Shed47 Railway Restoration Group

16/06/2026

Took our crossing system inspiration from here. Great work by the Castle Hedingham S&T Volunteers.

Spotted another interesting little problem solve gem , the pedestrian crossing at Castle Hedingham has magnetically locked gates, the public indicator of which is your off the shelf pedestrian crossing display unit , the button when pressed if the interlocking allows it releases the lock so you can cross

Like it 👍

15/06/2026

Another quick video of the crossing system, lock will be fitted soon and testing shall begin.

14/06/2026

Ok quick one tonight as it was pretty quiet on site today.
We think due to a certain football game that mignt have taken place in the wee small hours.

It did pick up in the afternoon and ended up being not to bad at all.

Work being done

The Geismar has returned back on site after it's winter service ready for paint and rebuild.
Some strimming alongside the narrow gauge line too.

Sandra was out pulling the NG stock today.

MOD 251 was rolled out the shed so the guys could fit the filler strip round the window seal.

Some more paint being applied to the Traggon in the more tricky spots.

The garden furniture has been getting more varnish applied too.

And lastly a donation of books from Mr Alan Simpson that will be added to the shop stock available for sale.

Well that's it for another Sunday, enjoy the late sun and we shall see you again on Wednesday.

Cheers the shed47 team 👍🏻

12/06/2026

Well another wee bit done today, popped up and spent the morning wiring up the crossing boxes to the location cabinet and then got all of the wiring in the cabinet terminated where it needed to be, the crossing units are now functioning and the crossing request on the block shelf illuminates and sounds when either of the crossing buttons are pressed, when the signaller presses the gate release button the green man illuminates and the crossing beepers sound. now i just have to fit and wire the mag lock for the gate and we can start testing propper.

Cheers, The Shed 47 Team.

12/06/2026

A quick video of the new crossing system in action,

12/06/2026

Good Evening folks,

After Jimmy Robb and myself spent the day yesterday installing the new guide railing and crossing unit and got soaked to the skin in the process, i took advantage of the nice weather this morning and spent some time wiring up both of the crossing units and terminating all of the cables in the location cabinet.
once the crossing units had all of the internal connections made to the aspects and push button etc I had the task of connecting it all to the relay in the location cabinet and the timer unit too. when the crossing unit button is pressed it triggers a relay that is latched by an electronic timer, this switches on the crossing request lamp / buzzer in the signal box and illuminates the button surounds on the crossing units. when the signaller presses the gate release button it disconnects the timer circiut and triggers a second relay which illuminates the green aspect on the crossing unit and also powers the crossing beepers. the system reverts back to the first step when the signaller releases the switch and the gate goes back to locked status.

All that is left to do is fit the lock to the gate and we can start fully testing the system, cyclic testing will ensure it will work smoothly and shouild find any bugs.

See you all Sunday,

Cheers, The Shed 47 Team.

10/06/2026

Good Evening all and welcome to another mid week update.

The S&T boys were busy today getting cable runs installed for the crossing system, the first job was to drill the gate beam and then tap out the holes, next was a bit of digging and checking out a groove in the sleeper for the cables to route along back to the location cabinet, once all of that was done we routed the cables via plastic conduit to help protect them and got to back filling the trenches. the cables are now fed into the box and ready to be connected up, more to follow on this tomorrow.

The wooden tops were busy as always getting more fire wood processed and then moving onto sorting out the table top that Jan donated, there is some additions to this so keep an eye out for more updates on it but it is going to look amazing.

Iain was busy in the traggon getting more linseed oil on the pews and the window frames to give them the depth that the wood deserves and leaves them looking fantastic.

The plinth for the tram controler was givin its first coat of gloss black and should see more paint on Sunday now we are in the warmer months. but once it is done and in place we think it will be another great item which should be a talking point for visitors.

The workshop team were busy creating more space and continued their cleanup, a box full of metal offcuts that has been sat for 30 years was finaly disposed of so you can bet we will need a bit for a bracket next week lol.

And thats all for now folks, see you all Sunday for the next instalment.

Cheers, The Shed 47 Team.

08/06/2026

Unsung heroes that work quietly in the background keeping the place looking cared for and colourfull,

janette does a fantastic job of keeping the planters looking fantastic during our open season and the splash of colour makes all the difference to the place, your hard work doesn't go unoticed Janette so from all of us at the shed Thank you.

08/06/2026

Our 2026 season continues with the addition of 3 early start days, we'll be opening at 1100! Our first one is this Sunday 14th June. See the calendar for all of our opening dates, plus some new events!

08/06/2026

couple of hours on site today so did some prep for Wednesday,
Got the relay and timer housing fitted in the loc cabinet and got the buzzer and gate release button wired from the block shelf to the cupboard, also had the mini digger out and rough prepped the ground for the new crossing fence. also got the radio wired in on the block shelf.,
See you all Wednesday,

Cheers, The Shed 47 Team.