KSE Signalling Project

Today saw us complete the installation of five heavy steel bars into the base of what will become the low internal wall of the signal box maintenance pit. This wall will support the ends of pairs of redundant rails, which in turn hold the large timbers that make up the lead-out bench. A suitably drilled steel ‘strongback’ will be fitted over the threaded bars and bolted tightly onto the rail ends, securing them firmly in place. This will allow our signalling team to attach the fascinatingly complex array of signalling paraphernalia when the time comes. In the meantime, we will begin assembling all our own paraphernalia on site in readiness for the pour of 25 tons of concrete into the assembled formwork - along with all the backbreaking effort that will accompany it. Watch this space.

 Work on our latest project recommenced today as we began cutting and laying the steel mats that will further reinforce the concrete cap. Two layers of the mat are required – one at the base of the trench and another just under the surface of the cap. Liquid concrete will flood all around and under these binding the whole of the base together into one big solid mass. We have some finishing touches to apply yet before we concrete and I will report on these with some explanatory photos in the next post. If any of you are planning to visit our imminent Easter event for a train ride, you will have an excellent view of the emergent ‘box as the train rolls by.

Today saw us make further progress on the shuttering for the signal box foundations—pinning, bracing, and stiffening the timbers that will resist the tremendous force exerted by 25 tons of wet concrete. We are almost ready, but not quite, as we still need to lay the steel reinforcing mesh that will further bind and strengthen the concrete. Only then can we begin laying the first courses of blockwork, marking the gradual, phoenix-like rise of this building from the rubble of yesteryear and the dead hand of British Railways. And the story of its return is only just beginning..

 With the construction phase of the S&DR ‘box finished, things have now come full circle  as, today, with all the appropriate paperwork (CDM-Regs, Risk Assessments etc) now in  place, we made the first constructive moves towards resurrecting the much bigger Junction  ‘box.  All the decaying foundations of yesteryear have been removed to reveal the original  concrete base on which they were resting. Steve & Andrew , our structural engineer and  architect respectively, sensibly decided to adopt a ‘belt and braces’ approach and beef this up  with another 350mm cap of steel-reinforced concrete. Today we began laying the formwork,  which will contain this 25 tons of concrete. When finished, this will give us an  unimpeachable base on which to start the build. We will be reporting our progress step by step in this blog so you can watch the building  grow and, please remember, it has only been made possible by your generous don...

Quite some time ago, we installed a bench at the end of the first stretch of rodding, leading away from the box. We even got so far as to drill the holes for the crank bases! This is where the rodding turns through 90° to go underneath the track and then will meet up with the main rodding run, via a similar arrangement on another bench. It's slightly more complicated here, as we needed to swap the order of the rods as they got to the bench, so that they are in the correct order for the main run. In the first photo, where Will can be seen trimming the studding we used to bolt down the crank bases, the rods are from levers 9-8-7, from the left. This transposed (effectively) to 8-9-7 from the bench... note the alignment of the cranks, relative to the bench. No.9 lever controls a Facing Point Lock (FPL), and we chose to use up a crank and pedestal with a smaller diameter bearing, reflecting the smaller force required to operate it.  Unfortunately, this has larger holes for the pins to ...

  In the middle of a bleak, cold and damp winter, the signal box has proved to be a good place to warm up and carry out various painting jobs! The warming up has tested out the chimney and fireplace nicely! The levers have progressed to their final undercoat, with a good variety of colours on show. For those who wonder about the choice of colours: these relate to the levers' functions. Red - signals (shunt, subsidiary and main aspect) Yellow - distant signals Black - points Blue - point lock Blue over Black - points and lock combined (motor points, in our case) Blue over Brown - release (for a ground frame) White - spare lever The levers have been rubbed down and undercoated, with warmer weather required before the top coats can be applied. The fire in the box isn't enough on its own to produce a good finish. All available space has been used, with a trestle table set up behind the levers, windowsills covered and the slab of wood for the block shelf also pressed into service. T...