Mystery switch panel (=Lamp Repeater)

[Chris Osment]

I have been asked if I know for what this item was used.

I've no idea - can anyone suggest anything please?

Thanks!

[Mark Lamb]

It's a lamp repeater unit, for mechanical signals. If the paraffin lamp is alight, then current flows from the signal (over a bi-metallic strip) to the unit where a relay within the unit is held energised. If you push the button at the bottom, it should light up to show the relay energised. If the lamp goes out, then after the bi-metallic strip has cooled, the current ceases to flow and the relay drops. This causes the unit to buzz (over it's own feed from within the signalbox) until the signalman presses the button to see which one has gone out. The signaller then operates the switch to silence the buzzer. When the lamp is re-lit, the buzzer then sounds again when the circuit is made, and the switch is returned to the 'A' position.
I would guess that 1 and 13 are distant signals?

Regards,

Mark Lamb

[Martin Shaw]

Chris

Mark is correct, but for specifics it is actually an LMS product of modular construction so you can have 2,4, or 6 indications. Of course each indication can have more than 1 signal lamp repeated.
Regards
Martin

[Fast Line Floyd]

Chris

Mark is correct, but for specifics it is actually an LMS product of modular construction so you can have 2,4, or 6 indications. Of course each indication can have more than 1 signal lamp repeated.
Regards
Martin

And indeed very common in ex LNW, Midland, North London, and some GC boxes in the past.

[Chris Osment]

By chance I was able to get my hands on the item for short while today! I was able to take the front panels off (couldn't get inside the back) and the various bits had LMS and what I assume to be part numbers on them.

Thanks to all for their info

[John Hinson]

Mark is correct, but for specifics it is actually an LMS product of modular construction so you can have 2,4, or 6 indications. Of course each indication can have more than 1 signal lamp repeated.

I have one with twelve indications.

And indeed very common in ex LNW, Midland, North London, and some GC boxes in the past.

Also available in wood:
http://shop.studio433.co.uk/index.php?r ... ct_id=1194

John

[kbarber]

Mark is correct, but for specifics it is actually an LMS product of modular construction so you can have 2,4, or 6 indications. Of course each indication can have more than 1 signal lamp repeated.

I have one with twelve indications.

And indeed very common in ex LNW, Midland, North London, and some GC boxes in the past.

Also available in wood:
http://shop.studio433.co.uk/index.php?r ... ct_id=1194

John

There was a two-indication example of that in Engine Shed Junction (Kentish Town), indicating a colour light signal (No. 4) and its banner repeater.

[Fast Line Floyd]

Mark is correct, but for specifics it is actually an LMS product of modular construction so you can have 2,4, or 6 indications. Of course each indication can have more than 1 signal lamp repeated.

I have one with twelve indications.

And indeed very common in ex LNW, Midland, North London, and some GC boxes in the past.

Also available in wood:
http://shop.studio433.co.uk/index.php?r ... ct_id=1194

John

There was a two-indication example of that in Engine Shed Junction (Kentish Town), indicating a colour light signal (No. 4) and its banner repeater.

No reason at all for not using it as a lamp repeater as well as an oil lamp repeater!

[marka108]

i was lead to believe they were for semaphores with an electric lamp, or a two aspect colored light, the bulbs had two filaments, a&b when filament "a" blew the buzzer sounded and you flicked the switch to b which illuminated the other filament. the button at the bottom was a confidence check to test the buzzer. i wasn't around when paraffin was in use ...

[mossend4]

i was lead to believe they were for semaphores with an electric lamp, or a two aspect colored light, the bulbs had two filaments, a&b when filament "a" blew the buzzer sounded and you flicked the switch to b which illuminated the other filament. the button at the bottom was a confidence check to test the buzzer. i wasn't around when paraffin was in use ...

Mossend No4 Junction was the first box I was ever in, so everything in it was new and strange to me. This was back in the late 1950s and I know the signals were paraffin-lit then because I regularly saw the lampman climbing the signal post ladders to attend to them. The box had a bank of signal-lamp repeaters on the block shelf from the day of my first visit, of the same type as that on the link, so they were in use in paraffin lamp-days too.

[John Hinson]

I have only seen that type used with oil lamps - until recent changes the use of electric lighting in semaphore signals was rare and generally only at places where sighting was affected, this was called "intensified lighting" and had a completely different type of alarm should the lighting fail.

John

[marka108]

does anyone know how to wire these sets up? a diagram etc.?

[JRB]

I only have details of the GWR/WR types, but it should be easy to deduce the requirements. A voltage from the signal lamp holds off a relay. When the lamp fails, the voltage disappears, the relay drops and energises a visual and audible warning. The acknowledgment control removes the feed to the audible warning and so on. Follow the wiring.

[John Hinson]

JRB is absolutely right in how the LMR type works.

The internal wiring should all be present, all that should need connecting is the feed from the signal lamps and the power to light the indications and work the buzzer.

John

[Bob Davies]

There is only one point to add to JRB's reply which is that the audible alarm sounds if the lamp is re-illuminated with the switch in the 'acknowledge' position.

i was lead to believe they were for semaphores with an electric lamp, or a two aspect colored light, the bulbs had two filaments, a&b when filament "a" blew the buzzer sounded and you flicked the switch to b which illuminated the other filament. the button at the bottom was a confidence check to test the buzzer. i wasn't around when paraffin was in use ...

I have never seen one of these units used for colour-light signals of any kind, but that of course does not mean that they never were. However, the lamp proving for twin-filament bulbs was completely different, with filament changeover carried out in the signal head.