Worton Court: Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Worklist:

Test 'cleaned' locomotives.

Fit new signal bell sound unit amplifier.

Titivate layout.

All three in attendance.

Geoff had been busy modifying some of John's stock. A coach with couplings independent of the bogies had them properly united. Putting such a 'vericle' (sic - John's pronunciation we often use, with affection) onto the track was nigh-on impossible, and we wanted to have it running. Geoff had also 'un-weathered' a pair of John's balcony brake vans. These had a very heavy pale grey dust coating, that when partially removed, looked much better. A couple of vans were also given the same treatment.

Geoff and Laurence had been cleaning the wheels and pick-ups on some of their and John's loco's and gave them a run. They had benefitted nicely and were able to run more smoothly and slower. However, the latter showed up a flaw in the trackwork as the slower running loco's now stalled on the crossover. Johns points have been modified from 'dead' to 'live' frogs, or replaced. However, the crossover at the centre of the tracks between the two platforms, the main and quarry lines was deemed too complicated to convert. Various modifications had been tried, but the dead area of one split frog in particular was now causing a problem.

Geoff decided it was time to convert them to live frogs. He studied the matter carefully, then the 'Eureka' moment struck and a solution evolved. Firstly, the frogs would be converted into live frogs and isolated. Then, the four, independent point switches would be combined in a single three-way switch, reducing the routes and hence the frog-polarity options, to a minimum. After first resolving the problem with two relays linked to the points, another solution using a single relay on the mainline station point evolved. In conjunction with the three-way point switch, this would change frog polarities automatically, solving the problem. Laurence and Stephen were taken through the solution with the help of the diagram below. Whilst Stephen trusted the solution was viable, we were 4 weeks away from the Eastleigh show that meant no such work was going to take place in the short term. It was argued that we'd coped with the problem for years, and would, therefore, live with it until some time in the future when we had the time. Everyone was happy!!!

Part of the 'flashing light' signalling system is the ringing bell, alerting the station staff of an approaching train. The light system works, but the sound, last used at the Burton show, relied on an amplifier that Stephen had made for home use. He had purchased and assembled another amp kit, with its own speaker and box. After tracking the sound unit to the platform board (the switches being on the quarry mouth board), he discovered a speaker had already been installed as part of an un-remembered session. Unfortunately, inserting the amp didn't work and because of the difficulty of working under the boards, the work was abandoned until after the show. Flashing lights alone will suffice. [Sound recorder unit and smaller voltage reduction unit off the 19v bus].