TheSignalEngineer

See my post above clarifying that the 20mph referred to running light engine. Tanks classified as Passenger or MT were allowed 45mph running light.

Sorry, not quite clear in what I was referring to. The speeds were for tank locos running light rather than hauling trains. This is what was I was thinking of, taken from the 1959 WTT for Gloucester & Worcester Districts. When hauling trains freight tank locos were subject to the normal speeds for the line plus those for crossovers etc, subject to any lower figure specified for a class at particular locations in the local restrictions such as some moves where the 94xx tanks were permitted at "Dead slow speed".

The M3A was the version of the M3 developed for use on AC electrified lines IIRC. Early Siemens machine at Snow Hill North https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1672.htm Later machine at Snow Hill South https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1740.htm From dated photograph I suspect that these lasted until the late 1930s before being progressively replaced by GRS machines. Circa 1968/9 I was tasked with doing a review of the S&T stores stock levels at Birmingham compared to annual usage. Whilst going through the stock bins I found a large quantity of spare parts for original Siemens point and signal machines as installed at Snow Hill North, Snow Hill South and Hockley North. When the last of these boxes, Hockley North, was taken out of use c1967 there was a lot of equipment made by Krupps before WW1 still in use there. I don't have the book but I expect it would have been a Westinghouse Style C machine. We still had one at the exit to the Up Loop on the Oxford line at Aynho Junction at least into the 1980s. Not a very good picture as it is a low res scan of a shot taken with a miniature pocket camera, but this was a Style C machine with the cover off showing rodding for operation of the combined FPL and detector box in the four-foot. (if anyone wants a high res scan of the print I can PM one, but it may be a bit big to post in the topic.)

Actually not so. In the late 1950s/early 1960s the WR WTTs quoted a maximum speed for freight tank locos of 20MPH, the same as for a 350 shunter.

I have filled visible screws which may need to be removed in future with a small bit of decorator's caulk levelled off with a scalpel blade. Comes out easily if you need to access them.

I remember reading somewhere that the theoretical maximum was 28.3 mph with the engine at permitted full revs. That would probably require that there was no tyre wear.

You may find some more information in this thread.

The official top speed of a Class 03 was 27 mph. I remember them working the Albion shunt trip from Monument Lane in the 1960s before the electrification came. It went out to Albion on Monday at 0420, arriving at 0439 and was outstabled IIRC, working daily between Albion, West Bromwich Gas works, Oldbury Goods and Spon Lane Basin, returning at some time on Saturday. At one time I think they also got on 18 Trip which went as far as Tipton and Bloomfield Junction. Sometimes it took a train between yards and at other times it was booked Engine and Brake.

First of all, you need some points to act as traps to protect the passenger line against unauthorised moves from the sidings. There is a set of points in the yard which could be worked from the box for this purpose. The left hand end will depend on the method of working. There is a whole string of questions to consider starting with the company and era you are modelling. Will you have more than one loco on the layout at any one time? It would also be helpful to have a complete plan of the layout and the moves you intend to make. You may like to start a separate thread to look at the various options and decide the best way forward.

Yes, and don't forget that the position is determined not only by distance but also if there is a change of action from pull to push at a crank in the run. One of the lost attachments that has come back from the other side shows an example of how the rodding run is can be laid out. It was derived from what I could see on a photo posted in a question about a Midland location. The IRSE has a file on the web in its Minor Railways section about mechanical points, including some drawings of compensation of rodding runs towards the end. https://www.irse.org/Portals/0/NewPortal/DownloadableLinks/Get Involved/MinorRailwaysSection/PA01 - Mechanically Operated Points v2.pdf?ver=2019-09-12-130218-450

Wasn't that the Junction around 1953?

Companion planting also applies to plants which shouldn't be planted together because of potential problems. Avoid planting cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli, fennel, tomatoes, potatoes, , peppers and mint next to strawberries Plants from the brassica family – cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli will compete with the strawberry plants for nutrients. Tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine may spread fungal disease to strawberry plants. Peas and beans are good for fixing nitrogen in the soil. Courgettes are very hungry and can deplete the nutrients. I always dig in compost from the bin before and after courgettes. Beans and courgettes are not particularly prone to soil borne diseases as far as I am aware so work well together.

Another good tip is not to put a signal box behind a stop block. Two instances spring to mind, firstly when my Dad was in the Fire Brigade he got called to Monument Lane shed one morning to find top top of Sheepcote Lane box perched on a loco tender. About 12 years later c1970 I was travelling to Worcester on the first train out of Birmingham and we were talked by Kidderminster Station's Home signal into the platform. When we got there a coal wagon was buried in the end wall of the box nearest to the Goods shed.

You will need an adjusting crank in the rod to the points so they wouldn't come straight out from under the box to the points - normally. Having said that I once did one during some power box stage works where we put a crank coupled directly to the pedestal crank below the lever, ran a rod along the bed timber of the frame to an adjusting crank opposite the point stretcher. There isn't a problem in having to two ends of a crossover on either side of the box. I can think of at least three ways of running a rod both ways from the lead off. Best is probably using two joints from the crank, one with standard jaws then a second with wide jaws fitting over the first joint. I don't know if in the real world you can still get the wide jaw joints but they were certainly around in my days on mechanical signalling Not a problem if you have space. The walking route at Saltley Junction was between the sleeper ends and the rodding, with boarded ramps over the cross rods. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrsalt618.htm Try to avoid having cross rods beyond a trap point or stop block as at best you will spend a lot of time replacing the rods after a derailment, and more importantly distorting the rodding may lead to the points opening under a train on another track, especially nasty if you have a Midland Economical FPL.

There doesn't appear to be a signal to the siding as it is only a ground frame connection. Reversing the points would need the token to be put into a lock on the frame and couldn't be removed unless the FPL lever was normal. The FPL could not be locked with the points reverse.

Had another look, post deleted as I think it was a trick of the camera angle.

@Phil BullockThe correct way to do it is for the point rod to go over the top of the adjusting crank for the first end with a drop log under the rod to link to that crank. If you try to work a second end off the stretcher of the first end, adjusting that one will put the second out of adjustment. Also how do you get the rod through the timbers in the middle of the crossover? And don't forget that you need a compensator between the two ends of the crossover which puts it in the four-foot of the crossing track.

I think Grouping was just part of the regular flow we see through the years in many businesses. Companies merge to form bigger companies partly to corner someone else's market share. They get greedy, diversify and become an unmanageable conglomerate. From there the paths are usually demerge or fail. Circumstances such as wars or the business being essential to the national wellbeing may also intervene leading to the Government to take control. A political shift then demands denationalisation ( later renamed privatisation) which leads to selling off the assets cheaply to their mates on some spurious promise or other of a quick buck for the national purse. A few larger groups gather in all of the services so you have a handful of big companies running things but they got their sums wrong and it all unravels and the Government has to step in again. Grouping was just a step along the way in a process which had started with mergers like those forming the Midland Railway in 1844 and LNWR in 1846. All just another spin of the Magic Roundabout.

Every cross rod is different, and it is difficult to handle single rods of sufficient length to cross under more than one track, so they still have to be joined using either a scarfed or barrel joint. Making them to the correct set and length also requires a certain amount of blacksmithing skill and was quite entertaining when you try to do it trackside on a portable forge in the dark and rain when putting in a complex layout and the end of the possession is nigh. (Yes, I did get the metaphorical T-shirt). The main tools needed to put in channel rodding were a pway bar, shovel and punner for the stools, hacksaw for cutting to length, punch making bolt holes, and spanners foe the nuts. A hammer is always useful as well. The proper spanner for the channel rod bolts is a Tee handle square head box spanner which is about 32" long. Just right for tightening from a standing position. The square nut should be left square with the channel rodding when tightened so you can easily tell of it is working loose on maintenance visits. This is a joint for channel rod to crank, 3" upset. The length including the fishplate end is 28.5". This one has an insulation which is required on electrified lines for preventing the rodding run and thus the point levers becoming part of the traction return path on electrified lines by accidental contact between the rod and return rail. (Image linked from Unipart Rail catalogue) It is possible to make rods in many different configurations such as channel connection at each end for upset/downset or sideset and longer rods with barrel adjustment for point drives from the adjusting crank.

The Warwickshire coal is the same as that mined at Daw Mill and I think Kersley (Coventry Colliery), both of which supplied Didcot. Around the time that the South Warwickshire Prospect was being developed BR was involved in another possible mine which was on the route of the abandoned GNR line near Stafford. There was a nice thick seam but deep down and it was too corrosive for use in boilers. I don't think it ever got past a few test borings that demonstrated the extent of the seam. It may have been of use to the chemical industry but nobody wanted it at the time when other cheaper sources were readily available. Cannock Chase coalfield was closer to the surface and geological action meant that some areas were suitable for opencasting power station coal. When were were laying the cables from Bloxwich for the interlocking to control the access to the Distribution Point at the site of the old Essington Wood sidings the machine being used to bury them was actually cutting coal just below cess level as it went along.

There is a massive seam passing under most of Warwickshire which has hardly been touched. It stretches all the way from the Burton area as far as Banbury. It was mined in the north of the county around Coventry, Nuneaton and Kingsbury with the last mine being at Daw Mill. Many years ago I was involved in the South Warwickshire Prospect project which was intended initially to expand production at Daw Mill, with reinstatement of the railway from Whitacre to Hampton in Arden then on to Berkswell with reinstatement of the line from there to Kenilworth Junction and redouble to Milverton. A new pit was to be sunk at Berkswell to take over from Daw Mill but the good Burghers of Solihull were a bit miffed to say the least. A further pit was proposed at Southam with a new link to the Leamington - Banbury line near to Harbury. Proposed production was enough to run Didcot Power Station flat out for 365 days a year and more. The Thatcher - Scargill war effectively killed the idea.

I remember seeing full trainloads heading north through Snow Hill going to the steelworks at Bilston. Not all works had their own coking capability or were able to balance the coke output and furnace input levels. Coke is difficult to store as with repeated handling it turns to dust so there was a certain amount of import and export between works and also supplies from specialist plants like Orgreave or Avenue to equalise the requirements. There was a lot of discussion about coke movements back around Page 5 of this thread.

Thanks for posting that, it's just what I needed to get me going on my Palethorpes vans.

Well, a number of TKs were transferred to the M&GN in 1937 and outlasted the ones which remained on the LMS. One TK was pictured in a cross-country train at New Street in 1952. It is available on Warwickshire Railways. It's worth reading the notes on the page as it gives some details of their final years written by Philip Millard who did the original notes for the Ratio kits. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_br1823.htm Slightly wandering off topic, some similar LNWR 50ft non-corridor stock lasted on the Lichfield City locals until the DMUs took over. A Push Pull Driving Trailer apparently escaped being condemned until 1958.

Well, what a month April was. Not been on the site very much due to various issues, so apologies for anything I have missed, I think I am still about 40 pages behind. Recovered from Covid but was a bit lethargic for a while. After rushing to catch up in the garden and on the allotment due to time lost to Covid and fixing weather damage at home we went off to Yorkshire. All was going well until I hit a patch of loose gravel on a forest road whilst cycling and went 'Full GDB'. Managed to knock myself out but fortunately came round quickly. Plenty of gravel rash, friction burns and bruises but fortunately nothing broken. No phone signal where we were but a few minutes later when I was working out our escape route a young lady in a forestry van came along and took me down to the village where she arranged for a couple of strong young lads to take a pick-up truck to collect Anne and the bikes from the track we knew she was using to get down. Most of my internet reading has been by phone for the last month as we had a network problem then being away, so I haven't been posting much. Hopefully I will be back to full mobility soon. Sleep can still be a bit uncomfortable due to residual injuries and stairs are a bit difficult but getting better by the day. So here's hoping for a better month of May.