KSE Signalling Project

After many months of battling the weather to erect the signal box, the time has come to introduce a little refinement to the build by starting to fit out the interior. We have begun by fitting a stone hearth to complement the fireplace and laying the floor joists for the area that borders the lever frame aperture between the doorway and the fireplace. Work is hindered at the moment by the scaffolding as we wait for it to be removed which should happen shortly allowing us to begin work in earnest. There is much to do outside yet with the steps to construct and also the platform at the top of the steps which will allow wheelchair access to the interior of the ‘box for our disabled visitors. I think this will be the last blog of the year, so have a Merry Christmas and I will keep you all posted with developments in the New Year. 

As the heavens opened this afternoon, we were busy removing the cat ladders from the roof after installing and pointing the last of our ‘wavy’ ridge tiles. I say ‘wavy’ because these tiles, salvaged from the Waiting Shelter at Barras station some 17 years ago, have a unique history. Originally made in 1861, they were entirely hand-crafted, resulting in variations in almost every dimension. Coupled with the firing techniques of the time, this produced tiles that were anything but straight! The signal box is now, at last, completely watertight. This milestone enables John Paul to move forward with boarding out the rafters inside, fitting the wide window ledges all around, and installing a floor. These tasks mark significant progress in transforming the space. Meanwhile, Tim and the signalling squad are hard at work, eager to begin installing the frame and levers they have so skillfully refurbished. This effort also includes assembling all the associated hardware in the locking room. Ther...

We have at last managed to get 4 coats of paint onto the fascia boarding of the signalbox and the attendant woodwork, leaving us free to commence slating the roof at last. We were keen to create a period look and therefore opted to use reclaimed welsh slates some of which I would guess have already seen many years of service, but were still good for many more. In the past as you will recall that rain has, on many occasions, brought work to a frustrating standstill and created havoc with work we thought was complete. That being said, slating is one job you can carry on with rain or not and so we did on Tuesday, ignoring the showers, getting wet, and revelling at being able to stick two fingers up at the weather. It is not going to improve much at this time of year so I suppose we will get several more soakings before the roof is watertight but I will tell you about them in due course.   

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. 

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!

 You may be forgiven for thinking we were asleep on the job as it is a while since the last blog on the signal box, but the truth of the matter is that the rear wall has taken up massive amounts of time, resources and materials to repair and complete.  However, the good news is that it is now finished with the hollow core filled with grout, all the missing stones replaced and built up to encapsulate the rafters with the top capped off to prevent the ingress of any weather or wildlife. Also, the final two rafters have now been fitted and, as you can see in the photo, our master craftsman, ‘Delboy’, has been fitting the outrigger supports and the complete assembly will form the roof overhang at each end of the building. When these details are complete, we will begin boarding the roof with T&G, then continue on to fit the slates and the host of minutiae required to finish the building and make it watertight. Stand by for the next exciting instalment!

After what seemed like interminable messing about with the fireplace chimney breast and flue, we finally today brought the embryo stack into the daylight, puncturing the skyline for the first time in 60 odd years. Using our lovely special order, handmade bricks, we laid 6 courses of brick which was just enough to bring us up to the slate level. Handmade bricks made for very interesting brickwork because they are a variety of sizes with different lengths and thicknesses throughout the range, so Barry, Bernie & Andrew were kept really busy today sorting and trimming where necessary to enable me to build a neat stack. By 3 pm in this heat, we were tired and frazzled, so called it a day, keen to return and continue as soon as our batteries are recharged. I will keep you posted.

Construction has begun once again on the signal box as the hand-carved decoration on the ends of the purlins has been completed allowing us to set them in position on the gable ends and begin cutting and fitting the rafters to the rear section of the roof. I think I mentioned previously that these rafters would require more than a little ‘fiddling’ to get a good fit and so it has proved. This has been compounded by the fact that the ridge timber, after a few weeks exposure to the Cumbrian sun and rain, has developed a marked twist at one end (please see the photo) which we will also now have to accommodate. Despite these irritations, we have now managed a satisfactory fit of a rafter at each end of the ridge leaving another nine required to fill the gap. I will keep you posted.

A couple of nice days over the weekend saw the signalbox acquire a somewhat skeletal appearance as we added the rafters to the previously erected ridge beam – a string line top and bottom ensured that everything was nicely lined up end to end so that the tongue and groove close boarding that will sit on top will be nice and flat and provide a splendid base for the slates.  On completion of this task, someone suggested taking down the string lines until some ‘wag’ suggested that the rafters might follow! So we left them in place! It may look like an unorthodox build process seeing as we have not yet completed the gables, but the slope of the rafters is required for me to accurately build the gables to profile and also to position the very large wooden purlins that will bear a large part of the weight of the roof.  The rafters on the backside will require a little more tailoring, I think, as the original rear wall on which they will sit varies in thickness, is not perfectly stra...