Neale's Tablet Instruments - Restoration

[Chen Melling]

We are currently in the process of establishing a "proper" signalling display at the Israel Railway Museum, and as head of the museum I am trying to take better care of our rather neglected signalling-related exhibits.

We have 2 India-made Westinghouse Neale's Tablet Instruments in our collection. Both are on display but both carry paint coats that don't appear to be original.

Can someone please advise as to the original factory-applied paint? Also any other advice and tips regarding cosmetic restoration would be much appreciated.

 

(for the record, the dark-grey one carries a works plate numbered 298, the light-grey one is no. 271)

[Compound2632]

Nothing to be learned from careful scraping of the paint?

[Chen Melling]

9 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Nothing to be learned from careful scraping of the paint?

 

This will be easier once they are off display (in a couple of weeks). So far we haven't found anything very clear under the light grey coat, which is definitely rather new. The dark grey instrument does indeed have some traces of (original?) paint, which may be similar to this:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neal's_tablet_block_instrument_Bangalore_Railway_Station_(3).jpg

but still need more investigating.

[meil]

Some choices for you:

 

https://www.irfca.org/docs/single-line-block-instr.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZjJQzySDxM

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neal's_tablet_block_instrument_Bangalore_Railway_Station_(1).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Token_instruments_in_India

[Michael Hodgson]

There's a couple of illustrations here, showing different shades of paint.

https://www.irfca.org/docs/single-line-block-instr.html

 

I don't know to what extent India or Israel followed British practice on this, but some British administrations painted the instrument as well as the tokens themselves different colours for adjacent sections, to reduce risk of confusion.  The configuration on the token was always such that they physically could not be inserted into the wrong instrument anyway of course. 

But the paint may have been applied by the railway rather than the manufacturer.

[Chen Melling]

19 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I don't know to what extent India or Israel followed British practice on this, but some British administrations painted the instrument as well as the tokens themselves different colours for adjacent sections, to reduce risk of confusion.  The configuration on the token was always such that they physically could not be inserted into the wrong instrument anyway of course. 

 

The vast majority of token instruments used by Israel Railways (and its pre-1948, predecessor, Palestine Railways) were of the miniature electric train staff (Webb-Thompson) type and these appear to have been universally red.

I believe the two tablet instruments in question, both made in India, were captured from Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula, in either the 1956 or 1967 war. I also tend to think they were originally brought there by the British army during WWII, as one of them still bears the name of a section built in the 1940s.

 

Thus, I think all machines of a certain type would have been painted the - nominally - same shade.

Edited August 14 by Chen Melling

[Chen Melling]

This is the only photo I've found so far of a Neal's tablet instrument in use in Israel.

It dates to the late 1970s/early 1980s and was taken in the last signal box built in Israel, which happens to be at the same station now housing our museum.

I assure you that the signalman's attire DOES NOT conform to Israel Railways' dress code at the time, but knowing the prevalent weather there all too well, I cannot blame him much.

The location means that there is a 50% chance that is the actual instrument preserved in light grey at the museum, though it is obviously not light grey here.

[RailWest]

I'm puzzled why there appears to be a stick/rod running across all the levers in a position that surely would stop the catch-handles being pulled to release the levers ?

[John Isherwood]

3 minutes ago, RailWest said:

I'm puzzled why there appears to be a stick/rod running across all the levers in a position that surely would stop the catch-handles being pulled to release the levers ?

 

Perhaps for that precise reason?

 

Maybe the frame was out of commission for some reason?

 

John Isherwood.

[Chen Melling]

49 minutes ago, RailWest said:

I'm puzzled why there appears to be a stick/rod running across all the levers in a position that surely would stop the catch-handles being pulled to release the levers ?

 

That's a good question - I actually haven't noticed that before.

 

45 minutes ago, John Isherwood said:

Maybe the frame was out of commission for some reason?

 

The station was not converted to electric signalling for some years after this photo was taken.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, RailWest said:

I'm puzzled why there appears to be a stick/rod running across all the levers in a position that surely would stop the catch-handles being pulled to release the levers ?

Yes, what is it - is it just a broom handle being used as an improvised reminder appliance ?

 

Perhaps the reason the signalman isn't in proper unifrom is that he isn't the signalman, but a technician working on the frame during a possession?

[Chen Melling]

9 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Perhaps the reason the signalman isn't in proper unifrom is that he isn't the signalman, but a technician working on the frame during a possession?

 

That's a good idea, though wearing open sandals is not very professional for a technician of any type...

[Michael Hodgson]

33 minutes ago, Chen Melling said:

 

That's a good idea, though wearing open sandals is not very professional for a technician of any type...

Must have been before the days of hi-vis jackets, safety boots & hard hats. 

Not that I would fancy wearing all that heavy clobber even in our climate.

[The Stationmaster]

On 15/08/2024 at 18:49, Chen Melling said:

 

That's a good idea, though wearing open sandals is not very professional for a technician of any type...

Actually one of our Signalmen used to dress in a very similar manner to that when he was on nights in the summer.  And maybe they don't have carpet slippers in Israel (a common form of Signalman's footwear in small 'boxes with highly polished floors - even in the Welsh Valleys).

 

As for what appears to be a broomstick either it was put there to keep it handy or, far more likely it was put there because there weren't enough lever collars to hand when some sort of S&T work was going on.  I freely admit that I haven't seen it done in Britain since the 1970s.

 

(There s of course the conspiracy theory version that the broom was put there to see how long it would take someone to notice it when looking at the photo?)

[Chen Melling]

Research breakthrough - a long time friend and fellow enthusiast came across a c. 1979 film about Israel Railways. 

 

 

Upon reviewing it closely I suddenly realised it contains the answer to my question:

 

 

I believe this device is the counterpart to the one I presented in the other historic photo I posted up-thread.