Renovation of the North Signal Box at Boat of Garten – 18th to 20th August

 Renovation of the North Signal Box at Boat of Garten – 18th to 20th August 

 By Colin Frost

Our aim on this visit was to finish all areas that required scaffold access, and to this end the final top coat of ‘Pollen’ was applied to the walls in all the remaining areas just above ground level.

 

This achieved we moved on to paint the three windows in the porch area with undercoat and the finished top coat of “Banana dream 6” applied.  The porch was also completed, with the ceiling now in white and the window in light cream, which now gives a much lighter effect, as it had previously been painted brown.

 

At ground level on the east side of the under-croft there were two panes of wired glass that had been damaged many years ago, so these were removed and replaced with similar glass, and finally working at ground level around the back of the box, under the maze of supporting scaffold poles the undercoat was commenced on the north and west walls.

 

As a final touch the windows on the east and north sides were paint scraped and given a clean.

 

The good news is that the scaffold is being removed on Tuesday 24^th after being in place for just about two months.

 

Team this week Colin Frost, Jim Hardy and Ray Kenyon

 

(to be continued)

Renovation of the North Signal Box at Boat of Garten – 31 July to 3 August

Renovation of the North Signal Box at Boat of Garten – 31 July to 3 August 

By Colin Frost

 

On Saturday 31^st we were joined by six members of the P/way team and Jim P and they were able to scrape down any loose paint, sand and apply an undercoat to the remaining north, west and east walls at the lower level of the scaffold.  The inside of the porch was also prepared and an undercoat applied.  This herculean effort moved the renovation on a pace and allowed Ray and I, over the next three days, to apply the top coat to all the windows on the east side at first floor level, replace another small rotten area of timber on the north wall and a pane of glass in a window in the south wall.  Final top coat was also applied to the east wall down to just above ground level. 

 

The first half of the wriggly tin roof of the store was washed down so that this can be prepared for painting.

 

We had deliberately left the south side of the box till last as most of the area did not require the use of the scaffold, but now was the time to prepare the walls on this side. So after more wood repairs were completed at ground level the wall on the first floor and at ground level was cleaned down and the undercoat applied.

 

Team this week Jim Clark, Colin Frost, Ray Kenyon, Neil McQueen, Angus McPhail, Jim Pittendrigh, Mike Tough, and we also welcomed two new members to the P/way squad Dave Gelippe and Bob Vincent.

 

(to be continued)

August S&T report

 August 2021 S&T report 

By Robert Law

With school holidays progress at Boat North Box has been slow but steady.

The Block shelf has been mounted above the frame and the indicators have been mounted on brackets that have been made for the job. The King leaver indicator is now in front of it’s lever instead of been at the end of the frame. The temporary indicator for the points has been mounted above the points lever. 

A better look at the new indicators above the points lever. Top one is the temporary points indicator. The new one is still at S&T HQ waiting to be serviced before been sent up. Below it, is the track circuit indicator, not in use yet but ready when it is required. At the bottom is the track circuit override switch. This is for use in the event of a track circuit failure, and only to be used with RO’s authority.

Temporary disconnection boxes been installed for the termination of the 19 core cables. This has been done as the location cases are still at S&T HQ…. As the day’s are drawing in and the light is fading. The signal lights are required for the late evening running of the wine and dine trains. The signal lighting are supplied from under the signal, on the power distribution board. Over the 19 core cables, to the temporary disconnection boxes and onto the tail cables up the signals.

Just to show that is has been done, hear is all 5 of the new signals at Boat of Garten, well lit in the daylight.  Visibility at night time should be more then adequate for both drivers and signaller’s.

Moving on to Aviemore, problems were been had with the block bells at Speyside box. Two of the cells had become life expired and required to be replaced. A decision was made to just change all the batteries as we have a healthy stock of newer ones. The batteries currently supply the local 12v. At the moment it is  only for the block bells but in the longer term any relays and lever locks that will need to be installed, will be connected on to this supply.

Problems were identified with the table in front of Speyside box. The rabbits had been in about and dug out around the timbers. The timbers had become loose with the hot weather with the bolts becoming loose. Some time was spent back filling in around the timbers, bolts tightened and a new fishplate installed at the end, to tie the timbers together, to help prevent future problems. Once this was all done the points drive required an adjustment as it had effected the throw of the points.