Jon Fitness Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Bit quiet here!Now then, interesting picture on page 68 of the September issue of Hornby Magazine (I can't reproduce it here for obvious reasons).A Park Royal railbus at Dollar in Scotland. Nice enough but anyone notice what is a very BR(WR) signal structure complete with GW finials (albeit with U/Q signal fittings) on the end of the platform. I was aware of the Mallaig ones but not this one...Any more up there?JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2015 Bit quiet here! Now then, interesting picture on page 68 of the September issue of Hornby Magazine (I can't reproduce it here for obvious reasons). A Park Royal railbus at Dollar in Scotland. Nice enough but anyone notice what is a very BR(WR) signal structure complete with GW finials (albeit with U/Q signal fittings) on the end of the platform. I was aware of the Mallaig ones but not this one... Any more up there? JF I understand there were more than those at Mallaig but I don't know where they were (until now for one of them) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Are they a standard Westinghouse product? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Are they a standard Westinghouse product? They look more like Reading products. Did Westinghouse build stuff like that under license? JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 They built upper quadrant semaphores for the LNER and BR(E) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 They built upper quadrant semaphores for the LNER and BR(E)Didnt they supply the SR too? Question remains though, why GW style and where were they sourced?JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 A sighting form can be a bit generic. Maybe they supplied just the form with no thought for regional preference? The BRS-SM clamp fit fitting date from around 1960 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Bit quiet here! Now then, interesting picture on page 68 of the September issue of Hornby Magazine (I can't reproduce it here for obvious reasons). A Park Royal railbus at Dollar in Scotland. Nice enough but anyone notice what is a very BR(WR) signal structure complete with GW finials (albeit with U/Q signal fittings) on the end of the platform. I was aware of the Mallaig ones but not this one... Any more up there? JF There is a photograph of the signal on the Wikipedia page on the Devon Valley Line here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Valley_Railway and the subject was discussed on the Signal Box site, here http://forum.signalbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2975 Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 24, 2015 They look more like Reading products. Did Westinghouse build stuff like that under license? JF They are more or less standard Reading although certain components are typical UQ and obviously not Reading as they, not surprisingly, bear no resemblance to the Reading method of producing a UQ signal. So effectively - at least in the examples I saw at Mallaig they are Reading type main upright, bracket structure and doll with a standard WR finial. Although my pic below isn't the best in the world you can see all of these features plus the handrails and what can be seen of the ladder also look like Reading products as do, not unexpectedly I suppose, the concrete mouldings (ex Taunton) which support the structure. What very definitely isn't Reading are all the cranks and the arrangement of wire runs, the lamp casings and the mounting bracket for the arm spindle & lamp casing. The interesting about the Mallaig signals were that both of the two doll brackets were balanced structures which were relatively uncommon in tubular steel form from Reading works. I have always assumed that the ScR obtained them when they were short of components for renewals and asked the other Regions what could be made available - and I wouldn't be surprised if Reading happened to have the necessary in stock with no immediate use for them so duly got them off their books. Incifdentally the finials are 'very Reading' and completely different from those Westinghouse supplied to the GWR Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 They are more or less standard Reading although certain components are typical UQ and obviously not Reading as they, not surprisingly, bear no resemblance to the Reading method of producing a UQ signal. So effectively - at least in the examples I saw at Mallaig they are Reading type main upright, bracket structure and doll with a standard WR finial. Although my pic below isn't the best in the world you can see all of these features plus the handrails and what can be seen of the ladder also look like Reading products as do, not unexpectedly I suppose, the concrete mouldings (ex Taunton) which support the structure. What very definitely isn't Reading are all the cranks and the arrangement of wire runs, the lamp casings and the mounting bracket for the arm spindle & lamp casing. The interesting about the Mallaig signals were that both of the two doll brackets were balanced structures which were relatively uncommon in tubular steel form from Reading works. I have always assumed that the ScR obtained them when they were short of components for renewals and asked the other Regions what could be made available - and I wouldn't be surprised if Reading happened to have the necessary in stock with no immediate use for them so duly got them off their books. Incifdentally the finials are 'very Reading' and completely different from those Westinghouse supplied to the GWR What where how.jpg It does look a little strange as I've although I've seen a 3 doll balanced, I've never seen a 2 doll balanced WR bracket. I take it it was white and black rather than silver! JF? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 There is a photograph of the signal on the Wikipedia page on the Devon Valley Line here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Valley_Railway and the subject was discussed on the Signal Box site, here http://forum.signalbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2975 Jim Thanks for the link to the Dollar photograph! The construction looks very GW in style (both dolls to the right of the main post) but it just looks different to the "midlandised" ones I've seen round Shrewsbury etc. Having read through the discussion on the other link, it doesn't look like any firm conclusion was reached about the reason of them being there. Cheers JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 25, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 25, 2015 It does look a little strange as I've although I've seen a 3 doll balanced, I've never seen a 2 doll balanced WR bracket. I take it it was white and black rather than silver! JF? Thanks for the link to the Dollar photograph! The construction looks very GW in style (both dolls to the right of the main post) but it just looks different to the "midlandised" ones I've seen round Shrewsbury etc. Having read through the discussion on the other link, it doesn't look like any firm conclusion was reached about the reason of them being there. Cheers JF I'm fairly sure it really was silver and black Jon - mind you it's over 40 years since I was there! From photos there were odd examples of two-doll balance brackets in tubular steel but I'm reasonably sure they were of the earlier pattern of girder work for the bracket structure and I suspect the later pattern didn't actually allow a balanced bracket to be built (but that is only a suspicion and it's a few years since I was involved in kit-bashing rebuilding some). I think the discussion on The Signalbox site fizzled through lack of any contrary evidence to indicate/prove that they hadn't come from Reading or from Reading drawings. I'm fairly sure they had been discussed prior to that as I've an idea I posted the pic seen above on that site at some time. However I tend to take greatest notice of the poster 'JRB' on there who was a WR signal engineer and always came across as somebody who knew exactly what he was talking about - years since I met him (at an IRSE meeting in London) but he was certainly old enough to be around at the time. As far as other (e.g. RS Co) UQ fittings used by Reading are concerned I tend to completely discount that notion - when I went round the stores in Reading Works not long before closure there were some very distinctly non-(G)WR items there including brand new corrugated UQ signal arms (this was in the 1980s) and the reason was simple - with Regional boundary changes Reading had taken over, and into stock, all sorts of spare parts from, in particular, the Southern in order to back up spares held locally. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitalspark Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Hi Beast! Thanks for all the Chester pics; very informative! They've filled a few knowledge gaps (and I've got plenty of those...) Here's a few taken inside Chester 2 in about May '83. Sorry about the dodgy quality, I was in a bit of a rush to catch my connection to Holyhead to catch a boat to Ireland for a railtour.. Chester no2 diagram.2jpg.jpgChester no2 diagram.jpgChester no2 interior.jpgChester no2 interior1 (1280x921).jpg Cheers JF Great shots of the block bench and particularly interested to see a Tyers Router at the end of the line. I still have one recovered from Shields in Glasgow where there were Sykes and Tyers antiques on the bench. Used to have two and gave one to a friend..big mistake..huge mistake. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Great shots of the block bench and particularly interested to see a Tyers Router at the end of the line. I still have one recovered from Shields in Glasgow where there were Sykes and Tyers antiques on the bench. Used to have two and gave one to a friend..big mistake..huge mistake. Dave Agreed! I've had and passed on quite a few bits when short of space including the diagram from the first box I ever went in, Moses Gate, near Bolton. Should have kept it (sigh!)JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitalspark Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Agreed! I've had and passed on quite a few bits when short of space including the diagram from the first box I ever went in, Moses Gate, near Bolton. Should have kept it (sigh!) JF I spent a summer with the S&T back in my teens and boxes were closing every other month with the instruments and equipment 'recovered'..that usually meant the squad smashing them up and the copper coils being taken to the scrap. I was horrified at this treatment of beautiful 19th century instruments and managed to save a few. I have a Caley block plus 2 x NB blocks dated 1895 plus the aforementioned Tyers router along with many brass Sykes pushes and block bells cottage bells and signal and TC repeaters..plus a few arms and a couple of levers. With no means of transport it was difficult and I probably 'properly recovered' as much as I could….safe for posterity. When I think of what was burned in the bonfires outside the boxes though.. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted September 24, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 24, 2015 One of my prized possessions The original LNWR box diagram from Port Sunlight Sidings - this could be the diagram when the box opened or when the platform homes were removed (notice lever B and 5 are spares in the sequence of distant / home and starter) and was used until 1967 when rationalisation started, the box finally closing in 1986 when it's remaining function was taken over by Rock Ferry. Notice the rings on the slow line signals - an LNWR practice Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Gone a bit quiet on here folks! I was travelling down to St Austell in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago when I started looking out of the train window for the former location of a 'box I remember visiting many years ago. Long gone now of course but I really struggled to remember exactly where it was. It controlled a very short section of single track over a tall and gracefull steel viaduct out in the sticks near Lostwithiel. I vaguely remember taking a few black and white pictures of this rather difficult to find box when I explored the area by car back in the early 1990s. I never printed the negatives other than doing a contact print to see what I'd got so when I returned home this time I dug out the negs and scanned a few and here are the results... Largin SB, 24/10/1991 according to my notes. The box.. The diagram blockshelf and frame The view towards the viaduct Cheers Jon F Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Coming back from Reading to Crewe on the train yesterday required a bus replacement from Stafford. As we came along Weston Rd in Crewe at the back of the station I noticed that the displaced Nantwich signalbox is now stored in a carpark by the side of the road. No pictures sadly but nice to see it survives! JF PS, just found this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Happy new year (honestly!) and I think it's time to give this thread a bit of a boot up the tooter. By kind permission of the Local Operations Manager I was recently allowed to have a good photo session in and around Mostyn Signalbox. The rather sad reason for this is that Mostyn, although it has been switched out for years, is to finally close altogether at 0330 on the 9th of January 2017. The dock sidings have already been disconnected, partly lifted and preparations made to lay a new loop/runround for a new traffic flow. This new infrastructure will eventually be controlled from Cardiff ROC. The box is externally in poor condition but thankfully will remain unmolested by any re-furb team. As trains passed by the box swayed alarmingly in a fashion that I used to be familiar with in my earlier years in the older boxes! This is the first box to be closed as part of the re-signalling on the North Wales Coast so get along there while you can and enjoy the manual signalling! This is just 10 from many more I took that day Sorry to start 2017 on a slight downer but I have been guilty of letting certain things disappear from the railway without recording them. I hope to try and put that right before it's too late! Get out there and phot stuff in 2017! All the best JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 not wanting to make things any worse but has Eccles box gone over the xmas holidays as i note new led bi directional signals (bloody ugly ) alongside the M602 when running into manchester last week sorry couldnt get pics as solo in my waggon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 It seems i am carrying the axe for this. Sorry chaps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 not wanting to make things any worse but has Eccles box gone over the xmas holidays as i note new led bi directional signals (bloody ugly ) alongside the M602 when running into manchester last week sorry couldnt get pics as solo in my waggon Another one of my 57 former boxes gone! There's about 7 left now.. JF It seems i am carrying the axe for this. Sorry chaps. I watched the M602 being built from there! Never mind, I doubt if there was much left of interest in there. 'Twas a panel at the end and the box had been wrecked refurbed too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 not wanting to make things any worse but has Eccles box gone over the xmas holidays as i note new led bi directional signals (bloody ugly ) alongside the M602 when running into manchester last week sorry couldnt get pics as solo in my waggon Bluebottle closes next week and Neddie Seagoon the week after.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Bluebottle closes next week and Neddie Seagoon the week after.... Eees fallen in the water! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Abergele platform loop points and associated signals taken out of use at around 23:30 07-01-17. Mostyn signalbox was removed from the circuitry around 03:00 08-01-17. All signals east of the box powered down and ok'd for removal by my own fair hands just after.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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