Bombproof Signals

A piece of railway ‘furniture’ that brings with it bucket loads of character is signalling. Whilst the British narrow gauge scene didn’t carry the same degree of signalling as its mainline relative, a number of railways had their own quirky systems. These often became obsolete in later years, thanks to light railway orders and ‘one engine in steam’ operations, leaving posts leaning at drunken angles, arms sagging and paint peeling. I wanted to use this as an excuse to display some evocative pieces of signalling equipment, without having to go the whole hog of a fully functioning system. I also wanted some ‘bombproof’ signals that could live outside all year round, could withstand being uprooted or knocked over…oh yes, and I didn’t want to spend any money!

One day, whilst clearing out part of the workshop, I came across a bag of assorted 15mm copper plumbing fittings and some odd lengths of 15mm copper pipe. These leftovers from a domestic DIY plumbing job had been kept ‘just in case’ and suddenly I could see a reason for my frugality and refusal to throw them away. An hour’s worth of fiddling, fettling and three dimensional doodling resulted in a bracket signal that was incredibly strong, rust and rot proof. The drawings show the basics behind the design and the signal will work manually. Originally this bracket signal was located on the approach to Battys Hollow station, protecting the loop. Extensions to the existing track layout, however, have seen the signal moved to a new location by the bridge at Frog Crossing. This sort of ‘recycling’ of equipment was very common on narrow gauge lines and helps create a genuine history for the line as time goes by.