TheSignalEngineer

I did try the doodle myself, and it is perfectly possible to flip the layout in theory, keeping the Arrivals and Departures from conflicting but the curves didn't work in the available space. Back to your plan, I would also expect to see a slightly wider interval between track 5 and GR or GR and the first siding. What it did get me wondering was are the two kick-back sidings next to the headshunt connected in the most convenient place? It is possibly the most awkward way to actually use them, better may be off GR or a slip off the siding next to it but again Peco geometry makes it difficult. I had the 'adjust' a couple of points to make my layout work.

Are you talking about hand signals given during shunting etc. If so see this document https://www.rssb.co.uk/rgs/rulebooks/GERT8000-SS2%20Iss%205.pdf Section 5.2 starting at the bottom of page 11 shows hadndsignals to be used during shunting. Basically STOP is both arms raised vertically if on the ground or one arm held out horizontally to the side if riding on a vehicle. In darkness the signal is a red lamp held out horizontally to the side of the body. A stop signal given by a Handsignalman for other reasons, e.g. signalling disconnections, would be a red flag or handlamp.

Tonight I was looking for an old picture in a book. I have a few old bound volumes of magazines given to me by a long gone model engineering enthusiast. I started with Model Railway Constructor for 1939 and it soon struck me that although the method of delivery has changed the content is much the same as today. One of the first items I spotted was an article about the relatively good appearance (by 1930s standards) of semi-mass produced models, but how Bassett Lowke O Gauge looked so much better if you changed the coarse flanged wheels by finer ones available from LMC. I then came upon pictures of a garden railway running in the snow (c/f Jenny Emily's recent video), a series of articles on how to get into building your own locos and questions about structure clearances. Soon I was on to advice on soldering various material, which iron, what flux, etc. Next, horror of horrors, a debate on HO vs OO with a contribution from Edward Beal expounding the desirability of using 19mm gauge track for 4mm scale models. Intrigued, I stepped back a War to 1910 and 1913. There were questions about "How do I signal this?" Pictures of a Model Engineering Exhibition in Manchester. An article about LBSC Headcode Discs Suggestions for railway layouts Details of the latest locomotive built by the xyz Railway Articles on how to build coach bogies In all it seems that the essence of railway modelling and the discussions between modellers have not really changed in over 100 years. Nowadays we just talk of the same things set in a longer time frame.

Was it all Greenly's fault? I think I am OK with copyright on this as it came from a model engineering magazine over 100 years old. The interesting thing about it is that the leg hanging down is on a separate pivot. It is moved back towards the vehicle to uncouple and if pushed right back will lock with the hook raised to enable loose shunting.

Thanks Paul. It certainly looks quite old even in 1953 when the picture was dated. Ironically the train was hauled by an ex-ROD 2-8-0 from WWI

The ones used for power stations that I remember were like a 'Felix Pole' 20T without any doors. The West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority had some which went to the CEGB. There was one still parked at Nechells power station in the early 1980s.

Also can give a strange aerial effect with track circuit assisters on DMUs. We had one uninsulated lot on an unfitted line. When a DMU went over it the track circuit on the other line went down due to the interference signal being induced in it. I also remember some steel sleepers at ManVic. First vehicles over them derailed but fortunately it was an empty ballast. They weren't evenly packed and one end dug in throwing the cross levels and alignment haywire. They seem to slide sideways quite easily if not installed spot-on.

Went through there the last two Fridays early afternoon. Absolute nightmare. Miles of cones with not much happening.

A bit off the wall but what would it look like operationally if the layout was flipped left to right with the goods yard at the top, Arrivals in the middle and Departues at the bottom? Do the curves become too tight? Can't look myself at the moment as I am on Grandad duty but may have a doodle later.

Even modern sleepers can give problems due to contact between the reinforcing and the rail fastenings. that is why it is important for the pads under FB rail and the Pandrol insulations to be in good condition on track circuited lines. Another problem is the chairs were bolted through making electrical separation more difficult. It also has the effect of lowering the ballast resistance especially in damp weather, thus changing the drop and pick-up characteristics of the track circuit.

I can find out plenty about myself from the web, probably a lot more than I know already.

The high footplate Caprottis were originally at Longsight until displaced at the start of electric services in 1960. They certainly visited New Street at that time, in fact I believe one was at Monument Lane for a few weeks before they went to North Wales. I see that you have noticed they had Ivatt steps on the loco and the old type on the tender.

A while ago I got a secondhand Bachmann Jinty for a very reasonable price. The only problem was a missing bit off the side of the boiler by the exhauster but as it was being used for layout testing and being driven by the Grandchildren it didn't really matter, and I thought that the chassis would come in useful in the future. Looking at some stuff on Lickey I noticed that there was a banker with no vacuum brake pipe. Checking the details I found that 47638 was based at Saltley for a long period and regularly loaned to Bromsgrove whilst its sister locos were away for attention. The LMS was not known for incurring expenditure for what it didn't need. Sir Josiah Stamp, a Tax Man by trade, became Chairman in 1926 and was supposed to have set up what my Grandfather described as the 'Razor Gang'. Their job was to go through the system and cut out everything they could. I suspect that they noticed that a lot of small tank locos spent their whole time pushing and pulling wagons up and down sidings. The company had inherited a myriad of old locos at Grouping and was in the process of doing a bit of standardisation, or was it Midlandisation. One of the first products in 1924 was the 3F 0-6-0T, which was basically a Fowlerised version of Johnson's 2441 Class built by the Midland in 1899-1902. Someone decided that fitting and maintaining vacuum brake equipment to locos used for shunting was a waste of money, so 100 were built without it. From what I can see (any additional info appreciated) these were built by Hunslet, Bagnall and Beardmore broken down as follows:- Original Numbers 16650-16669 16670–16674 16675–16684 16685-16723 16724-16749 1934 Numbers 7567–7586 7587–7591 7592–7601 7602-7640 7641-7666 Lot Number 58 58 59 60 60 Year to service 1928 1929 1928 1928 1929 Builder Hunslet Hunslet Bagnall Beardmore Beardmore Works Numbers 1591–1610 1611-1615 2343-2352 350-388 389-414 Bachmann put out a model carrying the number 47629 in 2006, but that was the standard version with all of the vacuum brake equipment still in place. Incidentally 47629 was one of the last three of the class to be withdrawn in the first week of October 1967. Now, down to the model. I decided that conversion to the steam brake only version would be a quick hit. The fittings between the smokebox and tank on the right hand side, rod along the top of the tank and the vacuum pipes on the buffer beams were the only visible bits to change, so the parts that were still there went under the knife. The only awkward part was the collar at the bottom of the downpipe which is part of the mazak casting so had to be filed away. This is another loco out of the box with the pipework complete. And my donor with the pipework and exhauster removed The Bachmann Jinty is a veritable Chinese Puzzle when it comes to the number of screws underneath and the way that various bits slot together. After carving off the excess plastic it looked like this during filling and rubbing down After filling the various holes and rubbing down the wire removed from the top of the tank was used to make a new handrail. The brake pipes were taken off the buffer beam, holes filled and paint touched up. Renumbering and fitting a few details and crew finished the main part of the job. All that remains now is to add the smokebox number, shedplate, and front coupling, then weather it into a shunting yard condition and add lamps.

One for Mr Spams, I've found a photo of Spam 79 heading south from Walsall. It went via Tipton to New St so must have been close to going through BCB land.

In the case of a small crossing with hand-worked gates these would sometimes locked by a lever in the frame and sometimes by the use of a Black's Lock on each gate or pair of gates. The keys could only be removed from the gates when they were locked across the road and were then inserted into the lever frame to release the signals. Hand working of four gates was a pain unless it was a lightly used line crossing a minor road. When worked by a wheel there seemed to be different fashions depending on the company and era. Some had one lever shown as the Gate Lock. Others had two levers shown as Gate Lock, which was for the stops in the road holding the gates open for rail traffic, and a second named Gate Stops which held the gates open for road traffic. Again with wicket gates these could be operated by one or two levers. In some instances these were on small levers away from the frame as they weren't interlocked. IIRC correctly Bentley Heath between Dorridge and Solihull was like that before we put the barriers in around 1972/3. I can remember at least two crossings I visited which had hand worked gates and wicket gates. At least one was still worked to the old Rule 99, where the gates were kept locked across the road until needed to pass road traffic. The wickets were there so that pedestrians and cyclists could cross freely without need for intervention of the signalman. In all a very diverse subject which depended on era, company, frequency of trains and amount of road / pedestrian traffic. The number of levers used varied from one to four at the crossings I worked on.

After an unexpected/unwanted listing the usual method is the 2am fire.

Trawling through magazines and books for wagons likely to have worked in the area of my layout I have come across a couple that I don't recognise and can't identify at the moment. Both date from the mid 1950s. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The first was a rake of wagons in a train near to Nuneaton TV in 1953. They appear to be long wheelbase high sided wagons with no side doors and have a sheet rail. One wagon although of a similar type appears to be not so high. The second in a train from the Banbury area in 1956. I regularly saw iron ore trains in the area from about 1960 to the closure of the mines but never saw any wooden bodied wagons on these. I was wondering if this one was of North Eastern origin. It has some lettering on the side, possibly Iron Ore, looks like a steel underframe, bottom door markings, no drop-down side doors and is about the height of a wooden wagon with coke raves. Any suggestions as to it's origin? Thanks again for looking.

Absolute nightmare with track circuits. We had some on the approach to one of the early AHBs. The barriers were always staying down as the track circuit failed to pick after the train passed.

I think that is a good policy. My first layout after marriage was built in the garage. My current layout and all of my railway books etc are in a spare bedroom. The furthest any of it strays is the office desk where the computer is or the garage for painting. The living room is out of bounds as far as railways is concerned unless it is a TV programme that Anne wants to watch.

Most of my stock has Bachmann tension lock couplings. Stock with other couplings still fitted like a group of six coal hoppers have a Hornby R8099 which is a straight plug in to an old Dapol mount in one end of two wagons. This makes them easy to couple to Bachmann couplings and can be run in a groul of between 2 and 6. My biggest problem with RTR NEM against fixed couplings is the amount of play in the socket mounts. The Hornby cattle wagon I bought recently had 3mm of sag at the bar because the mounting boss is too long. A bit filed off and a bit of glue on the retaining screw so it could be tightened until there was just enough play for horizontal but no vertical movement and the height was perfect.

There are a large number of memorials around the country. At Kirkby Stephen church there is a grave and memorial to the victims of the 1913 Ais Gill disaster. At Tebay there is a plaque to four track workers killed by a runaway during a possession. In the churchyard next to the line near Bromsgrove station are the graves of a train crew killed by a boiler explosion in IIRC 1840.

I nearly fell off the fence at the end of Platform 6 when it appeared under the bridge.

On my old patch the PWay would often extend the life of a stretch of track by replacing about one in three of the sleepers on secondary routes.

Years ago I moved a lot of the couplings back when I changed Mainline ones for narrow Bachmann. Setting them with the sides of the bar about level with the buffers seems to work OK on my curves. Some wagons which came with the long type could quite happily just be changed for the short version.

And then hauled away by locos using screw couplings.