Lochty no more Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have at long last hauled our knee frames out of the long grass and into the shed at the Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society in Leven, there are two lever frames the first is by "Stevens & sons" supplied to the Wemyss Private Railway for the Michael colliery it controlled the crossing over the A955 at East Wemyss ( the Wemyss tramway crossed the railway at 90 degrees ) as you can see it`s in a right old state, it`s many years in the long grass have taken toll some of the locking is still in place. This is the same type of frame as supplied to the NBR It looks as if this frame originally had 4 levers fitted but one has been removed at some time looks like we will have a bit of work to do before these signal levers shine again The second knee frame is a Caledonian Railway frame which was adapted at the Lochty Railway with additional levers added as you can see it is in much better condition there is no interlocking left on this frame. Both lever frames will be overhauled and put back on the top line as we will need them for our planned second signal cabin at the other end of the line. This will be a baby NB cabin the same as the one at "Warriston Junction", Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted July 31, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 31, 2012 Good to see signalling in preservation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknich2003 Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Speaking from past experiance, it's surprising how easy a frame can be returned to near prestine glory. Nomore then hours of hard work with a wire brushe and emery paper. Good Luck, Mick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 5, 2012 Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 Thanks to JohnR & Micknich2003 for there encouragement. I thought we might as well start with the difficult bit the locking mechanism, a quick peek underneath revealed that the bolt holes on the levers match up with the bolt holes on the tappet irons The locking box was removed from the frame ( held in place by 2 clips secured by bolts to the underside of the locking box ), the lid of the locking box was unbolted revealing as far as I can tell the lever frame consisted of Lever 1 - to Michael Colliary Signal Lever 2 - Catch Points Lever 3 - unknown ( the lever has been removed at some point ) Lever 4 - not fitted Lever 5 - from Michael Colliary Signal the interlocking was Lever 2 must be pulled first ( to set the catch points to permit a train to pass ) this allowed either signal ( Lever 1 or 5 ) to be pulled, but not both ( that would cause a train crash ), when the catch points were open neither signal could be operated. All parts were removed, cleaned up then re assembled,a good coating of grease to all moving parts. The mechanism worked perfectly after all these years in the long grass. The next sequence of photo`s shows the mechanism being dissmantled The only problem we came accross was one of the bolts holding the lid on the locking box sheered off, out with the tap extractor. The locking box will be re painted black and re fitted once we have the rest of the lever frame overhauled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Could not resist the temptation to re-connect the locking to the levers, just to check it all works properly work has started on overhauling the frame, and I put the brass plates back on the correct levers ( just a pitty the other 3 are missing ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknich2003 Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 You are doing a good job, it will soon be as good as the day it left Steven's works. Keep up the good work, Mick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Cheers mick, I can not belive how good the engineering is on the locking frame, I spent 4 hours on it and now it`s working perfectly, all parts are numbered,the tappets are all a diferent size, you could not re-assemble it the wrong way if you tried. Been outside for 100 years, works perfectly- somehow I dont think my plasma telly can match that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted August 8, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 8, 2012 Whats involved in getting signalling restored to a railway line like yours? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknich2003 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Whats involved in getting signalling restored to a railway line like yours? Lots of Common Sense, and even more, hard work. Mick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 The frame has now been cleaned up, a new front plate made and fitted after a coat of grey undercoat things are looking up next we turn to the repainting, the lever frame was originally black with the lettering on the end highlighted in white ( presumably thats how it left Stevens foundary in 1890 ) the WPR painted it red lead, the same colour as there wagons - what colour do we select? One of the members found a photo of the inside of"Scotts Road" signal box - the first signal box up from our lever frame carefull study of the photo shows just how worn the 12 lever knee frame was by 1962 ( the operating floor was 6` above rail hight ) also interesting is the descriptive plates attached to the levers ( the same style as our lever frame ) note to self: painted black not white, the lever numbers are painted on the ends of the catch blocks ( I found evidence of white paint on the ends of the catch blocks when rubbing down ) there is no evidence of a signal diagram in this photo. the luggs welded to the bottom of the levers we belive were an NCB addition to operate relay switches, I had thought of cutting them off but they are part of the frame`s history so we will just leave them alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Re - painting the frame black, we want it to look like it did when it was new - 122 years ago when the frame was dismantled to remove lever 3, the levers were re - assembled in the wrong order ( 2,5 & 1 ) all the parts are stamped with numbers, the first lever in the photo has a hole in the lever for a padlock ( lever 2 ) which would lock the whole ground frame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 The lever frame is now back on the top line, it`s years outside in the rain are over - we just need to build a signal box for it to live in. Some photo`s of the finished article I am happy with the way it turned out, we painted numbers on the ends of the drop boxes in the WPR style. My only regret is I would have liked to dismantle the frame and put the stamped levers back in the correct order, but it was felt that the risk of damaging the frame was to great. Now to get stuck into the Calley frame Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 Doing my research on the Caledonian Railway knee frame, the starting point is to rescue the plates from the skip ( I need information on the locking and this may provide a clue ) We have also contacted the Caledonian Railway Society for help ( my knowlege of Cally frames is not that good, and we want to get it right ). The frame came from Polmont and was altered at the Lochty Railway in the 1970`s by extending it to an 8 lever frame, I belive at least 4 levers are "Stevens" levers with the ends cut off. We have found two locking boxes in our S & T container which could be adapted for this frame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
graeme3300 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 A brilliant bit of restoration! If it helps, the Signalling Record Society http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/ may be useful for extra information. Cheers, Graeme Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 A brilliant bit of restoration! If it helps, the Signalling Record Society http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/ may be useful for extra information. Cheers, Graeme Thanks Graeme, The Caledonian Railway Society have put me in touch with someone with expertise in this field but I will also give the SRS a try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 With our open day now behind us it`s time to get back to work. We had contacted the Caledonian Railway Society for help and they put us in touch with Donald McCliesh Signal & Telegraph manager at the SRPS at Bo`ness, he believes he has some suitable rusty tappet Irons, we have two surplus locking boxes. So between us we should be able to re-fit interlocking to this frame. Work began today to clean up the frame all of the segment plates are Caledonian at 4 1/4" between levers ( "Stevens & sons" were 4 5/8" ) the Caledonian levers have been taken back to bright metal and the brass badges re-fitted the whole frame is being taken back to bright metal the 3 holes on the levers indicate there was originally 3 locking boxes on the frame, we will be fitting interlocking to suit our requirements at the west end of Kirkland yard. Keep you posted as work progresses Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 Whilst conducting a search for level crossing lamps, one of our members searched the inside of our NBR van finding a box with the badges for our lever frame. A rummage through the box revealed the missing badge for our "Stevens & son" knee frame, not only that but the four missing "coffin lid" type badges for our "Caledonian" knee frame all 5 will be cleaned up, repainted and fitted by close of play on Saturday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Our "Stevens & son" knee frame looking a tad better after being re - united with the missing badge for lever 5 If I could find a "Pull 2" badge my work would be complete - maybe someday - who knows. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknich2003 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 As always, nice work. Mick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Work has resumed on the "Caledonian knee frame" the frame is now needed to control the temporary track layout at the east end of Kirkland yard ( as facing point locks must be fitted to both facing points - the rail regulator is having a bit of a clampdown - and wants things done proper ), no bad thing in my book we have most of what we require lying around - it just wants puting together. The first problem is removing one of the castings fitted to the inside of the end plates, these hold the locking boxes in position. each casting is held in place by three bolts tightened up 100 years ago, as you can see the head of the bolt sheared of the top one at the first attempt at removal. We will try applying heat to the remaining bolts if that dont work it`s plan C - drill them out. The first segment plate has been lifted out to ease access to the bolts. Despite this frame being in better condition than the "Stevens & son" knee frame, it`s already apparent that we will have a lot more work to do on this frame to put it back on the top line. Keep you posted as work progresses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tomparryharry Posted January 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2013 I've got a sneaking suspicion that I've seen a frame like those at Blaenavon. I'll have a look this coming weekend. Regards, Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Ian As far as we know the "Caledonian knee frame" is the only surviving example, if Blaenavon has one that would be great news. The Caledonian railway started to manafacture it`s own lever frames in the 1890`s when "Stevens & sons" patent ran out, the design whilst similar is not identical the main differences are, the levers do not extend beyond the pivot point, seperate castings are provided for securing locking boxes - Stevens cast them on the inside of the end plates. But the best method of identification is the information cast on the end plates - CR 280 & CR 280A on the far end. I would be interested to see photo`s of the Blaenavon frame. cheers Lochty Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 Work continues on the Cally frame, the coffin lid type badges have been fitted to the "Stevens" levers at both ends of the frame. I had thought these were of some age, but a bit of sluthing on the internet revealed they are a BR thing from the 1950`s ( OK that`s still 63 years ago ) the lever frame looks a bit of a mongrel with the levers at three different hights "Stevens" levers the two on the left & the two on the right, the Cally levers are all the same hight exept lever 6 has been cut down ( this is because it operated a motorised points, only one hand could be used to prevent the signalman puting to much gusto into throwing the lever ) A new metal front plate has been fitted, I am not certain that the front plate was not made of wood - both end plate castings have a raised v cast on the inside, which suggests to the Joiner in me that timber with a grove on the ends would slot into place. If it turns out to be the case the metal front plate can easily be replaced ( we really need a period photo or drawing to confirm this ). The locking box we hoped to adapt for this frame is in front in the photo`s, the big problem is the pitch is 5 1/4" the Cally frame is 4 1/4" ( curse there non standard hides ) so we are looking at making a locking box from scratch. The head of S & T at the SRPS at Bo` ness has genorously offered some old rusty tappet irons to use on this frame. We managed to remove one of the castings for securing the locking boxes - it is pictured on the floor in front of the frame Somehow restoring the "Stevens & son" frame was more fun, or is my memory just being more selective? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lochty no more Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 The segment plates on this frame have never sat square in the frame, this baffled me as they are all 4 1/4" wide. However after removing the plates the reason soon became apparent the segment plates are two different lenths the top segment plate is 1/4" longer, the "Caledonian" segment plate ( bottom ) is stamped with the part number 259 and the endplate stamped 259A So to recap, the frame has 4 "Calledonian levers & 4 "Stevens & son" cut down levers. 4 "Caledonian segment plates & 4 other segment plates. The Cally frame was originally 6 lever ( stamped 3,4,5 & 6 ) so where are the missing parts? A further search in the S & T container turned up this another "Caledonian" segment plate, this has been cleaned up and is now ready for painting. One of our longstanding members thinks the end plate castings from the donor knee frame may be under a pile of permenant way equipment in a 40` container. If this is the case I would prefer completly dismantling the frame and rebuilding it as two lever frames one 4 lever "Caledonian" with genuine parts, and the other frame made up from what is left or fitting an additional 2 levers into the spaces of the "Stevens & son" frame from the "Michael Colliary" which I renovated earlier last year ( and get the chance to put the levers back in the right order ). Scunnered is how I feel, I am heading off to the SRPS at Bo-ness on Saturday,as the S&T Department has offered us some help with the Cally frame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattuk1980 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I've got a sneaking suspicion that I've seen a frame like those at Blaenavon. I'll have a look this coming weekend. Regards, Ian Ian, I have a feeling that the frames you may be thinking about are LNER ones, at least I've not seen any like the ones in this thread unless someone is very good at hiding things. Matt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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