TheSignalEngineer

That's the Wide to Gauge trap in the platform road. The derailer was in the middle road. WTG traps are usually OK at low speed as they act as a retarder rather than a derailer.

A post of mine from and old thread. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82416-mixed-livery-dmus/page-1&do=findComment&comment=1348813 There are a few more on there.

Army Peak Coldstream Guardsman's last stand (on top of the stop block) More military please.

Deleted, put in here by error

Correct, the points at the Templecombe end were too far from the box to be mechanically worked. I don't know the history, but either there would have had to be a second box or perhaps the loop was extended at some time?

The Standard Length Unit or SLU was 21 feet. The standage available was the number of SLU plus 1 loco and 2 brake vans IIRC.

Possibly because any train passing a platform signal at danger will end up on a single line, so could go head on into an approaching train.

A County Palatine was a county where many of the Crown functions were performed locally by a Duke or other nobleman. Lancashire was administered by the Duchy of Lancaster. If you want some background on Lancashire try this paper https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/103-4-Somerville.pdf

In the days when these were originally provided the progress of a freight train was usually very leisurely. Although passenger trains were reaching speeds of 60mph and more, unfitted freights struggled to get above about 20mph. As congestion became a problem companies started to provide Outer Home signals to enable the Block to be cleared and another train accepted into section whilst the first train was backing in.

It not only terminated in the County Palatine of Lancashire but also crossed the adjacent palatinate of Cheshire.

Loops at Quintinshill were Passenger standard to enable stopping trains to be regulated. The signal positions were:- Down Main to Loop - 207 yards south of box Down Loop to Main - 178 yards north of box Up main to Loop - 204 yards north of box Up Loop to Main - 172 yards south of box. Those positions would be commensurate with the Facing Points being close to the 180 yards from the box specified in the 1902 Requirements.

There was usually a telephone, sometimes two in the case of long loops, for the Guard to call the box. With the introduction of the Guard in the back cab then DOO in freight trains some loops had a CCTV camera provided so the Signalman could look the back of the train to see the tail lamp as it entered the loop.

WW2 was the driver for converting some Lie By sidings to Goods Loops. By that time the objections to facing points had reduced a little, and the availability of point machines such as the Westinghouse Style C powered by a hand generator at the signal box, favoured by the GWR in particular, made operation over longer distances possible. The LMS tended to use SGE Type HA machines which could be worked by a 30V battery trickle charged at 110v over line wires on the pole route. This meant that the power surge needed to run the points could be economically stored at site until needed.

Due to the limit on the length of rodding from the box to facing points, 180 yards when the S&C was built IIRC, If the box was pit in the middle of the loop you had at most 300 yards between the trap going in and the exit signal, which allowing for the Midland's small engine policy and a Brake Van would mean about 35 wagons capacity. Any longer would need a second signal box thus doubling the operating labour cost, capital and maintenace costs of over that of a trailing siding. Additionally in those days the patents on various locking frames meant that companies often had to pay a license fee to the Patentee on a per lever basis, so the fewer you could get away with the better. It explains some of the minimalist approaches to signalling on Victorian railways and the weird and wonderful 3-D metal puzzles produced as interlocking by individual railways.

Lie By Siding was the common name for them on the Midland. Other railways had different names, the GWR called them Refuge Sidings.

I never fail to be amazed at how people buy on ebay. An item that I advertised for £xx inc p&p BIN or Best offer didn't sell. Shortly after I advertised for auction starting at £xx-10 plus £5 p&p and got more than the original asking price. Not the first time such things have happened either.

With the number of transfers in the late 1960s it was also possible to see a few 47s with a W and a WR Red Spot.

Your ways of transforming a model at the painting stage will never cease to amaze me.

Or when they were taken. I caught out an ex-WR man in my office with a photo of a preserved Castle passing through a GWR station which had its original building and footbridge more or less intact and painted in GWR style. The print was done in black and white, cropped to avoid the BR lamp posts with corporate signs. At first he was sure it must have been taken in the 1930s or 40s, but when told to look closer he noticed the flat bottom track on concrete sleepers in front of the loco and Mk2 coach with window-hangers behind it.

Several of my modern locos have had to have the pick-ups adjusted when new as they don't touch the wheels at the maximum play either side of centre. The other thing is that I always clean the wheels. including the back where the pick-ups make contact. You would be surprised how much dirt there is on some of them from new..

If a rebore was necessary that could prove fun. Parts of it run through the Edale Shale which is notoriously fickle when it comes to staying in place. The existing lining was pumped in-situ concrete and varies from about 550mm upwards to whatever fell out during the blasting and digging. The rebore would have to take out the old concrete and replace it in modern form at the required internal diameter.

Good to see you back in action, I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms. Nice treatment of the Dapol coach, I hope they do it in 4mm. My layout area had panelled autocoaches right up to the coming of the Class 122 DMU, but they were the 70' version.

I remember when I was working on the original Thameslink jobs that we tried to get into the Hotel Curve tunnel from the bottom when we were looking for ways of access for materials but it was flooded.

Woodhead was originally built in the 1840s. The section east of Hyde Junction does not even comply W6A gauge without restrictions. The maximum size HGV on a low deck wagon would only just fit under the wires at their highest point let alone at most of the bridges.

Not sure what the County roads are like east oh the hills but on the HA when you go down the A616 through Stocksbridge it seems prone to flooding at the moment. Still, it keeps the traffic reasonably quiet on Mottram Moor.