An update for members and supporters:
Following a detailed discussion of all the risks and benefits, and taking into account the feedback from demonstrators, we will not be opening the panel during December.
We will review the situation at Christmas with a view to opening again in January.
Apologies to everyone who might have planned to visit SPS in December, but we are sure you’ll agree that the overall health considerations have to be the priority.
In line with the latest government announcements, all SPS public open days, private members’ sessions, and official visits have been cancelled.
Please contact us if you need to discuss anything, and we look forward to seeing you again in the future!
Swindon Panel is building a ‘signal garden’, to extend the scope of its educational offering from just the panel control console to a fully-prototypical relay interlocking and full-size external colour light signals.
There will be four, four-aspect signals, one with junction indicators, able to demonstrate a variety of junction aspect sequences and controls.
The signal garden will be controllable – by visitors of all ages – from a small panel in The Signalling Centre. It will also be used for more interested technical explanations and also professional engineering visitors that make use of Swindon Panel as a training facility.
We have been able to buy some of the equipment, and have kindly been donated some items, but there still some things on our ‘need’ list, some of which are common items and some are quite rare.
PO Sets
15 x Type A [Now obtained, thanks to the Beer Heights Light Railway, Pecorama, Devon]
2 x Type B
1 x Type D
930 series Relays
5 x PC 004 – 8F-8B Double Wound. (Could use 6F/6B or 4F/4B Double Wound).
8 x PC 071 – 4F (AC Lamp Proving Relay 0.18A).
2 x PC 070 – 2F/2B (AC Lamp Proving 1.4A)
2 x PC 063 – 8F/8B – Slow to Release
4 x PC 124 – Thermal Timer
2 x PC 569 – Lamp Proving for Fibre Optic Display Units (or could use PC941)
Transformer / Rectifiers
4 x 110/50 T/Js. (3 amp)
Track Feeds
2 x DC track feed units
Other parts
Double-door, door-side large location case [Now donated thanks to iLECSYS, thank you.]
Bus bars
Fuse holders
2BA blocks, links, nuts. [Now obtained, thank you]
Concrete cable troughing [Now obtained, thanks to the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway, thank you]
If anyone has any of the above items available, or knows where they might be, we’d be very grateful to hear from you.
They will not be used in any safety-critical installation, so items that are in a condition not suitable for main-line use (but still in working) are welcome.
Thank you very much.
RE-OPENING AT LAST!
Yes, Swindon Panel is ready to re-open (or perhaps that should be re-re-open as this will be its third opening!)
Swindon Panel will be open to the public on Saturday 11, Saturday 18 and Sunday 26 July (but please see below about members visiting the panel).
There will be guided tours in The Signalling Centre, a one-way system (in the front door and out the back door!), and hand sanitiser and cleaning products in use.
Didcot Railway Centre will be open from Saturday 4 July (full details on their website)
A lot of hard work by a lot of people has happened to enable DRC and SPS to re-open with all appropriate safety measures in place – thank you to everyone from both organisations who has contributed to that.
MEMBERS
Our initial public opening days are for public visitors only. Information has been circulated to members about visiting the panel and when members’ access will resume. If you are an SPS member and haven’t received the information please contact us.
VOLUNTEERING
Volunteering at the panel is being reintroduced gradually, and details have been circulated to volunteer members. At present, only those rostered should attend the panel while we find our feet again.
THANK YOU to everyone for your support over the last few months!
Swindon Panel has been in the news several times over the last week, reporting on its contribution to helping Network Rail refresh ex-signallers in case of a shortage.
As well as the official press release on the DRC website we have also been in or on:
Thank you and well done to everyone who has been involved in facilitating this work, and all the effort that has gone on over the last 7 years to bring Swindon Panel to such a professional level of restoration that it is useful in this way!
Swindon Panel Society and Didcot Railway Centre are proud to be helping Network Rail during this Coronavirus period.
NR, who used to own the panel before it was preserved at Didcot, are making use of the preserved Swindon Panel in their preparations for train service delivery in the event of a shortage of signalling staff over the coming weeks and months.
Staff who have been in signaller roles in their past are being refreshed and assessed on their skills and competence to manage railway operating scenarios such as regulating trains, infrastructure failures, signals passed at danger, failed trains, etc.
All of these scenarios can all be created using the very high-accuracy simulator equipment fitted to Swindon Panel which makes all the controls and indications work in exactly the same way as they did when it main line operation.
(NR is also appealing for retired and even heritage railway signalmen to help.)
Swindon Panel was in main line use from 1968 until 2016, when it was taken out of use, bought by volunteers and restored to full working order, enjoyed by visitors of all ages to Didcot Railway Centre.
It is a great testament to the restoration work done by SPS volunteers that the panel is now being used by main line signallers again! SPS is happy to do its bit for the country and human kind to help keep vital rail traffic moving in this national emergency. Well done everyone!
We are happy to have offered the use of Swindon Panel to Network Rail as an additional training simulator resource.
This is for training and refreshing retired and heritage staff who have kindly responded to the current requests for help in manning main line signal boxes around the country.
SPS is happy to do its bit for the country and human kind to help keep vital rail traffic moving in this national emergency.
Coronavirus: Swindon Panel Society & Didcot Railway Centre will continue to monitor and follow the advice provided by Public Health England to ensure the safety of our visitors and staff.
The Prime Minister’s statement on 16 March was very clear: everyone should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres. In view of this, Didcot Railway Centre will be closed until at least Friday 3 April.
Swindon Panel will be closed until at least Sunday 5 April inclusive.
The MIC day on 28 March is postponed.
In addition, all Enthusiasts’ Weekend activities for Friday 3, Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 April are cancelled. We will contact those who had pre-booked to discuss options.
Our next planned open date is now Wednesday 8 April. We will continue to monitor the situation and advice from the Government and Public Health England and will review the position frequently. We will give further information regarding that open day and subsequent days when it is safe and responsible to do so.
We remind all our visitors of the importance of maintaining good hand and personal hygiene at all times. Please consult the PHE website for more information.
Swindon Panel Society members have successfully raised £125 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance… by eating chocolate!
SPS members raise money by donating the proceeds from the members’ tuck shop to the Ambulance, continuing the tradition of Swindon Panel tuck shops from when it was in ‘main line’ use.
2019’s total profit was £125, equivalent to approximately 500 chocolate bars, drinks and crisps! (Up from £100 in 2018)
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance – Helimed22 – flies at speeds of up to 178mph and can reach anywhere in Wiltshire in 11 minutes. It attended 1233 incidents in 2019, at a cost of £3.75m (£10,000 per day), which is all raised by fundraising.
Well done to all our members, and please keep buying tuck shop goodies!
https://www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk/
A new item for the 2020 SPS calendar is ‘Members’ Open Sessions’.
This will hopefully be of interest to both demonstrator members who want to stretch their legs, and also members who aren’t demonstrators who want to come and enjoy working the panel outside of the chaos of a public open day, or other members’ event when the panel is swamped!
The numbers attending such sessions will be limited to five/six per day ensure everyone gets a good go on both ends of the panel and the back desk if they want to.
Dates of theses sessions in 2020 are:
Saturday 8 February
Saturday 25 April
Saturday 20 June
Saturday 15 August
Saturday 24 October
We will make sure that there are sufficient members present who know how to work the panel and simulator to ensure everything runs smoothly and that attendees are able to enjoy the panel mode of operation they want from ‘calm’ to ‘calamity’!
Please let Danny Scroggins know if you wish to attend. Block bookings welcome!