Milbro lever frame

[Bassettblowke]

Foraging around at the show at Leigh recently looking for a pair of B/Lowke coach bogies I came across a crusty signal box lever frame, it was initially disregarded as up until now I had no signalling of any sort apart from a Tinplate Hornby signal box. What drew me back to the frame was it’s solid construction, being made of brass and steel and having a nice “notchy”  throw to the levers. When I say crusty I mean it was encrusted with dirt, peeling paint, verdigris and rust, the levers where heavily pitted and devoid of paint, the brass casting a mixture of verdigris and powdery flaking paint which looked  akin to the distemper on the cellar walls, nevertheless I was hooked and a deal was struck for £8

After a bit of online research I came across the the following which illustrate what I am rabbiting on about.

[Bassettblowke]

The corrosion was so bad that the only answer was an attack with a Dremel type tool and grinding bit, not fancying inhaling the resultant dust cloud I gave it a bath of hot caustic which removed all the old paint residue and a lot of the verdigris on the brass. A thorough rinse and dry with a hair dryer and it was ready for descaling.

[Bassettblowke]

Part way through the Dremel attack this is what we have, I would be curious to know if anyone has an operating setup using this type of lever frame, the next step is reducing it to its component parts for a more intensive clean and repaint.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Bassettblowke

[Gordon A]

Interesting that the distant lever is shown as green.

Gem produced something similar but in white-metal with brass levers.

 

Gordon A

 

[sagaguy]

This a Gem passing contact electrical lever frame that i bought in the 1960s.I have a couple of Trix lighted signals & having bought a starter kit of Mercontrol wire in tube to see if it can be made to work.I should imagine that the same sort of setup would work with your lever frame.I suspect that the frame you have is an 0 gauge Hornby control system frame dating from the 1930s.Lucky find.

 

                                        Ray.

[Nearholmer]

Very nice!

[sagaguy]

It was rather good at burning out H&M point motor coils,the lever,if you wern`t careful ,sometimes would still be in contact with the coil circuit,this was in the days before CDUs.I got rather good at rewinding point motor coils!!!.You first noticed with a burning smell  & crackling of shellac.

 

                                    Ray.

[Bassettblowke]

The Gem example is impressive and it shows the progression from a frame  with rods and bell cranks to electrical control whilst still not a million miles away from the prototype. I can’t help liking this sort of stuff far more “touchy-feely” than a button.

Dismantling proceeds with much heat, penetrating oil, threats and blows and waggling of parts. It’s a lot easier to tackle the rust when it’s broken down it’s becoming a veritable Dremel fest.

[Nearholmer]

Molasses, that’s what you need; black treacle.

 

Far better to use chelation than abrasion on small things like this.

[sir douglas]

just happened across this thread

 

ive got a second hand one of these frames earlier this year for my layout but no idea what make it was

 

how i got it

 

and after stripping, repainting and rounding off the lever handle. some of the bottom end holes were broken so i cut them all off