I have been building the plug in signals, but it is a slow job. Well, I'm slow at it. So here's one we prepared earlier as they say.

Tunnel signals are a bit of an oddity modelling wise. How often do you see the inside of a tunnel modelled? You also don't see many photos, particularly of the early ones. Not surprising really, " Mr Victorian photographer, please go into that dark tunnel full of smoke and steam with all your gear and do a very long time exposure of a fairly boring looking signal " Hmm.

I knew that quite a few railways had them, essentially a moving spectacle plate with a lamp. I also knew that the CR had them for the low level lines made by Stevens and Sons, but that was about it.

Then along came the excellent "Signalling the Caledonian" by Jim Summers. No photo, but even better, a dimensioned drawing. Well, that was it. A dig through the boxes of scrap brass yielded the top of and old plug prong about the right size and I was off….

The whole thing is made of bits of brass. A bit fiddly, but its the same methods that you would use to make any other sort of signal. Having photographed it close up I see it could do with some paintwork touching up.

So a couple of pics.





A dark one to show the lamp.

All the gubbins including the servo are mounted on a bit of veroboard below the baseboard. Just apply 12 V and a high / low to move it . The white plastic thing is a coupler to focus the bi colour LED onto the fiber optic light guide.

Which begs the question, having made it what do I do with it ? The down platform starter at partick central was about 20 yards beyond Benalder street bridge, with the actual tunnel descending towards the low level lines a few hundred yards beyond. Which in my case is just the other side of that brick wall. So I think I'll invoke my modellers license and put it towards the back under the bridge itself. Yes, I know it technically speaking wouldn't have been there, but it is a bit different and worth stretching a point for.