Ash, Slag, Clinker, Bricks, Wire and all sorts:

 ...The Things You Find When Digging Holes!

Whilst Matt has been concentrating on the signal wire stakes (see other posts), we've also been trying to work our exactly where to place the wooden benches that will carry the flat wheels. These take the signal wires through (approximately) 90° to route underneath the track; from the wire run to the signals themselves.

The first such bench we chose to make needs to take 9 wires, and is one of the more awkward to position. Why so many wires? Well, that's a story for another day, although we have alluded to dual control of certain signals between the West (S&D) box and the Junction box...


Having determined the location (driven by the signal locations, sleeper spacings and consideration of walking routes and future projects), we roughed out a bench top, using some seized flat wheels to look at alignments. This determined the length and width of the bench we needed, and allowed us to cut the timber.

We opted to drill right through, then used threaded bar to clamp the legs to the top for a really secure fix. Prior to bolting everything together, we marked around the footprint and started digging...


Below the surface, there is a fair layer of ash which denotes the original formation. But that wasn't all we 'found' as we dug. Stones, soil and ash were expected. Clinker was understandable, but traces of metalworking activity in the form of slag we a bit more of a surprise! A welcome discovery was another PEASE brick, and then some old track circuit feed cable: a suggestion was made to reuse this (after repairs), since we will need a few track circuits!


We took lots of measurements as we dug, to ensure the depth was correct: it would be horrible to find you'd dug out too much on a hot day... but equally, were you to discover more needed excavating, there would be an extremely heavy bench to lift back out!


Thanks to Adrian's idea, we slid the bench into place, fully assembled, on two crow bars. A slight shuffling over for final alignment, and we were happy. Shattered, half melted, but content!


Now for all the rest of the benches. Which will (hopefully) be a simpler matter.

Comments

  1. Rifleman14 September 2024 at 22:26

    Re. "We opted to drill right through, then used threaded bar to clamp the legs to the top for a really secure fix."
    Good move! Even the slightest wobble or misalignment when there's a long run can really mess up the operation of the signal, and make pulling the lever damn hard work for the bobby!

    ReplyDelete

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