Signal Box Photos

[Mike_Walker]

Swindon PSB before the great move.

 

 

It was on the Down side at the London end of the station behind the new platform 4.

 

 

Looking along the panel from the London end.  The control area was from Challow to Box on the Main Line, to Chipping Sodbury on the Badminton and to just short of Sapperton Tunnel on the Kemble line.

 

 

The west end showing Wootton Bassett and Kemble in the bottom foreground.  The panel was mostly worked by two signallers, east and west and this picture shows basically the latter's "patch".

 

 

The east end of Swindon showing the little used branch at South Marston. Also the VDU train describers, telephone concentrator panels and the GSM-R radio plus its associated screen.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[Coach bogie]

On 23/03/2021 at 09:06, Poor Old Bruce said:

 

Bolton East, L&Y, 9 Sept 1981

 

 

 

 

 

I manage to photograph the gantries and boxes at Bolton during a full lockdown while track layout was being changed in the mid 1980's. To the left of this box was another curious one built against the retaining wall, Orlando St, I assume a ground frame.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Coach bogie

[Coach bogie]

I have been scanning some of my early signal box images. At Southport the electric line took a sharp right turn and ran, on the flat through the street of Southport to reach the coast and Liverpool. IN the space of only a mile were five boxes four of which had level crossings. It was one of those situations where every signal had a distant. If you look on Google Maps you can see how close these boxes were to each other.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Duke+St,+Southport/@53.6391611,-3.0089639,16.75z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x487b3ec686518645:0xd169b41e5282a016!8m2!3d53.6391224!4d-3.0059774?hl=en

 

 

In order they were Southport, Portland Street, Duke Street, Aughton Road and Birkdale. The last box was still there a few years back in a very run down state, clearly not in use.

 

[LMS2968]

4 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I have been scanning some of my early signal box images. At Southport the electric line took a sharp right turn and ran, on the flat through the street of Southport to reach the coast and Liverpool. IN the space of only a mile were five boxes four of which had level crossings. It was one of those situations where every signal had a distant. If you look on Google Maps you can see how close these boxes were to each other.

Not unusual on the Lanky, which was very intensively worked. It averaged 1.2 signal boxes over every route mile of its track.

[Moxy]

6 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

 

I manage to photograph the gantries and boxes at Bolton during a full lockdown while track layout was being changed in the mid 1980's. To the left of this box was another curious one built against the retaining wall, Orlando St, I assume a ground frame.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

Thanks for posting that, I had not seen a picture of it before.

 

I have a family connection to that box, my late uncle from Preston worked there for a few months in the 1960's, before he moved back to Preston, then later went to work for the TSSA union.

 

[Moxy]

1 hour ago, LMS2968 said:

Not unusual on the Lanky, which was very intensively worked. It averaged 1.2 signal boxes over every route mile of its track.

 

What is unusual is what appears to be a Midland box on an L&Y line.  Was Aughton Road box moved from somewhere else in LMS or BR days?

 

5 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

 

[Mike_Walker]

Gloucester PSB today.  Opened the same year as Swindon, 1968. it controls a large area extending from Sapperton on the Swindon line, Charfield on the Bristol line and Newent on the Lydney line to the south and, originally, to Bromsgrove on the Birmingham line although this has now been cut back to north of Ashchurch.

 

 

Gloucester PSB is adjacent to and controls the Horton Road level crossing which is operated by looking through the windows at the left.  Until a couple of years ago it also operated a semaphore signal, the distant at Norton Junction for the colour light home at Abbotswood Junction - thought to be the only such example worked by a PSB.  The arm was motor worked not by lever and wire!  Sadly the junction signal at Norton Junction has been replaced by a modern Dorman LED "lollipop".

 

 

Part of the north (left) end of the panel covering Cheltenham.  The former northern extension at the top has been removed and covered over.

 

 

Barnwood Junction, the north end of the Gloucester triangle.  Note the various notes added by the signallers to remind them of moves etc.

 

 

The south/west ends of the triangle with the Horton Road LC shown at the bottom and Gloucester station at the extreme bottom right.  When first commissioned, Eastgate station was still operation and occupied the space on the panel now occupied by the keyboard which is used for entering train ID's into the train describers.

 

 

the right hand end of the panel showing Standish Junction and, from top to bottom, the Swindon line,  Bristol line which is continued in the middle, and South Wales line.

 

 

one of the VDU train describers, the lefty screen is showing the Gloucester area whilst the right hand screen shows the area covered by the section of the panel shown above.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[rodent279]

Good photos, thanks @Mike_Walker. I think it's important to record these PSB's, we assume they're going to be here forever, but they're not. I went in Bletchley PSB when I was about 11, but didn't have the presence of mind to take my camera!

[Mike_Walker]

1 hour ago, rodent279 said:

Good photos, thanks @Mike_Walker. I think it's important to record these PSB's, we assume they're going to be here forever, but they're not. I went in Bletchley PSB when I was about 11, but didn't have the presence of mind to take my camera!

Of the 13 original WR panels only Plymouth remains intact and will probably be "last man standing".  Gloucester is reasonably intact (see above) with no short-term plans for replacement.  Port Talbot has already been reduced by around half and the rest will be decommissioned during a current resignalling scheme.  As mentioned, only a small part of Bristol remains operative.

 

It was a desire to keep an example of this important era of UK signalling that led us to preserve Swindon Panel in such a way that the public can not only see but operate it too - when we are allowed to reopen that is...  As one of the regular demonstrators I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms!

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, rodent279 said:

I think it's important to record these PSB's, we assume they're going to be here forever, but they're not. 

The atmosphere in a panel box is so different from the "busy solitude" of a trad mechanical box. Having spent a few months in 1976 as a Regulator and Asst Regulator in the new London Bridge box, it was interesting to watch the dynamic among the signalmen in getting the job done.

 

And of course in those days it was almost entirely a male occupation, although plenty of women held the fort, as it were, in the last war. I think my last visit to a signalling centre was Wembley, early this Century, where I was delighted to find a lady running one of the panels.

[4069]

9 hours ago, Moxy said:

 

What is unusual is what appears to be a Midland box on an L&Y line.  Was Aughton Road box moved from somewhere else in LMS or BR days?

There's a photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ingythewingy/7938623142  with a very full caption which explains that the box at Aughton Road was built in 1928, replacing an earlier structure. At that time the LMS was still building boxes to pre-grouping designs, but it's not clear why a Midland design was used on an ex-LYR line- it's likely that the parts of a redundant structure of the right size  just happened to be available at the time.

 

[Wickham Green too]

Were the LMS was still building boxes to ALL pre-grouping designs ( including LYR ) or, perhaps, just a selection ( including Midland ) ?

[billy_anorak59]

On 27/03/2021 at 09:31, Poor Old Bruce said:

Chester for today, in 1980. Mostly of LNWR origin I think

 

No.1

 

 

I'm pretty sure that your Chester No1 is actually Hooton.

I expect Beast or TheFlyingSignalman will be along soon to confirm (or not).

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by billy_anorak59

[Poor Old Bruce]

48 minutes ago, billy_anorak59 said:

 

I'm pretty sure that your Chester No1 is actually Hooton.

I expect Beast or TheFlyingSignalman will be along soon to confirm (or not).

 

 

 Is it really? I'll just have to plead insanity and wait for confirmation 

[billy_anorak59]

I'm 99% sure it's Hooton South Bruce - I grew up about 3 miles from it. The station can just be made out in the background, and the pylons around there are a dead giveaway (there are no pylons around the Chester No 1 area that I can recall).

Still, there are more versed persons on here than I.

 

This is a view from flyingsignalman's post on 'Merseyside Signal Diagrams' (here:

 

Same?

 

[Poor Old Bruce]

Thanks Billy. I'm just left wondering how I got it so wrong (but then it was 40 years ago!).

[Poor Old Bruce]

More Chester boxes from 1980,

 

No.5

 

and No.6

 

 

 

 

By way of contrast, this is the cute little box at Hednesford No.3, also ex LNWR and also in 1980. After closure, going by the broken windows.

 

[corneliuslundie]

Latest list on last page

Jonathan

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by corneliuslundie

[rodent279]

Forders Sidings in happier times, still in use, July 2004. The yellow gantry crane in the background is the waste transfer station.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by rodent279

[rodent279]

Pretty sure  This is Croft Sidings box, from the rear. Can anyone confirm? Confirmed from this website.

 

 

This is definitely Croft Sidings & box. July 1998.

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by rodent279

[Coach bogie]

3 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Forders Sidings in happier times, still in use, July 2004. The yellow gantry crane in the background is the waste transfer station.

 

 

Forders had this interesting ground signal when I visited. Here in the North East, they just used a single disc and put a theatre/indicator display with it.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Poor Old Bruce]

Grange Over Sands, 5 Sept 1979. A BR(LMR) design

 

Shipley Bradford Junction, Midland Railway, 16 Feb 1980

 

Shipley Bingley Junction, Midland Railway, 16 Feb 1980

 

 

 

Warrington PSB, 6 March 1980

 

My own photos of Alrewas (see Page 27), LNWR in 1980

 

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by Poor Old Bruce

[Tim V]

Penzance 1978, Frome North 1978, Frome West (downgraded to ground frame) 1974, interior (token machine) 1974 (frame) 1976.

[Mike_Walker]

Frome North Box provided the upper works for Frome Mineral Junction at Didcot.

[Wickham Green too]

Might that have been its original name ??!?   -   can't think of a good reason to have something called 'Frome' at Didcot otherwise.