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Shrewsbury Semaphores


Andy Louch
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Planning to spend a few hours at Salop next month. Any advice on best locations to photo semaphores around station please? Interweb search suggests several locations, however, information on most sites are a few years old now. Thanks.

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Planning to spend a few hours at Salop next month. Any advice on best locations to photo semaphores around station please? Interweb search suggests several locations, however, information on most sites are a few years old now. Thanks.

 

IIRC in my experience as a fare paying passenger, you can't go beyond the end of the platforms where most of them are located.  No idea of access outside the station area.  However, I have seen groups being shown around whilst I've been there so you may be able to get permission.

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IIRC in my experience as a fare paying passenger, you can't go beyond the end of the platforms where most of them are located.  No idea of access outside the station area.  However, I have seen groups being shown around whilst I've been there so you may be able to get permission.

 

Planning to spend a few hours at Salop next month. Any advice on best locations to photo semaphores around station please? Interweb search suggests several locations, however, information on most sites are a few years old now. Thanks

 

Planning to spend a few hours at Salop next month. Any advice on best locations to photo semaphores around station please? Interweb search suggests several locations, however, information on most sites are a few years old now. Thanks.

I'd take a telephoto lens and a tripod with you, it'll increase your options.

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You may also be able to get some from the housing development alongside the line in from Wolverhampton on the down side controlled from Abbey Foregate box, though not sure how easy access would be. There are semaphores at Sutton Bridge Junction too but I'm not sure where they could be photographed from, though there is a bridge immediately to the south of the signal box which also crosses the route of the Severn Valley line.

But lots of gems at the station itself, including centre balanced arms. In the general area you can find just about anything - upper quadrant, lower quadrant, colour lighting, LEDs etc. And lost of new LED sypes on the route to Crewe.

Jonathan

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you'll see plenty from the station, take a walk up plat 7 towards severn jn box and you'll see the ones out towards abbey forgate and sutton bridge, go down 3 towards crewe jn box and you will see the ones out towards wrexham and crewe without issue

 

if you walk to sutton bridge jn you can see most from the footbridge by the box, moving slightly futher out to the adjacent road bridge and you can see more towards hereford

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A little tour that should get you to see most is;

 

leave the station, turn left up castle gates. Castle entrance is 200m on left. The best view is from the tower on the right.

 

exit castle heading back to station 40m on right there are some steps, this path will take you over the station to the prison, good viewing from car park and bridge.

 

follow Dana/Victoria St to bottom of hill turn right at junction onto river footbridge, sidings to your right, end of path Abbey foregate is just on the right. 

 

head under bridge to the Abbey keep right you will see viaduct, follow road to left keeping viaduct to your right, pass Asda to cinema, turn right into Scott st [site of steam shed]

top of road is Sutton bridge.

 

That should take an hour or so.....enjoy

 

PS there's plenty of eating and drinking establishments as well.

Edited by GRUNFOS
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No problem,enjoy

 

Good day Grunfos, that's brilliant, very many thanks. Will definitely complete this tour! Best wishes,

 

No problem, enjoy.

If you go by grundfos plan then when you get to the abbey go to the back of the car park and you will find the old shrewsbury and Montgomery railway station too

Forgot about that, I walk along the old platform every week, funny how you take things for granted. I still remember the whole area as a railserved oil depot.

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Shropshire & Montgomeryshire presumably,.

And an odd relic, though nothing to do with signalling and many hundred years older, is the structure near the road which was once the abbey refectory pulpit and ended up within the S&M station precincts.

Jonathan

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Due to being on the right-hand side of the line with restricted sighting IIRC. Done that way to get closer to the driver's eye line.

 

And yet the two pairs at Twyford which were both on the wrong side of the line they applied to, and were both splitting signals, had the arms mounted the correct way up with them pretty close to Driver's eye-level.  As the pivot was pretty central in the arm (I'll say that without popping out to dig mine out of the shed to measure it) they could be a similar distance from loading gauge when mounted the right way up.

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And yet the two pairs at Twyford which were both on the wrong side of the line they applied to, and were both splitting signals, had the arms mounted the correct way up with them pretty close to Driver's eye-level.  As the pivot was pretty central in the arm (I'll say that without popping out to dig mine out of the shed to measure it) they could be a similar distance from loading gauge when mounted the right way up.

The Shrewsbury ones are only about 3/4 of the normal length and the dolls are very close together. From memory I think that if standard arms had been used the right hand spectacle plate would have been obscured by the platform lamp posts making the signal difficult to read at night.

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