Signal boxes with poor access

[Gloster]

Yes, in recent years some 4x4 vehicles have managed to access the house adjacent to the box while it was undergoing restoration. I can only assume that enforcement of the public footpath and bridleway regulations is fairly lax in that remote area of North Yorkshire.

Looking at Google maps there now appears to be a proper track wide enough for a vehicle: you can see what look like a lot of walkers on it, or maybe the sheep are disciplined. When I went there in I had to carry my bike cross country through the snow from the Station Inn (closed) to the viaduct before leaving it there and clambering up to the line. This was December 1978 and they had only opened the road through Selside that morning. Oh, but we were young and foolish once…

 

[Rescars]

I do believe a box with a boat was on one of the ex-Great Central lines across the Trent in Lincolnshire. The cabin was overhead the midpoint of the swing span, pivoted on the pier in the middle of the river. Normally the signaller would just walk over the bridge, but on Sundays when the line was closed the span had to be left swung perpendicular to allow shipping to pass when unmanned, hence the boat to get ashore. I wonder if, somewhat like a single line staff can end up at the wrong end of a section, there were moments when the boat was at the wrong side for access.

A risk of missing the boat perhaps? Tyer's Electric Boat Tablet system? The mind boggles!!

 

[John Webb]

I’m 99% sure that I’ve seen road vehicles at Blea Moor, if not at the signal box then by the building next door. Is there access via the farm tracks to the west of the railway and then under the line just south of the box?

Yes, in recent years some 4x4 vehicles have managed to access the house adjacent to the box while it was undergoing restoration. I can only assume that enforcement of the public footpath and bridleway regulations is fairly lax in that remote area of North Yorkshire.

When I was a driver at Skipton (1991-2012) the signallers mainly parked at Ribblehead station and walked three-quarters-of-a-mile across the viaduct. Latterly, however, agreement was reached with a local farmer for the signallers to drive along the farm track under the viaduct and park adjacent to the underbridge half-way between the viaduct and the box. An access staircase up the embankment was provided and then the signallers walked along the cess the rest of the way.

If the railway has permission from the farmer (landowner?) to use the track with vehicles by some form of agreement, then that is outside the scope of any application of the enforcement of public rights of way applicable to the general public. (As I understand it.)

 

[Bill57p9]

Gorton on the West Highland Line was very difficult to access. Around a mile from the end of a track which itself runs 10km to the next farm.
Gorton was originally a private station with a small railway community, however after the station closed in 1964 the signal box remained open until 1975.

 

[Harpo]

Fascinating discussion. Add in those boxes without running water (any left?), those reliant on coal stoves right up to the end of the 20th century, and the joy of working solo around the clock, and those rose tinted glasses can get a bit misted.

Maybe even that lovely walk across the gallops to get to Chippenham Junction (only went there once) was a bit s..t on some occasions?

 

[Tester]

No problem for access, but two London boxes on my old patch had utility quirks up to at least 1983.....

North Pole box had signalling power but no domestic power - the box was gas lit.

Chelsea box had domestic power but no signalling power - the box ran off dry cells.

 

[D6130]

If the railway has permission from the farmer (landowner?) to use the track with vehicles by some form of agreement, then that is outside the scope of any application of the enforcement of public rights of way applicable to the general public. (As I understand it.)

I think we're confusing the passage and parking of signallers' cars along the farm track under the viaduct and up to the underbridge on the West side of the line - with the landowner's permission - and the driving of 4x4 vehicles along the footpath/bridleway to the East of the line in order to reach the once-derelict signallers' house - built in 1941, I believe - which has now been purchased privately and is in the process of being - very slowly - restored as a residence.

 

[Trothy]

I think there's a bit of a walk to reach Frodsham Junction box.

 

[Rescars]

No problem for access, but two London boxes on my old patch had utility quirks up to at least 1983.....

North Pole box had signalling power but no domestic power - the box was gas lit.

Chelsea box had domestic power but no signalling power - the box ran off dry cells.

Does anyone know which was the last box to be lit with oil lamps? Presumably somewhere fairly remote.

 

[D6130]

Does anyone know which was the last box to be lit with oil lamps? Presumably somewhere fairly remote.

I believe that Blea Moor was one of the last.

 

[Swedenorer]

I guess the staff at the boxes around the Arundel triangle would have had a bit of a walk?

 

[Brightonboy]

Access to Somerleyton swing bridge signalbox is via a path in the cess from Somerleyton station? Well it was when I visited it about thirty years(!) ago.

Back in 1911, a distant cousin of my wife was a GER Railway Signalman and his address in the Census is Bridge Cottages, Somerleyton. There's no map in the NLS for that year but the 1884 OS map shows what looks like a row of cottages at the trackside on the eastern end of the bridge. It leads to the possibility that the signalmen and their families lived on the end of the bridge and had to walk along the tracks/cess to get to the village. The 1906 map shows the same site apparently occupied by a single building (marked as S.B. signal box) with a new(er) row of cottages on the road closer to the station but they are labelled as Station Cottages. Whether the 1911 signal box had attached accommodation still or whether the Station Cottages were known locally as Bridge Cottages I don't know. Unhelpfully, in the 1901 census, he is already a signalman living in Somerleyton but his address is "Near the Pond".

 

[Belperpete]

Fascinating discussion. Add in those boxes without running water (any left?), those reliant on coal stoves right up to the end of the 20th century

Rhiw Goch still has no running water. It was also reliant on a coal stove until a couple of years ago, when the power supply was upgraded and electric heating provided.

 

[High Dyke]

Stoke SB, closed in July 1975 with control passing to Peterborough PSB (now also closed).

Probably the worst thing about Stoke box was the poor access, with no roads near it for around two miles. There were four ways to reach it:

• Use a rough road through a farmyard and across fields.
• On foot through the tunnel, after leaving your car at Highdyke; not for the faint hearted!!
• Walk over the tunnel; not for the unfit!!
• Catch a light engine or a slow goods train at Grantham.

Stoke Signal Box - Tracks through Grantham

Above: Stoke signal box at 12 noon on 22nd June 1961. An Up express from Leeds to London is hauled by King's Cross based class A3 No. 60109 Hermit. Photograph taken by Noel Ingram. by Derek Steptoe Probably the worst thing about Stoke box was the poor access, with no roads near it for around...

www.tracksthroughgrantham.uk

The quote that amused me was that the box never had any electric lighting, but had an electric cooker.

 

[steamybrian]

I guess the staff at the boxes around the Arundel triangle would have had a bit of a walk?

Arundel Junction signal box had no road access but footpath across the fields.
Box abolished many years ago and triangle (I think) controlled from Arundel station box.

 

[Gloster]

A lot of the most isolated boxes were either break-section ones, served minor line-side industries, such as quarries, or were junctions for branches. Post-Beeching most of these disappeared, although a few, such as Largin and Whiteball, survived because of their particular circumstances.

One related group was those boxes that were only accessible down farm tracks or through industrial premises; Aynho, Cogload, Dainton and Fairwood Junction were, if I remember correctly like this. Just don’t upset the farmer or gateman.

 

[LAX54]

I guess the staff at the boxes around the Arundel triangle would have had a bit of a walk?

Arundel Junction, it was a bit of awalk from Ford to get there,used to walk on the cable troughs, we were supposed to check with the Ford Signalman before going over the River Bridge, on foggy mornings it could be a bit 'iffy' walking around there.
There was no running water at the box, it came out every day in a container on a train from Littlehampton, you hoped the driver stopped in the right place not to get gapped ! (water was with the Guard, and any WONs and notices etc)

 

[Ashley Hill]

Largin was an interesting walk. Up through a forest path and over a viaduct.