1:1 scale Stevens & Sons LNER GE shunting disc ground signal

[Avonsidefan]

My father purchased a shunting disc from Cambridge S&T dept in the early 70's when the yard modernised and it has been in the family ever since. He passed last year and I now have it in my back garden. It is looking sorry for itself and I wanted to repaint it as much to protect it from the elements as anything else. 

My recollection was of the whole stand and lamp mount being black with white lettering picked out. I'm not sure whether I'm committing heresy of not, but in the course of scraping back the crud of ages (waits for screams) I came across what looks like vestigial white paint on the neck where the counterweight lever is situated. I'm wondering if at some point in its life such ground signals had portions of their structure painted white. I cannot find any photos on the web to confirm or deny. Does anyone out there have any information on these things?

BTW the white lettering on the disc was where he used it as a house sign...

[LNERGE]

I would copy the way it is currently painted. All I have seen have been like that. The red has faded as I would have expected the signal red finishing paint to have faded. Finding the right signal red will be a problem. I'll try and dig out a number/spec for it.

[Avonsidefan]

Thanks for that.

[Avonsidefan]

I had a long awaited chance over the Easter break to work on the renovation of this signal. It really is an elegantly simple piece of 1920's engineering. The lamp sits on a circular plate inside the box lamp casing. This plate is screwed onto the top of a slender fixed spindle running down through to the plinth base to a fixed bar attached by bolts. The lamp casing itself is bolted to a tubular shaft that fits over the spindle, with a C shaped cam bolted at the end inside the plinth housing. 

When the counterweight L crank is pulled, it pushes on the C cam causing the tube shaft to turn and thus the whole casing revolves around the fixed lamp so the light shines through the appropriate bullseye. In the event of signal cable failure the weight causes it to return to the danger position.  

My father had it in working condition but it has since seized up. I am hopeful that liberal applications of oil may restore long lost function. This is an earlier picture at the beginning of the renovation.

[LNERGE]

The lamp is of course excellent!

[sigtech]

Hello  Avonsidefan,

 

I have just come across this thread, and was set wondering -  I started work on the railway in Cambridge S&T  during the early 90's in their maintenance gang, we had an "old Timer" with us called Peter Lindsell  who came from near Saffron Walden, and he had a couple of ex GE/LNER groundsignals  in his front garden that he had purchased cheaply from the railway - I was just wondering if there is any connection as he was a lovely guy, very well informed about wildlife in general and birds in particular - each year he used to grow a long beard, and cut it of just before the spring, putting it in a hedge for the birds to take away for their nests...He also did work for his local church  keeping the churchyard tidy, indeed I learnt a great deal from him about the "old" railway of steam days and how things used to be done..

I apologise if this is not the same person, but felt I just had to ask,

Regards

SIGTECH

(Steve)

[bécasse]

Concerning the traces of white paint, it is quite possible that individual ground signals would have had white paint added to them as an ARP during the war years to make them more visible to men on the ground during the blackout. The relative but understandable scarcity of wartime photos makes it difficult to be at all certain what was done where.

 

What is certain is that working on the ground at night close to railway lines was very hazardous during the blackout and this sadly resulted in a lot of deaths, my own wife's maternal grandfather amongst them.

[Avonsidefan]

SIGTECH, sadly no - but Peter sounds just like the kind of chap my father would have nattered to for hours!

 

becasse - you make a very interesting point. I had not considered the wartime service of these devices, but as a UK rail commuter I regularly see rail ends and other potential trip hazards picked out in bright paint, so the practice is obviously still a useful one. Having stubbed my toe on the counterweight of this device more than once already, I can see the practical sense of this, particularly in blacked out goods yards.

[Avonsidefan]

Having stubbed my toe on the counterweight of this device more than once already, I can see the practical sense of this, particularly in blacked out goods yards.

I in no way meant to sound flippant about this. I had not considered the potentially disastrous consequences of such accidents in a yard. It makes perfect sense to me and it is on the bits of the ground signal that stick out. Good call becasse, I think you may have nailed it.

[RailWest]

I have a recollection (from what I've read, not personal experience at the time !) that some early miniature-arm signals somewhere (the L&SWR LP schemes perhaps?) had rubber arms for precisely such a H&S precaution.

[bécasse]

I have a recollection (from what I've read, not personal experience at the time !) that some early miniature-arm signals somewhere (the L&SWR LP schemes perhaps?) had rubber arms for precisely such a H&S precaution.

 

Chris is exactly right, but I suspect that it was ground signals in their entirety that were a problem in the blackout - not to mention rodding, signal wires, etc, etc.

[vitalspark]

Reminds me of the post mounted disc signal I photgraphed at Inverness far North platforms.. Rose St box I believe.

 

Date was 1973 and still in use.

 

Anyone know when this was replaced/removed?

 

 

Dave.