Does this situation need a trap point or not?

[2ManySpams]

Chris,

Can you replicate the passing of a staff or keys in 7mm ?

Stu

 

Oh course Stu, but if you blink you'll miss it. 

 

The old fella taking the staff/keys back to the box will be modeled on Old Gringo. He'll take a while doing it and may get distracted along the way. On returning he'll have a darn good yarn for the driver about his exploits though...

[bécasse]

Actually the guard brought the keys, and also a scotch, from Wadebridge with him. The Boscarne-Bodmin North tablet (necessarily a Tyer's no.6) however was picked up at Boscarne Junction signal box in exchange for the Wadebridge East-Boscarne one (a Tyer's no.3 just to confuse matters). The tablet was used to unlock Dunmere Junction GF to allow the train onto the Wenfordbridge line, and then, when the train was safely locked on the branch (behind the relocked gate), used to relock Dunmere Junction GF. Finally it was returned on foot to Boscarne Junction SB to allow normal working to be resumed between Boscarne and Bodmin North - until the train returned from Wenfordbridge and the whole process was repeated in reverse. With the Wenfordbridge train clear of the Wadebridge East-Boscarne section, trains could run without hindrance on the Boscarne-Bodmin General ex-GWR line.

 

(To avoid confusing the situation even further I have ignored the various shunting moves which took place involving the two exchange sidings at Boscarne Junction, and also the fact that during certain periods the Wenfordbridge train initially went onto the Bodmin General line to allow a following Wadebridge-Bodmin North passenger train to pass.)

 

As a final note, I might add that I believe that in the very final state of rationalisation of the line, when it basically became a freight only route from Bodmin Road (Parkway?) to Wenfordbridge with reversals at Bodmin General and Boscarne, the whole line including the Wenfordbridge section was worked with an OES staff.

[bécasse]

Since, thanks to Paul, we now know that the three post-1968 sections were worked with a travelling shunter rather than OES staffs, that is almost certain to have remained the situation after the closure of the Boscarne Junction-Wadebridge line. Assuming that to be the case, the Wenfordbridge single line was never worked with a staff in all of its (roughly) 140 year history. Another claim to uniqueness?

[The Stationmaster]

From September 1969 (possibly earlier?) the Line was worked in accordance with Table C2 ('Lines Worked Under The Control of Signalmen, Shunters etc') as the same three separate sections shown in the June 1968 SOI but were now all under the control of the Signalman at Bodmin Road.  There is no longer any mention of the Travelling Shunter in 1969 and any of the other remaining Instructions which had applied that the post had either been withdrawn or applied instead to the Guard (a major staffing review was carried out throughout the WR in mid 1968 as part of the Pay & Efficiency scheme which led to a new grade structure and economies and I wouldn't be surprised if that caused the changes on the branch from Bodmin Road).

 

This remained the case in 1973 but in the 1980 issue the section from Boscarne Jcn to Wadebridge had of course gone, the two other separate C2 sections remained unaltered and still under the control of the Bodmin Road Signalman.

 

It was, incidentally, quite common for Table C2 single lines to be worked without a Train Staff.