A searchlight story......

[uax6]

I've not forgotten my poor searchlight, things have been a bit difficult over the last few months, but it looks like the end of the tunnel is in sight, and to that end I have been giving the searchlight a bit of thought. I have been aquiring what few bits there seems to be available, and now have the correct shape hood (although I don't have a photo of it!) and during a visit to my local second-hand signalling equipment empourium I purchased this:

 

Well you can't have too many searchlight mechs can you?

Yeap and its a 6v DC one this time, which means that it will be easier to have running in the garden, as I will just need a 6v battery and a 6v solar panel, result!

As you can see its a fair age, knocking on for at least 48 years, and still working!

 

This one has PVC wiring on the lamp connectors, and uses a twin filament lamp:

Which works:

 

Its nice and clean inside too:

 

It's difficult to see in the photos, but instead of a plain bit of glass in the front of the mech like the AC one, this one has a plano-convex (yes I had to look it up too! Basically a lense which is flat on the back and convex on the front, or as is often known Bullseye) one. Looking on tweb, good old wiki gives this info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_%28optics%29#Types_of_simple_lenses

 

This made me think about what pattern light I would get out of it, and what the result would be with my stepped lense outer. So the old Hornby controller was dug out again...

Heres the lamp lit:

And the pattern on the wall:

Holding my outer lense up:

Lining it up:

The result on the wall (dim as the controller was struggling to keep up with the power damand of the bulb!)

 

So the next move was try that bulb in the AC mech, and it was just a dim, but the beam was a slightly different shape:

 

I now moved the brake light bulb (and its cover, as the DC one has a different holder) into the DC mech and the light output was this:

And with the stepped lense:

Thats better! and looking through the lense, its like looking at fire:

 

At this point Daphne started to show interest, but she was quickly moved on for the sake of her eyes:

 

Heres a lined up shot showing the effect of the close up prism part of the stepped lense:

 

And heres the colours showing back through the lense, looking back to the light coming through the window:

 

So it looks like the brake light bulb may be the way to go, its 5watt and bright, so will keep the current consumption down, so there is half a chance that the solar charger will keep up with demand!

 

Andy G

[uax6]

More videos:

Front view in action:

 

From rear:

 

The yellow proving contact in action:

 

and the green proving contact in action:

 

Enjoy!

 

Andy G

 

 

 

[beast66606]

Excellent stuff Andy.

[russ p]

Nice one Andy, is the new one actually a signal?

[LNERGE]

I'm off out to look at one tonight. A MetVGRS with bullseye instead of Fresnel. Finding space is the next problem...

[uax6]

Nice one Andy, is the new one actually a signal?

Well it is and it isn't. It is in a way in that I can now see an end to getting the thing working, as I feel much happier having a max of 12vdc in the signal head, as opposed to 110vac. The tests have shown that I will have a signal with punch too, nod it is sort of looking like I won't need to have the lense spacer on the front of the case to hold two lenses, which means that I just have to give the case another coat of paint and then it can go together. Mind you a post needs sorting now. The tube is in stock, it just needs a boot...

 

Its not as it needs the case, which I haven't actually got as my case is a Westinghouse and the mech is metrovick grs. But they should work together ok, with a bit of jiggery-pokery!

 

Andy g

[uax6]

I'm off out to look at one tonight. A MetVGRS with bullseye instead of Fresnel. Finding space is the next problem...

Owe, sounds nice. You'll have to build a gantry to stack them on!

 

Andy g

[stewartingram]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but have a couple of links that I can recommend as a satisfied customer, just in case you are looking for obscure bulbs, or LEDs at good prices:

 

mygreenlighting.co.uk

 

ultraleds.co.uk

 

 

Stewart

[LNERGE]

Owe, sounds nice. You'll have to build a gantry to stack them on!

 

Andy g

Currently stacked on a pallet....

 

[synthnut]

Drool! Hope those lenses survived, lool like they were about to be trashed. Would love on of those at the bottom of the garden...

 

TTFN,

 

Ben

[uax6]

Well I'm sure that if you ask LNER-GE one could become yours!

 

I'm seriously tempted to have one, but that would mean:

1. I would need another lever in my ground frame
2. I would need another circuit controller
3. I would struggle to find a home for it in the garden
4. A&E would struggle to remove it from my wazoo when the Mrs discovered it.

I think I could just about get away with a two aspect distant head (probably hung off the shed wall) but a four aspect searchlight is probably a step too far.

 

As it is I've acquired a calling on position light, which I need to make a bracket for to mount on the searchlight post... My life hangs in the balance, but this weekend coming I'm going to try and get into the garden to clean it up and gain some brownie points...

 

Andy G

[uax6]

On a more productive note, I spent a bit of time playing around today and got the weightbar and casting out for my Dads semaphore. I've not fitted it to his post, as its not required in its present location, so thoughts turned to mounting it on a post and using it to drive a circuit (I'm going to use the GPO abbreviation for circuit from now on - cct) controller. This will serve two purposes. It will get the casting and bar off the floor in my mates garage, and it will allow me to provide the wire run for my dads semaphore for the day it comes to its final resting place. Also it seems a bit of fun to operate a searchlight aspect from a wire.

 

I have the castings at home now, so need to find a quite moment to fit them to a post and make a link from the weightbar to the cct controller, and then I should be able to plant the post and then do the wire run.

 

What I could do with is a long handle lever for my ground frame for it though.......

 

Andy G

[LNERGE]

Drool! Hope those lenses survived, lool like they were about to be trashed. Would love on of those at the bottom of the garden...

 

TTFN,

 

Ben

The lenses are standard and easily sourced. The mechanisms are in safe storage. 

[BlackRat]

Colour lights bouncing.......who knew!

 

Now, who is going to be the first to model that........

Edited April 30, 2016 by BlackRat

[russ p]

When changing from yellow to green they should flash red, that used to make a few drivers jump. But you did get used to it.

Other than LT is it just Clacton that has them now?

[uax6]

Well today has not been what I planned... No garden work as I was dragged to my mates this afternoon by the wife. Therefore I had to occupy the time constructively. So between us we have cut out a lense securing ring out of 1.6mm plate. This just needs cleaning up and drilling before painting.

My ground frame has been reduced to a kit of parts, to allow an extra lever to be installed. This was not an easy job. The four through bolts came out easy enough, and therefore the quadrant plates came out, just leaving the pivot bar holding the end castings apart. These needed to be pulled apart so three lengths of tube were cut and in one end a 16mm nut and bolt were put. Wedging these around the casting around the pivot bar allowed the nuts to be turned and the tubes length increased, thereby forcing one end off the pivot. A large blow lamp was used to heat the casting to help prevent cracking it.

After this operation (which took about twenty minutes) we were left with the pivot bar stuck fast in the other casting. So this was placed over a bit of tube and a bucket, and the blow lamp trained on the end casting. After getting the casting hot (and my finger singed!) a 1inch solid bar was belted with a hammer to force the pivot bar out.

This job safely achieved, the parts were left to cool down.

So attention turned to an SGE gravity lock. This had been sat around unloved for some considerable time, so required stripping to component parts to free it up. The coil was removed by undoing one bolt and drilling the head off the other (which will need to be drilled out and replaced later). And then the remains of the terminals and wipers were removed, which allowed the armature and coil to be separated to remove the rust. The coil has been metered out and although it's not looking great, it has 26ohms on it (is that about right?) so stands have a chance of working again. Sadly the lock itself is rusted into the casting as is the one screw that holds the cover plate in situ, so these have been left soaking in oil.

As it stands the lock may be required for my planned locking on the ground frame.

This has three levers:

1 operates weightbar cct controller (ie starter signal)

2 operates searchlight home

3 operates ground signal

 

2and 3 will be locked so the shunt can't be pulled when the home is off.

1 and 2 will be locked so that 2clears the searchlight to yellow, and 1 clears it to green. There is an exception to this as if you clear 2 but not 1, then put 2 back, the next time you clear 2 you will clear the calling on ground position signal. Technically while the cats eyes are lit, 1 will need to be held at red, to prevent two trains moving in the same section at th same time. Here the gravity lock will come into play, as it can be used to lock 1 in the frame when the cats eyes are lit.

 

Things are beginning to take shape, so just need to order some 16mm stud to make longer top bolts for the frame, and some flat bar to rivet to the new quadrant casting, oh and find a bit of 4inch locking tray..

 

Tomorrow, I'm in the garden...

 

Andy g

[The Stationmaster]

Colour lights bouncing.......who knew!

 

Now, who is going to be the first to model that........

 

Used to be called 'bobbing' on the Western in the Londinium area - and it was a right nusiance.

 

 I was riding on a Kenny milk train one night (on a D8XX 'Warship') and the signal on the rather interestingly shaped cantilever bracket at Acton proceeded to do a merry dance through the sequence as we approached it.  That wasn't too bad, neither was the brake application the Driver duly made in case the signal really had gone back to red - by far the worst part was being shoved along with a lot of bucking and bashing by 800 tons of milk tankers where clearly whatever baffles there happened to be in the tanks (probably none) couldn't cope with that sort of braking and the contents were slopping to & fro in the tanks.

[St. Simon]

Used to be called 'bobbing' on the Western in the Londinium area - and it was a right nusiance.

Still heard on the Works side of the Reading Drawing office Mike, I've heard it several times and wandered what it exactly meant, you learn something new everyday!

 

Simon

[BlackRat]

Used to be called 'bobbing' on the Western in the Londinium area - and it was a right nusiance.

 

 I was riding on a Kenny milk train one night (on a D8XX 'Warship') and the signal on the rather interestingly shaped cantilever bracket at Acton proceeded to do a merry dance through the sequence as we approached it.  That wasn't too bad, neither was the brake application the Driver duly made in case the signal really had gone back to red - by far the worst part was being shoved along with a lot of bucking and bashing by 800 tons of milk tankers where clearly whatever baffles there happened to be in the tanks (probably none) couldn't cope with that sort of braking and the contents were slopping to & fro in the tanks.

Ended up as the Kensington butter special?

[LNERGE]

On the bench it doesn't look too bad. Even close up outside the brief flash of red isn't that obvious. Something happens however to the light beyond a couple of hundred yards and the flash of red is quite alarming especially with a lazy mechanism.

[Suzie]

I think what emphasises the red flash is that there is dark either side of it, so when going from yellow to green while looking directly along the beam you get yellow - dark - red - dark - green, and unlike when incandescent bulbs turn on and off there is no slow warm up and down, it is a very hard flash (a rare situation when a mechanical mechanism is faster than an electrical one!).

 

If modelling a 4-aspect, you need the red flash on the lower lamp, but the top yellow needs the slow warm up and down just like any other incandescent bulb.

[synthnut]

The lenses are standard and easily sourced. The mechanisms are in safe storage. 

Glad to hear! I've seen similar piles of signals which seem to have had all the lenses purposely smashed, presumably by urchins rather than staff unless it's a ploy to make them less desirable?

 

TTFN,

Ben

[uax6]

Well things are moving slowly on the searchlight front. Various items are being painted, pushing forward to the day when I can erect it in the garden. I have an idea where it will go, but I'm not sure what height to put it at. The issue being that with the hood clear of my head, it will stick up over the garden fence and be visible to the neighbours (who may not like the look of the side of a searchlight), so it may have to go hard up against the fence and be angled into the garden, so I can still see it from the dining room.

 

A friend has had a signal purchasing event, and theres potential for a deal to be done on one of the three heads he's acquired.

Lets have a quick look at them shall we?

 

Oldest first:

 

 

A Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signal Co colour light. Yes that rear door is marked LM&SR, a reminder of the days when it wasn't to much trouble to change the patterns for each individual purchaser!

 

The lenses are smaller than the later ones, 5 and a tad inches in diameter, and hopefully a green can be found for this one.

 

Next:

 

 

Oooh, look at the hoods on that! What a lovely curvy shape! Anyway, its a Metro-Vick GRS (Garden railway signal!) distant signal head. Or as its become known, the Metrovick hernia. It is unbelievably heavy! And that is without this casting that it sits on the post with:

 

Lastly:

 

 

A slightly battered ML head. The hoods and sighting board are fibreglass, and have had a knock. Inside shows the transformers and proving relays. Theres something odd about this head, can you see it?

 

 

So you can see what is going through my mind can't you? Yeap, that Metrovick Hernia would be perfect as a co-acting distant to the searchlight. I even know where I can put it, so that it won't be too noticeable!

 

I have to say that the two older ones are definitely in the cute category.....

 

Andy G

 

 

 

 

[russ p]

Hi Andy, do you know where any of these are from?

I take it when you say there is something odd it's because it's red and yellow.

Although mainly found at terminus stations, Tinsley yard had these as running signals. I suppose the idea of no greens was down to the fastest running lines being 20mph

[The Stationmaster]

I presume the 'odd' bit was about a red/yellow 2 aspect although I'm not too sure what's odd about one of them.  Uncommon yes but not odd (crikey it's only a few years since we recommended at a SPAD risk assessment meeting using one of those instead of a 3 aspect signal).