GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh1671

Contractors installing electric cable associated with the electric power signalling at Birmingham Snow Hill. Here a platelayers truck is being used to carry a cable drumstand. The cable drum is being manually rotated and stopped on the drumstand shaft by the two men on the right. Notice that the cable drum has an iron band on each flange. Also, the series of stay bolts in the face of the drum which indicate the position of the drum core, this is relatively close to the edge of the drum due to the limited bending radius of this cable. The electric signalling cables were placed in metal trucking above ground and in iron-pipe conduits between pits beneath the track. This avoided the need for traditional arrangements, which involved wide runs of point rodding and multiple lengths of signalling wires on pulleys. This allowed more space to be allocated to trackwork in this confined location.

Robert Ferris

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