Wooden Signal Posts

Having shown details of the ground signals, as well as all the NER Central Division castings, it's now time to look at the wooden posts we're going to use.

The posts are tapered, 'growing' by 3/16" every foot. Over a 20' post, the timber starts at 7 1/4" Square at the top (to allow the post cap to fit snugly); and ends up at 11" Square at the bottom. Obviously, some of this length needs planting in the ground for rigidity, otherwise the signal may well decide to lie down and have a little snooze on the ground...

We will be treating the portion to be buried by charring it (FIRE!!!) and then coating with bitumen.

The drilling for the castings to be fitted is made far more involved by the post's taper. The holes need to be perpendicular to the centre line of the post, so have to be drilled through at an angle, relative to the surface. We will be marking these out and drilling shortly, allowing the posts to be fully painted before we plant them.

Loading up the second post for transit: the taper is evident here!

Prior to all the actual work to get the posts ready, however, we needed to get them under cover! The roof over the Tebay platform has now been replaced, with lots of sorting and tidying carried out to ensure space for the posts was available.

Having got back to the level, the post can be seen on skates, heading indoors.

We then used a combination of p-way trolleys, packing and skates to get the posts off the ground, onto the rails and then up the platform ramp! A lot of manual effort later, and we had success! 4 posts under cover, just before the rain came!

The four posts are now sat snugly, undercover,
with knotting solution sat on top, ready for application.

There are more than just these 4 signal posts to worry about, but these (along with the lattice bracket) are the posts that will be far easier to plant with the Road Railer, which visits in November to tackle this and trackwork modifications.

Comments

  1. Rifleman10 November 2024 at 20:43

    As a measure of how effective scorching is at preventing rot; in the late Tudor period, oak posts were sunk into the seabed alongside the harbour wall at Aberdeen, to protect the hulls of fishing boats from damage when tied up alongside. Before installation, they were scorched until they charred on the surface, then brushed over with hot Stockholm Tar (the resin of fir trees). As the posts cooled down, the ST was drawn into the grain of the wood.
    400 years later, Aberdeen Harbour was being altered, and some of the posts had to be removed. Despite being soaked and dried, twice a day, as the tide went in and out (the worst scenario for wood rot), they were still in perfect condition, and were sold off for use in building construction!

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