The agent sent through a couple of photos, nice little job really, re-weld and re-polish a couple of joints.
No wonder it came adrift. The handrail serves about 10 flats, so gets a fair bit of use..
The knuckle part is the type that inserts into the tube, and is usually loctited in place. These were pushed in and had two tiny tacks holding them in which had broken on some joints. No sign of any loctite on any of the joints, all flopping around in the tube.
The spigot is threaded into the painted lower part of the handrail, and welded to the tube.
I use the term welded loosely!
Looks like a bit of an attempt at TIG welding, only on one side, so would break off very easily if pushed againt the weld.
The pics are before I did the repair btw
