TheSignalEngineer

The signalman went underneath the box if necessary, much better than an Anderson shelter. I think the coffin was more a feature of ordinary boxes. There isn't one shown on the typical layout drawing. To be really prepared he could sit on the closet under the stairs.

Thanks for the picture of the box and brickwork. The rear of the model confirms that the prototype is Town Green. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwikwe_OrdXlAhUKfxoKHTQQDDsQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pillbox-study-group.org.uk%2Fother-wwii-defensive-structures%2Farp-sgnal-box%2Farptowngreen%2F&psig=AOvVaw2TLbmsDXChVkbHsVo5QsCM&ust=1573121810676752 I know of at least three different door arrangements upstairs and different arrangements of the stairs and underportion door including a brick staircase on the L&Y at Greetland No.2.

New view of the CAD of the final version. https://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk/buildings-and-people/ratio-554-wartime-arp-flat-roof-signal-box/ I think the prototype is Town Green which was near Ormskirk. That was a post-war modified version built c1949 so I think I will be scratch building unless suitable for a kit bash.

A few comments It shouldn't have any windows downstairs although Broom Junction had one added later.. The window frames look too heavy, they were a fairly narrow steel section. Brickwork, although there were variations, was normally arranged in alternate rows of headers and stretchers. The walls were solid brick about 13" 14" thick. Again, there were variations but the upper blue brick sections were sometimes arranged as soldier courses.

We had a couple of signalmen do that. Burned the boxes down.

Looks promising. I'm waiting to see it in the flesh as I need one and it would save me having to scratch build. Last time I asked it was due late this year but that predated your information.

When testing signalling immunisation on the LMR side of the original Thameslink scheme we needed some leakage figures in the Farringdon area. As we weren't in a position to allow live DC use into Farringdon at the time I asked what was the biggest DC current draw we could get at Blackfriars under the worst acceptable feeding arrangements. A Class 455 was deemed to have the biggest appetite at the time so we borrowed two sets and in the early hours of one Monday morning the first feeder station on the SR was isolated from the rails. The 8-car train was assembled in Blackfriars and positioned on the line into the old Holborn Viaduct station where there was a route with two reverse curves and a 1 in 104 rising gradient over a bridge. The Traction Inspector instructed the driver to give it all he dared for few seconds without blowing up the train. Very successful as I got a trace of the traction motors starting up on a pen recorder connected to a rail at Cricklewood.

We certainly had a few Class C freights through Birmingham. They were usually perishables or guaranteed delivery merchandise. There were also ones like the Swindon - Longbridge car parts.

Looking at old working timetables of my trainspotting area in the 1950s, most freights ran as Class H if they were long distance or Class K for local trips. There were occasional ones running as Classes C, D and E.

This layout looks as if it will make me break my rule of avaiding Warley, that's if I don't see it beforehand.

Or setting off the venue fire alarms

I saw a layout try that a while ago. All they got was a thick fog at track level as the mist they generated was heavier than air. As it cleared the turntable pit took on the appearance of a frozen pond on a January morning.

Had the same thing a couple of years ago. The card was only used on Paypal and a Tesco petrol station. No strange transactions so no problem. Apparently at the time pay-at-pump was one if the most common forms of hacking.

Bankers regularly stood in the siding by the coal stage between trips The 9F had a specially modified tender side to make it easier to shovel coal in.

I can remember getting into trouble for singing a rather dubious version at school rugby matches in the 1960s.

Although classed as 8f by BR the Stanier 2-8-0 would only have rated 1.5 as a Lickey Banker where a Jinty = 1. Bertha and the 9f were rated 2.

and by 1956 Bromsgrove was on the WR, they had 9Fs so they could replace it without major expenditure. At the time they also had the new 94xx panniers which were good on the bank, 4F and plenty of weight.

O S Nock wrote about Bertha in one of his books. He rode on the footplate in 1949 when in his words "although handled by a a tough and resolute pair of youngsters.............the boiler could not produce enough steam to sustain an all-out effort for the eight minutes of ascent, banking a passenger train." He reported that the boiler pressure had dropped from 180lb at Bromsgrove to 135lb at Blackwell which is the equivalent of the Tractive Effort dropping from 43,312lbf to about 33,000lbf or nearly 25%. No wonder the main line express drivers were happy to have a pair of Jintys starting with a combined TE of 41,670lbf instead of Bertha alone. Comparing other locos used the 9F had a TE just shy of 40,000lbf and the GWR 2-8-0T was just over 33,000lbf. By comparison the LMS Garratt was about 45,600lbf, while the LNER U1 was a massive 72,900lbf

Lickey makes interesting reading with regard to big engine design. Bertha was reputed in some sources as having originally being a design to cut double heading of coal trains on the Midland Main Line, the job eventually done by the Garratts. It was slow and heavy, and the crossover piston valve design from the outside valves to the inside cylinders would not give a good steam flow. It also had to go through most points at walking pace as it was too rigid. Lickey was found to be ideal for it as it was a ten to fifteen minute low speed slog on straight track usually twice per hour, so plenty of recovery time for steam raising. Interestingly when the WR took over the line in the mid 1950s they tried their 2-8-0T on the bank but it was not as good as a pair of Jintys.

Guy, you have a PM. They are looking good. I will fit some to the coach sides I have got prepared ready for finishing. There are Blood & Custard and BR Maroon ones so we can get a good idea of how they look on each. I think the three P1/P2 vestibule coaches have a total of 38 vents between them so a sheet of 68 would do a rake of at least 5 coaches depending on the types. Side corridor stock usually had vents on one side only. I think they could also be cut down to make the smaller vents on some stock particularly restaurant cars. When I've done them I will post the results on here if they are OK. Eric

I believe that the Duddeston Viaduct may also have been part of the Huish scheme intended to give a direct through connection from the GJR to the to his Knightcote line, thus with his mixed gauge proposal creating a London to Manchester Broad Gauge route and excluding the L&B from that traffic. It was on the way to creating another civil war as it would have meant all of that traffic crossing the L&B on the flat. Following the merger of the L&B and GJR the connection was seen off by the LNWR before completion resulting in the diversion to Snow Hill.

When I was researching some West Midlands railway history for my own layout ideas I came up with the following summary of the events in the early/mid 1840s. The Birmingham & Gloucester together with the Broad Gauge Bristol & Gloucester line nearly joined the GWR. The Birmingham & Gloucester was originally proposed as a Broad Gauge line. The Birmingham and Derby toyed with the idea of joining with the London & Birmingham to make a through route from the East Midlands to London. The GWR started building a line from Oxford to connect with the London & Birmingham at Rugby. The abandoned formation can still be seen at Knightcote, about 2 1/2 miles north of Fenny Compton. Huish of the Grand Junction courted the GWR and proposed a line from Birmingham to join the GWR's Oxford & Rugby line at Knightcote. It was reportedly suggested that the GJ would provide mixed gauge on its existing line thus giving a Broad Gauge route from London through Birmingham to Manchester and Liverpool. The GJ suggestion of mixed gauge together with the idea of the B&G to the GWR would give a Broad Gauge route from Exeter through Bristol to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The various wheeler-dealings ended with the formation of the Midland Railway and the LNWR, The GWR diverted its proposed Rugby line to Birmingham via Leamington when the GJR pulled out as it had suddenly joined forces with the L&B. Subsequently a not-so-Civil War broke out between the LNWR and GWR over the Stour Valley line between New Street and Wolverhampton which was in the LNWR camp and the and the Shrewsbury & Birmingham which intended to use running powers over the Stour Valley but by the time at was ready the S&B was firmly in the GWR camp. This led to the building of the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway to link the Oxford & Birmingham with the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton at Priestfield, thus linking to the Shrewsbury & Birmingham and Shrewsbury & Chester. Subsequent running powers agreements and mergers gave the GWR access to Birkenhead, Warrington. Liverpool and Manchester. Confused? Modern business leaders and politicians have got nothing on the tricks served up in the time of Railway Mania. Even the present backroom boy at No.10 seems a pussycat compared to Mark Huish of the GJ and John Ellis, Deputy Chairman of the Midland.

This shows them from the end. Bournemouth West Station, Queen's Road, Bournemouth, Dorset by Alwyn Ladell, on Flickr

Didcot A power station was built between 1964 and 1968.

When I replaced the signal at Leamington with a cantilever colour light I provided a diamond sign next to each number plate. These were removed when control was transferred to the panel.