Signal Box interior fittings - would a European model suit British?

[SRman]

I have just seen this Artitec product listed in Modellbahn Union shop in Germany. The mouldings/3D prints look very nice but I wondered whether they would suit a British signal box at all. The lever frame in particular looks odd because it is upside down compared to anything I have seen before, assuming they have posed it the correct way to start with. I won't be buying it (from anywhere) unless I know I can use it without a genuine signalman laughing his head off. 

https://www.modellbahnunion.com/HO-gauge/HO-Signal-box-interior-with-lever-bank.htm?shop=modellbahn-union-en&a=article&ProdNr=Artitec-10.414&p=802&utm_source=CleverReach&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter+25.01.2024+EN&utm_content=Mailing_15066897

I have no connection with Modellbahn Union other than as satisfied customer, and have bought Artitec items from other places in UK and Australia as well.

[Paul H Vigor]

24 minutes ago, SRman said:

I have just seen this Artitec product listed in Modellbahn Union shop in Germany. The mouldings/3D prints look very nice but I wondered whether they would suit a British signal box at all. The lever frame in particular looks odd because it is upside down compared to anything I have seen before, assuming they have posed it the correct way to start with. I won't be buying it (from anywhere) unless I know I can use it without a genuine signalman laughing his head off. 

https://www.modellbahnunion.com/HO-gauge/HO-Signal-box-interior-with-lever-bank.htm?shop=modellbahn-union-en&a=article&ProdNr=Artitec-10.414&p=802&utm_source=CleverReach&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter+25.01.2024+EN&utm_content=Mailing_15066897

I have no connection with Modellbahn Union other than as satisfied customer, and have bought Artitec items from other places in UK and Australia as well.

Must say, I've never seen the like in the UK? 

[Wheatley]

The wall mounted telephone, desks and stove are fine. The chairs look rubbish for sleeping in and would very quickly have been replaced by a domestic arm chair (in earlier days before fire safety regs etc). 

 

The lever frame looks a bit like the Ransomes "horse rake" 

https://old.signalbox.org/frames/ransome.htm or the LMS 'turnover' type https://old.signalbox.org/frames/lms.htm but only a bit. Definitely not typical. 

Edited January 26 by Wheatley

[Derekl]

The lever frame looks like the standard DB manual lever frame. There was a video on here a while ago dealing with one of the DB museums which showed it. I can't see it likely that it was used in the UK

[phil-b259]

6 hours ago, SRman said:

I have just seen this Artitec product listed in Modellbahn Union shop in Germany. The mouldings/3D prints look very nice but I wondered whether they would suit a British signal box at all. 

 

NO!

 

No British railway company EVER used those sort of lever frames! 

 

If you want a UK signal box interior then this is what you need https://www.petersspares.com/p/ratio-553-signal-box-interior-kit-unpainted-oo-gauge

[Vecchio]

Germany (and other countries) used wire ropes also for point control, and this is what the Artitec levers are for. 

If you want a nice UK prototypical signal box interior go to Severn Models. 

[SRman]

Thanks for the replies guys. I thought the details looked so good, but I didn't think the lever frames would suit, and you have all confirmed this. I have used several British interior packs from the likes of Wills/Ratio and Metcalfe, as well as manufacturing my own using etched levers from Wizard Models and plastic scraps to make the furniture and floor.

Thanks again. 👍👍

[Michael Hodgson]

Yes, there were a very few boxes in this country that had that type of frame, sometimes called turnover frames, because the lever moves a lot further than we are used to.  Quite widespread on the continent, they didn't impose the same limit on length  of point rodding run that we suffered in UK practice.

 

Unlike standard British mechanical signals which use a single wire to pull the signal off, and rely on gravity to restore it to danger when tension is removed from the wire, these are for double wire operation (actually one continuous cable, but there's two wires out to the signal), one to pull the signal off, the other to return it to normal, which is why they have that visible pulley.

 

Better description here ...

https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2015/10/double-wire-working-of-points-and.html