Latest news

I should really be posting to this blog more often but things often get in the way. I will be trying to make more effort in the future!

Drilling the new sleepers ready for the bolts

After our sleeper delivery, we had a second visit from the mid hants railway (MHR) guys to install the sleepers, it was very kind of them to do this as originally we were only offered the sleepers. They spent a log day at the signal box in very warm weather but they did a brilliant job and it would've taken us a year to do what they did in just one day. They also brought all the proper tools for the job (as you'll see in the photos) yet something we don't have.

Inserting the new sleeper

As this was all done for free we felt it our duty to provide them with lunch, so Dave and I brought along some camping stoves and did burgers, sausages and bacon. Oh, I almost forgot, Dave did onions too!

Before

After

We are so great full for the sleepers and all the time the volunteers from the MHR have given up, but it felt like we all had a good time and a laugh while we (they) were working. Although no money was asked for, we shall be making a donation to the railway as they've done so much for us. But thanks is also due to our volunteers who helped by removing the ballast around the sleepers that were due to be changed. This saved some much time on the day of the sleeper change and saved the MHR guys having to make a second visit. now just a case of putting it all back in.

Adrian and Allan replacing the ballast

In more recent news, Dave has installed a form of shelving in the pavilion to display all our merchandise. He has built some 'rustic' boxes which we have screwed to the wall. They really suit the room, display the products nicely and seem to be able to take the weight. The only flaw we found was that we had to install some Perspex in the boxes to stop the products falling through the gaps. The only thing left to install will be some lighting as it looks a bit dull in this area.

Painting the signal box exterior continues and Dave and Keith are on the final side of the signal box. The wood has been primed and under coated and certain parts now even have a top coat of gloss paint. If the weather is nice this week they predict that the majority of it will be completed on Wednesday, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Cowely Bridge signal box has also had some work done. I spent the best part of a day polishing the lever tops to make them shiny as they would've been in a real signal box. Only trouble with this is that touching the levers without a cloth would now mean they will start to rust, and an authentic lever cloth is far too big for the 1/4 sized levers. So I fired up the sewing machine and a day later had produced a scale lever cloth! I didn't stop there though, I also produced some lever collars which would've been an important part of the signalling equipment.










On the more technical side of things, we had visit from Alan on Saturday (the system designer) and the lever from interlocking has also had an update and now makes much more sense and the code itself is easier to read. We have also had the first run of the new automated simulator! It seems to work fine but has not been left with us yet as there are still a few alterations to make.

The members also had their AGM on Saturday where many information about the project was fed back from the committee to the members, the minuets of this meeting will be published in our next newsletter.

We hope that you'll find time in the near future to visit the signal box and see all these developments for yourself. Also, all members are invited to attend our social evening in September. If you're a member and haven't heard about this and/or now want to attend, get in contact with the usual people.

Lying down on the job? Must be sleepers

Today we had deliver of sleepers from the mid-hants railway. Recently the mid-hants has been changing a lot of their sleepers and although the ones they have removed are no longer fit to run trains over, they are in a much better state than the ones we have so we are 'recycling' them. The team turned up today to drop off the sleepers and will return next Monday to install them.

These new sleepers should improve the look of the track we have and also make it safer for the volunteers who have to walk on the sleepers. 

More pictures will be uploaded next week showing the changeover process.

Newsletter release

The latest edition of our newsletter "The Signal" is now available on our 'downloads' page. A very interesting read with all the latest info and an article on the pneumatic signalling system that was installed in the Salisbury area. This weekend is also our first Sunday of the month open day so pop along to that to see the developments for yourself!

Latest Developments.

Work continues at the signal box between open days and on Wednesday we had the first use of our new scaffolding tower. It has been assembled by the extension part of the signal box to allow our work force (Dave and Keith) to start stripping the paint from the box ready for it to be repainted. Unfortunately due to the British weather, they didn't get very far and soon had a stop because of the rain. Hopefully the scaffolding will make it easier for them to do the work and, more importantly, safer.

Don't forget we're open on Saturday and we also have our members social event going on but this will not effect our open day.


Don't forget to keep an eye out for the next edition of our newsletter coming early next week.

A busy open day

In many ways, the 21st of May was a big event for us at Romsey Signal box. The first is that we handed out our 10,000th ticket (meaning we've had 10,000 visitors since we opened in October 1992) which was good news. Here is the lucky recipient of the 10,000th ticket with an enlarged ticket and the first of our new design tickets which are now being handed out to all visitors.

The more anticipated event was the passing of 60103, "Flying Scotsman" twice in one day. A video of the two passing has been published to YouTube where you can find other videos of Scotsman in the Romsey area. Here is the video and it will also be placed in our gallery in the near future, its surprising how poor the view of the track is from the signal box site.

Flying Scotsman also brought many additional visitors to the signal box and this meant we had 65 visitors which I believe is out highest number of visitors in one day since our reopening event last year.

We all had an enjoyable day despite the weather and it was good to see so many people taking an interest. We also went up to Romsey station and handed out a load of leaflets to all the people on the platform so hopefully we'll get more visitors in the coming months.

Next open day will be June 5th

interesting TV series

There's a very interesting series on channel 4 at the moment: Paul Merton's Secret Stations. This week Paul Merton visited Newton St Cyres which was a neighboring signal box to Cowley Bridge Junction, our model signal box. Worth a watch if you have the time. Follow the link below to catch up on the latest episodes.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/paul-mertons-secret-stations

Signal box progress

You may be thinking to yourselves, "whats been going on with blog, we haven't had an update in ages". Well, worry no more, here is the latest update with all the latest news!

As you may know, we are currently working on a new display to utilise three colour light signals that we have on site. They weren't in a good state so they're currently in the 'workshop' (lean-to) being renovated. The latest success is the completion of smallest of the three signals, the two aspect signal. 2 aspect means it can only display red and green (go and stop) unlike the three and four aspect signals which have amber and double amber states (respectively). This is believed to be an old underground signal and although in real life it wouldn't be seen in a sequence with 2 main line signals, it will do for us.

When we started on this signal it was in a pretty bad way and it has been completely stripped down and restored to working order. On Sunday we completed the restoration when we reassembled it and fitted the lenses. We still have to fit a new lamp holder (we're converting the lights to low voltage LED lamps) but we did simulate a light in the signal by using a torch. Its great to see something like this come together and it gives a real sense of achievement. There are just a few finishing touches and this will be ready to go on display (once we finish the other two signals).

The main body of the three aspect signal has been cleaned and given two coats of paint along with most of the other bits and pieces that need to be reattached. There are just two pieces of metalwork that need painting, but we need to drill out some of the bolt holes in these pieces that have bolts stuck in them from when we disassembled it. Once this is complete and we design a way to hold the new low voltage LED lamps, the signal can be reassembled.

The control circuit for this has already been completed and tested ready for action once the signals are all completed.


In the pavilion, Dave has continued to construct shelving around the TV area that allows us to store things under the TV and keep the various video players safe.

Keith has continued to repaint the outside of the pavilion to keep the wood sealed from water damage.

Dick has constructed a new ramp into the toilet area using slabs as the old wooden one was rotting away. This means it will last much longer and require less maintenance.

Neil's hard work and dedication to the garden's is paying off and all the bluebells and tulips are making the garden's look really good this year. He was out there again on Sunday weeding the lawns and at the end of the day gave me a bunch of rhubarb from our vegetable patch which is really staring to give us some produce.

On Sunday a committee meeting was held and many decisions were made around the plans for a new building. We have now (for the third time) changed the plans and hopefully finalised the location of the new building which will house visitor displays and also a secure member's area where they will be able to eat lunch and store personal belongings.  various other things were discussed and decisions were made. It involved a lot of standing around outside and we have now perfected our impressions of windmills!

The highlight of the day was the unexpected fly-over from a spitfire. There was obviously and event on at Broadlands as the aircraft was doing stunts and tricks. The pictures don't really do it justice.


Otherwise we had another successful open day and we're all looking forward to next month when Flying Scotsman will be passing through Romsey twice in one day. Why not combine going to see Scotsman with a visit to the Signal box and see what it would have been like to Signal Scotsman through the Romsey area and clear the signals so as not to hold the train up!