KSE Signalling Project

We were inactive on the signal box all last week due to the appalling weather, but Saturday saw us able to complete the fixing of the expensive sapele fascia boarding that had been dangling all week from a few hastily installed nails. A trial fit of the boarding was deemed necessary because the building is not absolutely square – with the rear wall being thicker at one end than the other and thus all of the rafters on the rear of the building gradually increase in length as they progress from one end of the building to the other. All of these variations need to be accommodated and manipulated in order to produce a neat finish which I think we have done. There are some inaccessible areas of timber that will need painting before we begin fitting the slates. We hope to get this done by the end of the week and commence slating immediately afterwards. I will keep you updated stage by stage. 

Well, it turned out we were in the right place with our compensator bench! So much so, that trying to dig a hole for a concrete leg to go in led to a discovery. The remains of an original concrete leg!! Jim beside the excavation Jim excavated the old leg on one visit, which we then lifted out, only to find that the two concrete ties underneath were still in situ. Sadly, we couldn't leave these be, as the new leg needed to be set slightly lower in the ground. A little bit of stabbing with a crow bar identified that another bench leg was also present, bolted to the two ties! So the excavation grew even larger. The extent of the excavation, showing the two ties at the bottom, and the damaged leg to the left The bolts holding the concrete sections together required cutting with an angle grinder as the level of corrosion since the 1950s was impressive. Once the nuts were removed, the concrete leg was lifted off. This was not a simple lift, as they are large, heavy lumps and the bolt rem...

Well, a spectacle, at any rate! Tom (Ireland Precision Engineering) sent on a few images of his machining work on the newly cast North Eastern Railway, Central Division spectacles.  You may well notice that one of the holes does not line up in the centre of the cast boss on the spectacle: this was a feature of the original we worked from, and is necessary for it all to line up with the other casting, which is the main arm weight / pivot. Tom is also making the spindles for the signals. Now that the 3 additional wooden posts we require for Phase 1 have arrived, we will be treating them, drilling them, painting them and then looking to fit these castings!

Continuing from Stake and Chips, Matt toils on installing the wire run for operating all the signals mechanically from the box... The run of stakes, from the box towards the signals furthest away from the station, is now almost complete. Attention has turned to the run that leads towards the station, located alongside the turntable road. We even discovered an original wire stake, buried as we dug in another bench leg!  This smashed lump of concrete will not be recoverable for further use... The blue string line has been set out so that we can see how smoothly the curve can be made, whilst following the track and avoiding hidden obstacles underground. Stakes can then be adjusted to suit. The ongoing battle with removing the wire pulleys from the recovered stakes can be seen. The wooden dowel into which the screws are tightened can swell and jam very solidly in the concrete. Attempts to drift it out can result in the concrete blowing. So why bother removing the dowels, and pulleys, i...

Saturday morning and Toby delivered the long-awaited chimney pot that he had sourced, and generously donated, to the signalbox project. So, while the sun shone today, without further ado, we cemented it into its rightful place atop the stack – hopefully to survey the landscape for many years to come. That done, we turned our attention back to fitting the battening and under sarking on the roof and managed to complete the north side before finishing for the day.  Just a little bit closer to a watertight building – keep watching!

A fine spell of weather saw us make a concerted effort to finish the T&G boarding of the signalbox roof and, late on Saturday afternoon, the final nail was hammered into place giving us a roof at last. Not waterproof yet I admit, but it soon will be. The next step will be the fitting of the under sarking (waterproof membrane) and slate battens, followed by the barge boarding and finally the reclaimed slates that we have acquired. All this takes but 2 minutes to write down and a lot longer to accomplish but, rest assured, we will keep you updated with each successive step. After all, when the roof is waterproof, we have the inside to fit out with an absolute host of equipment all currently being cleaned, repaired and assembled by our brilliant signalling team, so lots more to come – just keep watching!