Lever Frame
|
|
|---|
|
Upon completion of the signal box
structure our thoughts turned to a lever frame. Having
being impressed by a Scaleway lever frame but put off by
the price, we set about constructing a scale model of a
traditional style lever frame. The design included interlocking which would have run through the bottom of the supporting frames.
We actually go 8 levers in the box before an open day, it was noted that we were seeing up to 3 trains a minute. There was no way these levers could be moved at that kind of frequency. The frame components were sold on Ebay for below cost price. Still beter than the price from the scap man. |
| Having seen Westinghouse power frames on the internet, the idea of having a power frame materialised. In December 2007 we took a visit to Chingford Club track to measure up and photograph their lever frame. | |
 |
 |
Our Lever Frame |
|
 |
December 2007. After a many hours on the drawing board I ordered up all the parts from the laser cutters along with CNC turned brass handles. |
 |
Making the most of the Christmas holidays I managed to get the 12 levers assembled in my workshop before transporting them around to the railway. |
 |
May 2008. After a lot of work the lever frame finally got a coat of green paint just in time for the May open day. At this time only levers 7,8, & 10-11 were actually wired up. |
| The lever frame finally in place controlling the south side of the railway. |  |
I had intended to keep the wiring tidy under the frame but I soon became swamped.
23 live wires from the indicator lamps on the rear panel
24 live wires from the lever microswitches
Relay board bottom right in the picture below is a track circuit just after signal 11/12. This latches the signal to red which can only be reset by returing levers 11/12 back to red. This can be switched off if the signal man needs to leave the box.
 |
5 main relays + 1 spare. -
|
