Bob Ellis

Hi Clive, I only come on here rarely and only noticed your question because a friend pointed it out to me. I can offer you some help, not only with the signal box, but possibly with other aspects of your model because (a) I live within half a mile of Hawes station (b) I am a historian who has been researching Hawes station (and the rest of the branch) for more than 30 years © I have a collection of over 3,000 photographs of the branch (including c.350 of Hawes station) and (d) I am also building a model of Hawes station (c.1906). Within my collection are several photographs showing Hawes (East) signal box - as you probably know, there was another one (Hawes West) until its removal in 1907. Unfortunately, while some of these show the rear of the box in the distance (which was as you have drawn it), none show the base of the rear, but more about that later. You are right that it was a 15' x 12' type 2b box. I'll begin with a couple of comments on your drawings. As somebody else has already said, the locking room door was in the rear corner of the western end of the box (i.e. the end nearest the station) and there was a window directly below the stairs. You have drawn the support brackets for the landing at the top of the stairs as straight, but they were curved. I think your drawings are accurate apart from that, but I will try to find time to have a closer look later in the week, since I will be away for the next couple of days. Next, the livery: although it was a joint MR/NER station, Hawes was built and maintained by the Midland Railway and subsequently by the LMS, so it was in Midland livery in pre-grouping days. Your uncertainty about this may stem from the fact that Hawes station and the line from Hawes to Garsdale was transferred from Midland to North Eastern Region jurisdiction a few months after nationalisation and was subsequently repainted in BR (NE) light blue and ivory. Now your question about the base at the rear, where it overhung the embankment. While none of my photographs show the rear, several of them show the ends and I think we can deduce what the rear was like with reasonable confidence from the eastern end. Photographs of the western end don't help because there was a wooden walkway leading to the locking room door that obscured the base at the rear of that end. The walkway stood clear of the ground in front of that door as the embankment dropped away, but it doesn't mean that this was also the case with the base of the signal box, in fact I am fairly confident that it wasn't. We can deduce this from examining photographs of the eastern end, which show that the weatherboarding continued downwards at the rear of that end where the embankment began to fall away. If it continued down at one end, then it is likely that it also did so at the rear of the box and at its western end below the locking room door. Finally, can I suggest you contact Kidderminster Railway Museum for a copy of the earliest clear photograph of the signal box of which I am aware, which was taken in 1931. The reference number for this photograph is 086757. The photograph is a 3/4 view looking at the southern side and western end of the box, although the lower part of the end is obscured by a PW trolley and its crew. A good later photograph taken in 1959 from a similar viewpoint, but without the PW trolley in the way can be obtained from the John Mallon Collection held by the North Eastern Railway Association in Darlington Railway Museum. The reference number is JFM 2910. Let me know if I can help you further. You can contact me privately if you wish at bob@bpellis.idps.co.uk Best wishes, Bob