Clamp Locks

[iands]

56 minutes ago, Oncomin5torm said:

To dredge up an old topic, when did clamp lock motors come into use on the BR network?

I cannot find any info of this, I have seen videos of Penmaenmawr on the welsh coast in 1995 with them, but was it much earlier than this?

Thanks in advance
Alex

As a trainee on the S&T in the mid 1970s (73 to 78), we were installing clamp locks on the Eastern Region in this period. 

[Oncomin5torm]

2 minutes ago, iands said:

As a trainee on the S&T in the mid 1970s (73 to 78), we were installing clamp locks on the Eastern Region in this period. 

Thank you very much, so they would likely have been similar over on the Western Region if not before the early 90s which I model.

[iands]

1 minute ago, Oncomin5torm said:

Thank you very much, so they would likely have been similar over on the Western Region if not before the early 90s which I model.

Afraid I don't know how quickly installation/adoption of clamp locks on other regions happened. Some regions were quicker than others in taking onboard BR "directives" etc. Maybe the Stationmaster or Railwest of this parish maybe able to provide more details in this respect for the Western Region. 

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, iands said:

Afraid I don't know how quickly installation/adoption of clamp locks on other regions happened. Some regions were quicker than others in taking onboard BR "directives" etc. Maybe the Stationmaster or Railwest of this parish maybe able to provide more details in this respect for the Western Region. 

The first one that I'm aware of was one which installed on an experimental basis at Reading New Jcn, I think possibly, in the single to double line lead in the non GWMLs part of the junction but very definitely not on a GWML point. end  That would have been very late 1960s or possibly 1970.  I'm fairly sure that it was installed before I moved up to RHQ Paddington in 1971.  Someone told me that it was an experimental installation of a new type of point operation but he was on the Telecoms side of the S&T so might not have known all that much about it.   i'm fairly sure that it differed in a number of details from what subsequently became the 'standard' clamp lock.

 

Clamp locks were definitely installed as part of the Carmarthen rationalisation scheme in 1972 and as part of the Worcester rationalisation in November 1973.   I know that the WR S&T at some time became very wary of using them on higher speed lines allegedly because of reliability problems hence they were not used on fast running lines on the Westbury and Exeter MAS schemes in the 1980s. 

[iands]

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The first one that I'm aware of was one which installed on an experimental basis at Reading New Jcn, I think possibly, in the single to double line lead in the non GWMLs part of the junction but very definitely not on a GWML point. end  That would have been very late 1960s or possibly 1970.  I'm fairly sure that it was installed before I moved up to RHQ Paddington in 1971.  Someone told me that it was an experimental installation of a new type of point operation but he was on the Telecoms side of the S&T so might not have known all that much about it.   i'm fairly sure that it differed in a number of details from what subsequently became the 'standard' clamp lock.

 

Clamp locks were definitely installed as part of the Carmarthen rationalisation scheme in 1972 and as part of the Worcester rationalisation in November 1973.   I know that the WR S&T at some time became very wary of using them on higher speed lines allegedly because of reliability problems hence they were not used on fast running lines on the Westbury and Exeter MAS schemes in the 1980s. 

Thanks Mike, I thought you might have more details re the WR.

[Brian The Signal Engineer]

When doing my training at the S&T school at Gresty Road Crewe, I got involved in fitting them to the schools point setup in the yard to see if they could be operated manually from a lever frame before conversion to a panel. This was in 1977. A little later I was involved in fitting them at Greenbank Northwich, for use by the then lever frame, before there panel was commissioned. A year or so later, I got involved with an idea to drive a semaphore signal using some of the clamp lock hydraulic equipment. 

As for operating semaphores, in the 1990's / 2000's I also got involved in fitting hydraulic motors from the mining industry to Distant Signals at Stow Park, near Lincoln. These lasted until the re-signalling of Lincoln.

[Brian The Signal Engineer]

I forgot to mention that when the RCPL is switched to manual, it releases the lever to allow the operator to select Normal or Reverse. You then hold the lever in the desired position whilst you pump the points over my the handle. Turning the switch back to Power, locks the lever in the central position. There is no detection for the pump handle.

 

My first Sunday shift at Warrington PSB was spent doing an FPL test on Westinghouse Style 63 point machines. We started at the station and worked our way up to Action Grange. The Senior Tech was on the lineside phone to the signaller and filling in the required documentation, I was holding the FPL gauge in the switch opening and the other tech was winding the points. It was his first real go at FPL testing as well. Instead of getting the signaller to turn the point s on the key, the Snr Tech left it until the completion of the work.

Unfortunately, we had not 'pulled the pin' as you do with 63's. We ended yp having to run back down pulling all the dam pins before we delayed any traffic. We never ever forgot to 'pull the pin' again.

[iands]

FPL testing on any 'electric' powered point machine was a "nice" experience - you get to hear the motor winding up before anything moves, giving you a second or so to check you've got the gauge in the correct position. However, the first time I did  FPL test on the EP points at York Station I nearly sh1t myself. Jeez, those things moved fast with virtually no warning. 

[SM42]

On 28/10/2020 at 14:32, iands said:

FPL testing on any 'electric' powered point machine was a "nice" experience - you get to hear the motor winding up before anything moves, giving you a second or so to check you've got the gauge in the correct position. However, the first time I did  FPL test on the EP points at York Station I nearly sh1t myself. Jeez, those things moved fast with virtually no warning. 

 

Or more importantly you haven't got your fingers holding the gauge in the wrong place.

 

What was also nice about clamp locks, HW (long handle), M63 (short handle)  and M3s (heavy handle and my favourite. Hand operating was bit like presenting the Wheeltapers and Shunters Club) was the fact that if they didn't detect you could tell, as the motor ran on for a few seconds after the gubbins had stopped moving, a dead giveaway.

 

On electro pneumatics (EP) you just had the faint hiss of air when they failed.  This was an important thing to be aware of  as leaving them failed would result in the loss of other EPs in the area when the signaller tried to move them as the air to power them had been drained away.

 

The EP was moved manually using the clamp lock pump handle as a lever (through a hole in the drive rod (?) and notches to get purchase were cut into the plate below,) after disconnecting the plug coupler, unless of course you had key (this is when you had to watch your fingers, toes or anything else.) They didn't take prisoners and did for the occasional pigeon.

 

We had some HWs fitted in a remodel and unfortunately the motor was mounted so that when winding them over only half a turn of the handle was possible due to the adjacent sleeper end fouling the handle swing.

 

Happy days, long gone.

 

Andy

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by SM42

[TheSignalEngineer]

8 hours ago, SM42 said:

The EP was moved manually using the clamp lock pump handle as a lever (through a hole in the drive rod (?) and notches to get purchase were cut into the plate below,) after disconnecting the plug coupler,

Easiest thing to use with Westinghouse EPs (IIRC from 40-odd years ago) was a Pway bar through the hole in the drive rod. Important not to forget the plug coupler