Signals have been bothering me. I have a couple of old Hornby signals, a tall one and a short one, but both seem massively over-scale. Now, I know some signals were jolly tall, depending on where they were positioned, how far away the driver needed to see them, and in some cases what scenery was behind them, but even the shorter of the two Hornby signals seems just too big, both in height and in the girth of the pole. Here's a picture showing the two offending articles next to a loco, and a little man for scale reference.
I happened to visit the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway recently, and made a point of taking some photos of the signals. Now, for the uninitiated (like me), the following diagram might help. Approaching a signal box you'll likely meet (in order) a distance signal (often ignored by modellers on the basis of space), a home signal (just before the station or whatever) and a starting signal (usually at the end of the platform).
The distance signal and the home signal can occasionally be quite tall, depending on where they are, but the starting signal is often pretty much at eye level. Here are a couple of pics I took at the GWSR. You can see that the tallest signals look to be around twice the height of a train, possibly a little more, but nowhere near the relative height of the Hornby signals, and not as chunky in the pole either.
So I decided to make my own signals. Sure, you can buy kits that allow you make very finely detailed signals, but if you've got a lot of signals to do or if you're just tight on money, here's a cheap and easy way of getting close. Or at least, closer than Hornby.
To start with, I sketched out the rough outline of a signal board on a piece of white card. Sources I've read suggest that GWR tended to use a 4 foot board for most signals, occasionally a 3 foot board for secondary signals. I could plug that into a calculator and measure out the correct size, but for this mock-up I've just drawn it by eye, using one of my little people for relative scale - he's about 6 foot. I'm modelling GWR, which uses lower quadrant signals, but this approach could be easily modified for upper quadrant too. And for the post itself, I'm using an everyday wooden kebab skewer!
I've reached the end of my image allowance for this post, so the rest will follow shortly...
Easy signals in OO scale
Easy signals in OO scale
Frontington & Backwoods Railway: https://www.matthewdawkins.co.uk/catego ... way-build/
LocoSound - sound effects for DC model railways: https://mafu-d.github.io/loco-sound
LocoSound - sound effects for DC model railways: https://mafu-d.github.io/loco-sound
Re: Easy signals in OO scale
My first attempt at fixing the signal to the post wasn't entirely successful, but it was a useful learning curve. I tried using a hot glue gun, which was messy and unsightly. Don't do that.
My second attempt was much more acceptable. I started by cutting an everyday staple in half, resulting in an L-shaped piece of thin metal. I then used some thin-nosed pliers to gently bend one side of the L into a slight curve, such that it will wrap around the skewer. The straight side holds the card signal board in place - that does mean that the metal is visible, but it's not too unsightly. I punched a small hole in the card (using a track pin), then threaded it onto the metal wire, and then slotted that down onto the skewer. Gently squeezing it with the pliers makes sure it stays in the right place, while also allowing just enough space for the card to move - yes, these signals are moveable! The friction holds them in place nicely. My skills aren't sufficient at this scale to make wires and weights, so this approach will have to do for now.
As you can see, the scale is much better. And because we're using wooden skewers it's really easy to make them whatever height you need them to be. You'd want to paint the poles while too, of course, but this is a good proof of concept at least. These will be easily made with minimal resources and tools, easily fitted to a layout, and are moveable by hand.
As a bonus, I also thought about ground signals. These are basically round white boards with a red line through them. I found that a standard desktop hole punch makes circles about the right size! So I punched out a little circle of white card, coloured it in with some felt tip pens, and mounted it to an off-cut of that wooden skewer. Sure, it doesn't have the detail that some people might want, but it's all a matter of taste, and for those in a budget this might be a good option.
My second attempt was much more acceptable. I started by cutting an everyday staple in half, resulting in an L-shaped piece of thin metal. I then used some thin-nosed pliers to gently bend one side of the L into a slight curve, such that it will wrap around the skewer. The straight side holds the card signal board in place - that does mean that the metal is visible, but it's not too unsightly. I punched a small hole in the card (using a track pin), then threaded it onto the metal wire, and then slotted that down onto the skewer. Gently squeezing it with the pliers makes sure it stays in the right place, while also allowing just enough space for the card to move - yes, these signals are moveable! The friction holds them in place nicely. My skills aren't sufficient at this scale to make wires and weights, so this approach will have to do for now.
As you can see, the scale is much better. And because we're using wooden skewers it's really easy to make them whatever height you need them to be. You'd want to paint the poles while too, of course, but this is a good proof of concept at least. These will be easily made with minimal resources and tools, easily fitted to a layout, and are moveable by hand.
As a bonus, I also thought about ground signals. These are basically round white boards with a red line through them. I found that a standard desktop hole punch makes circles about the right size! So I punched out a little circle of white card, coloured it in with some felt tip pens, and mounted it to an off-cut of that wooden skewer. Sure, it doesn't have the detail that some people might want, but it's all a matter of taste, and for those in a budget this might be a good option.
Frontington & Backwoods Railway: https://www.matthewdawkins.co.uk/catego ... way-build/
LocoSound - sound effects for DC model railways: https://mafu-d.github.io/loco-sound
LocoSound - sound effects for DC model railways: https://mafu-d.github.io/loco-sound
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Re: Easy signals in OO scale
The signals made by Hornby Dublo before the Triang buy out were closer to scale, the posts being a little thick, most other dimensions being ok. Triang missed a trick or two in not adopting them when they owned all of the tools. They were die cast with metal arms and cranks, so took quite a lot of bashing, even really battered examples can be straightened out and detailed up.
Growing old, can't avoid it. Growing up, forget it!
My Layout, My Workbench Blog and My Opinions
My Layout, My Workbench Blog and My Opinions
- Bufferstop
- Posts: 13796
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:06 pm
- Location: Bottom end of N. Warks line
Re: Easy signals in OO scale
I copied this from my layout thread, why talk about what I did do when I can show you.
Let me know if these pictures don't appear. They are still linked to PhotoBucket, who said long ago that my account was closed!
##############################################################################
Thought you might like to see what I did with a pair of rather tatty Hornby Dublo signals.
Here they are after I worked it all out on the first. As you can see it is now a lower quadrant signal with a finial on top rather than a cap.
Starting on number two I stripped it down to its componetnt parts
then attacked the top and the lamp bracket. The hole is to help locate the finial
next I cut and ground off the pivot and lamp. Drilled a new holes for the arm and lower pivots and one through the base for the wire and tube.
fit the Ratio arm (on a Peco track pin) and the lever arm from a Ratio kit
whoops out of sequence, glue lamp in place
add operating wire
]
fit ladder and other bits
the boards on the posts are a representation of early electric route indicators
two signals ready for planting out on the layout.
The bases will be cut into the cork base and the covered with scatter.
The ends of the wire-in-tube will come out through the side of the boards with a plastic bobble to pull and push them. One day in the future I intend to connect them to a lever frame.
Let me know if these pictures don't appear. They are still linked to PhotoBucket, who said long ago that my account was closed!
##############################################################################
Thought you might like to see what I did with a pair of rather tatty Hornby Dublo signals.
Here they are after I worked it all out on the first. As you can see it is now a lower quadrant signal with a finial on top rather than a cap.
Starting on number two I stripped it down to its componetnt parts
then attacked the top and the lamp bracket. The hole is to help locate the finial
next I cut and ground off the pivot and lamp. Drilled a new holes for the arm and lower pivots and one through the base for the wire and tube.
fit the Ratio arm (on a Peco track pin) and the lever arm from a Ratio kit
whoops out of sequence, glue lamp in place
add operating wire
]
fit ladder and other bits
the boards on the posts are a representation of early electric route indicators
two signals ready for planting out on the layout.
The bases will be cut into the cork base and the covered with scatter.
The ends of the wire-in-tube will come out through the side of the boards with a plastic bobble to pull and push them. One day in the future I intend to connect them to a lever frame.
Growing old, can't avoid it. Growing up, forget it!
My Layout, My Workbench Blog and My Opinions
My Layout, My Workbench Blog and My Opinions