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Jack Shipley West Yorkshire Signalman Archive (1936–1982) – Leeds Central, Bradford, Bowling Jct & Halifax

Alba_Cards

New Member
Joined
9 Aug 2026
Messages
3
Location
Kirkcaldy
Hi everyone,


I recently acquired an exceptional intact single-provenance career album belonging to Mr Jack Shipley, who served as a British Railways signalman in West Yorkshire from 1936 through to his retirement in 1982 (45 years of service).

Given the depth of local history and signaling details in this collection, I wanted to share a summary and a few highlights with the community here:

° Career History & Bureaucracy: Includes his complete typed BR service record sheet tracking his progression from Junior PTR at Leeds Central in 1936 through Holbeck, Halifax, Pudsey Greenside, Armley, Leeds Central (Special A & B), and Bradford Exchange. It features his official 1967 redundancy notice from the Station Master's Office at Leeds Central following the implementation of the Leeds City Resignalling Scheme, annotated with his handwritten note: "30 Years And Now This."


° Hand-Drawn Track & Signal Box Diagrams: Detailed, hand-drawn schematics mapping out signal box locations and line layouts across Leeds Central, Bradford Exchange, Bowling Junction, Low Moor, Halifax, Ardsley, Morley, Tingley, Guiseley, and surrounding West Yorkshire branches.

° Original Photography: Numerous original black-and-white and color photos, including:

° 1960s steam excursion movements passing Bowling Junction (featuring locos 45421, 44662, 42574, and banking loco 42616 on the gradient).

° Exterior shots of signal boxes including Hammerton Street Junction (1978 with early DMUs), Mill Lane Junction, Hall Lane, Low Moor, Bingley, and Guiseley.

° Personal photographs of Jack working on the balcony platforms with his granddaughter in the late 1970s.

I am currently in the process of digitizing the entire album to share high-resolution copies with local archives and signaling societies to ensure the historical record is preserved.

Because this is a continuous 45-year record, my primary goal is to keep the physical collection intact as a single lot. I am looking to sell the complete physical archive to a dedicated collector or enthusiast who will appreciate its local history

If anyone is interested in acquiring the complete physical collection or has any historical questions about the locations covered in his record, please feel free to drop me a Private Message (PM).
 

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RailUK Forums

Alba_Cards

New Member
Joined
9 Aug 2026
Messages
3
Location
Kirkcaldy
Hi John and thanks. The SRS is actually my next port of call once I’ve got the hi-res scans done of each page. It’s only right that they are preserved for people to see. I only provided a small sample of what is in the collection. There are photos of the Bradford Exchange station, signal boxes and obviously the Leeds Central Station itself that have all closed and disappeared.

Once I have been in touch with SRS and if they want the images then I will update here for people to see.
 

WesternLancer

Veteran Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
14,944
Local history wise it’s potentially relevant to somewhere like the Keighly & Worth Valley railway.

How much the original article (as opposed to scanned reference copy) is worth financially for sale is hard to know.
The higher of what two people in an auction are prepared to pay I guess.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

I should add I salute the OPs efforts to keep this together as outlined as well as offer the content to appropriate signalling groups / other interested groups. Including via scanned versions.
 
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