KSE Signalling Project

After what seemed like interminable messing about with the fireplace chimney breast and flue, we finally today brought the embryo stack into the daylight, puncturing the skyline for the first time in 60 odd years. Using our lovely special order, handmade bricks, we laid 6 courses of brick which was just enough to bring us up to the slate level. Handmade bricks made for very interesting brickwork because they are a variety of sizes with different lengths and thicknesses throughout the range, so Barry, Bernie & Andrew were kept really busy today sorting and trimming where necessary to enable me to build a neat stack. By 3 pm in this heat, we were tired and frazzled, so called it a day, keen to return and continue as soon as our batteries are recharged. I will keep you posted.

Just a quick update on the frame itself, which is going to be used in the S&D box. Inspection of the components revealed a crack in one of the stanchions (uprights that support the quadrants). This has now been delivered for a cast iron welding repair to take place as part of the Ironmongers' Trust Company grant we received. This is also paying for a new lever pivot casting to be made: both a pattern and the casting itself, in order to replace the one that has been lost at some stage. Many thanks are due to our excellent foundry in Keighley - Leach and Thompson. Robert, Jude and the team have been able to deal with some interesting challenges and have supported us greatly with great advice. Close up showing the cracks in the stanchion that requires a welded repair Matt with the stanchion on a sack Barrow, ready to load into my poor car for transport! Separately, a pattern has been made by Wilson Patterns of Cross Hills (many thanks to Jon for all his excellent work to...

Over the last few visits, we've been installing the bench tops, onto which we can mount cranks, compensators and ground frames. Making use of the bench after bolting it all together Previously we had recovered and planted the concrete legs, paying particular attention to their alignment and levelling, as well as their position. The tops require bolting to these legs, which requires us to drill through the wood in the correct place, so that we can pick up the pre-cast holes in the concrete. Work underway on the bench To achieve this, we first place the timber (good, reclaimed hardwood sleepers) into position on the legs. We then mark from underneath using a stick dipped in paint. We then turn the timber over and drill through. This enables the holes to end up in the right place where they meet the concrete at least. Whilst we carefully eye up the verticality of the drill whilst drilling, this isn't quite as accurate as we would like, were we to have been drilling from above! We ...

Feverish activity today saw the team make splendid progress on the signal box with Del & Arie doing a superb job of cutting and installing the majority of the braces on the rafters. These timbers provide additional support to the roof and also double up as ceiling rafters on the inside of the operating room. Andrew and I concentrated on the gable brickwork intent on finally bringing it up to the peak, before failing miserably in the end because we ran out of mortar too late in the day to mix anymore - what a shower! Eventual completion of the gable will see us attempt to bring the chimney up from the confines of the locking room and out through the roof and into the open which, considering all the previous gerrymandering involving the fireplace will be a milestone in itself. I will, of course, keep you all posted on our progress as, slowly but surely, we bring this historic building back to life.