Double Slips

corpach · Post by **corpach** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:39 am

Us modellers tend to use a single tie-bar at either end of a slip to connect the four blades involved. Is this the case with the prototype? How many levers would be involved to set a route?

RedFred · Post by **RedFred** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:37 pm

The typical arrangement you suggest in the model is certainly one of the legitimate real-life configurations. There can be reasons to control each pair of points at one end of a double slip independently, but that is certainly not the most common, at least by my observation of British and related practice. Hence, two levers per double slip is the usual standard. But, having said that, it is quite common for a double (or single) slip to be associated with a set of points in a crossover-like combination. In such a situation the points would generally co-act with the remote end of the slip, and that type of pairing would continue in any ladder of slips. So if we consider a ladder of points/slip/slip/points, these would be controlled by 3 levers (call them A, B, C) in the following sequence - A/BA/CB/C.

tux · Post by **tux** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:43 pm

Anywhere between 1 and 4 levers could be seen in real life, with 2 and 4 being the most common.

I have taken photos of a double-slip in a yard in Melbourne with hand levers using just two levers.