Hello Dolly!

Narrow gauge projects are still taking a back seat this week, so Himself has been working on another epic brass signal construction for the new club layout, Kirkconnel.

There's been a lot of puzzling around the 'dollies' on this skyscraper, and how many there were - and when - with much pouring over photographs. 

Connecting this up, and making them all work, is going to be a challenge in itself, but I wonder whether the biggest issue is going to be ensuring that they stay vertical.

This comes from a notoriously clumsy individual who's been known to accidently catch a signal or two when moving, cleaning , or generally being anywhere close to a layout.....

Upper Quadrant

I'm not sure I've ever gone so long without posting in more than 10 years of blogging.

The gap has been due to a perfect storm of events - an hiatus in progress updates on prototype locomotives we're part-way through building, still waiting on the delivery of etched brass kits which were ordered in the middle of the year, and Himself spending a week volunteering with the repainting of Tan y Bwlch footbridge.

At my end of the operation I've spend the last week or so resin casting to meet orders for wagon kits or carriage interiors.

Himself has now sent me an image of the one project he has been working on - making up a Model Signal Engineering kit for an LMS upper quadrant signal for the Greenock club's new layout, Kirkconnel.

He reports that it was rather fiddly.

Given some of his previous work posted on this blog you may wish to read that as an example of classic British understatement and draw your own conclusions....

Catastrophe

Himself returned from holiday last week to an unwelcome surprise.

It turns out that a layout which has seen 25 years on the road at exhibitions, many months in storage and a 400 mile migration to the other end of the country cannot survive 10 days with a home alone cat!

Not only has the moggy demolished the Up home signal he's also left a generous covering of fur all over the layout and, as you might be able to imagine, cat hair on flock and scatter sticks in much the same way as Velcro.

The local farmer is also going to be submitting a claim for compensation, no doubt.

Why was the cat anywhere near the layout, you ask?

Unfortunately the new premises have a major architectural flaw in that the cat flap is in one of the garage doors, so he has to have access 24/7 as a through-route for when nature calls.

Here is a snap of the culprit looking all innocent, by the way.

Beddgelert Illuminations

Himself has finished the fiddly task of fitting lights - or more correctly, LED's - into his exquisite hand made signals.

This is one of the 'Ladybird' starters. Nice!



And this is one of the point indicator lamps which confirm to the drivers of inbound trains that the automatic trailable points are functioning correctly and it is safe to enter the station loop.

This one with the swan neck is positioned in the cutting at the Porthmadog end of the station.



Himself tells me he's going to have to look into connecting this up to a transformer to reduce the rather dazzling glare from the white LED.

Here are some of them in position at the north end of the station platform.

Sign Post

We've begun installing the signals and signs at Beddgelert station.

Himself has sent some snaps of the installations at the south end of the station.

Here are the 'ladybird' starter signals.



And here, on the reverse, are the end of section signs, which you may just be able to read if you can magnify the picture enough.



The signals are made up for the other end (the north end) of the platform loop, but they haven't been placed in position yet in case they are damaged while work on the scenics continues around there.

The Signs Are Good

Himself writes: I have been making some of the plethora of signs and signals that have sprung up at Beddgelert. It's quite a task because none of them are anything like standard gauge railway signals so there's nothing available commercially which can be adapted.

(The 20 pence piece is there just to give you a sense of the size of the signs)



We have been fortunate to have been given the signalling schematic drawings which enabled me to scan each sign individually and reduce them to 4mm. I then laser printed them onto photo paper, which then has to be sprayed with 'Crystal Clear' to protect the print, and then they are bonded onto 20 thou plasticard, which is in turn glued onto the posts and painted.

The most difficult ones are going to be the 'ladybird' signals which are illuminated by two amber lights positioned where the top and bottom black spots would be.



This will require some experimenting to find the best way to make them work - either fibre optics, grain of rice bulbs or LEDs - the maximum size for the light hole is 1.8 mm. I suspect the fibre optics strands will like the sharp 90° bend down the post so that option may not be a goer.

The other signal to make is the point indicator light which is in the style of a single lamp traffic light.