Jump to content
 

GWR/BR(WR) Banner Repeaters.


Miserable
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm building an MSE Sykes Banner Repeater kit and making it 'work'. My question is; Did banner repeaters of this sort exist before electricity came along? All the prototype photos I can find are of electric ones, it would be ace to know how mechanical versions were done, if there were such things.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I see no reason in principle why a banner could not be designed to be worked by a signal wire, but the railsigns website seems to suggest that they were electrically worked from the outset.

 

The is a fail safe issue to consider in the design - it is a wrong side failure for a banner to be off whilst the repeated signal is at danger.  Whilst it is still possible, I think the risk of this is a lot lower if it's done electrically using a solenoid rather than mechanically, and probably much lower still with the modern LED types.

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Since there's no chance of getting even the tiniest of motors in there it'll have to be mechanical to make it 'work' I guess... I found this photo somewhere deep in the RMWeb site. It may/seems to show mechanical operation (such a shame the bottom of the post is not in view). Could be a dangling cable though. At least if the control rod looks like whatever the black rod or cable then it's protypicalsih. It answers the finial question I had though. Also this is the only one I found that has a butt. Anyway, I'm going to base the model on this one.banner-repeater-back.jpg.9411bf0e285ff1cd7a67d0e22bff5240.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
16 hours ago, Miserable said:

Since there's no chance of getting even the tiniest of motors in there it'll have to be mechanical to make it 'work' I guess... I found this photo somewhere deep in the RMWeb site. It may/seems to show mechanical operation (such a shame the bottom of the post is not in view). Could be a dangling cable though. At least if the control rod looks like whatever the black rod or cable then it's protypicalsih. It answers the finial question I had though. Also this is the only one I found that has a butt. Anyway, I'm going to base the model on this one.banner-repeater-back.jpg.9411bf0e285ff1cd7a67d0e22bff5240.jpg

Looks like a standard electric banner to me and I suspect that 'black rod' is the cable.  With all those LM pattern location cupboards near the signal it would inevitably be battery powered.   Electrically worked banner signals were around before WW1 so they have a long history.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
22 hours ago, Miserable said:

Since there's no chance of getting even the tiniest of motors in there it'll have to be mechanical to make it 'work' I guess...

Solenoid under the baseboard with operating rod inside the post?

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I suspect that 'black rod' is the cable.  

Probably a lazy job. Didn't want to take the head off to renew the cable through the post.

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

With all those LM pattern location cupboards near the signal it would inevitably be battery powered.  

All LMS standard cupboards. Two nearest the signal are main cable terminations. The third one would have the operating relays and batteries for the signal. 

Note that the signal is oil lit. Ones on mains electricity were usually lit by an internal 12 volt or 110 volt lamp and have a solid convex back cover. 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Solenoid under the baseboard with operating rod inside the post?

Probably a lazy job. Didn't want to take the head off to renew the cable through the post.

All LMS standard cupboards. Two nearest the signal are main cable terminations. The third one would have the operating relays and batteries for the signal. 

Note that the signal is oil lit. Ones on mains electricity were usually lit by an internal 12 volt or 110 volt lamp and have a solid convex back cover. 

A rod up the post isn't practical - too many corners (3) allowing flexing, or a lot of un-prototypical cranks, hence my wondering if there were a mechanical variant. The cable hanging like like is the camouflage for the operating rod I was looking for ;-) If anyone asks, "it's a cable - look I've got a photo!" The kit is principally for the oil (external) lamp flavour GWR, which is what I'm after, at least lighting that is easy.

 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...