West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Thank you, my ignorance has been addressed. In my naivety I was wondering why the use of a cloth when working the levers might have fallen out of fashion.

 

A 'sacred' item for we Signalmen.

Here's the one I keep for special occasions. It has a lot of sentiment for me as it was given to me by the signal men at Eastbourne when I left there as Station Manager in 1989. You would correctly deduce that they knew I liked pulling levers......

Lovely chaps.

Robin

 

I don't recognise the tartan. Which clan does it belong to ?

 

McSignalman, of course!

Appropriate for September?

Robin

 

I believe Riviera sold S3069 late last year, along with several other Mk1s. See pix and associated captions here:

http://mrlforum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/3406-arriva-traincare-depots/

P.S. The vehicle was, until recently, formed in Riviera's 'Royal Scot' rake. Perhaps it's an element of The McCourtney Project!

Barrie

 

The coaches are stored at Minehead, each rake has individual coaches separated, is this for maintenance?

 

Yes

 

For easy access to the buckeye couplings, brake and steam heat hoses.

 

Thats interesting then does that imply that the formally fixed down outer distant in rear of the photo will be bought back into use, to act as the proper use of a distant, a warning of the aspect of the stop signal?

 

No.

At 25mph distants are not a requirement at all.

Up to 45 mph they can be fixed.

There is no plan to either (1) increase the line speed or (2) make the distants work.

Robin

 

Are there any heritage railways around that *do* have working distants? We've got one at Gotherington (and it's not even motor operated - I'm told there is a certain technique to pulling it off!), but all the rest of ours are dummies, like WSR's.

 

We have a working Distant at Newbridge LC on the NYMR but it is not called a Distant but some other term I cannot recall at the moment.
We also have a Banner repeater in the nearby area.

 

Harmans Cross on the Swanage has working distants.

Robin

 

All of the Bluebell semaphore distant signals are working (the last of the fixed distants - the Kingscote up distant - went with the extension through to East Grinstead, being replaced with an operating distant signal at the same location). There are also working inner and outer distants in both directions on the approach to Horsted Keynes. The only fixed signal left is a marker light on the approach to East Grinstead, which functionally is the same as fixed distant, though in essence the red "stop" signal that it warns against is the red light on the buffer stops.

Tom

 

If the Bluebell distants were all to be fixed (or removed) would it make any difference to the working?

Robin

 

Ah, probably not, but that is why the Bluebell is such a good recreation of the steam age , details like working distants, though they don't need to !

 

That sort of begs the question about why preserve anything in the first place - if all the steam trains were replaced with DMUs, would it make any difference to the working? It would certainly allow me longer in bed each morning! Historic operating practices are just as worthy of preservation as physical equipment. Sometimes you do things because that is how they were done, even if more modern cheaper means are possible. (See also: roof pitch of country station goods sheds...)

Tom

 

Absolutely fine by me, as long as we understand why we are doing something - operational requirement or heritage preservation.

Don't get me on to discussing all those motor points at Horsted Keynes....

Robin

 

Indeed, they'd be gone in a trice if I had my way ...

Tom

 

Or buffet cars.
H.K. does have a splendid "heritage" refreshment room thought.

PH