Jon Fitness' average 7mm signals workbench.

[The Stationmaster]

I think I may have to do something about the "comedy" backblinders.       They are a bit big and sit too far back......

 

More soon

JF

Well they were sizable chunks of cast iron Jon!

[jamie92208]

That one looks great Jon I love the way you've got the LED turned into a lamp.  It's lucky that I've got a spare 12 v supply under each board.  I even recognise which signal that is.  It's a pity i can't post the picture of it for copyright reasons.

 

Jamie

[Jon Fitness]

Phew! You certainly have your work cut out with these pre-group signals. Lots of looking at pictures and making guestimates. Then lots of handbuilding of bits that aren't available as etches!

The weightbar bearing "casting" I nearly fitted upside down as photos showed it to be at odds with the instructions..

 

 

Once the mechanicals were fitted the servos were next. Fitted in my usual way, a strap was added for extra strength.

 

 

A major session of fittings was then started with lamp stagings made up from brass strip.

 

 

Other jobs included reducing the size of the backblinders slightly and moving them in towards the post a bit (by about 4mm!). Getting it all to fit together on the post was fun with various bits catching on the drive rods.

Soldering all the bits on without damaging the inset wire was a little fraught too!

I've also gone for etched ladders too as I think the built up ladders may be a bit fragile for signals that may be removed/fitted between exhibitions!

The finial was cleaned up and carefully sweated on with 145 solder (and I sweated a bit too!). I'll be looking out for some 100deg solder at the next exhibition I go to!

 

 

Anyway, it looks Midlandy to me now so I'll fill the wire channel with white Squadran putty and tidy it all up in readiness for the paintshop. Still a bit of tweeking and straightening to do...and yes it works but I'll save a vid clip until it's painted!

 

More soon

JF

 

 

 

[Jon Fitness]

The next MR signal is a simple stop signal but as the post is wooden it will be dealt with in a slightly different way.

The post was first cleaned of old paint and glue with a file on the lumpy bits and then worked flat on some 400 grade wet or dry.

 

 

To fit it to a brass base I solder a bit of square tube to the base, either above or below depending on the length of post. As I wanted to keep as much length of post as possible, this one is above.

 

 

 

The post is then filed to fit inside the tube and will be glued in once the wires for the lamp have been let into the machined slot. The difference in thickness at the base will be sorted with a little filler.

 

 

A trial fitting...

 

 

Photos have shown an inverted V shaped plate on the back of the posts over the axle end. I have made up and added these to the first signal but on this one I drilled through and threaded the axle bolt through this and the post

 

 

followed by the front plate. Both were secured with superglue.

 

 

The arm then fits on as before.

 

 

More soon

JF

Edited March 27, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[Jon Fitness]

The lamp is made in a similar fashion to previous ones with the addition of a plate and a locating pin to make sure it doesn't come off once superglued on!

 

 

The wires for the lamp both fit into the "machined" slot on the back of the post. (A much better route. Don't ask me why I didn't do so on the first one...I dunno . one of those "doh" moments I seem to have so many of... )  

At the top, I drilled through the post from the channel to just above the lamp plate and fed the wires through. 

 

 

Once the wires were soldered to the LED and tested, they were superglued into the channel and white Squadron putty applied to fill the gap. 400 grade W/D was used to smooth it off once dried.

 

 

As it was easier to drill into the wooden post, I recessed a hole in it to allow a captive nut on the back of the weight bar plate.

The nut was soldered to the back of the plate by chemically blackening a bolt to hold it in place. A quick dab with the iron but no solder sticks to the blackened bolt.

 

 

The weight bar assembly was then superglued to the post.

 

 

More soon

JF

 

 

[Jon Fitness]

A busy session at the bench today saw the 2nd MR signal almost ready for the paintshop..

I've fitted the servo upright on this one as the base I've used is a little narrower than my usual size. It's an old bit of Slaters brake van! A strap was fitted and the servo screwed to it instead of just being secured with solder.

 

Jobs on the signal included the finial (pinned and superglued), clean up and repair the built up ladder and lamp staging, and link up the arm to the weight bar. The ladder has 2 pins at the top and 2 pairs of ladder stays. I have set this and the lamp staging up on the signal but they will be removed and sprayed seperately and fitted afterwards as I think trying to mask off bits will lead to damage (and naughty words..  )

Jobs still to do are solder the lighting wires and resistor to the base underneath, alter and re-align the backblinder and fit a couple of guides/supports for the drive rod.

More soon

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Not managed much time at the home bench this week (nightshift plus a bit of O/T) but I have started the painting of the MR signals. As some of these signal arms have white spots rather than stripes I had to make some masking tape spots up. A handy sized punch was found!

 

 

With the white primer on the arms, masking up for the red coat was next

 

.

 

With yellow posts and chocolate brown fittings these signals will look quite... um..bright and colourful!

More soon.

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Finally had a chance to make some progress with the MR signals (well.. the first 2 anyway)

The stop signal is 99% complete and working and the stop&distant has the arms and post painted.

 

 

 

I'm still not 100% with the yellow yet so the Stop and distant has been left at a stage I can change the colour at.

 

 

From what I have read, when the distant arms were still red, the lens that would be showing when the arm was horizontal would be left clear (hence no lens!)

The back of the distant signal would also have a horizontal black stripe.

Hopefully there should be a youtube clip of the stop signal on test

.

More soon

JF

Edited April 12, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[The Stationmaster]

Was it a Midland speciality to show a white light in a Distant at caution John.  As far as I know until yellow was introduced most Railways used a red light

Edited April 12, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[Jon Fitness]

Was it a Midland speciality to show a white light in a Distant at caution John.  As far as I know until yellow was introduced most Railways used a red light

 Hi Mike,

I must admit, I got the info from a few copied pages of "Midland Style" from the HMRS. Unless as usual, I've miss-read it....

JF

(Edit..yes, totally misread it and got the info from elsewhwere!)

Edited April 13, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[jamie92208]

 Hi Mike,

I must admit, I got the info from a few copied pages of "Midland Style" from the HMRS. Unless as usual, I've miss-read it....

JF

Hi Jon.   I've looked through Midland Style and two copies of Midland Record and can't find a definitive answer about the colours but I think that Mike is correct.  The distant showed red when on and white (eg no glass) when off.  They are looking very good.

 

Cheers

 

 

Jamie

[The Stationmaster]

Hi Jon.   I've looked through Midland Style and two copies of Midland Record and can't find a definitive answer about the colours but I think that Mike is correct.  The distant showed red when on and white (eg no glass) when off.  They are looking very good.

 

Cheers

 

 

Jamie

That sounds more logical Jamie as a white light was often used for 'clear' in the early days (and of course has survived to now in shunting handsignals where white is used for 'normal speed' and green is used for 'caution/slow down').

 

Edit typo

Edited April 13, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[raymw]

Hi Jon,

 

I've just come across this thread. Thank you so much for documenting in detail your processes. It will be a valuable resource for when I actually get round to signalling - at my present rate of progress in about 30 years time

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[Jon Fitness]

That sounds more logical Jamie as a white light was often used for 'clear' in the early days (and of course has survived yo now in shunting handsignals where white is used for 'normal speed' and green is used for 'caution/slow down').

Ah it's OK, I've found out where I got the info and I realise now it's wrong....it's in the MSE painting instructions  .....

Red lens duly fitted and thanks for the prod!

 

As far as the colours/spots/stripes etc are concerned the more I look into it the more confusing it gets. Acfield took over the MR signal dept. before WW1 and decided to paint the posts white but keep the red/brown fittings and replace spots with stripes except for the horizontal stripes on the distants which were replaced later. The red/brown bits on the finials were done away with before WW1 too. So....as the signals I'm doing are for 1923 should I do some with white posts and are the spots still going to be around at that stage? Aaaargh!   :jester:  

 

Cheers

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Well I'm still not sure it's right but here's the MR stop and distant. I think the colour scheme places it well before WW1 but I'm sure some survived until the grouping like this!

 

 

Nice bit of Sun (remember that?) allowed a few outdoor pics.

 

Until I get some more MR bits and bobs, it's GW ground signals time. I've built them before using my own castings for the main post and disc with odd bits from other kits thrown in. I've had them working and occasionally with working weight bars or fitted with lamps but I've use etched discs for lit ones before. These will have all cast bits, working lamps, weightbars and servo operation.

I've lashed one up just to see if it all works!

 

 

I think they'll be alright (5 to build!) and I'll tidy up the method now I know they operate. The only fly in the oinkment is the flickery LED. I occasionally get this when I use the SMD components so I may use a more robust resistor. The tiny little 1k8 SMD item may not be up to the job of reducing a 9V battery down to the required voltage.

 

If the links work there should be a vid of the MR signal

and the ground signal

.

 

More soon

JF

[jamie92208]

That looks great Jon. I just hope I'll be able to get to Leigh.

 

 

Jamie

[Jon Fitness]

The batch of GWR ground signals seemed to have worked..

Using whitemetal castings thers been a lot of drilling tapping filing and general butchery involved to get everything operational.

The weightbar is operational but is not part of the actual operating mechanism. It's sort of "along for the ride" but still has to go up and down.

I drilled out a 0.7mm hole and tapped it using a steel 14BA bolt (I wasn't going to risk using a proper tap in whitemetal! It usually goes tap, trap and snap!!) and also drilled the main pivot 1mm.

 

 

Next, the lamp casing was drilled through front to back 1mm and the back countersunk and recessed slightly to take a SMD LED

 

 

This was carefully soldered in on each one (one or two were a bit wonky but you don't come back with the iron for a second go with SMDs!) and tested with a 3v battery set. Once tested, a positive wire was routed through the casting ready to go down through the base and soldered to the + pad on the LED

 

 

Using my own cast discs a small recess was drilled into the back and a 14BA bolt soldered to the back.

 

 

The signal assemblies were then soldered to the bases and the wiring hooked up.

They were then ready for servo fitting.

 

 

To link the signals to the servos, small arms were cut and drilled from brass strip and one hole was tapped 14BA to make assembly and adjustments easier.

 

.

 

Sadly theres a gap in the pictures (just carried on building and forgot to click!) but heres the end results

 

 

Groundsignal video

...

 

More soon

JF

Edited April 24, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[Wogga]

Always a fascinating thread to dip in and out of, thanks John. The info on lamp construction was particulary on time to answer a question I had, however I have another what do you use for the spectacle lens... Acetate? Where do you get it from?

 

Regards

 

Pete

Edited May 7, 2013 by Wogga

[Jon Fitness]

Hi Pete. I use the packs of coloured lens material from MSE and bash them out with a selection of round punches

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Just about to progress into the paintshop is this little chap. A platform mounted fixed stop signal with a C/O arm underneath. As it's situated in a "public" area, I've provided a set of railings round it and added a couple of "chains" across the access gate made from twisted and soldered 0.31 wire, to keep Joe Public at bay. I've also presumed that the weight bar is below platform level and hidden under a wooden planked access hole..(any excuse to avoid extra worky bits!  )

The stop arm is fixed as the signal will control a move from half way down a platform, (protecting a crossover) towards a bufferstop. Not sure whether to put "C", "W" or "S" on the display behind the C/O arm though....

More soon

JF

Edited May 28, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[N15class]

Lovely work as usual.

[steve fay]

Love the ground signals Jon, super work as usual

[beast66606]

S behind the arm Jon.

 

Nice work as usual.

[Jon Fitness]

Cheers Dave!

JF

[The Stationmaster]

 

The stop arm is fixed as the signal will control a move from half way down a platform, (protecting a crossover) towards a bufferstop. Not sure whether to put "C", "W" or "S" on the display behind the C/O arm though....

 

JF

Now that's a very interesting area of decision Jon.  I'm not sure quite why the signal should be in that position but there no doubt was a prototype.  However what there very definitely was an LMR prototype for is such an arrangement at the end of a platform where the line changed status from a Passenger Line to a siding and there was no letter whatsoever revealed when the miniature arm came to 'off' - just as would be the case reading into a siding, goods loop or any other sort of 'No Block' Line.