British Rail station signage (Beeching Era?)

[Rhydgaled]

On 19th January, I went to see an event at Theatr Mwldan in Cardigan called 'Cardi Bach Films', refering not to the current Cardi Bach (Ceredigion coastal bus service) but to the Whitland and Cardigan railway. On the stage was what looked like a large metal railway station sign, with raised lettering reading 'Cilgerran'. Cilgerran had a station on the Cardi-Bach, but all the photographs show the platform sign to be wooden and spelt 'Kilgerran'. The speaker said this metal sign had been found in a road haulage firm's sheds and that he thought they hadn't managed to put it up before the line was closed.

Personally, I doubt the sign was ever intened to be installed by the railway, for several reasons:

1. Since lines were being closed left, right and centre, a new metal sign for an unstaffed halt would be a bit of an extravagance they wouldn't want on the books
2. I find it very unlikely that they would have changed the spelling to Cilgerran, since the railway as far as I know always called it Kilgerran
3. The background of the sign was dark blue, as far as I could tell in the gloom of the auditorium, BR western region I thought would have used chocolate and cream signs (or black and white like Birmingham Moor Street and one of the signs at Aberystwyth)

So, is there any likelyhood that the Cilgerran sign on display is a genuine railway sign? Did BR western region (or any region for that matter) use blue signs and was Cilgerran ever spelt with a C in any BR documents/publications?

 

[6Gman]

No Great Western man would ever tolerate a dark blue background to such a sign!

 

[Bevan Price]

On 19th January, I went to see an event at Theatr Mwldan in Cardigan called 'Cardi Bach Films', refering not to the current Cardi Bach (Ceredigion coastal bus service) but to the Whitland and Cardigan railway. On the stage was what looked like a large metal railway station sign, with raised lettering reading 'Cilgerran'. Cilgerran had a station on the Cardi-Bach, but all the photographs show the platform sign to be wooden and spelt 'Kilgerran'. The speaker said this metal sign had been found in a road haulage firm's sheds and that he thought they hadn't managed to put it up before the line was closed.

Personally, I doubt the sign was ever intened to be installed by the railway, for several reasons:

1. Since lines were being closed left, right and centre, a new metal sign for an unstaffed halt would be a bit of an extravagance they wouldn't want on the books
   

?

Threat of closures did not stop wasteful spending, such as repainting stations. Some cynics have suggested that increased spending was sometimes used to exaggerate the losses on some lines proposed for closure.

 

[Welshman]

I thought dark blue was the house-colour of the old Eastern Region.

 

[Manchester77]

I thought dark blue was the house-colour of the old Eastern Region.

Indeed it was
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Region_station_totem_for_Lincoln_St_Marks.jpg

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Personally, I doubt the sign was ever intened to be installed by the railway, for several reasons:

1. Since lines were being closed left, right and centre, a new metal sign for an unstaffed halt would be a bit of an extravagance they wouldn't want on the books
2. I find it very unlikely that they would have changed the spelling to Cilgerran, since the railway as far as I know always called it Kilgerran
3. The background of the sign was dark blue, as far as I could tell in the gloom of the auditorium, BR western region I thought would have used chocolate and cream signs (or black and white like Birmingham Moor Street and one of the signs at Aberystwyth)

So, is there any likelyhood that the Cilgerran sign on display is a genuine railway sign? Did BR western region (or any region for that matter) use blue signs and was Cilgerran ever spelt with a C in any BR documents/publications?

A couple of points to make about this story. Towards the end of the Fifties, the Western Region adopted a policy of correcting the cavalier attitude of the past towards Welsh place names. Llanelli (Llanelly); Tywyn (Towyn); and Llangadog (Llangattock) spring readily to mind, as well as Dolgellau (Dolgelley & Dolgelly) and Llangynwyd (Llangonoyd) which were subsequently closed.

Whether or not the sign in question is genuine, Cilgerran, had it survived, would almost certainly have carried that identity.

There were plenty of blue and white enamel signs on ex GW stations in Wales but were very rare after the mid Fifties.

 

[Rhydgaled]

I thought dark blue was the house-colour of the old Eastern Region.

Indeed it was
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Region_station_totem_for_Lincoln_St_Marks.jpg

I had a feeling that, if any BR region used blue for signage, it would have been the Eastern Region. The sign in question wasn't a totem-style one like the one pictured though.

A couple of points to make about this story. Towards the end of the Fifties, the Western Region adopted a policy of correcting the cavalier attitude of the past towards Welsh place names. Llanelli (Llanelly); Tywyn (Towyn); and Llangadog (Llangattock) spring readily to mind, as well as Dolgellau (Dolgelley & Dolgelly) and Llangynwyd (Llangonoyd) which were subsequently closed.

Whether or not the sign in question is genuine, Cilgerran, had it survived, would almost certainly have carried that identity.

Thanks for enlightening me, this case isn't as clear cut as I thought it might be.

There were plenty of blue and white enamel signs on ex GW stations in Wales

Are there any colour photographs of a geninune such sign, so I can see if the design is the same?

but were very rare after the mid Fifties.

Would you say, then, that given the wooden 'Kilgerran' sign was still in place at closure in 1962, the sign would not have been made for installation at the station?

 

[Manchester77]

I had a feeling that, if any BR region used blue for signage, it would have been the Eastern Region. The sign in question wasn't a totem-style one like the one pictured though.

?

Was it like this one?
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/606005

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Are there any colour photographs of a geninune such sign, so I can see if the design is the same?
Would you say, then, that given the wooden 'Kilgerran' sign was still in place at closure in 1962, the sign would not have been made for installation at the station?

Sadly, I don't have any colour photographs but clearly remember Tonteg, on the Taff Vale side, with a blue and white enamel running in board and Barry Dock which had them until the Hanks revolution of the fifties when everything on the WR went chocolate and cream. I'm pretty sure that Dinas Powys had them but it's a long time ago. someone might have the evidence.

It's possible that a new sign was prepared for Cilgerran but I would have thought it would be in chocolate and cream. Stranger things have happened. The paint was still wet on the signal box at Llangynwyd during demolition and the the main buildings at Barry dock were torn down not long after having had a complete makeover in corporate blue and grey.

 

[Rhydgaled]

Was it like this one?
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/606005

That's the wooden black and white sign at Aberystwyth I mentioned in the orriginal post. The Cilgerran sign I'm talking about was that sort of shape, but metal and with a blue rather than black background. The Kilgerran sign that has been pictured is visible here and appears to be more like the Aberystwyth sign (wooden, black and white etc.) although with the letters simply drawn/painted on rather than raised on their own bits of wood.

 

[Prairie_5542]

That's the wooden black and white sign at Aberystwyth I mentioned in the orriginal post. The Cilgerran sign I'm talking about was that sort of shape, but metal and with a blue rather than black background. The Kilgerran sign that has been pictured is visible here and appears to be more like the Aberystwyth sign (wooden, black and white etc.) although with the letters simply drawn/painted on rather than raised on their own bits of wood.

They may have painted this for the show? To make it stand out more??

 

[merlodlliw]

Black & White raised wooden signs still in use at Gobowen,plus change here for Oswestry.

 

[Rhydgaled]

Black & White raised wooden signs still in use at Gobowen,plus change here for Oswestry.

Yes, and at Birmingham Moor Street, plus the one at Aberystwyth already mentioned. I'm not sure I've seen a metal version with a blue background anywhere except for the 'Cilgerran' one on display in the theatre, and I am dubious whether that is genuine.