NER Central Division Signal Components - Part Deux

(Apologies for the Hot Shots reference with the title...)

As a change from digging holes, this entry looks back at the Central Division (CD) components and what has happened with them.

The arm weight we had originally hoped to cast from with minor attention, then machine out afterwards was not so simple, and instead required a pattern making to accommodate the voids / holes / undercut / pockets. Going down this route has caused extra outlay to have the pattern made, but brought down the cost of producing the components, as they will only require basic fettling and drilling as opposed to awkward machining.

The more of these we have done, the greater the saving...

Original arm weight (Right)
Pattern for full size arm weight (Centre)
Pattern for small (subsidiary) arm weight (Left)

At the same time, we had a pattern made for the smaller (subsidiary) CD arm weight. These have now been completed, delivered to the foundry and successfully cast from!

The extra lumps and hollows relate to
where the holes will be drilled or the cores placed
to form the relevant holes in the final piece.

Part of the Lottery bid was for us to provide some part of the funding towards the scheme. As these components are easily identifiable and in exact quantities, we are asking for donations towards them and their production. To that end, please see the table below (all prices ex-VAT):

Pattern Making / adjusting originals to cast from:

Large Post Cap - New Pattern - £800 (This suits Central Division signals as well as Northern Division wooden posts)

Central Division Arm Weight (Full size) - New Pattern - £700 (This includes the cores which form the square and round holes as well as the undercut which will take the wooden arm blade)

Central Division Arm Weight (Small size) - New Pattern - £700 (As above. This has generously been sponsored already!)

Northern Division Arm Centres (Large and Small sizes) - Modifying originals to use as patterns - £300 (These are worlds apart from the Central Division arm weights! Luckily the originals are suitable for casting from directly, although core boxes have been made to allow the square centres to be formed. The Northern Division components suit the lattice post bracket signal which we will be restoring.)

The finished patterns: the black denotes where a core will sit for the casting process.
The Subsidiary arm weight on the left is a "best guess" as to how it was done,
based on numerous photos (LINK TO FLICKR: https://flic.kr/p/25HREZo )
and whilst I'm prepared to be proven wrong, I am pretty sure we've got it right!!

The Castings themselves:

Large Post Cap - £200 each - 3 required
CD Arm Weight (Large) - £130 - 4 required
CD Arm Weight (Small) - £120 - 2 required
CD Spectacle (1 size only) - £192 - 6 req
CD Back Blind (1 size only) - £141 - 6 req
CD Bearings (1 size only) - £145 - 12 req as they work in pairs

ND Arm Centre (Large) - £147 - 1 req
ND Arm Centre (Small) - £124 - 2 req
ND Back Blind (Large) - no price as yet - original being sourced to copy
ND Back Blind (Small) - £178 - 2 req
ND Bearings (1 size only) - £165 - 6 req as they work in pairs
ND Arm Stop / tie (1 size only... we think!) - £45 - 3 req

You may well spot a couple of things here: there are no listings for Northern Division Spectacles, either large or small. Fortunately we have some originals we can use here, and still retain more for copying in the future as we may need. Secondly, there are no spindles to link all the components together with. These will be machined as opposed to cast, and there will be news to follow on this. Those for the Central Division are pretty straightforward, but there are a great number of variations for the Northern Division components, and it will be necessary to properly work out how these should be machined, as they need to suit the post, the arm centres and the backblind clearances!

New large arm weight

New subsidiary arm weight

All donations towards this part of the project will be welcomed with open arms; and if you are able to include Gift Aid, that helps even further towards the total we need to raise!

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