What was the last BIG main line station to lose its semaphores?

[KingEdwardII]

Surely Horsted Keynes, if we're allowing preserved lines? Will be even more impressive if the second line via Ardingly gets restored...

[MarshLane]

I suppose going back to the conversation that started all this, we were talking about the National Network rather than heritage lines, although I am slightly puzzled as I didn't think Bewdley, Bridgnorth or Horsted Keynes had lost their semaphores!! :)

 

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far, quite an interesting response (and thread drift!) 😂

 

Rich

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by MarshLane
Corrected the spelling of Horsted!

[melmerby]

47 minutes ago, Matt37268 said:

I’ll nominate Kidderminster

Two railway stations on two different company's lines

[Michael Hodgson]

47 minutes ago, Matt37268 said:

If we’re going down that Road I’ll nominate Kidderminster and Sheringham 😜

 

and on the Mid Norfolk, Dereham (one box for the station, another to control the level crossing at its north end)

Wymondham South on the national network is a grade 2 listed building, while the MNR have resited Spooner Row to control their own station in due course.

 

 

And when I last visited Butterley, the Midland Railway Centre had several flat-packed former MR boxes lying aound as well as those they were using for various purposes.  The Swanwick Junction area alone currently has at least three

• Swanwick Junction box (operational)
• Linby Station box (demonstration box)
• Linby Colliery Sidings  box  (bookshop)

[Siberian Snooper]

Droitwich is not a big station in platform terms, but using the stationmasters 50+ levers analogy the box is and still has a large number of semaphores.

[The Stationmaster]

13 hours ago, D7666 said:

😁

Bewdley ?

 

Yeh yeh I bet that SVR and other preserved lines were not in scope for the question; I could not resist though.

Numerous once upon a time.  Fir example Maidenhead - 4 platforms plus the branch platform - had 3 signalboxes in a distance of 1000 yads (all could be seen from the station platform) but I wouldn't call it 'big'.   Slough also had 3 signalboxes, and within a distance of just over 600 yards, with 4 through platforms and 3 bays but I would only regard it as a medium size station.  Reading had 2 signalboxes (with well over 300 levers between them) just short of 800 yards apart with 4 through platforms and 6 bays and I would regard it as big but many people might not.   Didcot had two signalboxes (with over 200 levers between them) 750 yards apart, 5 through platforms and 2 bays but again i would only think of it as a medium size station.

 

Bewdley was no more than a fairly typical small country junction with three platform faces.   But tiny compared with, say, Tiverton Jcn which had two through platform faces plus two, shorter, branch platform faces and a signal box

  with a 124 lever frame.

 

As we've said above - 'big station' means different things to different people and complexity or size of the past mechanical signalling installation doesn't necessarily always relate tosoem thoughts about what constitutes 'big'.

 

[Edwin_m]

14 hours ago, Bon Accord said:

Stirling North (48 levers) and Stirling Middle (96 levers) are both visible from the station as they're sited directly North/South.

Hasn't the fairly recent re-signalling, mentioned in a previous post, removed one or both of these?

[Bon Accord]

1 hour ago, Edwin_m said:

Hasn't the fairly recent re-signalling, mentioned in a previous post, removed one or both of these?

 

Both are still there and both are still in use. The resignalling project removed the semaphores, the boxes however remain with their respective responsibilities.

Stirling North even still has a few manually operated discs amongst all the colour lights and electric point motors under the OHLE.

[melmerby]

Hellifield would've been "big" in years past. Two long platform faces and a bay at each end. A Junction, also had two loco sheds, carriage sheds and plenty of sidings.

Still got it's semaphores.

[Michael Hodgson]

 

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

Hellifield would've been "big" in years past. Two long platform faces and a bay at each end. A Junction, also had two loco sheds, carriage sheds and plenty of sidings.

Still got it's semaphores.

[2251]

On 31/05/2023 at 23:30, melmerby said:

Worcester Shrub Hill is still Semaphores

 

Indeed, but much reduced from its glory days.

 

Prior to rationalisation, the Shrub Hill/ Foregate Street/ Tunnel Jct area had no fewer than seven signalboxes:

1.    Wylds Lane Jct
2.    Worcester Shrub Hill Station
3.    Worcester Goods Yard
4.    Worcester Shrub Hill Jct
5.    Rainbow Hill Jct
6.    Worcester Tunnel Jct
7.    Foregate Street Station
 

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, 2251 said:

 

Indeed, but much reduced from its glory days.

 

Prior to rationalisation, the Shrub Hill/ Foregate Street/ Tunnel Jct area had no fewer than seven signalboxes:

1.    Wylds Lane Jct
2.    Worcester Shrub Hill Station
3.    Worcester Goods Yard
4.    Worcester Shrub Hill Jct
5.    Rainbow Hill Jct
6.    Worcester Tunnel Jct
7.    Foregate Street Station
 

Just three now

Shrub Hill, Tunnel Junction & Henwick (Road) LC

I include Henwick as it now controls three signals for Foregate Street Station.

[Matt37268]

Are there still semaphores along the North Wales Coast? 
 

[D7666]

On 05/06/2023 at 11:02, The Stationmaster said:

Numerous once upon a time.  Fir example Maidenhead - 4 platforms plus the branch platform - had 3 signalboxes in a distance of 1000 yads (all could be seen from the station platform) but I wouldn't call it 'big'.   Slough also had 3 signalboxes, and within a distance of just over 600 yards, with 4 through platforms and 3 bays but I would only regard it as a medium size station.  Reading had 2 signalboxes (with well over 300 levers between them) just short of 800 yards apart with 4 through platforms and 6 bays and I would regard it as big but many people might not.   Didcot had two signalboxes (with over 200 levers between them) 750 yards apart, 5 through platforms and 2 bays but again i would only think of it as a medium size station.

 

Bewdley was no more than a fairly typical small country junction with three platform faces.   But tiny compared with, say, Tiverton Jcn which had two through platform faces plus two, shorter, branch platform faces and a signal box

  with a 124 lever frame.

 

As we've said above - 'big station' means different things to different people and complexity or size of the past mechanical signalling installation doesn't necessarily always relate tosoem thoughts about what constitutes 'big'.

 

Except that the digression question into two boxes in sight of each other reads as a general question not a 'big station' question.

Hence my answer Bewdley.

 

 

[melmerby]

14 hours ago, Matt37268 said:

Are there still semaphores along the North Wales Coast? 
 

Llandudno Junction, Conwy, Bangor and others definitely colour lights, still with individual signal boxes.

Holyhead & Llandudno stations still had some semaphores in 2022, the signal approaching Holyhead from the SE is a colour light.

 

I'll make a guess that Chester PSB controls west as far as Abergele & Pensarn Station.

 

Correction~: Shotton to Abergele is controlled from Cardiff.

(Info from Will)

Edited June 7, 2023 by melmerby

[WillCav]

10 hours ago, melmerby said:

...

 

I'll make a guess that Chester PSB controls west as far as Abergele & Pensarn Station.

Chester PSB still controls up to and including Shotton low level, Wales ROC in Cardiff controls Fflint/Flint to Abergele and Pensarn.

Will

[The Stationmaster]

12 hours ago, D7666 said:

Except that the digression question into two boxes in sight of each other reads as a general question not a 'big station' question.

Hence my answer Bewdley.

 

 

Indeed hiwever closely spaced signal boxes , particularly with a large number of levers between them, were an inevitable situation at larger stations as a consequence of complex track layouts crammed into relatively short distances.

[Mike_Walker]

On 04/06/2023 at 23:32, melmerby said:

Two railway stations on two different company's lines

But the NR 'box was demolished soon after the resignalling about 10 years ago.

[teeinox]

We visited Bognor Regis today for fish and chips at Yanni’s (excellent!) and to buy a few bits at Squires.  But our other aim was to photograph the semaphore signals on some rather fine gantries at Bognor Regis station.  So here they are:

 

 

Bognor is not really a big station, but it is a terminal, and a fairly busy one.  It is immaculately kept.  There are 3 full length platforms and a fourth very short one.  Thus, the gantries: that on the left controlling the exits from platforms 1 and 2, on the right from platform 3 and the short platform 4.  I suspect the gantries have been there a long time.  In David Brown’s book “Southern Electric” volume 2 on page 168, there is a photo of the booster locomotive CC2 arriving at Bognor in 1946, hauling a solitary LMS 50’ van.  Just behind the van can be seen, very faintly, a fragment of one of these gantries.

 

Looking at the left-hand gantry, just to its right, in the distance you can just see the signal box, a Southern Railway “Moderne” creation.  Entertainingly, there is a bus stop just by it, called “Signal Box”!  The signal box was built in 1938 at the time of the “Portsmouth No. 2” (Mid-Sussex) electrification.  Additional works included extending the platforms to accommodate 12 coach trains which would have had the (in)famous “Bognor” buffets in some consists.  The box originally had 66 levers, and with typical Southern Railway economy, all control of signals and points was mechanical.  You can see a nice specimen of a Southern Railway type ground signal between the two gantries.

 

We also went to Chichester on our trip and dropped in at Kim’s Bookshop in South St., Chichester, just up from the station.  Four floor-to-ceiling stacks of railway books, including some rarer items.  Well worth stopping by.

 

teeinox

Edited June 9, 2023 by teeinox

[Hal Nail]

18 hours ago, teeinox said:

We visited Bognor Regis today for fish and chips

 

Someone suggested that to King George V once.

[roythebus1]

On 02/06/2023 at 23:24, MidlandRed said:

Hastings had them within the last 10 years - I haven’t been there recently - not sure if they’re still there. 

The semaphores at Hatings were replaced about 4-5 years ago with...new semaphores! The reason being something to do with overlap requirements for colour-light replacements were not possible with the existing track layout. they're not planning any upgrades in the near future so they simply renewed the semaphores at the Rye end. Not sure if there's any on the Eastbourne end.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 01/06/2023 at 11:51, Mike_Walker said:

No, it had colour-lights from the early BR days.

Very early in fact, opened  by British Railways on 25th January 1948 Lime Street was of LMS Type 13 design and fitted with a 95 lever Westinghouse 'L' power frame. It closed in 2018

[Hal Nail]

On 10/06/2023 at 00:10, roythebus1 said:

Not sure if there's any on the Eastbourne end.

 

Colour lights I think:

 

https://www.alamy.com/southern-and-south-eastern-trains-at-hastings-railway-station-image243602802.html

Edited June 11, 2023 by Hal Nail

[The Stationmaster]

On 10/06/2023 at 00:10, roythebus1 said:

The semaphores at Hatings were replaced about 4-5 years ago with...new semaphores! The reason being something to do with overlap requirements for colour-light replacements were not possible with the existing track layout. they're not planning any upgrades in the near future so they simply renewed the semaphores at the Rye end. Not sure if there's any on the Eastbourne end.

 

Interesting - although I see a later post.  I'm waiting with considerable interest to see how Truro turns out when equipped with colour lights as there is going to a  fascinating timetabl;ing conundrum there with standard overlaps on teh present track layout..  (It can be bad enough at preseent with semapghore signalling where I suspect there might be soem sotrt of Instruction which leads to delays on the DownMain)

[roythebus1]

Hastings still has semaphores at the Ashford end.