Joining the Dots...

Quite some time ago, we installed a bench at the end of the first stretch of rodding, leading away from the box. We even got so far as to drill the holes for the crank bases!


This is where the rodding turns through 90° to go underneath the track and then will meet up with the main rodding run, via a similar arrangement on another bench. It's slightly more complicated here, as we needed to swap the order of the rods as they got to the bench, so that they are in the correct order for the main run.



In the first photo, where Will can be seen trimming the studding we used to bolt down the crank bases, the rods are from levers 9-8-7, from the left. This transposed (effectively) to 8-9-7 from the bench... note the alignment of the cranks, relative to the bench.

No.9 lever controls a Facing Point Lock (FPL), and we chose to use up a crank and pedestal with a smaller diameter bearing, reflecting the smaller force required to operate it. 


Unfortunately, this has larger holes for the pins to join the rodding connections, which have to match. And those connections also clash with one another, so we'll be rummaging through our stores to find a more suitable pairing with the joggler in a better place! If we can't find one, we will have to apply heat and adjust this one to suit!


So, this marks the beginning, proper, of joining the various bits of the rodding up. A dot-to-dot, if you will. Except the dots are the bits we're doing now, and the lines between the dots are the bits we've already installed! Confused? Feel free to come along and join us! WARNING: The insanity IS contagious...

Location: Stainmore Railway Company, South Rd, Kirkby Stephen CA17 4LA, UK

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