Travel and Transport => Railways => Topic started by: Stewie on April 10, 2020, 03:27:27 PM
Title: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Stewie on April 10, 2020, 03:27:27 PM
Gave my old rail chairs a paint up over the last couple of days. Examples from the 'London, Chatham & Dover Railway' (LC&DR) and 'South Eastern & Chatham Railway' (SE&CR).
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Dave Smith on April 10, 2020, 04:11:33 PM
Stewie. How old are those chairs then? LC&DR & SE&CR must have vanished many, many moons ago. Were they chairs in carriages, bolted down ( & you had a spanner, ha,ha) or waiting rooms, or?
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Stewie on April 10, 2020, 04:28:02 PM
Hi Dave They are what the running rail 'sits' in and hence the name 'rail chair'. Each sleeper has two screwed to it and they effectively hold the rail(s) firmly in place and at the required gauge. The foundry dates are printed on the castings and are 1898 for the LC&DR and 1912 for the SE&CR respectively.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Smiffy on April 10, 2020, 10:26:14 PM
Stewie, you learn something new everyday - I never knew these were called rail chairs.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: MartinR on April 10, 2020, 10:52:47 PM
There's a tiny bit about chairs at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_fastening_system#Chairs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_fastening_system#Chairs)
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Colin walsh on April 14, 2020, 09:10:48 PM
Railways,and there asoceated equipment have a history and terminology all of there own. I started work on BR at Gillingham motive power depot as a engine cleaner,had a number of jobs in between,ended my railway days as a class one signalman ,(old crossing keeper) I held many positions ,among them depot shunter (stains) engenering shunter,mobile operations managers assistant,releaf shunter covering many different types of yards ,at times it was interesting,at times boring,and some times having to be involed in situations I took a long time to get over.found the bit about the running rail and it's fittings interesting.Railway history is deeply intertwined with our history ,
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Dave Smith on April 15, 2020, 10:19:45 AM
Colin. You would remember when the electrification of Southern came as far as Gillingham- about 1938? The actual electric line finished at buffers just before Woodlands Road bridge, after the washing shed. Or, being 11?, you were not into railways then? I presume the continued electrification to the coast in 19?? was still 3 rail?
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Invicta Alec on April 15, 2020, 12:48:57 PM
Sorry to butt in chaps but one of my railway books gives the date that electrification reached Gillingham was July 1939.
Alec.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Colin walsh on April 15, 2020, 03:31:51 PM
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.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: KeithG on April 16, 2020, 06:34:31 PM
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.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Dave Smith on April 16, 2020, 08:18:52 PM
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?
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Invicta Alec on April 16, 2020, 10:08:57 PM
Don't really know Dave. I'm just passing on what I read.
"Fully operational" sounds like a good compromise! :)
Alec.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: KeithG on April 17, 2020, 12:48:52 PM
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Invicta Alec on April 17, 2020, 07:24:50 PM
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.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: castle261 on April 18, 2020, 07:46:02 AM
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 !
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: KeithG on April 18, 2020, 08:14:38 AM
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 :o
Regularly going in the red phone box to tell the operator to get off the line as a train was coming.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Colin walsh on April 18, 2020, 12:50:01 PM
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 "
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: KeithG on April 18, 2020, 04:23:42 PM
As i understand it the coloured lights were lower and introduced as a safety measure when foggy so they were more easily seen?
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Colin walsh on April 18, 2020, 07:14:31 PM
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😀
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: MartinR on April 18, 2020, 08:45:55 PM
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.
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Stewie on April 18, 2020, 09:31:13 PM
Time interval working?
Title: Re: Renovated rail chairs
Post by: Colin walsh on April 19, 2020, 10:00:51 PM
Gentalman,you are both correct.hand signalmen ,working on a time in section principal,.