Those of you that followed my Summat Colliery thread in the old place will know that I had an "incident" with the MSE signal before the Elizabethan show early this month.

Time to come clean .........

I have known for a while that my close vision has been deteriorating, but like most blokes steadfastly refused to accept the fact! The carefully crafted signal kit from MSE had been planted for a photo shoot with Mike Wild of Hornby Mag but I hadn't got round to fitting the back blinder or operating wires. here it is in situ at the Elizabethan

So, armed with said back blinder and my rubbish eyesight, signal still on layout on kitchen floor I approached the signal with some cyano. Of course I locked it solid 🤣 I laugh now, but at the time I was distraught at the damage and my own stupidity/shortcomings.

I now know that I need reading glasses and 3 pairs were purchased off eBay for ??5.85 delivered. The signal was removed from the layout and sitting at my proper workbench, with good light, good eyes and some low melt solder the said back blinder was soldered in place. 😁  It's all painted up now and the operating wire is on too. I still have to reattach the (now to be) dummy operating lever, but hey.

Now, next step is a Servo driver kit (again from MSE) that will drive the signal with a realistic motion - should bounce when dropping to the "danger" aspect. Ive tested the kit works and drilled a nice 0.5mm hole close to the centre of the bit that rotates on the servo to ensure maximum movement of the servo for the small movement needed to operate the signal.

I've also bought a point rodding starter kit from MSE with the intention of having a rodding run from the catch travelling into the tunnel to an imaginary 'box off the layout. Looks fiddly, maybe I should have bought some more powerful spec's 😉