KSE Signalling Project

It's been a little while since we built up some wooden benches to take the wire wheels we've recently been cleaning up, so we thought we'd tackle another 4. As well as testing them out for comfort! We use threaded bar to clamp the top to the legs, but to do this, we need holes that go all the way through. This has the additional bonus of preventing the timbers in the ground from splitting. Once the holes are drilled, threaded bar is pushed through, nuts and washers applied (ensuring the washers are positioned so as to look good...) before it is all tightened up. Three of the benches are seen here, almost ready for the Moles of KSE to set to and bury them. The left-hand-most bench will take the double dolly reading into the headshunt (beside the signalbox) or along the Tebay line. The next one that can be seen from the left will take the flat wheels for the wires from these signals so that the wires pass underneath the track. On the right hand side is the final bench of the ...

Well, as a matter of fact, a large proportion of the flat wheels we have in stock actually DON'T go 'round and round'. They're seized with rust after many years of storage in various places.  So, work is required to free them up, to dismantle them for cleaning, checking over, fitting grease nipples and painting, before they can be used. So what exactly do they actually do? The wheels allow the wires from the levers to the signals themselves to 'pull' around corners... from the signal box to the signals, logically the best route would be a dead straight line. But there is track in the way, other structures and the need to avoid trip hazards and keep the wires together. So, when you set out a run, sometimes you have to take the signal wires under the track, and turn through 90° to get to the correct signal, possibly via mechanical detectors (more on these soon...). You have already seen we have installed various wooden benches for these wheels. The wire joins end ...

The SD&LUR box is a fairly small structure, and contains about as large a frame as you could possibly fit into it. It also has a fireplace taking up one of the rear corners, and the door at the other. Why is this important, you may well ask? Well, it's all about the furniture; or rather, the space that's left available for the furniture! One such item is a slope-topped booking desk, where the Train Register is to be located, in which train movements will be recorded. We had considered a wall-mounted variant (decidedly less common on the NER) as opposed to free standing (which would take up a lot of space. On site we have a couple of potentially suitable desks, so we thought we'd compare them. One was ruled out for not being of NER pedigree. Another was rather large, but a cunning plan emerged: with large windowsills, perhaps the desk could fit on one of these, thus freeing up wall space! The desk chosen to experiment with seems to have come from Ravenstonedale station, ...

As the progress with the box itself nears the time at which we will be allowed to install the frame, we have been trying to get the various components cleaned up and painted. The stack of 22 levers with 3 of the catch blocks on top, showing their very distinctive shape. Some of the levers retain their original paint, whereas others were previously stripped back and primed in red oxide. The levers themselves required dismantling into their component parts so that they could be cleaned up properly, have the pins and holes inspected and made good as need be. As they have been dismantled, whilst the levers themselves have their number stamped on, the catch blocks and catch rods do not. Just in case they are not interchangeable (and to retain originality), we have numbered them accordingly. We did find that some levers have signs of brutality from some point in their lives: in some cases, the catch blocks would not slide off until the levers saw careful attention to high spots. The box cont...

Working alongside mechanical signalling is the dark art of electrical trickery. One vital part of this  is the railway safety relay. Relays of one sort or another have been used in vital railway signalling  circuits for over 125 years now and through long experience with older relays the present design,  the BR930 miniature has become possible. I say a present design, it was the mid 1960’s when  they first appeared and are still manufactured and used in 2025 worldwide. Not bad eh? They might call them miniature, but they still weigh over a Kilo each.   There’s now well over 200 variants of this relay depending on what function they are required to  perform. Thankfully we won’t need that many variants! Westinghouse M3 Point Machine We have been collecting, gathering, squandering, basically hoarding all the types of BR930  miniature relay, also known as Q type, that we will need including spares.   Everything from track circuits, signal i...

  ...you're sure of a big surprise! The previously prepared girders (which will support the frame) were moved into position, so as to triple check the vertical dimensions. These sit on top of the block pillars that Bob and his team built into the box in the very early days of its construction! With a little chipping away, dropped mortar was cleared off the top of the plinths, and the two girders lifted into position. These support the frame in the box, with the lever quadrants sitting just above floor level upstairs. Hopefully! The drive from the frame drops down onto the floor of the locking room, which is secured to the lengths of rail that were set into the structure at the very outset of the project. Thus, everything is (eventually) tied together to prevent movement between different components, which would lead to all sorts of problems! The frame will be bolted to the girders, which in turn will be fastened down to the pillars. One of the next posts will cover the fastening of...