Cables

Overhead and Cables

In April 1977 the railway re-opened the first 3 miles of line from Alresford to Ropley, the rest of the track to Alton had by then been lifted.
Before the line closed the overhead wiring had been replaced by BR with a surface laid cable, by the mid 1970s this had either been previously recovered or stolen so there was no communication along the line.

The initial plan had been to rent a couple of "private wires" from the GPO (shows how long ago this was) and an order placed before discovering the circuits were to be routed via either Alton or Winchester (I have forgotten which) not directly and would have been 17 miles in length. This scheme was dropped, instead we put up our own overhead circuits between Alresford and Ropley as most of the poles remained, a total of 60 poles.

The wire used was Drop Wire number 3 and later Drop Wire number 6, this had a plastic coated steel conductor which rusts if the insulation is damaged, considerable trouble was experienced and over the years a lot of time was spent repairing faults.

This picture showing 196 and 31874 taken from Ropley up distant signal has been included as it shows 2 drop wires.
Later a Ropley to Medstead overhead route was added, another 60 odd poles.

If the Alresford to Ropley section became faulty by the time it was repaired the Ropley to Medstead section would develop a fault, it was a constant job trying to keep faults cleared.

The decision was taken to purchase underground cable, two 10 pair cables were mole ploughed between Alresford and Alton, it was thought by splitting the circuits over two cables it would reduce the loss of circuits in the event of any damage, however this didn't prove to be the case.

from Turntable October 22nd 1983

from Turntable January 12th 1984

from Turntable April 4th 1985

The old drop wire was recoved by the Swanage Railway for further use.

from Turntable April 1st 1984

from Turntable March 2nd 1985

This piece is from Mid Hants News number 143 Spring 2010 and gives an indication of the circuits using the Railway's cable.

This bit came as a suggestion from the R and D department - “Why not list all the different types of circuit that go through telecom cables on the railway”. Indeed why not, some of these circuits are 7 miles long, some only a few feet, writing down the list it even surprised me the variety, no doubt I have forgotten some.

Here goes, 51 analogue phone extensions and 78 digital phone extensions connected to the 4 Norstar exchanges, lines connecting these exchanges to the outside world for speech and broadband, digital links between the Norstar exchange for inter station calls, WAN (wide area network) also known as CressNet connecting stations to the internet, LAN (local area network) connecting PCs to CressNet where it hasn’t been practical to run Cat5 cable. Alarm and indication circuits, clocks. Signal bits include SPTs, direct signal box to signal box phones, token machines, platform bells and at one station a “train arrive complete” indicator plus the good old Butts Treadle circuit now enjoying its last days of service. The circuitry that connects the Alton SPTs back to Medstead, there have even been recent mutterings of CCTV.

Finally not forgetting the AES EBU digital audio circuit at Ropley, no, I have no idea what it means.

A small section of the overhead pole route was still in existance 30 years later over Sun Lane at Alresford, although thankfully no longer in use.

A visit was made in November 2007 to take a picture only to discover the wires had been finally cut down.

One of the few remaining poles Alresford November 2007

How it should look, terminal pole on the Festiniog, March 2010.

Although the cables transformed the reliability of the phone service between station after a time it was noticed a number of faults were developing, this was traced to damage caused by rodents chewing the cable, a battle which we were to lose. Damage the complete length of the line was experienced, sections of cable having to be replaced, again the faults developed faster than they could repaired, at one point there were fewer working circuits between Alresford and Ropley than in the days of the overhead route.

Cable sheath showing rodent damage

Loss of service Alresford to Ropley September 2008 - flail damage

Loss of service Medstead to Alton October 2008 - more flail damage

The picture above shows the remains of a 30 pair joint on the cable between Alresford to Ropley, a passing loco set fire to the grass. All that remained of the casing of the joint were the metal bolts. The post was used as a connection for a plug in phone point, now no longer used. July 2010.

After repairs had been made. The troughing protects two new joints as the damaged cable was not long enough to rejoin directly.

Nigel loads the Wickham trolley for a trip to Alresford for some testing and a cup of tea.

Latest type of joint - found in a skip and reused at Ropley

When The Alton colour light signalling was place in service 2 ground frames and an external phone were recovered.

A new home has been found for the phone and associated box in the yard at Medstead.

This is for use of the Wagon Group, who find it useful to call to see if the tea has been made, there is also an extension from this line into their workshop located in the green wagon.

To simplify fault finding on the original buried cables a number of above ground test points were provided, this one is being installed, plus a plug in phone socket. The small grey box is the connection for the West Ground frame telephones at Alton.

Post Office Wallet tool number 3 on the end of the sleeper.

A completed route box, as they were called. Shows the plug in phone point, this one was connected to Alresford exchange, extension number 2220.

Mid way to Ropley the circuit would become a Ropley extension.

View of a route box with the cover off and a plug in phone point on the right.

Picture taken in 2010, long since out of use but never recovered, a job for a day when there is nothing better to do.

Tele 704 - type of plug in phone issued to train crews.

Howard and Kevin jointing near the Medstead up distant signal.

Shown is a phone point used on the new cables, with the introduction of the Norstar exchanges they were removed from service.

Following the donation of some new cable the Alresford to Medstead cables were replaced, with a mixture of armoured cable and un-armoured cable in plastic duct.

Cable was in store for most of the route from Medstead to Alton, however there was then an episode of in fighting in the railway and the cable was not laid, later stolen it delayed the job for a couple of years

Medstead to Alton was re-cabled at a later date, circuits being changed over to the new cable in December 2005.

As well as telephone circuits signal circuits and the inter station computer links use the cables.

Mole ploughing the original cables between Medstead and Alton - 21st April 1985

Several people in the picture are still active on the railway.

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