We had four items on today's list. None very exciting, but all worthwhile and reasonably contained.
First, two stop boards at the north end of Rushcliffe Halt loop were in pitiful condition. One had rotted and fallen-over, the other had lost two mounting clips, drunkenly swinging round to very nearly foul the line. These are now back in position - although we note that somebody is in the habit of using them for target practice!
Next, we measured and marked-out a new location for the AWS magnet on the southern approach to the loop. There's been one there for some time, but we found in a previous survey that it is far too close to the stop board for the line speed and gradient. Quite why is lost in the mist of time, but it does need moving.
Last, we discovered why one of the sliding window casements at Hotchley Hill is jammed. The frame is supposed to hang from rails hidden behind a steel valance, which was very firmly bolted on. Having tried on two separate occasions to remove them (and succeeded only in damaging the machine-screws and our screwdrivers), we resigned to drilling-out the fasteners. That done, we could finally inspect the damaged roller mechanism.
Happily, it turned out not to be damaged at all! The two nuts that should have suspended the frame had merely rattled-off many years before, and were lying in the top of the steel channel. We do see why they weren't properly tightened the first time around though. There isn't really space to turn a spanner on them, so actually fixing the problem will have to wait for better tools.
Perhaps of interest, another item of signalling equipment surfaced in the ditch behind the box. This is a switch, once mounted behind the frame to disconnect power from electric locks when a lever is normal and the catch-handle released.
