Will's Cigarette Cards Queries

[ThirteenArches]

It's my birthday! Consider yourselves to have been bought drinks all round. And Madame gave me a belt (nothing unusual about that) and a set of Wills's cigarette cards, apparently from the later 1930s: "Railway Equipment: a series of 50). It's all very interesting, very go- ahead with GWR diesel railcars, colour light signals, an all- electric signal box at Waterloo etc. etc.

But the queries: first, one of the cards might help to date the set. When (if ever) did Gresley's Silver Fox get painted blue? Here it is on a vacuum- operated turntable.



And the second looks to me like an AI image from another, less reputable, part of the forum. It's described as "a movable diamond crossing". Can anyone make sense of it, cos I can't.

 

[Ashley Hill]

And the second looks to me like an AI image from another, less reputable, part of the forum. It's described as "a movable diamond crossing". Can anyone make sense of it, cos I can't.

Otherwise known as movable elbows, they provide seamless travel over points without a gap. Here’s a photo (not mine) of a set of such points. It’s notable that the route to the right is spiked out of use.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

But the queries: first, one of the cards might help to date the set. When (if ever) did Gresley's Silver Fox get painted blue? Here it is on a vacuum- operated turntable.

View attachment 211686

That card is from 1938; I think it's number 44 in the set of 50 cards it was part of if that helps...?

 

[Gloster]

It's my birthday! Consider yourselves to have been bought drinks all round. And Madame gave me a belt (nothing unusual about that) and a set of Wills's cigarette cards, apparently from the later 1930s: "Railway Equipment: a series of 50). It's all very interesting, very go- ahead with GWR diesel railcars, colour light signals, an all- electric signal box at Waterloo etc. etc.

But the queries: first, one of the cards might help to date the set. When (if ever) did Gresley's Silver Fox get painted blue? Here it is on a vacuum- operated turntable.

View attachment 211686

And the second looks to me like an AI image from another, less reputable, part of the forum. It's described as "a movable diamond crossing". Can anyone make sense of it, cos I can't.

View attachment 211687

The lower picture on the Point Construction card was from an official GWR Paddington negative probably taken in August 1928 just after the points were commissioned. The location is Old Oak Common West, looking west.

 

[ThirteenArches]

Thanks all. But what are the apparent guard rails outside the four foot, and that little bit of single- slipperiness on the left? Or is the artist as flummoxed as I was?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Thanks all. But what are the apparent guard rails outside the four foot, and that little bit of single- slipperiness on the left? Or is the artist as flummoxed as I was?

There appears to be a couple of fouling bars near the switch blades in the four foot, but those chunky bits on the outside of the nearer rails have me stumped too!

 

[Gloster]

Thanks all. But what are the apparent guard rails outside the four foot, and that little bit of single- slipperiness on the left? Or is the artist as flummoxed as I was?

As far as the two sections of ‘rail’ immediately outside the running rails in the lower picture, they seem to have been fairly standard. My guess, and I am no PW expert, is that they are there to hold the running rails in position on a piece of trackwork that need to be very precisely adjusted (and may have undergone unusual centrifugal forces).

If by ‘single slipperiness on the left’ you mean where the rail coming in from the left crosses the left-hand running rail that goes straight ahead, this is a normal part of the elbows. The nearer bit in the four foot is the running rail and there is a slight gap between it and the straight ahead rail which is set for use. The second (further) ‘rail’ is, I think, another one of these ‘strengthening’ parts, as mentioned in the above paragraph. It is more obvious in the original photo as the running rail has a shiny top face, while the strengthener’s is dull.

 

[LYradial]

I will offer this as a suggestion based on my experience of modeling.

in order to make the switch blades thin enough to fit you have to remove the lower web of the rail on the outside.
as you cannot have a check rail the pressure of the flange on the switch can cause it to “bow” outwards and widen the gauge slightly.
Hence this bit of metal, note that on the closed switch it fits snugly behind the switch and prevents it bowing.

if this is the first such one then no doubt later experience showed it was not needed

 

[Gloster]

I will offer this as a suggestion based on my experience of modeling.

in order to make the switch blades thin enough to fit you have to remove the lower web of the rail on the outside.
as you cannot have a check rail the pressure of the flange on the switch can cause it to “bow” outwards and widen the gauge slightly.
Hence this bit of metal, note that on the closed switch it fits snugly behind the switch and prevents it bowing.

if this is the first such one then no doubt later experience showed it was not needed

The first known installation on the GWR was in November 1907, although the first in the UK was probably at Stafford No.4 on the L&NWR in 1906. By the time this one was installed, the GWR had around two dozen sets of elbows; dates of installation are not always known.