Renovated rail chairs

[Colin walsh]

Gentalman,you are both correct.hand signalmen ,working on a time in section principal,.

[Stewie]

Time interval working?

[MartinR]

I assume you are referring to the early days when policemen ("Bobbys" and after Sir Robert Peel) were employed to control the trains, a sort of early signalman.

[Colin walsh]

 Keith G,coulour light signaling was placed at various heights ,controld by a drivers line of vision,in other words where it could be seen best ,a lot had to be taken into consideration,time of year ,position of the sun ,local conditions.At certain times of the year,there were some signals that had a fair share of
SPADs ,Some large stations ,when the driver past the starter he would be met by an array of gantry mounted CLS, some had feathers (rout indicating lights ) plus a mass of 'information lights ,all very confusing if your rout knowledge was not top notch.raiway signaling is a world of ts own,it occupies a considerable amount of a drivers time learning routs , and he has to be passed and signed off for any route he will drive over,
Question time :-any one know what a "Bobbi's "task was on early railways ,answer next week😀

[KeithG]

As i understand it the coloured lights were lower and introduced as a safety measure when foggy so they were more easily seen?

[Colin walsh]

Thinking about the instaltion of three aspect coulour light signaling beyond Gillingham ,as stated before I was involved insomuch as a passed cleaner I did several engineering train firing turns ref that time ,can't recall the year ,but my birthday is early May ,the actual phasing in on CLS was a week or two prior to May ,probably mid or late April ,we were involved in the Gillingham. Sittingbourn Sheppy signals,on the initional commissioning we came from rainham to Gillingham removing the white wooden crosses from the new signals and the permanent way team put each one on line,it was the only time in my railway service I ever carried out rule 55 "

[KeithG]

Castle261...... I was 7 in 1954 and living in Duncan Road and then Copenhagen Road that Gillingham crossing was a play area.
I used to stand up on that crossing bridge and  the smoke from the engines used to go up my short trousers


Regularly going in the red phone box to tell the operator to get off the line as a train was coming.

[castle261]

Interesting 1939, still on school holidays. We used to walk from the top of Castle Road to the Strand,
via up Stoney Alley, cross Chatham Hill into Windmill Road, Gillingham Road, to the level crossing, & wait, until the crossing gates closed. then we would rush up the crossing steps, to fill our heads with
steam & smoke ----- ( we were going swimming ) ----- I would have been eleven, then.

Those were the ---- days ------- walking !

[Invicta Alec]

A very interesting document @KeithG. Tons of information therein. Not least of all is confirmation that electrification did indeed reach Gillingham in July 1939. On the second day of the month it claims.


Alec.

[KeithG]

This is an interesting read.....


http://extra.southernelectric.org.uk/features/historical-features/kentcoast.html

[Invicta Alec]

Don't really know Dave. I'm just passing on what I read.


"Fully operational" sounds like a good compromise! 


Alec.

[Dave Smith]

Invicta Alec. Sorry, but I was evacuated early September '39 & I'm pretty sure the electrification came as far as Woodlands Road bridge, well before that, not 6 weeks. Maybe "fully operational" is missing from my recollection? 

[KeithG]

The electrification along the Newington straight was 1959.....how far it went i don't know it probably continued to Faversham.
I was 11 in 1959 and used to use a 2p platform ticket to go anywhere except to Charing Cross where you had to go out the gate before coming back in for the return.
Other stations mainly had a footbridge you could just get to the return platform.

[Colin walsh]

Dave, to be honest I can't remember a great deal ref electrification,I think it had gone beyond Gillingham when I joined BR ,I know some branch lines were undergoing third rail instaltion,Sheppy branch ,don't  think the Allhalows branch was ever juiced up?
One thing i can say for certain is I spent a night shift on a c class foot plate ,bringing three aspect coulour light signals on line,between Faversham and Gillingham in the mid fifties ,allso did a number of night engineering occupation jobs removing semaphore signals and asoceated gantry,on the down main to the coast ,(Margate Ramgate ).gillingham was a small depot,had a coleing plant ,of sorts.plus a turn table(manual) that was removed during my time there,when closure came ,I relocated to North Devon,that's another story? Lots of information was stored on the "old"fourum, unfortunatly now lost forever,many of those who contributed,either directly,or by proxy are now no longer with us.any information I can is given freely and to the best of my now failing memory.

[Invicta Alec]

Sorry to butt in chaps but one of my railway books gives the date that electrification reached Gillingham was July 1939.


Alec.