TheSignalEngineer

I don't know the current situation off-hand but when I was about your age the rule at least on the LMR was that Theatre Indicators were only to be used for routes up to 40MPH. If there was a situation where one had to be provided for instance into a terminating Bay Platform then only one route over 40MPH from the signal was permitted. This was not indicated, just a main aspect was given, but all other routes were to be indicated. There were a few situations where no lamp,proving was provided on a Theatre Indicator when all routes were of the same speed or had less than 10MPH reduction and were of approximately the same length e.g. a terminal station with all of the stop blocks more or less in line, or a low speed through station with no bay platforms. It was pretty rare, I think I worked on a handful of places in nearly 40 years.

Swindon to the left and Crewe to the right? But I am talking of my memories of the last clean 'King' I saw at Snow Hill in 1962 and City of Birmingham as it left Crewe Paint Shop for the museum in 1966. My colour perception is totally different to what it would have been then, and I am looking at them on an LCD monitor.

Two vehicles could come out of the same paint shop together and depending on the services they ran and how maintained they could look very different after a few weeks. WR washing machines were notorious paint faders and strippers. Also (IIRC) BR Blue was actually changed sometime during its life as the original paint formula was found to change shade when exposed to the atmosphere. As for maroon used on the Westerns and Warships, it could look very different from maroon Mk1s. Can you remember which is the right one? I travelled a few times on the Southern Region from when stuff hadn't been repainted after Nationalisation up to the end of steam, but I'm damned if I could tell which was right from several samples. The Southern cycle of paint/varnish/varnish/varnish/paint over a 10 year period wouldn't help in producing consistent shades either.

Pity it's Hornby length, not scale length as I need to do a couple for my layout.

Hi Simon You are right about the size based on what was in their newsletter. https://www.dccconcepts.com/news/ If the measurements on their drawing are right they are probably about 2/3 oversize at 4mm so would be nearer to O Gauge like the Wills OO Gauge point rodding. Eric

Drift warning. She wouldn't have got off at Platform 9 at Euston coming from Scotland unless the wires were down at Wembley, it's one of the short DC Lines platform. Perhaps she got confused because it's only 3/4 of the length of the main line platforms.

If you look at the schematic at the bottom of post #28, the first thing you do is work out the compensation from the box to the points worked off the drop lug. Because you take into account the distance from the adjusting crank to the stretcher bar connection pin the main rod will actually be compensated to the same distance past the crank, shown as 'N' for Null Point in the diagram. You then work out the compensation from 'N' to the second points.

In loco hauled and DMU days the stock was all 57' or below IIRC. The EMUs in later days running through the Midland tunnels onto the Widened lines had tapered ends. There were some special wall mounted signalling equipment cases down there. The clearance was so tight that one had the door left off because the handle was hit by a train that got a bit of of a rock'n'roll on.

Kinematic Envelope is the actual space taken up by vehicles when moving rather than a static profile. It depends on vehicle behaviour relating to such parameters as wheelbase, end overhang, speed, track curvature and cant.

Just picked up on this thread. I was lodging near Finsbury Park station in 1971. We took great delight in making diversions to and from work in Camden by travelling via Kings Cross Widened Lines station. Later when I was Resident Engineer I was involved with signalling improvements on Thameslink and often used the spiral staircase to the site of St Pancras Tunnel Signal box. I was interested to see signal C2 in the six-foot. We put a new signal on the tunnel wall at about that position but it was only visible from a very short distance so we had to cast a concrete block between the track slabs and put a ground mounted co-acting signal. It was so tight that it was only 10mm outside the kinematic envelope. The local story was that clearance was so tight down there that the profile of the units was determined by making a dummy body with expanded polystyrene corners and towing it through. The final design of the tapered corners was supposed to have been based on the shape remaining after the run and taking 100mm off it.

Not on the fish but there's a picture of it at Grimsby here. http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/gy/brock2.htm 8th picture down.

I've not worked out any distances but I think the rodding would have looked something like the schematic I've added to the plan. It's only a best guess based on what I've seen so far, but would tie in with the pictures. The object under the platform edge would be where I would expect to find the compensator for the far end of the crossover and the drive crank for the slip.

I've successfully used an artists Soluble Acrylic Matt Varnish from Daler-Rowney. I've still got a large bottle my son bought about 15 years ago, so I don't know if it matches the current formula. It is spirit based and if it starts to thicken in the bottle a few drops of white spirit freshens it up. It goes on very thinly and can be brushed successfully as long as you don't load the brush too much.

Thanks, I will print off later and mark on the cranks for 6 and 7.

The circle to the left is the lead-off timber outside the signal box. I will look closer tonight at where the compensation would probably be. Do you have any large scale drawing of the area? An overhead track plan of your layout would probably suffice.

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now

Regarding quality of etchings, how many plastic kits (barring a couple of recent ones I have built) go together without a bit of 'easing' or some filler? Roof profile different to the ends, floors different size to the body parts, solebars too long or too short, brake gear that doesn't fit between the wheels to name just a few things I have come across in about 100 wagon kits I have built across the years.

Probably not lit as it was in daylight and wouldn't be seen.

That's the beast. They sometimes had a cover on top across the two crank spindles.

In a museum situation I would use a big tractor and some stout chains.

The second photo puts it into context. It is taken from the signal box window. The crank under the rodding would be worked by a joint connected to a drop lug on the right hand rod. The device in the left hand rod looks like a vertical compensator crank to equalise the expansion and contraction. We still had a few like that around the Birmingham area in the mid 1960s.

I would think that you would only see one in a pickup goods if it served somewhere with a quarry, and then only occasionally. You can make a lot of big bangs with a van load.

Were you out on it a couple of days ago? Cleaning the lines by Stephen Burdett, on Flickr

Had to drop off Mrs SE today and realised I was only a few minutes from the Collectors Fair at Haydock Park. Picked up a badly painted Bachmann Pannier for a project donor chassis for a very reasonable price. Now have a pannier body needing TLC (pity someong wrecked a perfectly good LT one) and to my surprise a DCC decoder going spare (just need an 8-pin blanking plate).

Remember that the (G) Western Region were very quick at painting anything that stopped in the vicinity of the works in lined green even to the extent of some carrying the early emblem. I have however seen at least one photo of a 45xx in black with the small early emblem, I think on Colour Rail.