The Stationmaster Looks At Signals At Newton Abbot in 1983

[The Stationmaster]

Newton Abbot station was rebuilt between 1925 & 1927 mainly to improve capacity and the facilities for the holiday traffic to both Torbay and further west into Devon & Cornwall. The new station incorporated two island platforms and three through passenger lines in each direction with the relatively uncommon arrangement (for the GWR) of having the through lines on the outside but this allowed scissors crossovers to be incorporated between the outer platform face and the through line in both directions in order to facilitate portion working.

 

The new layout and signalling included replacement signalboxes at both Newton Abbot East and West - the former had a 206 lever frame and opened on 25 April 1926. The new West 'box only(!) had a 153 lever frame, it opened on 3 April 1927 and was 717 yards to the west of the other 'box, cue some very short block sections. Both 'boxes were closed over the weekend of 01 - 04 May 1987 as part of the Exeter Resignalling Scheme and the layout was greatly simplified although it had gradually been rationalised over preceding years as traffic requirements had changed.

 

The pictures in this thread date from 1983 when some of the unusual features of the 1920s resignalling were still present although quite a lot of signal structures had been renewed at various times since the 1920s and some parts of the layout had already been rationalised.

 

We start on the east side of the main buildings and footbridge looking towards the west - we are looking at the Up (nearest camera) and Down Main lInes and Newton Abbot East's Down main Starting Signal with lower arm distant for the West 'box and a subsidiary Calling On signal, you can also make out two shunting discs (known on the Western as 'dummies') which once controlled movements through a trailing crossover at this location - unusually the crossover was protected on the Down Main by East 'box's Starting Signal and on the Up Main by West 'box's Starting Signal, it was worked from West 'box with the additional safeguard of an interlocking lever with East 'box.

 

Some of West 'box's Home Signals are visible in the background and you can see virtually the entire length of the Down Main Line block section between the two 'boxes. And a good place for truly sorting out the meaning of the terms Block Section and 'Station Limits' - we'll talk about that later on.

 

 

Here is a closer view of East 'box's Down Main Starting Signal - neatly carried on the footbridge structure -

 

 

Now a view from the footbridge of the same part of the layout but in this case showing the back of West 'box's Up Main Line Starting Signal - with its Down Home Signals now fully in view to the left of it and thus almost completing our view of the Down line block sections.

 

 

Before we get to the west end we'll pop across to he Down side island and have a look at the arrangement of track and connections between the Down Relief Line and Down Through Line. This arrangement originally existed on both the Down and Up sides but by this time some rationalisation had already taken place and the connection from the Through Line to the Relief Line (platform line) was already out of use in both cases.

 

Ignoring the railway off to the right (although some won't want to of course ) we see the Relief Line adjacent to the platform face and the Through Line outside it. On the signal gantry to the left we can see - from the right - East 'box's Down Through Line Starting Signal, the lower part of a doll which has been taken out of use then, at the edge of the canopy, Easy 'box's Down Relief to Down Through Starting Signal (what we can't see - hidden by the canopy - is the Down Relief Starting Signal; we shall be looking at these very interesting signals in greater detail later on.

 

Centre of the picture, between the two running lines, are a pair of power operated double ground discs that were installed with these crossovers. One of the left hand pair has been taken out of use as the crossover is disconnected and if you look carerfully you can see that it has been spiked with a fishplate on the closed switch rail side and the open switch has a wedge in it - there is a clip but it doesn't show up too well. Next to it the double disc fir moves back off the Through Line remains in use for both routes and over on the right we see an all too modern point machine which as been installed as a replacement.

 

Note also the low speeds (10mph) through the crossovers and spot the WR S&T's deliberate mistake.

 

 

We're now back on the Up side platform and approaching the west end where we see, on the gantry on the left, West 'box's Down Home Signals, which reflect fully the pairing by direction of running lines through the station. Beyond the station there was quadruple track as far as Aller Jcn (1694 yards from West 'box) and it too was paired by direction reading - from our viewpoint here and from left to right Down Relief Line, Down Main Line, Up Main Line, and Up Relief Line. On the gantry reading from the left the signals are Down Through Home to Down Relief, Down Through Home to Down Main, Down Relief Home (to Down Relief), Down Relief Home to Down Main, Down Main Home to Down Relief and Down Main Home (to Down Main). All have a subsidiary arm which I believe was installed as a Calling On signal but which might well have been altered when the tubular steel gantry was erected - somewhere I think I've got Newton West 'box diagram (office copy) so will have to have a dig for it sometime - there was of course regular engine changing etc here but as afar as I'm aware that normally took place in the platform.

 

The gantry had replaced a 4 doll balanced bracket which originally carried the Down relief and Down Main signals and a second bracket further to the rear which had carried the Through Line signals. Visible under the gantry is a triple disc reading out of the depot sidings - this has a third route to the loco siding and had replaced a semaphore (with a ringed arm) at some time.

 

Visible at right is the signal for Down direction trains starting from the Up Main platform - which allowed trains to arrive from the west and reverse and it has a route indicator instead of two dolls.

 

 

We now see the Down Main Home 'off'

 

 

And for our final view at this end we see the bracket serving the Up Main and Relief Lines for reversing moves plus the West'box lurking behind them.

 

 

Heading now back towards the east we get a nice view of the upside gantry protecting the (remains of) its scissors crossover with a Class 50 hauled train passing through and giving us a chance to see West 'box's Up Through Line Starting Signal and east 'box's Distant 'off'. The format of this rationalised gantry is exactly the same as the one we looked at on the Down side with the Through Line to Relief Line connection and relevant signal gone and the Relief Line signals still intact.

 

 

 

And here's the front of west 'box's Up Main Line Starting Signal - also 'off' but in this case East' box has not cleared his distant. This pic has been adjusted to better show the signal detail - which will be discussed below.

 

 

Although boasting an older signal structure the signals at the east end were by 1983 much less interesting than the west end with no more than the single gantry serving the three running lines and it carrying little more than its Home Signal for each of them plus and additional arm reading from the Up Main towards sidings on the Down side (extreme right hand end). The remnants of one other doll can be seen to the left of the Up Relief Home reminding us that at one time all three lines had a connection towards Heathfield.

 

Another odd thing about this gantry is its age as it looks distinctly pre-war yet must have replaced three separate signals which had been erected at this end of the station in 1926 and which clearly had very short lives.

 

 

Before we have a detailed look at the signals for the mid station crossovers we'll have a brief look at a standard GW pattern double disc ground signal which emerged in the 1920s and which remained Reading's standard for such signals until the work's demise in the early 1980s (although basically used only for replacements from the early 1950s) - an interesting comparison with the power worked equivalents we saw earlier.

 

 

Now some detail of the fascinating power worked semaphores used on the mid-station crossovers and - so understand - unique in their design and operation although the arms were to standard dimensions. The first view - heavily over-exposed in an effort to capture the black painted detail show the lampcase arrangement for the Calling On signal and the unusual mounting position for the backing machines (Reading Works speak for 'signal motor') - the latter drove the arm directly with no intermediate linkage at all, a very unusual arrangement for these machines. Note also - albeit over-exposed, the colours of the spectacle glasses with a very obvious blue for the 'off' indication. This is also very apparent in the more normally exposed second view which now shows the fairly orange tint in the yellow aspect of the distant arm.

 

 

 

Finally a more normally exposed view of the Up side gantry

 

 

And to end a comment about the working between the two 'boxes (ignoring any specialised things such as Warning Acceptances etc). As can be see the Block Sections between the two 'boxes were very short - a block section stretches, in this case, from the respective Starting Signals in - roughly the middle of the platforms - to the Home Signals of the next 'box at the end of the platforms. This created some interesting oddities with points in block sections instead of where we would expect to find them within Station Limits although this was by no means unusual at large GW stations (and elsewhere).

 

We can also - I hope - better understand the term Station Limits at Newton because the normal definition applied of course, which meant Station Limits at each signalbox applied from its outermost Home Signal to its most advanced Starting Signal (the Section Signal). Thus the running-in end of each platform at Newton was within the Station Limits of the signalbox at that end of the station. But the other end of the same platform was not in Station Limits and was in the block section between the two signalboxes. Case proven I hope - 'Station Limits' have nothing whatsoever to do with the presence - or otherwise - of a station!

 

And at Newton - as elsewhere - that could potentially create a problem as all sorts of things are permitted in Station Limits which are not permitted in a block section (in normal working) the most obvious being working in the wrong direction and propelling of vehicles. Accordingly both of those - such to certain conditions - were specially authorised in the block sections between the two signalboxes at Newton Abbot which, for example. allowed trains to be combined or locos to to be changed or backed onto portions of trains standing in the station.

Edited June 27, 2012 by The Stationmaster

[10800]

Excellent essay Mike, thanks!

[roundhouse]

Mike

 

Excellent topic. I remember this station back in 1983 but in those days my film was expensive for me in relative terms, having only just started work full time so have very few shots of the semaphores.

 

I also like these topics you are starting. Looking forward to seeing other station locations in new topics from you!!.

 

Ian

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Is this preserved gantry in NA an amalgam of various bits of signalling?

[The Stationmaster]

Is this preserved gantry in NA an amalgam of various bits of signalling?

 

That's something of a bitsa - bitsa this and bitsa that. So possibly misleading to the uninitiated but still having some useful references for those who know how to use it and what to look for (and what to avoid) so definitely worth having around.

[The Stationmaster]

Mike

I also like these topics you are starting. Looking forward to seeing other station locations in new topics from you!!.

Ian

Thanks Ian (and others) - the aim is to both give some nostalgia and - wherever possible - inform (I daren't say 'educate' but in some respects I hope a few of them will do just that).

 

Those who have seen the original Wheeltappers thread announcing the arrival of a scanner chez moi will know that I have a huge amount of ground to cover so these topics will definitely not be appearing at a machine gun rate as progress depends on time for both scanning and editing etc - so apologies in advance for hiccoughs in the rate of delivery. But there will, I hope, be some interesting subject areas emerging as I bash through.

 

BTW I notice that some of the pics above have appeared out of order for some reason and I will try to correct things if I can - duly done.

Edited June 27, 2012 by The Stationmaster

[Pugsley]

Wow, thanks Mike, more fascinating insights. Could you point out the deliberate mistake alluded to above, please? I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to spot it.

[trisonic]

Mike,

Keep 'em coming! Most useful photos combined with your commentary...Brilliant, in fact.

 

Gawd, I wished you went to the old GER.

 

Thanks, Pete.

[bcnPete]

a bitsa - bitsa this and bitsa that.

 

 

My old Gran used to say that expression...when we asked what was for tea sometimes she said 'bitsa'...which basically meant leftovers.

 

Great thread Mike - I always enjoyed to arrive at NA when we took the train west from London.

[The Stationmaster]

Wow, thanks Mike, more fascinating insights. Could you point out the deliberate mistake alluded to above, please? I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to spot it.

 

I'll hold fire for a while in case someone decides to have a go Martin but it is pretty near to ground level.

[johnb]

The deliberate mistake is the fact that the upper disc of the left hand set technically should not have been blacked out as it was the one that read to the continuation of the platform line, the lower disc orginally read to the crossover road.

 

The rule is that the top disc of a 'stacked' set read to the leftmost route and the bottom to the righthand.

 

So, originally on the left hand pair the TOP was STRAIGHT ON and the lower was over the crossover. For the right hand pair on the other hand the TOP disc was a route over the crossover and the LOWER was STRAIGHT ON.

 

regards

 

John

[beast66606]

i think StationMaster was referring to the preserved gantry.

 

One mistake is the distant arms have no method of working, no motor and no slots but that's not what S/M was after (at least I don't think so!)

[Eggesford box]

HI,

a nice set of photos, takes me back to learning passenger shunting there in 1979. I thought a few more photos may be of interest though most where taken on a couple of fairly dismal days.

first the large structure of the East box. There was a plan of this in the Model Railway Constructor once, it would certainly make an impressive model in any scale

The East box diagram

The cavernous interior, note the large proportion of spare levers by this date, June 1985

Looking towards the station from the gantry at the Exeter end of the station

Final shots at the East end taken in 1986 of the view from the box looking either way.

[beast66606]

I have some taken inside West, I might have scanned one or two already, I'll try and find them over the next few days.

[Eggesford box]

Moving to the West end of the station, all the following photos being taken on Tuesday 5th November 1985

The West box

The West box diagram, unfortunately, somewhat obscured by the reflection of the lights

West box interior

The detonator placers for the Down Lines. It was fairly common practise on the Western to put the detonators on a seperate small frame but I would imagine triple as opposed to double lever frames where a relative rarity (someone will now produce a list of triple frames as long as your arm!)

Aview from around the back of the box nearing sunset both literally and figuratively

A view of the gantry at night. note that it has lost a few more arms since Mike's photo. Indeed it seemed, at times, that their was some alteration (removal) of signalling equipment at Newton Abbot appearing in the notices almost monthly on the long run up to complete resignalling.

[Tom J]

I spent a couple of years working at Newton Abbot (this century!) and it's very interesting for me to see where everything was. I did quite a bit of study into the station's long term history for some display boards which were intended to replace the Brendan Neiland Intercity prints (which I had my eye on!) in the end they never got finished because the station manager wouldn't release me to finish them off and I had already spent a lot of my own time on them. What I didn't know was how the place looked in the 80s.

 

It always used to sadden me that, stood on platform 1, looking at the industrial estate, I was never able to picture what sprawling railway vista met you from there. Likewise it was hard to visualise the through road and platform 4 when parking your car on the formation and climbing up onto the platform ready to start work!

 

A few things of interest, from a more recent era.

 

The old office at the east end of plat 3/4 still retains a beautiful parquet floor, and a fireplace if I recall. The barrel safe hidden under the floor is still there, but alas nobody can find a key for it these days.

 

Platform 1/2's buildings were of course predominantly replaced after the station was bombed. That story is a fascinating one, with stories of a rail from platform one flying as far as the bowling lawn at the top of the park, and a 'King' with a strafed tender tank.

 

Asbestos is the reason the buildings are not used, and their fragility. The problem is that they would be a nuisance (and expensive) to take down under the roof and without possessions.

 

Platforms 1/2 suffer from no longer having toilet facilities (the chargeman's 'shed' has one, famous throughout the WR as the place for train crew to leave 'gifts' for the station staff, which the poor bloke then has to cope with for the rest of the night) but the originals were never taken out - there is even some interesting period graffiti in there! The waiting room also still has a beautifully tiled mosaic floor, doubtless original from 1927.

 

Final bit of NTA trivia - the signal gantry outside the old D&C office stands on small patches of land donated to the local council, maybe a yard square under each foot. This was the reason the site was never developed into a Lidl as was at one time anticipated - they couldn't accommodate the gantry in the plans!

[The Stationmaster]

A view of the gantry at night. note that it has lost a few more arms since Mike's photo. Indeed it seemed, at times, that their was some alteration (removal) of signalling equipment at Newton Abbot appearing in the notices almost monthly on the long run up to complete resignalling.

I think there very nearly was - we rewrote and reissued the Signalbox Special Instructions several times during the run up to the changeover weekend but as we were reissuing stuff for Exeter MAS on almost a weekly basis it turned into something of a blur at times!

[Tom J]

Hmmm.... it's funny actually. The Cornish crews thought they were good at that game, and would often brag about it, but the Bristolians were much, much worse, and never said a word!

[Rugd1022]

What a great selection of nostalgic images from all contributers, they're bringing back many happy memories of how NA used to be...!

 

Looking forward to the next instalment Mike.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There's also some preserved items at the museum in NA. Pulling the levers actually works the signals.

 

Well worth a visit if you're down that way.

[woodenhead]

Anyone got an images of the works in use?

[Captain Kernow]

Superb photos everyone, thanks for posting them. I think I've got some photos or slides pre-MAS myself, which I'll have to dig out sometime. It is indeed hard to visualise the former extent of track these days, such is the redevelopment of the old loco sidings area. I mourn the loss of sidings in Hackney Yard, as well, we are now down to four only, and more would certainly have been useful now. One minor plus point recently, of course, is the reinstatement of former Platform 9 road for stabling the Colas Rail timber train loco (the siding having previously been clipped out of use for some time).

Edited July 12, 2012 by Captain Kernow

[DrummerAl]

Hi, I've decided to try and model Newton Abbot from when I remember it as a young teenager just before it was remodelled in 1986 (I was 13)  and all your pictures and information are amazingly helpful,so would just like to say thanks! I've nearly finished the main building. It's not dead on but close enough to recognise I hope! 

[bgman]

11 minutes ago, DrummerAl said:

Hi, I've decided to try and model Newton Abbot from when I remember it as a young teenager just before it was remodelled in 1986 (I was 13)  and all your pictures and information are amazingly helpful,so would just like to say thanks! I've nearly finished the main building. It's not dead on but close enough to recognise I hope! 

 

Extremely well modelled and it certainly portrays the main building to my eyes.