a non standard method for installing one of the Absolute Aspects range of top quality signals

I ordered my AA signal last July, and it arrived as promised earlier this month (six months lead time) - how Matt, the proprietor, manages to churn out these masterpieces on time amazes me - they are by far the best colour light signals on the market. Fair enough they aren't the cheapest, but quality wise they cannot be beaten. I ordered a two aspect (r/g) with a position light - what I know as a shunt signal - and a theatre box - another new term - displaying 1 to 5 for the platforms and "C" for the carriage sidings at Woodside Station. There is a plan to eventually build a full gantry, plus an extra bracket signal, to do the same thing  - but that is so far in the future this modern solution is ideal.

The kit comes in two parts, the signal with a multi-pin socket on the base and a circuit board with a reasonable length of ribbon cable to a matching multi-pin connector which fits under the baseboard, full instructions are on the website.




First job is to cut the required hole in the baseboard




note the rough sketch for the gantry, drawn on many years ago…. then check the signal fits (when you measure things like I do, that's always a good idea before continuing)….




It is a pity that the signal is on a section of track which hasn't seen the ballaster yet…. this may just spur me on to get some more  track ballasted - not my favourite job… hence the areas like this.

Now to fit the connector beneath the baseboard - the recommended way is to screw it to the underside of the baseboard, and this is a problem for me, with the mid level baseboard just 4" below. Part-time neighbour Paul suggested fitting from above - good idea!

Put the bottom connector upside down in the hole and mark the fixing holes



I used a 3 or 4mm drill to drill the holes and fixed the bottom connector with M3 bolts.



This holds the connector in place when refitting the signal (the idea with AA signals is that they can be removed from the baseboard at any time without having to disconnect any wiring). Really I should fix locknuts above the small board to hold it securely for removal of the signal, but I can just get my hand underneath and push the board up when I need to remove the signal. But that is basically the signal in place.

Although the signal is right for current practice, I painted it to match other signals on the layout (1960ish) - so a white post, ladder matt black with the loop at the top in matt white. I suspect this is too modern a design for the 60s, but I'm not that much of a purist. Matt will put your own ID code on the ID plate (already fitted), but I had plenty of spares from some old Eckon signals I installed a while back, and at the time of ordering I wasn't sure what I wanted.

Now for the wiring - I have used a couple of DPDT switches for the Main and Shunt signals and a 6 way two pole rotary switch to select the display. My wiring is legendary…. unlike anything else…. but I know what all the wires are for even if it does resemble something the cats have been playing with. This time though, I thought I'd make something of an effort…



… for me, that's brilliant! Now all I have to do is fit the control panel and connect it up to the main signal board - clearly marked, so even I got it right first time…. and given my workspace….always a picture of organisation and order….. says something for the clearly marked connectors.





So, power on….





The leds for the shunt are very white, so with my basic camera the colour of the main does get washed out somewhat.



The control panel, as with all my others is only temporary, but as with all my other panels it will be around for a long time yet.




Final job, Matt recommends Blutak around the base to cover any gaps and then ballast can be pushed into the Bluetak - makes for easy removal in the future…



… I really will have to get on with that ballasting…..


So there we have it, a slightly different way of fixing the signal…. but I have to say again Matt really does a superb job - the range covers just about all types of colour light signal. Check out the website.

Keith

Neat. thumbs

That's a nice bit of kit, Keith.

Are they expensive?

Hi Max

This one set me back £110 - free postage - which for effectively a hand built, in the UK, bespoke signal I don't think is too bad at all, bearing in mind the way prices have rocketed over the last few years (nearly £80 for a Bachmann Jinty now!).

Obviously if you go for one of the standard signals the prices aren't that much higher than other makes…. there is a review of Signals in this month's Hornby magazine.

I did manage to get the link to this post in my post in the layouts section, so I should really have added the AA website in this :

www.absoluteaspects.com

I am getting better at this….

Keith

That's some serious money, Keith - but it is excellent workmanship.  :thumbs

Hi Max

Yes, serious money, but there again I was working out the cost of building that gantry and additional bracket, just using Ratio kits - like Hooton - nothing fancy. Add on all the w-i-t stuff, all the various cranks, lever frames etc. (I'm using Gem for all the pointwork in Woodside - that's another job in progress)…. and the cost then starts to mount such that £110 isn't really that expensive (for the thing done and installed in a few days) … and then you've got to build it - with my rate of doing things, that could be an eternity. One day I'll give it a go… but there's a few other things to do first!

Keith

Nice bit of work.  I like the theatre-type route indicator.  Working ones of those are very rare in the hobby.  Even dummy ones are uncommon.

S'mae Rick

First saw a theatre box modelled, although I didn't know that's what it was called at the time, on the front cover of RM Feb 15 with a picture of the layout of the month. My first reaction was it must be an O gauge layout, wish they did a OO gauge version… until I noticed it was OO… and that was my first contact with Absolute Aspects.

With a tag like Gwiwer… what's the Welsh connection?

Cofion

Keith

No Welsh connection at all.  The same word exists in the very similar Cornish language and that's my background.

Hi Rick

Hadn't thought of that - on one of the Summer Schools we went to, when learning Welsh after we moved down here, there was a session on similar languages - Cornish and Breton. Listening to some Cornish on the news recently we could pretty much understand it… certainly if squirrels are the subject of the conversation we'll have no problems!

Keith