It always seems a quiet time of year but we have kept ourselves occupied with a variety of tasks that we didn’t get round to yet, such as sorting our tools so we have a set in the tool van and a good set in the pit shed (with an additional shadow board to keep things tidy., thanks Keith). It’s all part of an exercise to find out what we really have accumulated over the years so we can have a sort out !!!
We have also made a start on our next exciting project to provide a longer loop from the Laurel Siding headshunt around to the layby siding, which will give is just two passing loops that will help the bi-directional running. We needed some more rail to complete this excercise, so we decided to purchase some new 16mm alloy rail and use this in the storage shed so we could use the 22 mm rail in there on the new loop to match the existing .We have replaced one track so far.
Peter and John replacing Track i
Also as part of this plan, we have been for some time looking at the different ways of installing automatic colour light signals on the railway and Peter (with some input from Kevin and others !!!!), is now looking at utilising a ‘raspberry pi’ ‘computer’ to work the system. John has also been busy making up a signal head out of 5 mm plastic using those 3 light led ‘push for on’ , lights used in cupboards etc. We have dismantled them and removed the switch and rewired them to be on or off via a switch in the ‘mini computer’ system,and the initial one looks very impressive !
The other job we have started is to fettle and repaint the point levers giving each one a number to identify its location when requiring attention.
Point number lever 4 done