Thinking Inside The Box

[trisonic]

Il Dottore, You are way too modest, they are beautiful........

 

 

The Italian half of my family call me Il Pigro - the English always get the translation wrong.........

 

Best, Pete.

[Rugd1022]

Alas we did have some of those Signalmen but if I mentioned any names it might rise an eyebrow or three. Most Western 'boxes I knew over the years were well kept but some were difficult to keep clean (the flat roofed 'ARP'design was a cleaning disaster area especially when the stove was in use - for some reason those boxes got very dirty very quickly even with good resident Signalmen in charge). Occasionally you would come across a 'box which was in an amazing state of cleanliness where you would only be allowed in if you took-off your shoes or boots first and where PWay staff or locomen etc carrying out Rule 55/Section K would have to stand at the top of the stairs and have the TRB brought to them I had one quite busy 'box which was very well looked after by the 3 regular men - it even had the treadplates on the 'frame black-leaded once every 3 weeks - and the S&T decided to renew the lino much to the chagrin of the Signalmen. The 'box reeked of paraffin for several weeks while the Signalmen worked hard to get the natural oil out of the lino but eventually they triumphed and began to get the lino up to their former standard. Two of these chaps later wound up in one of my busiest 'boxes with nearly 100 levers to keep them occupied and they turned it from a 'slightly grubby' 'box into one most Signalmen would be proud of - but they were using three times as much cleaning materials as it had previously ordered, great days alas all gone

 

I could happily read stuff like this all day Mike! Despite being polished and cleaned to within an inch of their lives, most boxes still have a cosy and inviting atmosphere once you're lucky enough to gain entry - I had reason to vist Worcester Tunnel Junction and Hartlebury 'boxes more than once last week, rare moments always to be savoured on our otherwise 'modern' railway

 

OP - fantastic bit of modelling Sir!

[signalmaintainer]

Beautiful work, Il Dottore! I cannot express any better what others have said.

 

. . . but at least you haven't got distant levers spread liberally through the frame

 

Beast, can you elaborate on that? Are distant levers always grouped together typically in larger frames? I can see from the photos above that the particular box shown has them grouped together. I'm still somewhat a newb with UK signalling, and I thought levers were usually positioned to generally match the location of what they controlled.

[beast66606]

Beast, can you elaborate on that? Are distant levers always grouped together typically in larger frames? I can see from the photos above that the particular box shown has them grouped together. I'm still somewhat a newb with UK signalling, and I thought levers were usually positioned to generally match the location of what they controlled.

 

Distant signals are controlled by yellow levers (Ok there are other variations but for simplicity lets stick to yellow), these tended to be at the ends of the frames*, as they were the outer most signals. Lever frames are complex beasts, grouping of levers varies from company to company but it was typically done to be part geographical and part simplifying the locking underneath.

 

 

* and there are none in the pictures of the frame for this box.

 

hth,

[The Stationmaster]

Not trying to get you confused Paul as Beast is spot on for the generality of such things but in the lowest of my signalbox interior pics in Post No.4 in this thread you can see a yellow lever lurking in the middle of the frame (No.64 as it happens in a 104 lever frame, the other distant it worked was No.1). This was in some respects an oddity but was a result of the frame being laid out to allow easy operation and to save the Signalman walking from end-to-end to work the Main Line signals.

[signalmaintainer]

Thanks for the replies, Beast and Station Master. Always very helpful and informative!

 

I cottoned on, but too late, to the red handles being for home signals, not distants. Posting at 5:19 a.m. after a short night does not lend itself well to written expression nor self-editing.

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks for the replies, Beast and Station Master. Always very helpful and informative!

 

I cottoned on, but too late, to the red handles being for home signals, not distants. Posting at 5:19 a.m. after a short night does not lend itself well to written expression nor self-editing.

 

I'm sure they've been mentioned at various times before Paul but yes (sort of) - Levers which work any kind of stop signal, including shunting disc signals and subsidiary signals , are painted red, distant signals levers are yellow, point levers are black, facing point lock levers are blue and the brown & white striped one which appears in one of my pics is a king lever which is sometimes used in a lever frame to lock it out of use but with particular interlocking conditions applied (e.g. signals reading in opposite directions cleared - which the normal interlocking would prevent).

[PaulRhB]

Super model and as far as the reversed spare is concerned that'll be the S&T bloke down underneath having it reversed so he can get to the bolts on the one next to it.

He's jumped in while it's quiet and not unusual for the tech to be shouting up through the frame to move levers for this.

A piece of chainmail is the quickest way to get the rust off the lever top but failing that fine emery paper followed by wire wool, brasso and then ALWAYS using the duster ensures polished levers. I hated coming back from a week off to find rusty finger prints on the levers when I was the sole resident Signalman despite leaving out several dusters on the levers. I even saw one Signalman buffing his up to high shine with a full set of polishes and wheels in a power drill.

[Oldddudders]

A piece of chainmail is the quickest way to get the rust off the lever top but failing that fine emery paper followed by wire wool, brasso and then ALWAYS using the duster ensures polished levers. I hated coming back from a week off to find rusty finger prints on the levers when I was the sole resident Signalman despite leaving out several dusters on the levers. I even saw one Signalman buffing his up to high shine with a full set of polishes and wheels in a power drill.

Yes, a lovely shine will result - but! A colleague provided wire wool for his signalmen to buff the lever tops at Dorking (1938 SR Glasshouse box, comparable to Templecombe) and all the little bits of wire wool fell down into the electrical locking with dreadful results......

[The Stationmaster]

Super model and as far as the reversed spare is concerned that'll be the S&T bloke down underneath having it reversed so he can get to the bolts on the one next to it.

He's jumped in while it's quiet and not unusual for the tech to be shouting up through the frame to move levers for this.

A piece of chainmail is the quickest way to get the rust off the lever top but failing that fine emery paper followed by wire wool, brasso and then ALWAYS using the duster ensures polished levers. I hated coming back from a week off to find rusty finger prints on the levers when I was the sole resident Signalman despite leaving out several dusters on the levers. I even saw one Signalman buffing his up to high shine with a full set of polishes and wheels in a power drill.

 

Our local S&T were very unhappy about chain buffs - one of my Signalmen had one and kept it as hidden as possible but the with a keen bunch of local Techs they always seemed to be able to smell when he'd been using it (or they found the results on the electric lock cases)

[PaulRhB]

According to the tech who supplied mine always tie the old duster round the lever first to catch any bits and wrap it up in one to protect your hands. I suppose it helped that the electrical locks were behind the frame rather than underneath at Marchwood.

[Captain Kernow]

I remember the box at Exmouth Jct in the days of mechanical signalling (it is still open now, albeit with a 25 year old 'temporary' panel in it). Of the three regular signalmen at the time, one kept the brasswork shining, one did the floor and the other did the windows and the rest of the box. That was one place where sheets of newspaper were laid around the entrance door as a distinct invitation to not tread on their nice clean lino, unless you removed your shoes!

 

These days there is still much atmosphere at the box, although the levers and old block instruments have long gone, and the box is now carpeted...

[PaulRhB]

And carpet is a nightmare in a box, it wears out quickly, attracts muck and once the S&T put their oil can down or walk the grease off their boots into it it's ruined. Lino and a comfy seat, preferably a couple of old mk1 coach seats or a good armchair are best. In our box the Lino is easy to clean while the carpet tiles of the same age are quite frankly knackered. Carpet is fine for a control centre but a conventional box or panel is much more suited to Lino due to the regular visits of on track staff and mucky boots. I'm not sure the newspaper approach is particularly friendly but would make a super cameo

Salisbury is a bit unusual in that drivers also have easy access due to it's situation so we have a separate area where they can stand, well lean actually as drivers arent used to standing these days , without getting in the way of the panel while passing info back and forth.

[Chubber]

Damn! Missed this....lovely work indeed, and all the subsequent posts have added to my 'nollidge', or rather refreshed the impressions I got on regular visits to North Camp box in the late 50s/early 60s. Even the coal scuttle was polished inside and out. Yes, a scuttle, not a bucket.

 

 

Doug