Wednesday 23 October 2013

A Wet, Wet, Wet Week in Winchcombe

When the weather is wet its time to look for an indoor job.
Richard E had gone off and hidden in Winchcombe box for the day- Signalling Duty I think he said so we must let him off then.
Richard C was nowhere to be found so it was all down to the me and the Protheroughs. Oh and a Visitor from the Far East, of Dean that is.

Ist job needed both Andy and John- you can tell the difference as John (dad) has got a lot more hair than son (Andy) Placing the Winchcombe exchange (PAX) unit  onto its new mobile trolley so that we can move it around a bit and get to work in the back of it.

We were also joined for the day by Paul Seward who very kindly came up to help us and take a look at the units.
 Paul usually works on the Dean Forest Railway.
Delighted to see you Paul and glad to be able to swop things back to you.
Sorry the Payphone was so dusty!
 Paul and I worked right through lunchtime "mobilising" the 3cwt unit at Toddington unit onto its trolley. He was able to give us a lot of tips re the internal arrangements.

They were built in Liverpool in the late 1950's when diodes were copper oxide stacks and chips were things you ate for tea.
Now we can work behind them we can start to get to grips with some of the faults ( Extension 35 and 36, you are not forgotten) and we rewired the winter heater to keep it drier internally, hopefully the wildlife will spend this winter somewhere else!

Meanwhile, back at base;
the new overhead display for Broadway signal box is taking shape.
 Here we see the redoubtable MW making sure that John holds it up properly for the camera.
I gather that really it is Carl Smarts project.
 I think he will be surprised at how its been transformed from the dustgatherer that lived under Winchcombe Box into what will eventually be a centre piece of the new signal box

Mike S



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