Workday

Model railway with LED strip illumination down one side

Dave Keith and I were over the signal box today doing some work in various places on site. Keith has recently been spending a lot of time in the Cowley Bridge Building putting baton over the joins in the ply wood 'walls'/ceiling. This was originally done with masking tape, which was not really right for the job, so he is replacing this with wooden baton and then painting it in.

'Gas lamp' in the signal box

Dave spent the majority of today taking stock of the items for sale in the Buffer stops cafe, to get us ready for the new year. He later went on to add LED lighting to the small model layout, in the pavilion, which is used to explain the types of semaphore signals used on the railways. He also installed an amber LED in the model signal box to imitate a gas lamp and we plan to add some more buildings to the model and a bomb fire (so Dave can try out his LEDs that imitate a fire).

Raised work surface 

Tray storing pieces from the signal

I was going to spend my day working on the two aspect, ex-underground, colour light signal. However, after starting to remove the fixing and lenses on the signal, I soon got a pain in my back because the work bench is very low and I was constantly bending over (the bench was actual made of primary school tables and some plywood on top). I therefore decided my time would be better spent improving the work facilities than carrying on and possibly injuring myself. By the end of the day, a sturdy raised surface was erected and a vice attached so that members can carry out work safely. The tables are still present below the raised work surface, mainly for storage (especially longer items). I also plan to put a folding table further down the lean-to so that a volunteer can still work at a lower height, or have the full length table at a higher high. I then had a good tidy up and freed up some shelf space for people to put trays on to store bits and pieces off artifacts being restored (this was immediately put to use with the bits from the signal). I've also run in an extension lead so there is now power available on the work bench side of the 'workshop'.

Signal metalwork

After this i finished of working on the colour light signal, and it now ready for paint stripping and then repainting.

All in all, a successful day with much going on,

Jamie.