Dapol 7mm LSWR/SR lattice home signal review
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| Dapol | Neil Morrelle |
| Gledrid Industrial Park | 01691 774455 |
| Chirk | |
| Wrexham | Email: neil@dapol.co.uk |
| LL14 5DG | Web: http://www.dapol.co.uk |
Purchased, reviewed and photographed by Geoffrey Goddin
After signalling the running lines of my layout Kew Green, I realised I wanted an exit signal from the down goods yard at Kew Gardens onto the loop. (Hence the ringed arm). Seeing the new range of Dapol lattice and rail-built SR signals I decided that one of the former would fit my brief. Since installation and operation of these RTR signals has been previously reviewed, I want to focus here on actual fidelity to prototype, and the plug-and-play connection issues.
The signal post is a good representation of a lattice post, (see photo), but the cross-bracing style is more representative of GNR/LNER/LNWR signals. According to Derek Mundy’s guidebook (page 4), George Pryer’s Pictorial Record of Southern Signals, and real-world inspections by me, LSWR lattice signal posts are of Mundy’s ‘Double Invisible’ category, as illustrated in the figures below. That is, the corner uprights are of angle iron section, and there are two iron strips running up each post face alternately riveted at each 1ft 6in to the angle iron, then to each other in the centre of the post. As you face a lattice post, there is more depth than width to the construction. Previous etched brass kits were criticised for failing to capture this depth and looking curiously two-dimensional. Plastic moulding ought to have enabled better representation, but the uprights appear as square section steel bar. The over-thick lattice sections cross between the posts, rather than joining in the middle with a rivet. This may be a modelling issue that 3D printing techniques can address, certainly in production of a range of shorter lattice dolls that could sit on a rail-built bracket signal. The finial atop the post is the correct outline shape for LSWR posts, but each quadrant of the finial ought to be pierced rather than solid.
My only other comment is that the connection wiring to the supplied operating switch is only 300mm long. While possibly usable for the original 4mm signal range, this is not practical for a signal set to the side of a 7mm layout, let alone for reaching a central consol. A 2m extension cable fitted with appropriate plugs is available at a reasonable cost, but this is then vastly too long for reaching signals within the station area, while still being a challenge to reach advanced starters or outer homes away from the station area. For instance, on my very compact Kew Green layout, (see plan in February 2022 Gazette) six of my ‘outer’ signals (near the Halt and tunnel mouths) are only just reached with the 2m extension. The remaining six signals near the station throat would have been much tidier with a 1m extension. My suggestion for Dapol (and the Guild TLO’s) to consider, would be to make the switch cable 1m in length, with the 2m extension cable then more useful in reaching those outer homes or advanced starters. I realise I can ‘chop and solder’ the cables to taste, but these are supposed to be ‘plug and play’ products. So good value for money, with convincing operational performance, but a few tweaks would make it even better.
Signals for the Railway Modeller, Derek Mundy (6th edition), pub. Derek Mundy
A Pictorial Record of Southern Signals, George Pryer, pub. OPC
The Dapol designer of this signal comments:
I spent a lot of time in capturing the look of this type of signal, including an operating balance weight and, as stated, a correctly shaped finial. Unfortunately it is not possible to create the details mentioned above because of various moulding parameters, like the hole in the finial and the extra depth to the lattice work on the front/rear of the post.
