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The client commisioned two signals to 16mm/1ft scale for his garden railway, one with a wooden post and the other a lattice. He asked me to build mechanisms for them and to fit them with working lamps. This signal (left) has a tapered hardwood post. Other parts of the model are brass with the exception of the lamp and the finial, which are white metal castings. |
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This signal has a lattice post
assembled from brass etches. There is a connecting wire
for the lamp tucked away in one corner of the post, the
return path being through the metal structure. The lampman's platform is decked with strips of 1mm plywood to give it a more convincing thickness. |
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The cast lamps on both signals have been drilled out
and fitted with polished clear acrylic lenses. A
removeable brass base carries the bulb. As you can see
here, there is a working blinder that masks the backlight
when the signal is "off". I fitted a lightning conductor to the timber post to form one connection to the lamp (some prototype signals had these). The return path is through the ladder. Below are two pictures showing other details on the signals. |
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| These two pictures show the signals mounted on their drive boxes. These are 180 x 155 x 90mm and are intended to drop into wooden pockets mounted beside the track, making them easy to install and remove. Each box contains a pendulum bounce mechanism powered by a Lemaco point motor. The box also contains a low-voltage electronic dimmer to allow the brilliance of the lamp to be adjusted. | |