James Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 It's bad enough they've now painted the door of our panel red to match the station colour scheme! Red! For a blummin Signalbox what genius thought that was a good idea? I had to tell the other resident not to put Crhistmas lights up at one end of the box - he had a 'string of red lights' and wanted to put them in the windows! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggesford box Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 You might have found the 'Path was deep and wide leading to our door' as well as bringing trains to a stand! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted June 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 12, 2012 It's bad enough they've now painted the door of our panel red to match the station colour scheme! Red! For a blummin Signalbox what genius thought that was a good idea? You've not seen Crewe then ? - red with a white stripe .. http://goo.gl/maps/sk5b (fading a bit now) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted June 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 12, 2012 You've not seen Crewe then ? - red with a white stripe .. Ah I wondered which region had promoted him out of harms way! Regarding the fairy lights thing, they installed one of those 3ft long pager displays on the end wall in the old Basingstoke box. Flashing scrolling red lights in the box visible from the station! Needless to say there were a few complaints. We had ours installed behind the panel and now they've switched the darn things off it's going about 8ft lower so we can move the nice Wilton South running in board up a bit Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggesford box Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hi, three boxes. Crediton boxes levers had always been polished AFAIK Abergavenny that I polished when I went there. Bit of a shock to a simple lad from Devon when I first went up there as it was the first box I had seen where the levers where not polished. When I took the photo the box was in the process of being rewired if it looks a bit untidy. Before and after shots of Hereford Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 You've not seen Crewe then ? - red with a white stripe .. http://goo.gl/maps/sk5b (fading a bit now) Ugh... Crewe PSB, did 12 months there. Horrible place. Locally known as the pig-pen due to it having plain breeze block walls inside. It was also known as the snooker table (get a red before any other colour) but that was probably more to do with my dubious capabilites than anything else.... JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted June 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2012 Before and after shots of Hereford The floor's as impressive as the levers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2012 The floor's as impressive as the levers! But hopefully not slippery as that can be a real safety hazard (as opposed to all these modern imagined ones). I went into a 'box once with a highly polished floor which had pieces of newspaper on the floor to avoid dirtying the lino - one step and I went sailing along (remaining upright) like an ice-skater due to the highly polished floor . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted June 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2012 I hope this wasn't caused by too much polish Trains are expected to run normally at start on service Wednesday between Selby and Hull following a signalling problem between Selby and Gilberdyke Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggesford box Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 As long as the floor was kept up well I never found slipperiness to be a problem, it was only if you let it get worn. I could never see the point of polishing a floor and then covering it up. When I was at Hereford one of the relief took exception to me cleaning the box (mind you he took exception to just about everything but was a totally different person at his retirement do) and used to deliberately scuff his feet along the floor. I just polished the floor more and he got fed up before I did. Mind you, I ended up with shoulders like a Russian shot putter! At one time the powers that be used to supply Seel liquid floor polish which was non slip. If you used two coats each time you cleaned you could get a mirror like finish. When they stopped supplying it though, when I was at Abergavenny, I had to strip and scrub it off the floor and then use wax floor polish which was what I used at Hereford. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stuartp Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 "BR Speedpolish 21" was the stuff, sprayed liberally all over the floor and polished by skating around on a couple of offcuts of carpet. Wax polish was a lot of hard work by comparison but it kept the levers and paint shiny. Speedpolish also worked quite well on vans, and mixed 50/50 with "Speedclean 20" it made a sort of 'Rain Off" type product which kept your windscreen clear of spray. While we're on the subject of cleaning products does anyone else remember GIC ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 But hopefully not slippery as that can be a real safety hazard (as opposed to all these modern imagined ones). I went into a 'box once with a highly polished floor which had pieces of newspaper on the floor to avoid dirtying the lino - one step and I went sailing along (remaining upright) like an ice-skater due to the highly polished floor . I had similar problems with the lino when I was at 81E the other week. Each time I'd pull the lever half way off by putting one foot on the frame (plenty of grip), but whenever I stepped off to pull the lever the rest of the way, it was all I could do to stop the lever pulling me back again! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I had similar problems with the lino when I was at 81E the other week. Each time I'd pull the lever half way off by putting one foot on the frame (plenty of grip), but whenever I stepped off to pull the lever the rest of the way, it was all I could do to stop the lever pulling me back again! Now this is where the liberal application of beer comes in, if you consume enough (off duty though, pissed up signalmen tend to have short careers) you develop a natural counterweight round the middle that greatly helps in the operation of these numb McKenzie and Holland frames that we have in this part of the world. We used to have a short arsed signalman who, when pulling the Down Outer, would bring the lever to the biting point and pull it by bracing both feet on the block shelf, and launching himself off whilst holding onto the lever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2012 "BR Speedpolish 21" was the stuff, sprayed liberally all over the floor and polished by skating around on a couple of offcuts of carpet. Wax polish was a lot of hard work by comparison but it kept the levers and paint shiny. Speedpolish also worked quite well on vans, and mixed 50/50 with "Speedclean 20" it made a sort of 'Rain Off" type product which kept your windscreen clear of spray. While we're on the subject of cleaning products does anyone else remember GIC ? GIC was superb stuff - reputedly based on Fairy Liquid or very similar to it but considerably better. It was excellent for washing coaches in order to get a bit of a 'polished looking' finish on them and if applied in the right way at the right time it would even remove fresh traces of badly rinsed Exmover. But if you got through large quantities of it the Stores folk tended to get worried. I understood that it was discontinued (allegedly after the 'recipe' had already been changed to make it 'not so good' because it was very expensive and tended to be ordered in large quantities. Another thoroughly excellent cleaning material was BR scouring powder - best stuff I've ever come across for 'getting up' a grubby sink with lots of well ingrained dirt but also quite handy for taking your skin back to a 'very well scrubbed' state; it would probably be illegal nowadays! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted June 14, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2012 We used to have a short arsed signalman who, when pulling the Down Outer, would bring the lever to the biting point and pull it by bracing both feet on the block shelf, and launching himself off whilst holding onto the lever. There's a chap of the very vertically challenged persuasion who used to pull the lever out swing his feet up onto the adjoining lever and pull the rest of the away it while standing horizontal! He now works a panel where he built some rather nice benches that slide under out of the way of the taller guys. H&S would probably have a fit but to my knowledge he hasn't fallen off them in years. Polished floors are fine when you get the right polish, not these modern slippery silicon based ones. The mirror finish with the right stuff is very grippy with rubber soles. To be honest though carpet is kinder on the feet on a long shift though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Just a quick note - I now have a frame full of polished levers! They're not perfect but a world away from how they were! The new LOM seemed pleased I was making an effort with them - he's a signaller and appreciates it and he's ordering some metal polish for the box too! Also heard I'll be moving to my new box next month all being well! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Result today! A relief was taking me off, just said they looked much better Then took the lever cloth in hand before pulling off! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 The result - Centre lever's had the most work - the other two show signs of where the plastic covers had broken off. I'll keep polishing them but I only have three shifts left. I wonder how long they'll remain shiny? To put it into perspective, this is how they looked previously. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Dunno how you lot find time to signal the trains between all this housework !! Very enjoyable thread. I remember the days when SR traction substations looked as cared for - sadly no longer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 I'm currently halfway through the initial clean up on a 55 lever frame... I'm hoping it'll look quite impressive when they're all done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeWL Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Some very impressive work going on in this thread. Well done all. It is nice to see some traditions still being carried on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 I got up to no 49 but time was getting on and the last train was imminent! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzyo Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Scotchbrite? Might be better than brillo pads. One good thing about Scotchbrite is that you can use it with Brasso as well, if you do use the two together wear a pair of rubber gloves or your hands will be black for days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 3, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 3, 2012 Full marks to James for some old-fashioned pride in the job! I think it was Redhill (Surrey) B Box where they reckoned you needed a tetanus jab before pulling off. And this is 30+ years ago. In the same era, I believe the Area (=District) Inspector was spat upon by one of the regular signalmen. Pride has been out of fashion for longer than we might imagine..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Thanks Ian! I'd say on our line there's a good deal of pride in the job displayed by many of the staff, well most I know to be honest. The other resident at my new box has been there for eleven years and really likes to keep it clean. If you relieve him on a Sunday you walk in to the smell of furniture polish! And he already uses a lever cloth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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