Heritage Railway issue 222 preview

THE 10 BEST MAIN LINE

STEAM LOCOMOTIVES

ISSUE 222

November 17 – December 14, 2016

New ‘Jacobite’

FESTIVE SP SPECIALS

Llangollen Railway’s

TENDER FOR A

NEW BUILDS

TENNER!

Help get crimson Patriot running in 2018

■ LYNTON & BARNSTAPLE BUYS ‘BLOCKAGE’ HOUSE ■ DAWLISH CAMPING COACHES SOLD ■ POST OFFICE MAIL RAIL: FIRST COACHES ARRIVE

CONTENTS ISSUE 222

November 17 – December 14, 2016

News

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Headline News

Heritage Railway readers invited to help complete new Patriot The Unknown Warrior by subscribing to new Tenner for The Tender appeal; Patriot to appear in LMS crimson lake; Chinnor & Princes Risborough extension threatened by eviction move, and BR Standard 4MT No. 76084’s first railtours.

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News

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Lynton & Barnstaple buys Parracombe ‘obstacle’ house; new trains arrive as Post Office museum Mail Rail gathers pace; West Somerset could buy freehold under new deal; ‘futuristic’ design chosen for new Great Central museum; Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway reaches Worcestershire; gala action from Severn Valley and Swanage railways and NELPG’s 50th anniversary on the North Yorkshire Moors; group campaigns to save Hythe Pier Tramway; autumn ‘Jacobite’ picture special and Leighton Buzzard opens first purpose-built station.

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CONTENTS: GWR No. 823 Countess approaches Cyfronydd with two replica Pickering coaches, plus three wagons and a brakevan to form a mixed train so prototypical of the line in the period from 1923 up until 1931, on a TimeLine Event photo charter organised by David Williams on October 19.

ALAN CORFIELD COVER: LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 45407 climbs away from Glenfinnan viaduct with West Coast Railways ‘Jacobite’. ANDREW SOUTHWELL

Regulars Railwayana

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Centre

58

Main Line Itinerary

69

Platform

84

Off the Shelf

98

Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Welshpool & Llanfair No. 823 Countess by Robert Falconer.

Main Line News

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New festive season ‘Jacobite’ and complete round-up of all Christmas main line tours; Defiant appeal gets £50,000 in a week; Flying Scotsman for Railway Touring Company summer trips and Sir Nigel Gresley boiler at Llangollen for repairs.

With Full Regulator

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Don Benn reports on another outstanding performance by Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

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Steam and heritage diesel railtours.

Where your views matter most.

Latest book and DVD releases.

Up & Running

102

The Month Ahead

114

Features Steam’s top ten

Which are Britain’s top 10 steam engines? Brian Sharpe compares the history and performance of the 10 biggest, currently working main line engines in roughly chronological order of the introduction of the class.

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Guide to railways running in the autumn.

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Llangollen Railway: locomotive building centre of excellence – four new builds on the stocks

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In recent years the Llangollen Railway has developed a reputation as a centre of excellence for building new steam engines. Allan George investigates how the workshops have become the centre of new locomotive construction to fill in gaps in classes in preservation.

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Banbury‘box closed

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Martin Creese reports on the closure of the two former Great Western Railway signalboxes at Banbury.

Douro Valley Steam Revival

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The Great Survivor’s Last Indian Summer

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Lionel Price reports on the return of steam to this scenic route in Portugal.

NER 9F finale

The 9F 2-10-0 was described as the best of BR’s Standard steam designs.

Robert Anderson outlines the history of the class and relates the story of a ride on the last steam-hauled ore train to Consett.

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Geoff Silcock reminisces about the 12 consecutive days in August that saw two Brighton‘Terriers’rostered for more than 500 miles of timetabled running on the KESR.

Write to us: Heritage Railway, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ.

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NEWS

No. 45407 returned to Fort William too late to be turned after working an SRPS train on the Borders Railway. Consequently, the engine faced out of Mallaig for a couple of days and is seen leaving the terminus on October 12. DAVID PRICE

‘Black Fives’ on

‘The Jacobite’

28 Heritagerailway.co.uk

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No. 44871 crosses Glenfinnan viaduct . STEVE SIENCOWICZ

By Brian Sharpe THEWest Coast Railways’‘Jacobite’service on the 42-mileWest Highland extension from FortWilliam to Mallaig continues to go from strength to strength.

The season is getting longer each year, and with additional weekend services – and even two trains every day, with two different engines for much of the season – there have never been more opportunities to travel on or photograph steam trains on the route.

As the autumn colours become ever more spectacular, photographers are drawn to the line in increasing numbers towards the end of the season.

Motive power in recent years has consistently comprised of Ian Riley’s LMS ‘Black Five’4-6-0s Nos. 44871 and 45407, plus the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group’s LNER K1 2-6-0 No. 62005.

Right: No. 45407 departs from Corpach with the ‘Jacobite’ on October 24.

KARL HEATH Left: No. 45407 accelerates away from Fort William past Mallaig Junction on October 24. KARL HEATH Write to us: Heritage Railway, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ.

Heritagerailway.co.uk 29

Curwen 2-6-0 No. 4 Isambard Kingdom Brunel heads a passenger train on the Royal Victoria Railway.

Steam haulage day a treat on the Royal Victoria Railway

By Don Benn THE Royal Victoria Country Park at Netley, next to Southampton Water, is a popular place for walking and relaxing... and near to the tea rooms and chapel is the mile long 10¼ in gauge Royal Victoria Railway, which operates at weekends throughout the year and daily in the school holidays.

Trains are nearly always hauled by one of the Class 52 Western outline diesel-hydraulic locomotives: indeed, it is very rare indeed to find steam working there as this is usually kept for special occasions and driver experience days.

Seeing a steam-hauled train on the RVR has eluded me in the eight years that I have lived in the area.

Driver experience

However, a check on the railway’s website at the start of this autumn suggested we might be lucky on September 25 as a driver experience day was planned, so we set off mid-morning with hopes of at last catching steam.

As we walked up the path to the entrance and engine shed there were none of the tell-tale signs of steam, but on arrival sure enough there was 2-6-0 No. 4 Isambard Kingdom Brunel standing outside the shed but not in steam.

However, it was apparent we were in luck as young RVR volunteer Matt was busy loading wood into the firebox.

Enquiries of the other staff produced the information that Matt would be taking the engine on a couple of circuits of the main line at around lunchtime, accompanied by another RVR volunteer, Helen, who was busy helping to prepare No. 4.This engine was built in 1977 by David Curwen for the ill-fated Age of Steam Railway in Crowlas, Cornwall, and has recently had a full overhaul.

Handling well

Helen and I were soon chatting about the comparisons between a 10¼ inch gauge locomotive and one on the main line and she also told me that this would be Matt’s fifth driver experience day. He had obviously learnt well as his handling of the engine, now with a full head of steam, within the yard confines was very competent.

Time for me to go lineside and renew my acquaintance with the many spots where good shots can be taken though much of the circuit is in trees. After two round trips light engine in-between the service trains being hauled by D1000, Matt and Helen took No. 4 back to the main station (named Piccadilly) where I thought that proceedings would finish.

No. 4 at Kirk station.

But more and better was to come as Helen told me they were going to take charge of a passenger train replacing the diesel-hydraulic and after ensuring that they were coupled up and ready to go I departed at some speed for my favourite spots to catch some images.

Write to us: Heritage Railway, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ.

In fact at least two circuits were completed before we had to leave but not before I had thanked Matt, Helen and the other staff for their help.This little-known railway is continuing to develop but is desperate for more volunteer help and financial support.

Heritagerailway.co.uk 37

NEWS FOCUS SPECIAL

Steam’s

TOP 10

Which are Britain’s top 10 steam engines? Brian Sharpe compares the history and performance of the 10 biggest currently working main line engines in roughly chronological order of the introduction of the class.

B

ritain’s elite working steam locomotives are those registered to operate main line trains on the Network Rail system.

In recent years, there have been fewer of the smaller engines and the heavier main line railtours have been in the hands of a select few Class 7 and 8 express steam locomotives.

In addition there are a number of Class 5 and 6 4-6-0s that generally haul lighter trains, often on secondary routes such as the West Highland extension, most subject to an overall maximum of 60mph as dictated by somewhat smaller driving wheels.

The system of power classification was devised by the London Midland & Scottish Railway as a development of a system first instigated by the Midland Railway. The smallest shunting engines on the LMS were classified ‘0’ and the largest Pacifics were Class ‘7’. The Stanier 2-8-0s were as powerful as the largest Pacifics and were given the power classification ‘7F’. Engines could be classified ‘7P’ or ‘7F’ for example if they were designed for exclusively passenger or freight work, while

those that were suitable for both were simply Class ‘5’ for example.

Confusion crept in to the system with the LMS Jubilee 4-6-0s, which were more powerful than a Class ‘5’ but not quite a Class ‘6’, so the LMS designated them ‘5XP’, effectively ‘51/2P’.

This anomaly was removed by British Railways after Nationalisation by making Class 7s into Class 8s, Class 6s into Class 7s and 5XPs into Class 6s. The system was applied to the other BR regions but was adopted with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

The concept of mixed traffic locomotives is relatively new and the classifications ‘5MT’ or in some cases ‘6P/5F’ became more widely used in BR days but very inconsistently and the London Midland Region continued to refer to a ‘5MT’ as simply a Class ‘5’.

At the present time there are 10 express steam locomotives of class 7 and above certified for main line use and currently in working order, although there are several more under repair, restoration or overhaul and expected to enter service in the near future. These 10 serviceable

engines form a remarkably comprehensive cross-section of the history of British steam locomotive development over the period from 1923 to 1951, and enthusiasts are still keen to compare the performances of these engines, carrying out the duties they were designed for.

LNER A3 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman

■ Class 7 4-6-2 ■ Built Doncaster 1923 ■ Owned by National Railway Museum ■ Operated by Riley & Son (Engineering) Ltd

Flying Scotsman is now the oldest steam engine still active on Britain’s main lines and the only preserved non-streamlined Gresley Pacific, but has many other claims to fame.

Britain’s first Pacific was the Great Western Railway’s The Great Bear, designed by George Jackson Churchward in 1908, but no more were built and it was not until 1922 that Sir Vincent Raven built some Pacifics for the North Eastern Railway, while Nigel Gresley built some for the LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman stands on the turntable at Tyseley Locomotive Works. ROBIN JONES

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MAIN LINE NEWS

WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

ByDonBenn IT HAS been some time since I sampled the performance ofTyseley’s excellent GWR 4-6-0 No. 5043 EarlofMount Edgcumbe (the Earl that thinks it’s a King) and so I booked on theVintageTrains’October 8‘Cotswold Explorer’which had the added benefit of giving me my first-ever run with steam up the GoldenValley and over Sapperton bank. I had somehow managed to miss this in the days of steam, and circumstances have conspired against me having a steam-hauled run over the route ever since.

After booking, I wondered whether the new Network Rail guidelines on load limits would affect things, as October 8 is defined as being well within the designated autumn period which is September 15 until the end of December. For our double chimney class 7 locomotive this would mean a maximum load of 10 for 360 tons, though as both Sapperton and Old Hill banks have‘significant’gradients steeper than 1-in-100 we should only have taken eight up Sapperton and seven up Old Hill.

In fact, the load was nine coaches for 316 tons plus the converted GUV van Reg, the water carrier, which has a tare weight of 30 tons, a total tare train weight of 346 tons.

As the train was full, I estimate that the gross weight was around 372 tons plus the weight of the water in Reg of about 13 tons, so a gross tonnage of 385 tons declining to 380 as the water was used.

This was somewhat over the 10-coach 360 ton general autumn limit and well over for both Sapperton and Old Hill. However the guidelines sensibly allow discretion by

TABLE ONE: WORCESTER SHRUB HILL TO STANDISH JUNCTION Date Train Loco Load Driver Fireman Recorder Position Weather

Saturday, October 8, 2016 Cotswold Explorer GWR Castle class 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Nine coaches plus water carrier, 346 tons tare 385 tons gross Ray Poole Alastair Meanley Don Benn 9th of 10 vehicles Sunny spells

miles Worcester SH 0.00 M5 Overbridge 2.45 Norton Jct 3.18 Abbotswood Jct 3.95 Pirton Crossing 5.83 MP 73 8.20 Eckington 9.78 MP 77 12.20 MP 78 13.20 Ashchurch 14.66 MP 82 17.20 MP 84 19.20 Cheltenham 21.93 Churchdown 25.03 MP 92 27.20 Barnwood Jct 27.46 Gloucester Yard Jct 28.28 Tuffley Crossovers 29.52 MP 97 31.59 Haresfield Goods Loop 32.79 Standish Jct** 34.43

sched 0.00 7.00 9.00

19.00 26.00 33.00

43.00

mins 00 04 05 07 10 12 13 15 16 17 20 22 26 29 31 31 32 33 35 36 38

secs 00 37 58 55 14 19 34 36 24 45 42 37 01 44 34 47 29 33 16 15 26

** passing times and speeds net time 36 minutes *brakes or speed restriction

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speed 49 27*/20* 32½ 61½ 74/76 73½ 71 74/75½ 45* tsr 60 65½ 23* 71½ 73 71½ 69½ 70 74 72/30* sigs 39

Earl of Mount Edgcumbe enters Birmingham Snow Hill with the ‘Cotswold Explorer’. DON BENN theTrain Operating Company taking into account matters such as relevant historic performance over the route in question and crew competency, plus feedback from the locomotive owners. In all these things No. 5043 and its crews would have achieved gold medal levels of marking but even so I was slightly concerned until I saw Earlof MountEdgcumbe roll into Birmingham Snow Hill with Ray Poole on the regulator and a full 10-coach train with no diesel assisting.

The new NR guidelines are, in my view, a good attempt at trying to introduce some sensible regulation in an effort to reduce the number of problems being experienced with main line steam, though some of the detail such as the definition of autumn (start of October to end of November surely?) can be questioned. I have been keeping an eye on the debate in Heritage Railway and would not want to add much to this except to say that these are only guidelines with plenty of scope for interpretation. It must also be remembered that steam-hauled charters have just as much right to be on the main line as any service train and that we must resist any attempt to use the guidelines to push steam off main lines or use them as an excuse to use diesel assistance when it isn’t needed.

No. 5043 looked immaculate

Be that as it may, I found myself at Snow Hill station in good time for the 8.26am departure of the‘Cotswold Explorer’after an easy, if boring but on time, journey on the 5.16am Cross Country service from Southampton and a £1 ride on the newly extended Birmingham Metro from Grand Central, with a conductor collecting fares.

Shades of 1960s bus services. As usual, No. 5043 looked immaculate and Alastair Meanley was providing the steam which Ray Poole required for a splendid run to Oxford.

VintageTrains tends to stick to well-tried itineraries, the payback being generally good timekeeping except where hindered by service trains as happened to this trip later in the day.The first section to Stourbridge Junction is heavily restricted and produced nothing of note. After picking up more passengers we were away slightly early

to the pathing stop in the Droitwich goods loop before which we reached a maximum speed of 65½mph on the easy gradients approaching Kidderminster where the newly overhauled PTR 0-6-0ST No. 813 was standing near to the main line.

After the pathing stop, No. 5043 got its train away well past the lovely GWR lower quadrant semaphore signals at Droitwich Spa and intoWorcester Shrub Hill past the fine array of antiquated semaphores at the north end of that station. I am not sure how much longer they can last but I must find the time for a trip to record them for my archives before their demise.The fine, sunny morning had now turned cloudy as we left a couple of minutes late and for the first time from nine coaches back I could hear t lovely roar as the Earl was worked the i speed before easing for Norton into J Junction and joining the north east to s south west main line southwards.

Table One shows our progress to S Standish Junction which was aided b not observing the brief operating by s in Gloucester yard.There were stop s some nice sounds from up front as Ray Poole worked the engine up to the maximum permitted speed, topping 76mph before Eckington and 75½ after, interspersed with a minimum of 71. More four-cylinder noise from up front on the 1-in-295/305 climb from Ashchurch produced a good 65½ before we eased for Cheltenham and then ran with speed in the 70s past Gloucester.

We were checked before Standish Junction where we took the line to Swindon and on to the best section of the day, the climb up the GoldenValley to the Sapperton tunnels.There are only short sections of respite in the whole 12 miles from Standish Junction, and, with 380 tons, any engine facing this climb which includes a mile at 1-in-60, has to be in good form.The run on October 8 is set against the one on the‘Cheltenham Flyer’on May 11, 2013 also with No. 5043 and an almost identical load. I am very grateful to my correspondent‘62741’who kindly supplied the details.

Our timing points didn’t always coincide but there is sufficient correlation between the two for interesting comparisons to be made. On the earlier run, Ray Churchill was driving and both logs are shown inTableTwo.We Find us on www.facebook.com/heritagerailway

NEWS FOCUS SPECIAL

Llangollen Railway: Locomotive Building Centre of Excellence

FOUR NEW BUILDS

ON THE STOCKS

In recent years the Llangollen Railway has developed a reputation as a centre of excellence for building new steam engines. Allan George investigates how the worshops have become the centre of new locomotive construction to fill in gaps in classes which have not been preserved.

70 Heritagerailway.co.uk

REAL STEAM DAYS

One of the modified Franco-Crosti boilered 9Fs, No. 92021, with smoke deflector added around the final chimney. It was the drifting smoke problem with the original 10 locomotives that necessitated the diversion to Wellingborough in December 1955 of Nos. 92060-92066, which had been earmarked for Tyne Dock. No. 92021 is looking in a very sorry state at Derby shed on April 24, 1960.

Perhaps the second-most famous 9F, No. 92079, assisted by 0-6-0PTs Nos. 8409 and 8402, banks an oil train, probably the Fawley to Bromford Bridge Esso service, up the Lickey incline on June 9, 1962.

Another 9F, No. 92221, was the train engine. In May 1956 No. 92079 had replaced the unique and much-loved 0-10-0 No. 58100 ‘Big Bertha’ as the Lickey banker.

No. 92056 hurries through Kirkham and Wesham with the 2.20pm Blackpool North to Sheffield Midland express on August 26, 1961. On the left ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 44778 paces the 9F with a relief train that has used the more direct route from Blackpool Central.

While the high speed exploits of the 9Fs had come to an end, their use on these summer Saturday trains was a regular sight. No. 92056 was a Toton engine and will have been appropriated by the Sheffield division for this working.

NER 9F finale

The 9F 2-10-0 was described as the best of BR’s Standard steam designs.

Robert Anderson outlines the history of the class and relates the story of a ride on the last steam-hauled ore train to Consett.

T

he 9F 2-10-0s have been hailed as the most successful of the 12 Standard classes of steam locomotive introduced to traffic on British Railways between 1951 and 1960. They were the last class to be built and some authors have gone so far as to describe them as one of the most outstanding British steam locomotives.

However, for some of the earlier class members their entry into service in 1954/55 was far from successful. It all kicked off in mid-January 1954 when the first of the class, No. 92000, was shown off to the technical press at its birthplace, Crewe Works. Almost immediately afterwards came the surprise announcement that all eight of this new untried and untested class were to be sent to the Western Region for use on the heavy Newport docks to Ebbw Vale iron ore trains – one of the most arduous freight workings on the region.

Eyeballs must have been rolling for it was well known that the WR was openly hostile to anything that was not built at Swindon – as witness its contempt for the 13 Crewe-built Britannia Pacifics sent there in 1951/52. The WR did things its own way and continued to do so right into the diesel era. One must

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wonder whether this business of sending the first 9Fs; Crewe-built as they were, to the WR, was an attempt by the newly formed British Transport Commission in the august halls of 222 Marylebone Road to exert some authority over this go it alone region.

Yet the plan backfired. The new locomotives immediately ran into trouble with regulators not being sensitive enough, causing uncontrollable slipping when starting away. Of course this was no good with a 600-ton train to take unaided up the valley with gradients as steep as 1-in-52 to Ebbw Vale steelworks, a distance of around 19 miles.

The problem was solved by fitting smaller regulator valves but, in the meantime, these first eight had spent several weeks or even months out of use while awaiting attention at Swindon works.

Accelerate express freight

The next and modified batches of the class were sent to March shed to speed up the freight traffic on the Great Eastern route via Cambridge to London; New England shed to similarly accelerate the express freights at the southern end of the East Coast Main Line and to Wellingborough. The latter shed probably

welcomed them more than any other depot, for the Midland Lines authorities saw in the 9Fs a means of ridding themselves of the costly and troublesome Midlandised Beyer-Garratts. This world-proven design had been mucked about with by Derby with disastrous results.

More 9Fs arrived at Wellingborough and the withdrawal of the Beyer Garratts started.

A solitary 9F, No. 92047, was then transferred to Bidston; a small former Great Central shed on the Wirral, for trials. Then came another disaster, for the latest batch of 9Fs to arrive at Wellingborough in mid-1955 were the experimental Franco-Crosti boilered locomotives that immediately ran into trouble with smoke from the final chimney located at the end of the boiler just in front of the firebox not only obscuring forward vision, but also filling the cab with exhaust fumes. All 10 had to be returned to Crewe works for the fitting of a large smoke deflector around this chimney, which did nothing for the visual appearance of the locomotives and only partially solved the problem.

This made the transfer of No. 92047 to Bidston even more surprising, but all was to be revealed, for after extended crew training

NEWS FOCUS SPECIAL

Banbury ‘box

CLOSED Friday, July 29 saw the passing of another piece of history on Network Rail. Martin Creese reports on the closure of the two former Great Western Railway signalboxes at Banbury.

T

he last mechanical signalling on the former GWR and now Chiltern Trains main line from Birmingham to Marylebone; the two Banbury ‘boxes had been as oasis of traditional signalling.

Of the two, Banbury North was the largest former GWR signalbox still in use on the National Network. Network Rail spent £76million on the upgrade of Banbury with new track, points and ballast, reopening of an additional platform and transferring of the signalling to the West Midlands Signalling Centre. The remodelling also saw the closure of the former Woodford bay platform, which

was a reminder of the link from Banbury to the Great Central Railway at Woodford Halse.

GWR condition

Both Banbury signalboxes were GWR type 7; Banbury South a 7B dating from 1908 and North a 7A dating from 1899. South ‘box had a shortened 65-lever frame and also a panel to cover Aynho Junction. The 95-lever frame in North was a 1956 replacement placed at the back of the signalbox. Both had their locking room windows bricked up as a wartime precaution.

The local signalmen, led by Martin Crane, kept the interior of North in GWR condition

GWR 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe as seen from Banbury North signalbox.

with false ceilings. UPVC windows were not fitted and modern equipment was very sympathetically incorporated.

A romesse stove was retained and an annual coal order raised to keep the signalmen warm on winter nights. The diagram in North ‘box still contained references to steam-age traffic, with Milk and Horse Dock, while South still had the cattle roads.

While there are a good selection in preservation, its size and condition encouraged a group to see if North ‘box could be saved. Project Crossover was born with the aim of retaining North signalbox as a community asset and rail heritage education

centre. Sadly, despite a very compelling case and significant local and enthusiast support, which culminated in £20,000 being pledged, after four months of negotiations the financial conditions for the building’s retention were insurmountable.

Public opening

Given the interest, what was proposed was a 10-week period of public opening. It may be fair to say signalboxes are something of an enigma; you see them as part of the fabric of our railways, but what goes on inside is something most enthusiasts don’t get a chance to see nor is it possible to be hands on and work the frame,

Jamie Green and Ian Baxter ‘at work’ during the 30742 Charters evening photo shoot on September 23.

2017 CALENDAR

LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman approaches Hurworth, County Durham. MIKE CAVE