The LNER Encyclopedia

Old photo of the now disused Stoke by Clare Station on the Stour Valley line. Does anyone know what the contraption is on the station platform, it looks like a double ships wheel.
http://tinyurl.com/8cv4cpp

I seem to remeber that it was the crossing gate mech, there being no signal box at that time.

2512silverfox wrote:I seem to remeber that it was the crossing gate mech, there being no signal box at that time.

Thanks for your reply silverfox sounds good to me.

I don't think there was a public level crossing at Clare (the one at 22m 02¼ch was an occupation crossing), and in any case, the remote operation of a crossing at such an early date would have been unusual, to say the least. I suspect it is the winch for controlling the two station 'home' signals.

Any further information welcome

Andy

Didnt some GER stations have a moveable portion of the platform that was winched out over the running lines?

This is a reply given to the same question elsewhere.

I believe the two spoked wheels on the platform are to work "Auxiliary" signals. These were an early form of semaphore signal giving advance warning if a train was required to stop at a station. The signals were some distance, either side of the station and were operated by wheel rather than lever.

That's an odd looking postmill

Bryan wrote:This is a reply given to the same question elsewhere.

I believe the two spoked wheels on the platform are to work "Auxiliary" signals. These were an early form of semaphore signal giving advance warning if a train was required to stop at a station. The signals were some distance, either side of the station and were operated by wheel rather than lever.

The above answer to my question about the two spoked wheels on the platform was given to me by Dave Cockle who is a member of this forum.

52D wrote:Didnt some GER stations have a moveable portion of the platform that was winched out over the running lines?

But definitely not this one. Andy Rush's explanation is the correct one.

52D wrote:Didnt some GER stations have a moveable portion of the platform that was winched out over the running lines?

I don't think it has anything to do with a movable platform but space considerations sometimes necessitated the provision of movable platforms to bridge rails, particularly at termini such as at Waterloo (1864-1922). Other examples include those where road level crossings intersected platforms and here movable platforms were integrated with the crossing gates.

2512silverfox wrote:I seem to remeber that it was the crossing gate mech, there being no signal box at that time.

You remember...

Another pic of Stoke by Clare.