KSE Signalling Project

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...

 In search of some variation from the usual themes of digging, cleaning, painting and fettling, Matt has started on the massive task of installing the signal wires.  All the wire stakes have been 'planted' (a term which makes it all sound so straightforward and easy-going!), pulleys added and almost all the benches are in place. Wherever the signal wires join on to levers, signals, cranks or chain to go around wheels, the wire needs to be made off appropriately. 'Proper' signal wire is formed from 7 strands of galvanised steel: 6 strands twisted around a single (slightly larger) central strand. Matt has started by fashioning a couple of ends around thimbles, to join to shackles. In order to do this, the wire is twisted to form a loop, whose two legs are then cranked out slightly, so that they will sit snugly together, parallel. Each of the strands is then wound tightly around, 7 times, before being twisted off (this is a skill in itself...). The final strand is the cent...

Following on from the previous two posts concerning Central Division signals, we now have Part 3.. This concerns a trip Matt and I made, up to Fighting Cocks Station, near Darlington, to meet up with Norman Hugill. The original (Central Division!) signal from the station has been returned there, to (hopefully) be re-erected as a reminder of the line. However, for the time being, it lies in its component parts, and includes various parts we have not seen anywhere else! Particularly of note is the landing and the balance lever arrangement. Both of which we need to duplicate in order to complete our signals at KSE! We duly headed up, armed with tape measures, pens and a clipboard. The arm. First of all, we discovered the original wooden arm was only 4' in length (which would give 3'6" beyond the post), although it does look shorter than most from the photos in situ. Secondly, the edges were all rounded off, which answered a question I'd had rumbling around in the back of ...