Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

I think Ross was being tongue-in-cheek, and trying to deflect the thread away from this accursedly recurrent subject!

 

I’ve been very interested to read about the Tyers token instruments being restored/created for the extension. How many of instruments would be needed for each phase?

 

To be more accurate, the reference were to Tyers tablet instruments.

Given that you need a pair for each block section, then the total numbers needed depend upon how many blocks sections you intend to have, which in turn depends in part upon the required frequency of services. Like most such things, still very much a matter 'under discussion', although the current 'working assumption' for Phase 2A is :-

• one pair for the Blackmoor - Parracombe 'short' section
• one pair for the Parracombe - Woody Bay 'short 'section
• one pair for the Blackmoor - Woody Bay 'long' section

based on the presumption that there will be a loop at Parracombe which can be 'switched out' when not required. The 'long' section may in fact use Key Token instruments, but we have yet to acquire a working pair of the necessary machines.

Plans for the Phases thereafter are still vague....

 

Will an additional set be required for the stretch from Blackmoor to 'Reservoir Halt'? I was tempted to call that station 'Lakeside' but if it were named as such some visitors might be disappointed when they discover it is not actually an enormous shopping centre!

 

So between 6-8 tablet (sorry!) instruments needed for phase 1, plus presumably a spare instrument and parts. I've found this quite a fascinating topic as I know so little about signalling equipment and what might be required.

 

AFAIK the intention is to name it 'Whistlandpound' (WD)- certainly that is the name currently being used in all the relevant S&T design documentation.

The current design proposal is that the temporary terminus at WD will in effect be just a simpler version of Killington Lane and not a 'block post'. Blackmoor - WD will be worked by 'Ordinary Train Staff' (OTS) (otherwise known variously as One Engine in Steam (OES), One Train Working (OTW), One Train working with Staff (OTS) depending upon your period and preference!). But of course, as with all design proposals, any final decision will rest with the appropriate management.

 

More likely Wistlandpound, or the older spelling Wistland Pound. Related to cattle, I believe.

 

You may well be right - too much looking at Whistle boards

 

A 'News Page' has been published today detailing the Tyer's No.6 Tablet Instruments being sourced and built for use on the extended L&B railway. See the article "Progress with Tablet Instruments (Part 3)" dated 13th March 2021 at:

https://www.lynton-rail.org.uk/story/progress-tablet-instruments-part-3​

The earlier reports are available here.......

"Progress with Tablet Instruments in 2020 (Part 1)" dated 7th December 2020 at:

https://www.lynton-rail.org.uk/story/progress-tablet-instruments-2020​

"Progress with Tablet Instruments (Part 2)" dated 26th January 2021 at:

https://www.lynton-rail.org.uk/story/progress-tablet-instruments-part-2​

 

Indeed, such things are HEAVY - put them somewhere and hope not to move them for another 50 years! Yet it is rumoured that some signalmen learnt how to 'jiggle' an instrument by lifting one end and deploying the poker from the signal-box fire.....certainly Tyer had them all modified at an early stage to prevent them being 'shaken' to release a tablet

All such equipment was designed originally to work on batteries (typically Leclanche cells originally, later dry cells) for three simple reasons:- (1) because the instruments required DC power, (2) the use of batteries ensured 'fail safe' backup in the event of a mains failure and (3) many signal boxes and other installations simply did not have mains electrical supplies anyway. Even today the primary power source for such equipment is usually batteries (for reason 2 above), which are kept trickle-charged from the mains. Although you might find such instruments powered directly from mains transformers in (say) a museum or 'heritage exhibit' (been there, done that!), I doubt that it would happen in an operational situation.

ETT 6 instruments require two power supplies, one to drive the 'line wire' circuit' to the far end and the other for the 'local' circuit to work internal locks and the bell coils, but they can share a common -Ve. The latter circuit relied more on current capacity because of the load, but can usually work quite happily on 6V or 9V. The former required limited current, as it merely drove the galvanometers and polarised relay at the far end, but a higher voltage to 'punch' down the miles of wire connecting the two signal-boxes; so usually at least 12V, but could be a much as 20V or more, especially on 'long section' circuits. The usual arrangement therefore for power supplies was a 'bank' of cells wired in series, with connections at each end to give the +Ve and -Ve at the required maximum voltage for the line circuit, and an intermediate tap at some point to provide +Ve for the local circuit (using the same -Ve tap for its return) at a lower voltage.

 

Indeed Chris. I agree with the first two of your observations. I learnt about the jiggling trick to dislodge a tablet when I was a signalman at the Bluebell Railway. And to someone like myself who had a lifelong working career in electronic engineering, the necessity to provide standby electrical power in safety-critical operations is paramount. I'm not acquainted with the internal guts of a Tablet Instrument to comment on your 3rd point.

 

Also from the website, tree clearance between Cricket Field Lane and Fairview. This was done at the request of a Churchtown resident, who had identified Ash dieback disease on the embankment above their property.
One beneficial effect for future railway passengers will be the opening up of the vista across Parracombe, towards Rowley Cross:
https://www.lynton-rail.org.uk/story/tree-felling-parracombe-churchtown-march-2021

 

Or at the end of a very long 2'6" gauge line to Australia!

 

I see in the latest "Steam Railway" magazine (#517) that the L & B are looking to recruit a new General Manager (due to retirement) and to a new post of Infrastructure Manager. Good to see such positivity.

 

These posts have been advertised on FB for some while now.
What did surprise me has been the lack of any information on the L&BRT's members' website to advise that in fact the GM was retiring - I only learnt the reason from another source.

 

Do you not consider that the printed newsletter or magazine are more appropriate media to dispense information such as that? I am inclined to think that many L&B members 'do not do the internet'.
Mike

 

I am sure that there are indeed members who 'do not do' the internet, but is that a reason not to inform those who do? More to the point, advertising to fill a post which - as far the 'average member' knows at the time - is still occupied, given the nature of problems which have effected other heritage railways, might lead to unwarranted and inaccurate speculation as to why the current post-holder needs to be replaced.