cornish trains jez Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Good morning all, Spent an hour at one of my local stations, Amberley, in West Sussex a couple of weeks ago and I took a few pictures of some of the semaphore signals there, examples of which seem to be few and far between on the network now in this neck of the woods. So thought I would start a thread on this subject. I'll try and get up to Pulborough over the weekend as there are also some there too which are worthy of a few snaps. Apologies for the darkish photos but the weather was pretty awful on that day. Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted April 19, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 19, 2013 Jeremy I often pass Amberley and love the signal post right next to the bridge over the road. I will be passing it tomrrow. For many years the box was often switched out and the signal pulled off but in recent years its now in normal use during the day. Look forward to your Pulborough photos. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 Good afternoon, After pressure washing the deck and various other garden related jobs to do, I popped up to Pulborough station for a photo session. Looking towards Billingshurst direction Ground signal Pulborough box, looks like it is still in use and in excellent condition externally. May have to knock on the door on my next visit and check out the interior. Looking towards Amberley There is signal just beyond this on the right hand side servicing the up line which I need to find a way to access for a photo. That's all for now. Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 Good afternoon, Took this whilst out and about in Pulborough today. This one is sited just up from the station looking towards Billingshurst. Apologies for the poor quality but I took this on my iPhone. Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted July 12, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 12, 2013 Ooh, I missed this thread. Pulborough is my local station, and I undertake the daily commute from here to London. As mentioned in a couple of other threads, the semaphore signals and the boxes are going to be decommissioned later this year; October is the plan. Billingshurst box is off to East Grinstead for the Bluebell railway (making way for the road over the level crossing to be widened), whilst the fate of Pulborough is currently unknown. The box at Pulborough appears in good condition, whilst Billingshurst is looking tatty. There is a great photo spot just north of Pulborough, where Church lane crosses the railway...you can see the bridge clearly from the station. You get to see the up signal which lurks behind Tescos (your latest photo), as well as the down station approach signal. Billingshurst still have a couple to the south of the station. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Pulborough box is more impressive than billingshurst. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted July 17, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2013 A couple from me, taken last weekend from the overbridge just north of Pulborough... On the up line, heading towards Billingshurst... On the down line, on the approach to the station Signal detail... This bridge gives a really good view of the trains departing from Pulborough station. This is 377113 on a mid-afternoon Arun Valley service to Victoria. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted July 17, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2013 A timely topic indeed. The Arun Valley (a/k/a Mid Sussex) Line is to be resignalled in a few weeks with control shifting to Three Bridges and the loss of all the remaining semaphores. Pulborough is an historic box, I believe it's the originbal LB&SCR structure but it has not been "listed" and may not survive. Amberley is one of a diminishing number of frames with a box built into the station offices in the same way as Sheffield Park. The resignalling will leave only Bognor and Littlehampton with semaphores and only for a short time. Very few others remain now on the former BR Southern Region including no working distant arms (the last was at Bexhill until very recently) though Ryde still has a fixed caution one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 18, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 18, 2013 Pulborough box is more impressive than billingshurst. Well it's taller, anyway! I think this page gives some idea how important Billingshurst box is in historic terms. http://www.signalbox.org/gallery/s/billingshurst.php I can just remember the last of the LBSC "high" signalboxes at Hardham Junction, just south of Pulborough, which was abolished in 1966/7 when the AHB was installed. Preservation and listing hadn't been thought of for such structures then, sadly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted July 18, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2013 Yes, the site of Hardham box is now a very exciting relay box! As I have mentioned in other threads on the matter, I will miss the semaphores and manual boxes, but not the operating restrictions they impose upon the route. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 18, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 18, 2013 I was scanning in negatives from December 1986 a few days ago and some of them were of Pulborough. The box back then had just a straight line of steps and handrail up to the box unlike the current quarter landing near the bottom. I must get some more shots from the footbridge a just north of Bognor station before they go. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 18, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 18, 2013 Yes, the site of Hardham box is now a very exciting relay box! The oddest thought is that the long-lifted line to Midhurst was there first, and the route to Arundel some years later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted July 18, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 18, 2013 The oddest thought is that the long-lifted line to Midhurst was there first, and the route to Arundel some years later. I'll see your oddest thought and raise you this: On OS maps of the area at Hardham Junction you will find the words "ROMAN STATION" printed next to the dotted line showing "Dismantled Railway" at grid reference TQ027175. At the same spot another dotted line heads off south-westwards apparently suggesting that the "Roman Station" was a railway junction In fact this marks the course of the Roman road Stane Street. Fans of the One Square topic may wish to take note Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 Good afternoon, Whilst out and about in Pulborough today in the glorious sunshine, I managed to get a few more shots to add to the ones Claude had already taken. Semaphores still visible and working in Pulborough. Best regards, Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 A couple more from earlier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted August 2, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2013 The oddest thought is that the long-lifted line to Midhurst was there first, and the route to Arundel some years later. Stranger still was the fact the route from Horsham through Pulborough was opened in 1859, terminating at Petworth. And it remained thus - finishing at a station in the middle of nowhere roughly half-way between Duncton (tiny) and Petworth (not much bigger than a village) - until the link between Hardham and Ford Junction was completed in 1863 (whereupon the whole section from Horsham to Ford Jc was doubled). Midhurst was reached in 1866. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted September 20, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 20, 2013 Having taken a couple of days off from work, I have taken the opportunity to visit some of these sites before the inevitable closures later this year. First was Billingshurst, the box soon to be removed to make way for the crossing to be widened. 377469 heads a northbound service into Billingshurst. Sadly the semaphore signals are to the south of the station, out of sight around the curve. I have loads of pictures of Pulborough, with plenty on this thread, so next up is Amberley. 377160 heads away towards Arundel, passing a number of signals. The very nice little box at Amberley... The up signal The up gantry Overall View I like the lattice post on this signal... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 20, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 20, 2013 I think that is South Stoke Tunnel? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted September 20, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 20, 2013 I think that is South Stoke Tunnel? Nearly...it is North Stoke tunnel. Tricky to get a decent view of this tunnel owing to its location, but with a fierce zoom on the camera you can make it out a little clearer... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 21, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 21, 2013 It used to be possible to obtain some good views of the line, the signals and the southern portal of North Stoke Tunnel by taking the footpaths south from Amberley station via North and South Stoke (where the pub also used to be good) and along the banks of the River Arun. It's been a fair few years since I last took that walk and both views and access may have changed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted October 1, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2013 Since the last few pictures have been taken, visible work has started on the Arun valley resignalling. To start with is this rather indifferent view of 377158 taken about 2 weeks ago from Cray Lane bridge, about a mile north of Pulborough. It is included only for the new signal at the bottom of the picture. Back to the station, and plenty of changes are visible. All these pictures were taken today... A new signal is in situ at the end of platform 1. I do note that it is in front of the 9-12 car stop sign, which is interesting as there are at least two northbound peak-time 12 carriage trains during the morning. I was also able to grab a quick shot of some of the box interior from the platform. Immediately opposite the box are two new signals, yet to be erected. They are beside the trailing cross-over to the north of the station; presumably they are to guard this cross-over Two new boxes in what was the Midhurst and Petersfield bay (relay boxes?). A view soon to pass into the history books. 377469 pauses at Pulborough on a Victoria service. Semaphores in the distance (with a rather drunk looking gantry) and a ground signal which I guess is there for shunt manoeuvres when the station is a terminus for engineering works...certainly it ties in with the location of the cross over. Lovers of geometry should probably try to ignore somewhat undulating up canopy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 1, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 1, 2013 I hope to grab some photos at Amberley this weekend before too much changes. Luckily I visited Pulborough and Billingshurst a few weeks back. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 Such a shame to see these go. Any way of getting hold of the signals before they go for scrap? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted October 1, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2013 Not sure, but I'd love one of those gantry signals though. Put it in my front garden and control the traffic on the A29! Not sure if the council - or more importantly Mrs Dreyfus - would approve however... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted October 1, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2013 I also took a short video to capture those lovely bells in the box... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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