Loading Gauges

[Bryan]

Does anyone have a drawing for an LNER style Loading Gauge or even better an NER version?

This is not for a modelling project but to fabricate an entirely new full size one.

[Trestrol]

There is a drawing on page 35 of North Eastern Record Vol 1 .

[Bryan]

Thanks for that.
I forgot to check that volume, also there is none in the NERA books of standards.

On checking it Is there a dimensioned version available anywhere?
We could scale it but it would be better to use a proper drawing if possible. To get the correct size round bar etc.
Also how deep below ground should it be?
Other than the old adage about a third of the height in the ground for fencing.

[R. pike]

I have drawing 661/2/39 POST - LOAD GAUGE from the LNER Standard Concrete Articles catalogue. This is for the concrete post only.

[Monkwearmouth]

I don't think we have drawings but would access to the example we have at at Monkwearmouth help you? As it happens it's only just been re-erected after renewal of the post - the second time the post has been replaced in preservation. They seem to last about 20 years. This is the loading gauge that was still in place in the sidings area when the station was transferred to Sunderland to run as a museum, so it's as original as you'll probably get (or at least the metalwork is!).

Photo after recent post renewal attached; still requiring some adjustment to match c/l of track - and yes it did stay up after the props were taken away!

Monkwearmouth

[Bryan]

That looks like a good idea.
I will be in touch to arrange convenient date.

[PinzaC55]

Heres the loading gauge at Millfield station in 1977. Incidentally "Monkwearmouth" where did the one at Monkwearmouth come from?

[Bryan]

From reading the text it is the original from Monkwearmouth.
Any other photos or detail would be appreciated.

Where was Millfield?

[PinzaC55]

Millfield was on the Sunderland to Penshaw line and is currently a station on the Metro line to "South" Hylton. I can't remember the loading gauge being at Monkwearmouth museum when it opened in 1973 so I always assumed it came from somewhere else.
BTW I think there is a dimensioned drawing of an NER gauge in the book "North Eastern Record Volume 1" by the NERA.

[Bryan]

The sketch on p35 is only dimensioned for the height of the gauge and the radius.
Any other detail would need to be scaled off.
However as we are planning a full size replica the more accurate we can get it the better.
Especially for the rodding dimensions and timber post which appears tapered.

[Monkwearmouth]

Re. recent discussion here are four photos of the NER loading gauge at Monkwearmouth Station Museum:

1. The loading gauge in situ at around the time the Monkwearmouth station premises were transferred from BR to Sunderland - the early 1970s.

2. Two photos showing the extent of the deterioration of the post which led to its recent replacement. It looked OK from the outside - until someone prodded their finger through a shell of paint and a thin surface of dry wood and began to excavate the powdery stuff inside. You'll see that only about 15% of the post x-sectional area was structurally viable (approx 3"x3"), and it was immediately 'felled' for safety. A lesson, if one were needed, for anyone responsible for maintaining wooden structures. Note that a lead 'sleeve' had been applied to the base of the post, presumably in an attempt to protect it from moisture. We think it's had the opposite effect by locking in dampness, so that the timber within it once wet remained permanently so.

3. The new post and restored metalwork (wrapped) ready for transport to site.

Monkwearmouth

[Bryan]

Thanks for the reply and photos.

Surprised that someone tried a lead wrapper.
Most posts like that are deliberately charred either in a fire or by blowlamp for about a foot above and 2 foot below ground level.