KSE Signalling Project

After the initial rush to progress the frame installation ready for the S&D 200 celebrations at Kirkby Stephen East (an excellent event held over the August Bank Holiday in 2025), it was now time to paint and ‘fettle’ the levers in readiness for their operational role. I n most cases, it was just a case of building up layers of paint, in various colours to suit their intended function… Demonstration Section However, after painting, lever No. 9 (facing point lock for No. 8 points, at the station end of the headshunt crossover) had developed a problem with its catch-block deciding to stick in the raised position! Catch-blocks are heavy and designed to drop into a notch when the lever is in either the normal or reverse position and prevent the lever from accidently moving. If the block doesn’t drop by gravity, then there is a risk of the lever being left in mid stroke. Since painting, lever No. 9 had developed a sticking point whereby its catch-block wouldn’t drop back down. ...

 With the wet weather having receded (a little!), we could no longer avoid, the next round of work to finish off some more benches. BENCH NO.1 The first bench to tackle was the one that sits between the Tebay and Eden Valley lines, near the footbridge. This takes 2 rods from the box (levers 8 and 9 to access the shed headshunt from the Tebay line), as well as 2 from the ground frame (to access the Turntable road from the Eden Valley line), through 90° to the main rodding run. We had previously dug the legs into place for this, so 'just' needed to dig out a bit and fit the top...   And that's where things got more complicated! We needed to drop the top of the bench down by 1" to get everything to line up at the correct height (the hardwood sleepers we use for bench tops vary in thickness...). This was fixed very quickly, using a circular saw and chisel to take out an inch from underneath the sleepers, where they sit on the concrete legs. The digging out involved moving ...

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...