Lymington Branch

[Les Bird]

No harm done Les, it's just I thought they must've turned out the Hastings unit when I read your OP.

 

C6T.

Now that would have been interesting!

[Nearholmer]

Digging-up an ancient thread ........

 

When did the signal boxes on the branch close?

 

Kent Rail (which along with Cornwall Rail seems to be the go-to website for this Hampshire Branch!) says 1968, but my memory, and photos on the web, say that there were still signals until c1980.

 

Were the signals permanently fixed in aspect (set in aspic?) and left in situ after OES operation was introduced, or were the boxes switched-out but available if needed, or what?

 

Answers on a postcard please, to: Puzzled of Paltry Circus.

[AberdeenBill]

Digging-up an ancient thread ........

 

When did the signal boxes on the branch close?

 

Kent Rail (which along with Cornwall Rail seems to be the go-to website for this Hampshire Branch!) says 1968, but my memory, and photos on the web, say that there were still signals until c1980.

 

Were the signals permanently fixed in aspect (set in aspic?) and left in situ after OES operation was introduced, or were the boxes switched-out but available if needed, or what?

 

Answers on a postcard please, to: Puzzled of Paltry Circus.

Good question... Lymington Pier box was of modern (1950s?) brick construction. The starter at Lymington Pier was possibly unique in being lower-quadrant (with distant for Lymington Town) on a rail-built post.

 

Bill

[4630]

Lymington Pier ('New' box) - opened 11-11-1956, converted to ground frame 3-4-1967, closed 4-3-1968.

 

Lymington Town ('New' box) - opened 16-12-1928, converted to ground frame 3-4-1967, closed 18-11-1979.

 

Lymington Junction - closed 17-10-1978.

 

Source: Track Layout Diagrams of the Southern Railway and BR (SR), Bournemouth and East Dorset, by G A Pryer and A V Paul.

[Nearholmer]

I notice that Town didn't cease to be a 'place' from a signalling viewpoint until 1979, but if it was only a GF that still doesn't explain to me why there were signals at the seaward end of the line until then.

 

For instance, there was a 'starter over distant', LQ signals, at Lymington Pier, and I can't see why that would have been necessary if Town wasn't a block post.

 

Still Puzzled of Birlstone.

 

PS: Could the level crossing have something to do with it? Were signals necessary to protect them, continuing to be worked from the SBs-turned GFs? 

Edited November 9, 2018 by Nearholmer