Fastening Down The Locking Room Floor

As progress with the box continues, we've reached the stage for the locking room floor to be completed. Way, way back in the early days of the box rebuild, we positioned 3 large timbers ro which we could (eventually) fasten the cranks for the point rodding runs and the vertical wheels for the signal wires. This was done at a very early stage to make life simpler: getting them in place now would have proved far more difficult!

The timbers in position, sat loosely on the pairs of rails that tie the floor,
the lead out bench and the box structure together

However, there was no pressure (then) to actually fasten them down to the pairs of rails. Fast forwards to the present... Bob wanted to get the rest of the floor in place downstairs, which required these timbers to be fastened down in their final position. We knew this was coming, and had developed an idea for a captive bolt, whose head sat between the two rails, allowing the timbers to be fastened down without the need for reaching underneath with a spanner, or dropping a nut into the abyss!

The bolts were made by welding threaded bar on to sections of angle iron.

A collection of the captive bolts post-welding. These have been welded further, subsequently, to increase the penetration of the weld, as the steel angle was rather tougher than expected!

The holes through the timbers were drilled from above, in situ, with careful eyeing up to ensure the holes were vertical, and lined up with the gaps between the rails. Only one didn't quite work out, but this was due to the drill pulling owing to the wood grain.


Once the holes were drilled, the bolts were put in from below, which was able to be done by feel, and worked surprisingly well. To finish off, a square washer (carefully aligned for best effect!) and a nylock nut was wound on and tightened.


Bob will now be able to complete the rest of the floor, which does not have any great forces transmitted through it...

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