north of the junction. I've seen their model of the rail-built footbridge by the level crossing - it's exquisite.

Edited by Compound2632
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How many times have I travelled past that without noticing it?

 

The Berkshire Area Group of the N Gauge Society are building a layout portraying Wokingham in the 50s/60s but unfortunately [for those interested in signalling curiosities] their plan is for the scenic area to finish just north of the junction. I've seen their model of the rail-built footbridge by the level crossing - it's exquisite.

 

The footbridge is an amazing structure with rails bent in ways one would hardly think possible.  It's in a fairly parlous state and I suspect it might not last much longer so I took  quite a lot of pics of it on the day I took the pics of the elevated disc (while waiting for teh pub to open).

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Yes the lattice posts do tend to look like filo pastry these days. I turned up one day to do the lamps at Marchwood to find a condemned notice on the junction signal for the MOD. So rang the boss to ask how I was supposed to do the lamps! Sadly gone in the early 2000's and replaced with a post.

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Yes the lattice posts do tend to look like filo pastry these days. I turned up one day to do the lamps at Marchwood to find a condemned notice on the junction signal for the MOD. So rang the boss to ask how I was supposed to do the lamps! Sadly gone in the early 2000's and replaced with a post.

A model of this signal in 4mm scale is on my workbench at present!

 

post-3984-0-79027900-1510679194_thumb.png

 

Here it is covered in scaffolding:

post-3984-0-40497200-1510679203_thumb.png

 

I think this is the replacement, in the distance:

post-3984-0-26744700-1510679319.jpg

 

Steve.

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Chris I've an idea lurking in the back of my mind that there might have been one on the Windsor side at Clapham Jcn but it was an electric one and bracketed off a lattice post.  i did go there to take a photo of it but I was several years too late!  I definitely remember seeing one years ago somewhere on the South Western although I'm fairly sure it was power worked.

London end of Platform 6 ?? ...........  went in the WARS ISTR

 

This is it ............

 

http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/0000-01-eaw-dh-35009%20Clapham.jpg

Edited by Southernman46
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