Revised locking room windows, Brick and stone fire place installed (Sorry it’s a tad dark!) I’ve also added the window to the toilet as can be seen above) but didn’t take an external shot as spotted an error in the brick work which has been rectified but not updated (somehow I’d lost the gap between two bricks and ended up with a stupidly long brick!)
May be so, but surprising, there seems to be a fair bit of info on them thankfully albeit not all is relevant to this box (mainly the slightly larger boxes with 3 locking room windows) it’s apparently generating interest on a local group to where it was, no doubt similar to the Leek box did in Staffs.
Ano marathon job, I hope you didn't place 5000 brick by hand and that the majority were copy/paste jobs otherwise I might question your sanity
I tend to do round 4 rows (due to the pattern) and then copy and paste vertically. Some parts such as the arches and the lintels do need hand placing/adjusting. Next up will be the porch and the tiles.
Bootiful Andy simply Bootiful, tho I think I will stick to wagons. I think the GNOS may just pip GSWR on the popularity stakes, based on the number of Boat of Garten models and the Inverness to Aberdeen models, but maybe these are just wannabe Highland Railway modellers who want to go too far west.
I realise now that looking again I still seem to have made a c@ckup with the with the locking room windows… I don’t think I’ve got them right still (not tall enough) so will revisit. However tonight’s night shift break is to try and start the steps and porch. here is the rear view I promised..
Jim the cross section diagram plan of the frame and lead off provisions in the Locking Room is generic, the each lever profile in the machine frame has been superimposed upon each other for the purposes of understanding how a "lever pull" works. Rule of thumb is that levers which work rods have a shorter draw on their tail end than levers which work wires (e.g signals and gongs. Depending upon the length of the wire run and taking into account external temperature fluctuations which cause expansion effects upon the wires a method of creating additional stroke is often needed, thus a gainstroke wheel is fitted on the signal lever tail end. The use of a gainstroke wheel has the effect of increasing the amount of "pull" needed to clear a signal on hot days... the result of wire "sag" in the run. In these instances a turnbuckle device is fitted in the signal box operating floor where the gainstroke wire can be shortened or paid out by the signalman as a form of manual fine tuning of the wire length. Hope this helps explain the why's and wherefore's of what happens in a signal box locking room. York Paul
I think I followed that ! Quite fascinating - Is that also how the adjusters worked in Leek box behind the frame ? They were connected to the pulley to pull on the tension ?
In a nutshell yes... think of the turnbuckle casting located on the operating floor as a anchor point at the lead end of the signal wire, if a turnbuckle was not needed then the signal wire would be affixed to the tail end of the signal lever if no gainstroke wheel was fitted and, in some cases where a turnbuckle was not needed but a gainstroke wheel was the wire end would be fastened down virtically onto the locking room bench timber below the lever frame as was the case at Ford Green number 16 Up Starter to Milton Junction.
Signalman Dennis has signed on for duty. At least he has a frame to work on now (it needs some amendments to look more like the Stevenson’s frame in the original. We also need to add some more levers as it should be 24 levers with 5 spares in the middle. what I’ve found odd, and it may be I’ve just come across a different practice is that lever 1 works a ground signal in the middle of the yard and not a distant signal to enter the station as I’ve been accustomed to. I sat and worked the frame colours out last night. Hopefully I’ve got them correct. finally whilst sitting watching Mission Impossible with a steam train going over the edge of an exploded viaduct (actually filmed in Derbyshire not far from me) and pulling it all apart…(do they really use screw couplings between the coaches and not buckeyes????) I made some progress on the stairs and porch area. Some of it is guess work as although it appears in the plans, there are a number of internal timbers that need to be replicated, such as the roof trusses, which are only apparent as the barge board is missing above the window. i I also think that the side under the window is steel sheeting or some kind, the run down appearance makes me think there has been a make do and bodge rather than repair. thoughts.
I must admit this thread has me hooked by multiple interests, railways, signalling and 3D modelling Jim
Thanks.. if there is anything I’ve missed that you want to know about, just shout and I’ll do my best to answer
Work in the last few rest days (evenings) has concentrated on the chimney and the porch and finally a revision of the locking room door which frankly, I’d just messed up on a measured wrong on the plans! Peter wanted a specific chimney design as found on the cabins in early days (many lost the chimney later in life for a stove at the front of the box not rear) but upon reviewing, it was 2 ft too small and not wide enough. V2 Peter was much happier with. It should have a gap to help draughting between the top and main flues so it may be revisited if I can find some more details… depends on what we can physically print of course! next the looking room door. It’s been made taller by 7mm and wider by about 3.5mm so it’s around 6ft high not 5ft. on to the porch, the roof is still to complete, pretty pleased with this result. Just need to revisit the supports under it as later photos have found its a timber support with a arch support beam. And from inside. Still need some internal doors. and that’s where we are at.. nearly there..
We’re getting close now.. so I moved on to the supports for the walk ways. to be fair, they look over scale here, but they for once are not and it’s to scale at this point. Down side was that when I first designed them, I couldn’t match them in to the brick work especially under the verandah, and after some checking, the floor was still some 3.2mm out, so it was all lifted internally and actually it’s rectified an issue I had where the wood panels inside looked too deep. (Photo to follow internal as it’s having some other amendments) now the next stage of fitting the hand rails is slightly over scale but that’s for printing. Although since designing, Peter and I have opted to instead model it in brass rod. Next stage will be to have a virtual model With a scale hand rail and a printable version minus the rails but with then Stantions. What I may do is leave a small hole or indent to make it a little easier for drilling etc. finally a render shot..