What is this tubular thing on this Single Slip

[Rail-Online]

Hi,

 

Title says it all really, what is this tubular thing on this Single Slip? The only thing I could think of was a heating device, Photo taken of the exit to York MPD in 1964.

 

Thanks in advance!  Tony

[beast66606]

point heater

 

[iands]

Gas point heaters. 

[Rail-Online]

Great, thanks guys. Somehow  I had never thought of it being gas powered.  Makes total sense.

 

Tony

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

The tube isn't the point heater, if it was the flames would be about a foot long to reach the rail being heated.

It's actually the delivery pipework, the actual heater heads and flexes can be seen if you zoom in.

 

Mike.

Who has changed the gas meter and purged the pipework feeding the heaters at Dore South Junction!

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Mike.

Who has changed the gas meter and purged the pipework feeding the heaters at Dore South Junction!

Did the old meter still take shillings ?

[Edwin_m]

There was a LPG tank at the south end of King Edward Bridge which I assume would have been supplying similar point heaters.  BR later went over to electric ones, at least in part because of the risk of igniting any flammable material that might be spilled in an accident.  

[Trog]

There was some excitement years ago when it was discovered that the gas tank at Hanslope Junction had no flashback arrestors fitted.

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 16/04/2020 at 08:15, Edwin_m said:

BR later went over to electric ones, at least in part because of the risk of igniting any flammable material that might be spilled in an accident.  

I remember an incident at Aston when two PWay men had been sent to change the bottles. The were caught unawares by not having the correct lookout arrangements for the location. They dropped the bottle and dived for cover. The train struck the valve and the sparks ignited the gas. The bottle set of like a rocket, overtaking the train as it stopped in the station. Fortunately although the fireball raced along the track there were no injuries, just some brown trousers and a few scorch marks on the train and sleepers.

[Edwin_m]

24 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I remember an incident at Aston when two PWay men had been sent to change the bottles. The were caught unawares by not having the correct lookout arrangements for the location. They dropped the bottle and dived for cover. The train struck the valve and the sparks ignited the gas. The bottle set of like a rocket, overtaking the train as it stopped in the station. Fortunately although the fireball raced along the track there were no injuries, just some brown trousers and a few scorch marks on the train and sleepers.

 

On 16/04/2020 at 11:18, Trog said:

There was some excitement years ago when it was discovered that the gas tank at Hanslope Junction had no flashback arrestors fitted.

If that tank at Hanslope had ignited it would probably have been BR's answer to the Apollo program.  

[Trog]

4 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I remember an incident at Aston when two PWay men had been sent to change the bottles. The were caught unawares by not having the correct lookout arrangements for the location. They dropped the bottle and dived for cover. The train struck the valve and the sparks ignited the gas. The bottle set of like a rocket, overtaking the train as it stopped in the station. Fortunately although the fireball raced along the track there were no injuries, just some brown trousers and a few scorch marks on the train and sleepers.

 

I sometime feel that it is rather amazing that any of BR's staff lived long enough to retire.

 

Did anyone else use the access point at Pig Farm Bridge north of Tring on the DF side? The one where you lowered yourself down the side of the cutting using a rather ratty piece of rope tied to a fence post. While the welders slid propane and oxygen cylinders past you.

[jeff mcghie]

Whats the role of the signal on the right with only the 1 lamp visible?

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, jeff mcghie said:

Whats the role of the signal on the right with only the 1 lamp visible

That is an excellent question and one which set me wondering too.  As it is the red light which is present I presumed it was basically a fixed at danger gpl and having checked it out that is exactly what it was.  It applied to the dead end spur at the north end of the Down Clifton Goods Line and was no doubt there to stop any movements from that spur - which I think possibly extended into the south end of the loco depot as an emergency connection(?) - coming towards the Down Clifton Goods.

[AberdeenBill]

Did the gas supply have to be turned on and the gas jets lighted by hand for each point?

 

Bill

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, AberdeenBill said:

Did the gas supply have to be turned on and the gas jets lighted by hand for each point?

 

Bill

 

 

I wouldn't have thought that there was any sophistication to gas point heaters, a very dirty environment for pilot lights, piezoelectric ignition etc.

I would imagine they were turned on and lit by the local p way gang after being notified at local level, and also once on in a cold spell would be left on.

 

Mike.

[tomparryharry]

The FPL at Pontypridd had a signal lamp, buried in a hole in the 4 foot and covered by the FPL cover. It didn't have a signal function, but kept the detection free of frost.

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, AberdeenBill said:

Did the gas supply have to be turned on and the gas jets lighted by hand for each point?

 

Bill

 

Yes - originally.  But later on some remote ignition gas heaters appeared although I don't think they were very successful.  On the Western in most locations the heaters were fed by bottled gas which meant cylinders had to be changed over and in any case the gas heaters needed regular maintenance.  And the blasted things could easily get choked by snow plus the earlier type (as illustrated by the OP) had a tendency to blow out if the wind came from the wrong direction.  The changeover to electric heaters, particularly on non-electrified lines, took time but they were a massive improvement on the gas heaters.

[The Stationmaster]

25 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I wouldn't have thought that there was any sophistication to gas point heaters, a very dirty environment for pilot lights, piezoelectric ignition etc.

I would imagine they were turned on and lit by the local p way gang after being notified at local level, and also once on in a cold spell would be left on.

 

Mike.

One big problem with gas heaters was getting them lit at the right time.  For locally lit heaters it depended entirely on getting snowmen out in time to light them before any but the very lightest snowfall and before the slide chairs had begun to freeze.  So that depended on a bit of experience for locally forecasting what the weather might do and sometimes on getting very accurate forecasts from the Met Office.  The other problem was whether or not there was actually anybody available to call because if they hadn't got a suitable rest period in or had already exceeded their maximum length of working day they couldn't be called.

 

Hence on one New Year's night I spent the entire night steam lancing and putting salt down on points which had gas heaters which had never been lit because the snowmen hadn't been called out on time and in any case some of the heaters didn't even have any gas connected to them.

[TheSignalEngineer]

In 1976 I put in remote switching for most of the gas heaters on the Birmingham Division. The control box had a thermostat which would put them on when the air temperature got down to 3C and they could also be turned on by the signalman if snow was forecast. Not foolproof as you were hoping that there was gas in the bottles, but better than trying to get staff out in the early hours of the morning.

 

I'm sure I have posted this somewhere before, but this was a control box.

 

[SM42]

19 hours ago, Trog said:

 

I sometime feel that it is rather amazing that any of BR's staff lived long enough to retire.

 

Did anyone else use the access point at Pig Farm Bridge north of Tring on the DF side? The one where you lowered yourself down the side of the cutting using a rather ratty piece of rope tied to a fence post. While the welders slid propane and oxygen cylinders past you.

 

The one at Beechwood Tunnel that involved hellishly steep, rickety, wooden steps down the cutting side and then use of the signal ladder to descend from the top of the wall at the bottom of the cutting slope always used to scare me.

 

Electric strip point heaters aren't all they are cracked up to be, especially when they are disconnected in March to save electricity through the summer and it snows at Easter.

 

Andy

[Edwin_m]

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

For locally lit heaters it depended entirely on getting snowmen out in time to light them before any but the very lightest snowfall and before the slide chairs had begun to freeze.  

That bit of railway terminology always made me chuckle (ho ho ho!).  These days the melting risk of having a snowman light a gas heater would be troubling Elfin Safety.  

[The Stationmaster]

17 hours ago, Edwin_m said:

That bit of railway terminology always made me chuckle (ho ho ho!).  These days the melting risk of having a snowman light a gas heater would be troubling Elfin Safety.  

Nowadays with the so called 'plain English' p*llocks seemingly having more control over the wording in the Rule Book than those who understand Rules & Regs I can just imagine some fancy term being invented to cover the simple word 'snowmen'.  Let's face it if the person who wanted to call a 'distant signal' a 'faraway signal' is still around I hate to think what they'd come up with.

[Wheatley]

"Very small signal" perhaps.  If that paticular person isn't there then their like still walk among us. RSSB's guidance on inputting Covid-19 cases to SMIS runs to three pages and essentially says "Does doc say work related ? Yes -input. No - dont".