Options
More on the Mid Hants Railway
PeterD-2009
Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
Visited the line again yesterday when the line had just started its Santa Specials. I tried to give you all an overview of the line in this post http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1203874#post1203874.
I have lots of images that update this post but first of all I would like to give you an idea of how a working signal box is laid out and the basic operation.
I visited the box at Alresford station and was welcomed by the signaller. It's easy to gain access, All you have to do is ask.
The signal box is mounted at the Ropley end of the Up Platform.
Once inside it is warm and cosy with a stove on the back wall. In the middle of the box is a floor mounted lever frame to control the points and signals within the station area and the single line approach from Ropley.
The red levers operate the signals, the blue levers the running line points, the black levers the points accessing the sidings and the white lever is a spare. Immediately above the levers are a set of indicators to tell the signalman the status of the signals etc. The signal indicators have two positions OFF and ON. When the lever is pulled to allow a train to pass it should indicate OFF. When I arrived at the box, no trains were present and all signals were in the ON position.
Above the lever frame is a track panel board - more on this later.
The line between Alresford and Ropley is a single line section and safe operation relies on good communication between the boxes at both stations. This is carried out by means of a bell code. While there, the Ropley box sent the two bells code to Alresford offering a train. The signalman repeated the two bells to indicate he could accept the train. The next action was to set the outer home signal to OFF by pulling the first lever in the frame.
Under the watchful eye of the signalman, another visitor pulls the lever. The signal is operated by cable and lies more than 1/4 mile from the box and therefore is quite difficult to move.
The inner home is then also set to OFF to allow the train to access the Down Platform.
With both signals now set to the off position, the needles in the two white faced dials (far left) now have moved to the right confirming the signals are OFF.
As the train approaches the outer home signal, the lamp in the track panel illuminates.
The oval dark areas on the track panel are lights which illuminate if a train or rolling stock are present in their respective track sections. When the train is present at the outer home, the signalman presses the brass bell push under the track panel (central in the indicator panel) to alert the station staff.
The train now arrives at Alresford and the signalman collects the single line token from the train driver.
I mentioned that the signals are controlled by wire. With the temperature variations and particularly the length of the wire to the outer home, expansion/contraction is an issue that must be addressed.
The black box on the wall allows the sinaller to adjust the tension of the outer home signal cable. The red box on the same wall is the communication unit with Ropley Signal Box. The bell push is below the central dial. The fork shaped area on this box are in fact slots in which the single line token keys are released. Another safety feature that prevents more than one train occupying the single line section.
The shorter run signal cables have floor mounted tensioners seen here.
I hope this is of interest. I have posted it to show how a lot can be gained from a visit to a preserved railway.
I have lots of images that update this post but first of all I would like to give you an idea of how a working signal box is laid out and the basic operation.
I visited the box at Alresford station and was welcomed by the signaller. It's easy to gain access, All you have to do is ask.
The signal box is mounted at the Ropley end of the Up Platform.
Once inside it is warm and cosy with a stove on the back wall. In the middle of the box is a floor mounted lever frame to control the points and signals within the station area and the single line approach from Ropley.
The red levers operate the signals, the blue levers the running line points, the black levers the points accessing the sidings and the white lever is a spare. Immediately above the levers are a set of indicators to tell the signalman the status of the signals etc. The signal indicators have two positions OFF and ON. When the lever is pulled to allow a train to pass it should indicate OFF. When I arrived at the box, no trains were present and all signals were in the ON position.
Above the lever frame is a track panel board - more on this later.
The line between Alresford and Ropley is a single line section and safe operation relies on good communication between the boxes at both stations. This is carried out by means of a bell code. While there, the Ropley box sent the two bells code to Alresford offering a train. The signalman repeated the two bells to indicate he could accept the train. The next action was to set the outer home signal to OFF by pulling the first lever in the frame.
Under the watchful eye of the signalman, another visitor pulls the lever. The signal is operated by cable and lies more than 1/4 mile from the box and therefore is quite difficult to move.
The inner home is then also set to OFF to allow the train to access the Down Platform.
With both signals now set to the off position, the needles in the two white faced dials (far left) now have moved to the right confirming the signals are OFF.
As the train approaches the outer home signal, the lamp in the track panel illuminates.
The oval dark areas on the track panel are lights which illuminate if a train or rolling stock are present in their respective track sections. When the train is present at the outer home, the signalman presses the brass bell push under the track panel (central in the indicator panel) to alert the station staff.
The train now arrives at Alresford and the signalman collects the single line token from the train driver.
I mentioned that the signals are controlled by wire. With the temperature variations and particularly the length of the wire to the outer home, expansion/contraction is an issue that must be addressed.
The black box on the wall allows the sinaller to adjust the tension of the outer home signal cable. The red box on the same wall is the communication unit with Ropley Signal Box. The bell push is below the central dial. The fork shaped area on this box are in fact slots in which the single line token keys are released. Another safety feature that prevents more than one train occupying the single line section.
The shorter run signal cables have floor mounted tensioners seen here.
I hope this is of interest. I have posted it to show how a lot can be gained from a visit to a preserved railway.
0
Comments
Nice pictures, and beautiful restoration (interesting info re. signalling (both UK/Europe and USA) on wikipedia).
Thanks for sharing!
- Wil
Thank you Wil. These trips to this line stir wonderful memories of when I lived in a Railway House alongside Milford Junction, West Yorkshire. Thanks too for the tip on Wikepedia.
I have more images to post but should I add them to this thread or start anew? What do you think?
Finally, thanks all of you who have viewed this post and I hope you enjoyed it.
Peter
http://www.imageinuk.com
Hi,
Now I will deal with the movement of the train seen arriving in the last photo sequence.
You will have seen the train arriving and being routed, unusually, in to the Down Line platform for passengers to alight. The movement of the locomotive and stock was also unusual as you will see from these images.
Having arrived at the station, the locomotive was de-coupled from the carriages and despatched towards the sidings.
Having cleared the set of points (Switches) the loco sets back on the Up Line to reach the other end of the carriages.
And now is re-attached to the by now empty carriage stock.
The whole train is now reversed into the Down Siding and brought forward again to the Up Line for passengers to board.
This is a view of the piston and valve gear arrangement on the BR Standard Class 9F locomotive. These were designed (as all the BR Standard Class locomotives) to reduce the cost of maintenance by making as much as possible easily accessible. This locomotive was designed as a heavy freight loco with a wheel arrangement of 2-10-0 (2 wheel pony truck and 10 driving wheels).
A few of Ropley Engine Shed and surrounds later.
Peter
http://www.imageinuk.com
Continuing the theme of events on this tourist line.
Last weekend the theme was Freight. Three steam engines were in action:-
1. 92212. A standard class 9F 2-10-0 loco hauling restored goods wagons.
2. E850 Lord Nelson. The leader of a class of 4-6-0 Southern Railway locos hauling passenger stock.
3. 5224. A 5205 class 2-8-0T Great Western loco also hauling passenger stock.
In the station forecourt at Alresford, a display of old and modern road transport was displayed.
I arrived rather late and only had time to catch the last return trip between Alresford and Alton so my apologies for not getting lots of detail of the road vehicles but none-the-less, I hope the images I took will be of interest.
A general view of some of the road vehicles on display
The railway companies had their own transport which made local collections/deliveries to/from the Goods Sheds at stations around the network. This vehicle was used by the Great Western Railway for this purpose.
This is a an example of a privately owned flat bed truck with a typical load. These would have ferried farm equipment etc to/from the goods sheds. They also made direct point to point deliveries in competition with the railway goods services.
E850 approaches Alresford station from Ropley.
E850 brings the train to a halt and awaits uncoupling before running round its train.
The loco moves off to start its run-round manouvre.
Using the Down platform line to get to the other end of the coaching stock.
The Coupling Sequence
The first action is to disconnect the vacuum brake hose BEFORE get between the loco and train. This is a safety requirement.
When not in use, the screw coupling rests in the open jaw of the coupling hook. Here, the screw is turned to provive sufficient slack to enable the coupling to be attached to the hook on the carriage.
The screw coupling is attched to the carriage.
When the coupling has been tensioned by rotating the screw and the steam heat pipe is connected, the vaccum pipe is connected and turned on. This completes the sequence. All that remains is to transfer the lamps from the front to the tender.
E850 leaves Alresford and immediately is faced with a 1:80 climb to Ropley.
The driver of the freight train awaits the right-away from Alresford
and 92212 now moves off.
dragging its restored freight train out of Alresford.
The 2-8-0T loco storms up the bank towards Medstead and Four Marks while Lord Nelson is held at the station until the single line tokens have been exchanged.
It is seen here entering the Up loop at the station.
I am still posting more images from this visit to this gallery. Previous images for this railway line are stored in my Mid Hants Railway folder on my site.
Hope you enjoy
Peter
http://www.imageinuk.com
I'm impressed with the restored road vehicles; I'd forgotten just how colourful they all were, although the juxtaposition of the old and new looks a bit incongruous.
Some of your shots really accentuate the fact that that it's a branch line; the viewpoints and the foreshortening pick out every single flaw in the setting of the line and points (switches), and the rust on the rails indicate that the services tend to be occasional rather than daily.
Before I came to the USA (1983), I lived in Abingdon, and would often visit Didcot when they had some interesting steam event going on; I miss such things over here (NE USA), although I made an expedition to the Hoosac Tunnel recently (pics on my site).
Thanks for sharing!
- Wil
Thank you Wil. The beauty of the preservation scene over in the UK is that the locomotives are moved around the various sites and so there is always something new to see. The 2-8-0T and, I believe the standard class 9F are owned by Pete Waterman. The Lord Nelson is part of the National Collection from York. We are expecting the new build 'Tornado' to visit the line in the spring.
Talking of new builds - I have been amazed at the number of new steam locomotives being built. Not bad for the 1968 statement at the end of steam that steam locos would be banned from the network. The preservation movement is going from strength to strength with lots of financial and practical support coming in.
PS
I have looked at your website reference you gave and have posted a comment. Thanks for sharing.
Peter
http://www.imageinuk.com