Colin Burges
http://www.csmimg.com/csm-2018-mining-games
Cornishmen should be proud of the Camborne School of Mines. There is no hard rock mining any more but the county still produces the best mining engineers. It's said that there are two jobs for every graduate.
This is a bit late for the snowy collection? Colin
Craig Munday
Next morning I popped down to Coulson park Lostwithiel for the clay train. I daren't venture deep down the branch line in case the car got stuck!
Finally after visiting friends in Tiverton, time for a lineside shot near Hele along the M5 of a pair of Voyagers heading North.
Best regards Craig. Many thanks Craig
Guy Vincent
Wiltshire & Somerset received another heavy fall of snow overnight on 18th/19th with disrupted train services on the Monday morning. Westbury station staff worked magnificently to clear and treat platforms and keep customers informed. In the main Paddington-West of England services ran fairly well with inevitable delays also the Portsmouth-Cardiff service managed to operate with few cancellations. Line closures included Westbury-Swindon via Melksham, the Westbury Avoiding Line, Frome station 'loop' and both Whatley and Merehead branches plus, until 1230pm, Castle Cary-Weymouth. This was due to Network Rail implementing a 'key routes only' policy due to the risk of widespread disruption should points at hard-to-reach locations fail to detect or return to normal status once reset. Points at Westbury South failed at around 815am with normal operation not possible until just before 10am. Passenger numbers were down as many seemingly chose to stay at home rather than risk travelling, however the train service provided by both GWR and SWR was good given the circumstances.
Guy Vincent Many thanks for your excellent report & pictures Guy
No Trains between Penzance and Truro or St Erth to St Ives
Contributors Roger Salter Keith Jenkin Andrew Triggs Alan Peters & Roger Winnen
Geoff Ryall
The signalman (Walford Beard) has his hands on the levers for the down running signals, which are 'off' for a train.
Note the gate wheel and the last two levers in the frame (28 and 29) which lock the gates either across the railway or the road.
The instrument shelf is simple and uncluttered -probably unchanged since 1895. From left to right: the tall and short wooden-cased instruments are the repeaters for the up main distant signals (mounted below Camborne home and starter) then comes the signalman's lamp and below it a 'collar' -used to prevent a lever being moved (during maintenance, for example). The block bell and instrument for Camborne are followed by the closing switch (an odd provision at Roskear, for being a level crossing box, it had to be switched in for all traffic). Then comes the block instrument and bell for Dolcoath: note that the two bells are different - to enable the signalman to distinguish between them. Finally come the repeaters for the arms of the down distant signals, mounted below Dolcoath home and starter.
The white stripe on the down inner home lever indicates that it cannot be pulled unless Camborne has given 'line clear' on the block instrument. This would have been quite a new feature in 1950.
The metal columns surmounted by wheels behind the running signals are wire adjustors, for use in summer, for example, when signal wires expand and become slack.
The lever frame at Roskear had an odd characteristic: the catch handles were mounted about two inches lower than on all other GW frames. The reason for this is obscure.
The lever frame had GW 'double twist' type interlocking, typical of its period. In about 1998 it failed a routine locking test and was taken out of use. The few remaining signals (all colour light) are now operated by switches on the shelf.
In the coming days and weeks Roskear will be fitted with a new IFS (individual function switch) panel which will control all existing signals plus the new ones running from Baldhu to Gwinear Road.
Many thanks indeed for these details Roy.

Ron Kosys
John Cornelius