West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I know it is a Facebook link but if you feel you can donate a few bob to help shift some point motors, do have a look:

https://www.facebook.com/donate/992464367605950/

Ta.

Steve

 

I like that basic approach.
I would not replace mahogany veneer with Formica or moquette with vinyl or brass with stainless but in many areas, modern materials are quite appropriate.
In my opinion.......

 

Well got to the target within about 4 hours.

 

New methods certainly are being used - witness the extensive use of poly patterns rather than traditional pattern making. New materials are more problematic; quite often you discover reasons why the traditional materials are actually most suitable. (The move away from traditional lime wash to more water proof renders on buildings being one such example which starts causing significant problems in traditional buildings over time). I note @Steve's point about the corrosion resisting qualities of traditional lubricants, and would add that even the most heavily used locomotive on a heritage railway is likely to be sitting unused, probably out in the open, for well over 200 days every year.

Tom

 

If this is through the WSRA, then that seems to be an interesting development, and perhaps is a pointer to future cooperation with the plc. Does the WSRA make a grant to the plc to cover the cost?

 

I still don't really understand why the WSR is divided up in this way. If it is for "the railway" why should it matter which entity it is routed through?

 

I'm not familiar with the term. Perhaps you could elaborate?

With our C&W we, (well, I) research many modern alternative products/processes/applications and introduce such where appropriate.

To avoid 'cluttering up' matters here, perhaps there should be an appropriate Thread started in the Heritage Rolling Stock section?

 

I presume Tom is talking about using CAD/CAM and polystyrene patterns as opposed to wooden ones for big castings like cylinder blocks for example.

 

Could someone please explain how point motors work on heritage railway, do you still need signal box

 

Ken, poly patterns have generally superseded the traditional wooden pattern. 3D printers (the industrial type powdered resin) are very good machines at turning drawings into models that are suitable for use as patterns. Ken

 

Indeed - see here for an example: http://wainrightsfinestsecr27.blogspot.com/2017/12/cylinder-manufacture-time-line.html The significant advantage as I see it is that if you have a CAD drawing of the part you wish to cast, the pattern can be produced by, for example, CNC machining of a polystyrene block, rather than laboriously making a wooden pattern by hand. In the example above, the pattern is made from a series of polystyrene slices about an inch think, which were individually shaped and then glued together to make the whole pattern.

Tom

 

Yes you do. You have a lever just the same however it is marked with a electric flash symbol so the lever does not need pulling heavily. In GWR boxes levers operating motor driven points or signals usually have the lever shortened by approximately 8 inches. Think of motor driven as simply a replacement for operating rods and wires.
Ken

 

That's not a bad idea.
Use of modern materials, techniques & technologies in restoration have been an on-going discussion point amongst curators & restorers for many years.
There's no simple answer!

 

Point motors are generally used where the points themselves are so far from the signalbox that they would be too hard to work manually. Especially bearing in mind that many of our volunteer signalmen may not be as strong as younger people, or indeed as working men were in days gone by. Indeed there are now official limits on the force to pull a signal or point lever.

Motor points have been in use for a very long time. I seem to recall that the junction at the North side of Quainton Rd on the Met & GC joint line was provided with motor points in LNER days which enabled the signalbox at the South end of the station to control that junction.

Point motors may be electrically worked or pneumatic, I'm not sure if the hydraulically worked 'clamp lock' points count as point motors as such.

During my BR service I was trained to operate two types of electric point motors and both air or hydraulic types when they failed. This basically meant winding the electric mechanism with a crank handle, pneumatic type could be locally operated using a special three-pronged key if the air supply was still available, or barred over with a crowbar if no air, hydraulic type could be pumped over manually with a short pump handle.

 

Only where the traditional wooden pattern no longer exists. Fortunately for GW locomotives many of the patterns for fittings and numerous smaller parts are still around having survived ex BR or been remade earlier in the heritage era.

 

To be pedantically correct, what are often referred to as ‘point motors’, are more correctly called ‘point machines’. They often do have a motor, but that is only part of the kit included, for example they also include a locking mechanism.

‘Point motor’ is another term from model railways like ‘points’ and ‘frogs’ instead of ‘switches’ and ‘crossings’.

Robin

 

No wires on a manual point. Could read "replacement OF operating rods WITH wires

 

Indeed.

Of course even within the railway profession different departments use different names. An engineer will refer to switches but the lever in the box will say points.

I must say that back in the '80s when I was trained, all the railwaymen on the operating side referred to point motors, it was only after dealings with S& T that I discovered they called them point machines.

It always seemed to me odd that four different types of point machine had been installed in a limited area between Wembley and Willesden Jn. I expect they've all been replaced with one design by now.

 

Quite right.

Often the trick when speaking to different departments was to switch jargon and speak their language.

Robin

 

Unless it is one operated by a "turnover" frame, which operated points by wires rather than rods. Sadly I don't think there are any operational ones left in Britain, although the NRM does have one in storage somewhere. In the UK they were only widely used on the Midland, because they considered it helpful to reduce the trip hazards in yard areas.