Jon Fitness

July 18, 2022

On 17/07/2022 at 14:44, Steve Hewitt said:

And here we are at Walton-on-the-Hill on Cheshire Lines Committee tracks......

Michael Delamar, whose railway these signals are intended for, has spent much time researching the prototype for this first Cantilevered Bracket so we're hoping we've got it right.

The aerial view of the area is the best source we have.

The signal controls two diverging running lines and access to three sidings to the left of the main (right hand) route.

This detail shows the signal concerned.

The general design is an LMS style welded post comprising two 15" x 3" channel sections spaced with 15" x 12" plates.

The trimmers are another pair of lighter section channel with the spacing determined by the main post - 15" - and the bases for the three dolls.

From left to right the dolls have:

A full size arm controlling the route to the left.

Three miniature arms controllong access to three sidings off the right hand route.

A taller full size arm controlling the route to the right.

I've reached the stage where all the "non-moving" parts are more or less complete:

The five rocker shafts to control the arms are mounted in two sets.

The signal wires on the left side of the post control the two main running signals.

The signal wires on the right side of the post control the three miniature arms.

In 4mm scale there is no room for individual shafts on their separate brackets, so the three are co-axial, using 0.5mm wire running in 0.7mm tube, running in 0.9mm tube.

The whole is mounted to the trimmer on 7mm scale Medium Handrail Knobs opened out with a fine broach.

The other pair just require 0.6mm tube inside 0.8mm tube , again mounted in Long Handrail Knobs.

The weight bar brackets are made from 4mm square brass tube

The optical fibres have been installed after painting, here on test with a 9v PP3 battery running the single LED.

A final "up and under" view showing the turned foundations for the main post, the guide tubes for the five operating wires, the optical fibre in the purple heat shrink and 1" dia. tube which will locate the signal in the baseboard and ensure alignment of the servo motors.

On with the "moving parts" next. This brings the signal to life.

Steve.

Absolutely fantastic Steve. Just when I think I'm slowly catching up with you on the excellence, you steam back into a massive lead.!! Love it😮

JF

July 16, 2022

You can never have too much parcel stock Rod!😁

Re the tank wagon, can you not swap out the wheelsets or tweak the back to back to improve the running?

Cheers

JF

July 12, 2022

21 hours ago, Steve Hewitt said:

Jon,

I hope these might be helpful.

A few Holiday Snaps.

Steve.

Steve. These are exactly what I'm after! Many thanks for these. I'm definitely going to produce a kit of parts for one of these in a way that can be assembled to whatever is required for any application. I would love a lost wax set that would slide down onto 2.5mm tube and include the base unit with its distinctive triangular support plates. I know they were occasionally used on a taller post as an elevated version so castings would allow that to be built.

Thanks again for these mate

Cheeers

JF

July 12, 2022

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The first question is going to be fior what period - or more accurately at what date the signal was installed. The reason being the styke and method of construction changed over the years.

The pre Great War original independent ground signal - which had a small cast semaphore 'arm' - began to have a have an enamelled disc 'face' added from just before the Great War, Examples survived, in ever decreasing numbers, well into the 1970s. I don't have any photos of my own of one of these but I have a drawing in a book published in the 1920s. These came in both one arm and two arm versions but I've never seen a picture of a two arm example

Between the wars there seem to have been at least two styles introduced the earliest of which had inbuilt detection by means of a plunger. this design was supoerseded by a lower version which used normal separate detection and ths latter was the first (I think) GWR ground disc produced in multiple arm four - yup yo a maximum of four a discs (although they were rare). These were very common being installed new well into the 1940s - if not later - and Reading held stocks of spares, including and ever reducing number of the main castings -right up to being go down to one at the time the works was closed (It was a four disc version). Basically the GWR moved towards using discs with more than one or two arms when the secind inter-war design was introduc ed but it reverted post war to normallu y using signle arm discs in new interlockings etc unless there was a very good reason for more than one arm. Hence the final design was really for one arm installation.

In the very late 1940s/very early '50s the final Reading design appeared using a tubular metal 'post' on its own design of bases - as illustrated above in Steve's photos *except the last one). These used the flat 'face' which had appeared in the final pre-war design and the faces were made of aluminium bolted t a cast backplate of the same diameter. This style seems to have come almost invariably as asingle arm disc but I think there might have been a two arm version.

The GWR only used red on white disc faces, yellow arm discs were introduced to the WR (as yellow on white background) from Januatu 1950 but only appeared in new work or where locking alterations took place. The disc colour was later (c.1960?) changed to yellow on black.

The use of w either red or white lights in ground disc signals standing at danger first emerged in the 1890s because GW frames of that tme could not take conditional locking - thus independent ground signals could only read to one route. The adoption of wholly red lights for a signal standing at danger didn't happen until the very final design of Western ground signal, they never came ina white light version and I never saw any installed in that sort of situation.

Si o what all that blather boils down to is that time of signal being provided and whatever practice was at that time willl affect what you are going to model - particularly in 7mm scale.

These are pictures of the first inter-war period design complete with the plunger detector arrangement - ignore the added repeater contact box - electric repeating of mechanical ground signals seems to have been from a much plater time.

This is the bare bones of the original design of independent disc but without a plunger detector or disc face -

This is the two arm version of the later inter-war period design -

This might help assess the height of it?

I'll look through the b&w images and see what else I can find for you. in the meanwhile I hope this has helped a bit.

Mike, these photos are superb and will definitely be of help when I'm building these early pattern ground signals. Fortunately, theses earlier pattern ones are available as castings, some good, some not so good but available anyway. I really need to produce a BRW tubular style one, in a fashion that can be slid over some 2.5mm tube and adjusted to the required height. Also there is the base with the 4 tapered support plates too.

Many thanks for these pictures, they will be squirreled away for future reference.👍

JF

July 11, 2022

On 22/06/2022 at 12:00, The Stationmaster said:

I do have a few hundred photos although mainly b&w and they do include signals with arms which go the wrong way. If there is ever anything specific you need in terms of a signal arrangement (i.e. not necessarily of a place) drop me a pm and I'll see what I can find.

You may be able to help me with something Mike. Do you have any detailed close ups of the BR(W) ground signal assemblies or even better, drawings? Anything appreciated.

Cheers

JF

June 21, 2022

10 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I don't know so much about the weathering of the staging planks (recent renewals?) but the light weathering of the arms and spectacles is brilliantly observed and perfectly executed. You obviously spent far too much of your working life looking at signal arms 😇

To be honest I wish I'd looked more and taken more photos😐

June 20, 2022

A bit of weathering added too. Very pleased with how the staging planks came out...

June 20, 2022

On 17/06/2022 at 10:29, Robin Gristwood said:

Great looking signal Jon.

Can you please say which servos have you used for these?

I cant quite see the HobbyKing code on the photo.

Robin

Hi Robin. The larger ones are HK15178 and I also use some tiny ones. 9225000002.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingtm-hk15178-analog-servo-1-4kg-0-09sec-10g.html?queryID=f68d853a49e59f16e0987a58a3898d7c&objectID=38567&indexName=hbk_live_products_analytics&___store=en_us

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingtm-hk-5330-ultra-micro-digital-servo-0-17kg-0-04sec-1-9g.html

June 20, 2022

Sorry about the music but it's marginally better than switches and servos clicking and buzzing with a background of my neighbours building machinery noises!

June 16, 2022

Afternoon All!

Here are 3 recently completed LMS/BR(M) bracket signals awaiting the weathering brush...

All are from my own etches with the addition of lamp cases from Modelu and some lovely laser cut planks from a good friend.

All are servo operated and LED lit. The power from the LEDs is taken from the servo feeds so they are effectively "self contained.

More soon.

JF

June 1, 2022

On 31/05/2022 at 00:04, Steve Hewitt said:

Jon,

Those ground discs are superb 😀

Steve.

Cheers Steve. Very pleased how the etched LMS disc kit came out. Bit fiddly but definitely designed to work!

JF

May 30, 2022

54 minutes ago, kitpw said:

Very nice they are.....and timely - I have several on my 'to do' list. Question - whose servos? they're tiny! Second, non-signal, question - the lattice girder bridge in the background: is it generic or based on a particular example?

Kit PW

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingtm-hk-5330-ultra-micro-digital-servo-0-17kg-0-04sec-1-9g.html

These ones. A little delicate but nice and small. They are not appreciative of poor connections as I have found out to my cost!

The bridge girders are resin ones from Skytrex. They've been outside in all weathers for about 2 years now and have proved both stable and robust

JF

May 30, 2022

Starting to replace some of the missing pictures on this thread. Hopefully me and RMWeb will meet somewhere in the middle!

Meanwhile, here's a few ground signals I've made recently...

March 20, 2022

What an excellent day! On behalf of Simon, Andrew, David, Alan and myself I'd like to say a big thank you for letting us visit and have a go at operating your wonderful creation. We were made very welcome and kept supplied with plentiful brews and biccies.

You were smashing hosts and very tolerant of our efforts at operating which was helped by the superb running qualities of both locos and stock. The operating system and methods seemed intuitive and it all seemed to flow well thanks to your patience in teaching us the basics.

Thanks again for a lovely day. :good_mini:

March 15, 2022

Here's the two GWR signals with a bit of grot on....

Back to the upper quadrants now!!

More soon

JF

March 15, 2022

Now I've mastered the etched built up ladders thing (which is a relief as I now have them in my range of etches😁) here is how I go about building them..

I've designed a home made jig for these. I've found that if the stiles are kept under tension, they tend not to distort when soldered. The stiles are held in the jig using 0.6mm steel lace pins. Wire isn't up to the job. The rungs are 0.45 nickel silver wire.

First rungs soldered in are one at each end and a couple towards the middle...

Then fill in the gaps until the ladder is complete. The spring keeps the stiles tight and absorbs any expansion and contraction as it happens...

Trim off the excess and check for any joints that haven't soldered correctly...

Final clean up and done....

More soon

JF

March 12, 2022

I know I've been a little quiet this year so far but here's a couple of GWR signals ready for some serious weathering. I'll be going upper quadrant next for a good number of signals thankfully!

The signals are Borg rail posts with my etched dolls, SSS arms, staging decking cut from some nice laser cut planks by Nikki Wilkes, Modelu lamps and finials and some very butchered brackets from me and SSS.

The finials are only positioned with a bit of blu-tac as they will be packaged separately for the customer to fit. They rarely arrive intact if attached to the signals.. :huh:

They are servo operated but unlit.

More soon...

JF

February 17, 2022

22 hours ago, MarshLane said:

Superb work as ever Jon - just confirmation I am getting the updates now! Dont get drawn in to that awful thing called FB! We can't lose you from here ... I have an account on there if I look at it once every two or three months I am doing well! Just too messy to use, at least here I can scroll back and see what I have missed or find something I want to look at!

Can't wait to see what the lever frame looks like when its in the box ... I presume it will be fully working not just 'posable'

Rich

Thank you! FB has its uses and I've picked up work from there. I need to remember my roots on here though. I've had a lot of much appreciated help from peeps on here. The L&Y frame will only be poseable as it's only 0.3mm N/S so has no real strength. I'll be putting it together this weekend if the house doesn't blow down tomorrow!

JF

February 17, 2022

23 hours ago, kitpw said:

That's a lot of artwork and some really nice etched parts. That 40' lattice post is quite something!

Can I ask which drawing program you use and is the etched output all in NS?

Kit PW

Thank you! I use Draftsight, just the basic version. It costs me about £90 per year. I tried free versions of one or two programs but eventually they either fail or they end up charging you anyway. I used to do all brass but NS allows me to go with thinner material for the same strength and is nicer to work with. Most of the etches are for my own use in the long run but selling them is a bit of a bonus if I can!

JF

February 16, 2022

Fantastic work on that 4mm scale Route indicator Steve :good:

Must have been a right struggle squeezing 4 working flags in that. Beautiful...

JF

February 16, 2022

Recently received a nice shiny selection of etches back from PPD for some assorted signal bits. Some will join my Boltons Bits range and some are just bits for upcoming jobs..or a bit of self indulgence!

The first 3 are various versions of the LMS brackets for tubular post construction.

Offset single doll bracket

Balanced 2 doll bracket

Balanced 3 doll bracket (similar to the 2 doll but unable to upload any more pix to this entry😒)

Next up is a 40ft LMS lattice post and some built up type ladders

LNWR fold up dolls and trimmers and two sizes of bracket spandrel..

Some odd useful LMS bits; lampmans staging for lower down the post where a distant or calling on signal is fitted and a standard LMS sightboard/brackets..

Here's a 40 ft lattice post folded up and assembled...

Finally, a complete indulgence, a 36 lever L&YR lever frame designed to have poseable levers to go in my Intentio L&YR signalbox...

More soon

JF

February 16, 2022

On 13/02/2022 at 10:39, MarshLane said:

Hi Jon,

I was thinking you’ve been quiet recently then realised that rmWeb hadn’t been notifying me of your updates since around May!! Hope your keeping well. The signalling projects look as superb as ever!

Rich

I'm guilty of not keeping up to date here. The dreaded Farcebook seems to have taken me over.... :rolleyes:

February 7, 2022

On 03/02/2022 at 16:06, GWR57xx said:

Here you go :

~~For some reason YT does not allow embedding of that video?~~

Wow they're lovely! Well engineered and very attractive design too :good: Many thanks for the video.

February 1, 2022

Would love to see and hear a video of them in action :good:

Jon F.

January 23, 2022

A couple of the new Heljan CCTs would probably suit the service too Rod. They are horribly expensive though!

JF

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