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signal boxes in hazardous locations only reachable by crossing railway lines?

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LowLevel

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And once you reach the box there are the 4 flights of stairs to ascend. On my visit to Severn Bridge Jn last year NR refused to allow one of our party to go to the box due to his poor sight. Not helpful if you're trying to attract visitors.
Par

I don't think NR are remotely interested in attracting visitors to their signalboxes, you're just lucky if you happen to come across someone within the organisation who is kind enough to indulge your interest by permitting and arranging a visit and they're particularly risk averse with track side access. In the unlikely event of an incident occurring it would just be the final nail in the coffin for visits as no doubt there are plenty of individuals within NR who would like to place a blanket ban on them.
 
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jopsuk

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Every signalbox has a published authorised walking route which is the only official way for staff to reach it, even if it is only a simple "walk along front of building from car park to front door".
I know it might seem ridiculous to write such simple/safe ones down but a proper risk assessment system sees you looking everywhere. You can't be sure something is safe until you've actually looked at it, and by publishing it confirms this has been done.
 

Springs Branch

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As a twist on the OP's "hazardous location" concept, here are a couple of abolished boxes where the signaller risked life & limb, and not necessarily just whilst crossing the tracks:
  1. Walton Junction near Liverpool. The signal box was located in a deep cutting with accessible open ground above. Apparently most of Walton Junction's windows had to be either boarded up or fitted with wire mesh due to constant bombardment from loveable local scallies. I've heard a report that even the steps up to the box had to be covered in mesh to avoid signallers being bricked whilst entering or leaving the box.
  2. Atlantic Dock Junction, also near Liverpool and also in a cutting on the Edge Hill - Bootle branch. The original box was wrecked by a runaway goods train in 1950, then was attacked by arsonists in 1976. The replacement BR LMR-pattern box was then burned down again by arsonists in 1980, after which BR gave up and installed a ground frame for the remaining few years before the Canada Dock branch closed.
  3. Brindle Heath Junction in Salford, in its later days, found itself in an isolated position surrounded by acres of derelict railway land and an attractive target for persistant vandalism by hooligans from nearby estates. The redundant box was burned down within a month of final closure in 1987.
There must have been / still are other signal boxes in similar situations in rougher areas of cities.

All a long way from my romanticised ideal of an old-school bobby's life (Train Out of Section Received entered in Register, light pipe and settle down in armchair).
 

ainsworth74

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Grangetown box (on Teesside not South Wales!) has to be accessed by crossing four tracks. The BLS even managed to arrange a visit in 2017 (to this day I remain irritated with myself for not signing up sooner and so missing out) despite having to cross all four running lines! A bit further down the line Crag Hall box has to be accessed by crossing one track but as this is a freight only branch with very low traffic levels and a token exchange point I suspect the risk of darting over the track is very low.
 

LAX54

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In the days of the National BR vacancy list the phrase ‘ability to drive or willing to learn’ was quite common. When a vacancy came up at Somerleyton ‘ability to row or willing to learn’ was stated as a requirement.

Altough more so at Reedham, Somerleyton you would rarely be 'cut off', and if you were, you were probably in the best place ! Reedham, as the box was built on the wrong side, in theory every Christmas, it was either row to the other side, or a long, long walk across the marshes to Haddiscoe !
 

Ashley Hill

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2020-06-05 12.08.06.jpg
Above is a photo (by C Betts) of St Pancras Tunnel box which was in use between 1889 and 1958. The Mersey Rail also had two tunnel boxes,Adelphi Street and River Box which was apparently actually under the river. Both were early closures although the structure of River Box lasted until 1983 and Adelphi Street was still there in 1986. Thanks to the SRS for this info.
 

LOM

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Altough more so at Reedham, Somerleyton you would rarely be 'cut off', and if you were, you were probably in the best place ! Reedham, as the box was built on the wrong side, in theory every Christmas, it was either row to the other side, or a long, long walk across the marshes to Haddiscoe !
I do not know that part of the country at all but looking at Network Rails aerial photography I see nether Somerleyton or Reedham currently has a boat or somewhere suitable to tie one up. The walking route at Reedham is in the 4' over the bridge so presumably there must be a phone. Somerleyton looks like a long walk from the station!
 

Bedpan

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View attachment 78987
Above is a photo (by C Betts) of St Pancras Tunnel box which was in use between 1889 and 1958. The Mersey Rail also had two tunnel boxes,Adelphi Street and River Box which was apparently actually under the river. Both were early closures although the structure of River Box lasted until 1983 and Adelphi Street was still there in 1986. Thanks to the SRS for this info.
very interesting photo which complements the article linked to post #13. I assume that the structure would have remained there right up until 2004 when the sub surface platforms at St Pancras were constructed.
 

Tomnick

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I do not know that part of the country at all but looking at Network Rails aerial photography I see nether Somerleyton or Reedham currently has a boat or somewhere suitable to tie one up. The walking route at Reedham is in the 4' over the bridge so presumably there must be a phone. Somerleyton looks like a long walk from the station!
If I’m not mistaken, Reedham’s dealt with nowadays by the MOM coming over the marshes with a suitable vehicle to give the signalman a lift. It looks like it’s possible to get a vehicle quite close to the box, or at worst a quarter of a mile or so away at a user-worked crossing. Presumably beats rowing a boat across on a cold mid-winter evening!
 

Tio Terry

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If I’m not mistaken, Reedham’s dealt with nowadays by the MOM coming over the marshes with a suitable vehicle to give the signalman a lift. It looks like it’s possible to get a vehicle quite close to the box, or at worst a quarter of a mile or so away at a user-worked crossing. Presumably beats rowing a boat across on a cold mid-winter evening!

Somerleyton is not really that far from the station, back in my early days with the S&T we always walked it OK. Lord Somerleyton also walks the line - well, he used to, not sure now - because it was his right by parliamentary act from when the railway was built. He used it to access his land the Reedham side of the bridge. No need for a boat at Somerleyton.

Reedham does indeed now have a phone which went to the box, not sure now as it may go to Colchester. Back in my days you could get a local boat owner to do the Christmas trip for a few quid, cheaper and safer than a car trip across the marshes in the dark on a cold wet night! When the box was originally built as a single track bridge in the 1840's there were two cottages built on the Somerleyton side of the river the opposite side of the track to the box, these are long gone now but there are still a couple of apple trees that were in their gardens - I used to take the apples home to mum for an apple pie! These were for the signallers so that they were the right side of the river if the bridge was open.

Breydon was the problem one before it closed. The box was on the bridge so when it was open to river traffic - which was it's normal position - then the only way to it was by boat. The tides are very strong there so shift change had to be carefully managed to fit in with the tides or train service, but as S&T we could only use the boat or get the bridge closed for us. There are many story's about the bridge being unable to be swung to the closed position because of high winds and of signallers being effectively trapped in the box for extended periods.
 
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Parham Wood

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You beat me to this one by about 45 minutes, but I didn't know a lot about it and so was very pleased to see the article that you provided the link for.

I became aware of it after catching sight of the open door and the spiral staircase leading up to the cab rank one evening when I was travelling home in the days when preparatory work was being carried out prior to the line being severed for the construction of the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras. The tunnel was lit up, and there, all of a sudden, was the staircase, and after making enquiries I found out that it was there to provide access to the signalbox. I think, but am not entirely sure, that the signalbox was situated somewhere close to the south end of the platform at St Pancras which would tie in wit the article's description of it being on a bend. I wonder if the staircase, or part of it is still there, I assume it must be, but it would be interesting to know if it now actually provides access to the station.

It must have felt more remote working down there than being at somewhere like Blea Moor!
I have been down the spiral staircase in about 1979/80. We had to erect a temporary radio transmitter in the 6ft of one line so that the Derby radio test train could pass on the other and measure the signal strength down the tunnel. It was testing for provision of future cab radio facilities in the tunnel or in other London tunnels. I cannot remember which or the radio system involved now.

It was pitch black in the tunnel. We were just by the old signal box which was on the opposite side to the staircase entrance as people have said. Crossing the tracks to the box could have been tricky if you timed it badly. You came out of the stairs directly onto the cess, no recess as I recall so you were right next to any passing train. Given the curvature you would not see much but I guess you would hear it coming, particularly if there were gongs. There was no recess on the other side until you reached the box, probably 10-20 yards to the left of the stairs. It smelt damp even then and there was still a sooty smell around. Everything was covered in soot. It was very quiet, eerie almost. The fumes after the diesel test train passed were not pleasant either. I cannot understand how anyone could like it down there.
 

Bevan Price

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Some of the Settle and Carlisle railway signal boxes were well away from anything else, particularly Mallerstang (3miles+ from Kirby Stephen station), Aisgill (nearly 3 miles from Garsdale/Hawes Junction station), Dent Head (2 miles from Dent station) and Selside (2 miles from Ribblehead or Horton in Ribblesdale station. Blea Moor box was, despite it's location, only just over a mile from Ribbleshead station although I suspect in bad weather access was pretty awful.

Yes - but no need to walk along the railway to Blea Moor box - there is a public footpath adjacent to the railway -- although getting there through snowdrifts would have been "a problem". I expect that some signalmen were once conveyed to/from remote boxes by train if any were available, and there may have been railway-owned cottages near some other boxes.
 
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Similar access was used at Benhar Junction to get there from Fauldhouse station.

Still a heck of a remote place for a pair of crossovers. It’s not uncommon, though not recommended, for the signaller (At WSSC Motherwell Workstation) to throw the points during the winter to check their operation, only for them to then fail midway, and unable to get the normal back. I guess he or she has no idea of the weather conditions from a windowless room. Even from the old Motherwell Box, the difference by the time you get to Benhar can be night and day. - A persistent joke of Fauldhouse is that the first float in the local Gala Day (in early summer) is the snowplough.

Ive had a few hairy escapades through the forestry commission track (which follows the route of the old Benhar branch) in the Transit to get to them, and have had to call off and hike up the hill from Fauldhouse (Benhar is the summit of the line, there is no way to get to it that isn’t up hill). One day in a Driving snowstorm I even insisted to Control that I wasn’t walking, and was able to hitch a ride on a 156 up to the site to attend a TC Failure.

The day I told Control my response time to Benhar would be at least 2hrs and possibly more from Motherwell (normally a little over 30 minutes) for a points failure during the day, I believe resulted in an instruction not to throw the points again until the snow had abated.
 

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Gloucester Road Junction. There is actually a private road that passes beneath the lines, you can get vehicles to there. Believe it or not there actually used to be cottages on the land as well, doubtless railway owned, plus allotments, in the spare land in the middle of the lines.

Which is where the name of " Cottage Junction" comes from.
(Cottage Jn is where the Up London Bridge Slow line splits from the Up Vitoria Slow Line and crosses the Down Victoria Slow.)

Woodfidley does have private forestry tracks nearby, but I suspect they in better condition than when the SB was open!.

I can't be bothered to scroll up thread looking for the special stops for shift changeovers. Queens Road SB ( now Queenstown Road) used to have staff platforms on the Down and Up Main Slows. The signalmen then had to cross those lines to reach the SB which was between the Up Fast and Down slow. Queens Road SB did have road access, but it wasn't the sort of area to leave your car for a shift. West London Junction didn't seem to have any unusual access arrangements and that was well removed from a station. ( Both these boxes closed under the Waterloo Resignalling in the late 1980's.)
 

MadMac

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Still a heck of a remote place for a pair of crossovers. It’s not uncommon, though not recommended, for the signaller (At WSSC Motherwell Workstation) to throw the points during the winter to check their operation, only for them to then fail midway, and unable to get the normal back. I guess he or she has no idea of the weather conditions from a windowless room. Even from the old Motherwell Box, the difference by the time you get to Benhar can be night and day. - A persistent joke of Fauldhouse is that the first float in the local Gala Day (in early summer) is the snowplough.

Ive had a few hairy escapades through the forestry commission track (which follows the route of the old Benhar branch) in the Transit to get to them, and have had to call off and hike up the hill from Fauldhouse (Benhar is the summit of the line, there is no way to get to it that isn’t up hill). One day in a Driving snowstorm I even insisted to Control that I wasn’t walking, and was able to hitch a ride on a 156 up to the site to attend a TC Failure.

The day I told Control my response time to Benhar would be at least 2hrs and possibly more from Motherwell (normally a little over 30 minutes) for a points failure during the day, I believe resulted in an instruction not to throw the points again until the snow had abated.

I was there for the Fauldhouse commissioning in June 1981: Torrential rain on the Friday night, freezing on Saturday night, shorts on Sunday night. "Variable" is hardly the word.....
 

Tomnick

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Somerleyton is not really that far from the station, back in my early days with the S&T we always walked it OK. Lord Somerleyton also walks the line - well, he used to, not sure now - because it was his right by parliamentary act from when the railway was built. He used it to access his land the Reedham side of the bridge. No need for a boat at Somerleyton.

Reedham does indeed now have a phone which went to the box, not sure now as it may go to Colchester. Back in my days you could get a local boat owner to do the Christmas trip for a few quid, cheaper and safer than a car trip across the marshes in the dark on a cold wet night! When the box was originally built as a single track bridge in the 1840's there were two cottages built on the Somerleyton side of the river the opposite side of the track to the box, these are long gone now but there are still a couple of apple trees that were in their gardens - I used to take the apples home to mum for an apple pie! These were for the signallers so that they were the right side of the river if the bridge was open.

Breydon was the problem one before it closed. The box was on the bridge so when it was open to river traffic - which was it's normal position - then the only way to it was by boat. The tides are very strong there so shift change had to be carefully managed to fit in with the tides or train service, but as S&T we could only use the boat or get the bridge closed for us. There are many story's about the bridge being unable to be swung to the closed position because of high winds and of signallers being effectively trapped in the box for extended periods.
Fascinating, thank you! Somerleyton - presumably it's routine for signalmen to walk to/from the station as that appears to be the nearest access anyway?
 

Bedpan

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I can't be bothered to scroll up thread looking for the special stops for shift changeovers. Queens Road SB ( now Queenstown Road) used to have staff platforms on the Down and Up Main Slows. The signalmen then had to cross those lines to reach the SB which was between the Up Fast and Down slow. Queens Road SB did have road access, but it wasn't the sort of area to leave your car for a shift. West London Junction didn't seem to have any unusual access arrangements and that was well removed from a station. ( Both these boxes closed under the Waterloo Resignalling in the late 1980's.)

Just trying to visualise this...do you mean the box was between the Up Main Fast and the Down Windsor Slow, as this is where I have a very hazy recollection of it being? The Down Main Fast and the Up Main Slow are between the Up Main Fast and Down Main Slow. But I can't remember ever seeing any platforms at Queens Road other than the three on the Windsor lines which were in public use when commuting up to London in the 70s
 
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Romsey

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Just trying to visualise this...do you mean the box was between the Up Main Fast and the Down Windsor Slow, as this is where I have a very hazy recollection of it being? The Down Main Fast and the Up Main Slow are between the Up Main Fast and Down Main Slow. But I can't remember ever seeing any platforms at Queens Road other than the three on the Windsor lines which were in public use when commuting up to London in the 70s
I have checked in one of the George Pryor track diagram books and Queens Road SB is definitely shown between the Up Slow and Down Fast. Please see attachment.
The access platforms were galvanised structures similar to those erected at Waterloo and Bournemouth for offside attaching and detaching in the days of 400 series stock and later for 5 WES units. I can't remember the instructions, but I suspect staff were required to use the front passenger door when alighting or joining any trains calling there. (Just like Durnsford Road Staf Halt.)
310479.jpg
 
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The box at Goole Bridge (still in use) requires a walk over the two track section over three fixed spans of the bridge and a climb up to the box mounted at the top of the swinging span. The signaller is also responsible for swinging the bridge for river traffic (now only a dozen times a month, on average).
 

Dunfanaghy Rd

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I don't think NR are remotely interested in attracting visitors to their signalboxes, you're just lucky if you happen to come across someone within the organisation who is kind enough to indulge your interest by permitting and arranging a visit and they're particularly risk averse with track side access. In the unlikely event of an incident occurring it would just be the final nail in the coffin for visits as no doubt there are plenty of individuals within NR who would like to place a blanket ban on them.
As we are now, I agree. But at some time in the future it will be decommissioned and, as a listed building, some value has to be found in preserving it. The example I have in mind is Woking, which is in some way connected with the NRM (I don't know the ins and outs) and complete inside, but there is no safe access from the platform so it sits there locked up.
Pat
 

Tio Terry

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As we are now, I agree. But at some time in the future it will be decommissioned and, as a listed building, some value has to be found in preserving it. The example I have in mind is Woking, which is in some way connected with the NRM (I don't know the ins and outs) and complete inside, but there is no safe access from the platform so it sits there locked up.
Pat
Woking is full of asbestos which is why nothing inside was disturbed. Just lock the door and walk away.
 

Bedpan

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The box at Goole Bridge (still in use) requires a walk over the two track section over three fixed spans of the bridge and a climb up to the box mounted at the top of the swinging span. The signaller is also responsible for swinging the bridge for river traffic (now only a dozen times a month, on average).
Thanks for that, very interesting. The box was in fact situated between the Down Fast (Down Main Through = DMT) and the Up Slow (Up Main Local = UML). I remember a few occasions where my train home to Esher left from a high numbered platform at Waterloo and was then routed along the Dpwn Windsor before crossing to the Down Main Through (down fast) at Queens Road. the , it would
I have checked in one of the George Pryor track diagram books and Queens Road SB is definitely shown between the Up Slow and Down Fast. Please see attachment.
The access platforms were galvanised structures similar to those erected at Waterloo and Bournemouth for offside attaching and detaching in the days of 400 series stock and later for 5 WES units. I can't remember the instructions, but I suspect staff were required to use the front passenger door when alighting or joining any trains calling there. (Just like Durnsford Road Staf Halt.)
View attachment 79063
Thanks for that, very interesting to see. The signalbox was in fact situated between the Down Fast (Down Main Through = DMT) and the Up Slow (Up Main Local = UML). I remember a few occasions where my train home to Esher left from a high numbered platform at Waterloo and was then routed along the Down Windsor before crossing to the Down Main Through at Queens Road.
 

LAX54

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Fascinating, thank you! Somerleyton - presumably it's routine for signalmen to walk to/from the station as that appears to be the nearest access anyway?

I think the walking route has changed at Somerleyton in recent years, it is now on the downside, along a safe walking route, that I think is lit as well, with a crossing right by the box, back in the 80's, parked the car in car park, Lowetstoft end of station, walk along the platform, over the crossing, and down a footpath on the Up side towards the box, unlit, usually overgrown, and nightmare in the dark, if your torch had a flat battery, and being overgrown...very wet in the rain !
 

lincolnshire

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The box at Goole Bridge (still in use) requires a walk over the two track section over three fixed spans of the bridge and a climb up to the box mounted at the top of the swinging span. The signaller is also responsible for swinging the bridge for river traffic (now only a dozen times a month, on average).
It all depends which side you come from, Goole side 3 fixed sections before the moveable section or Hull side one 1 fixed section. Either way the signalman on duty stops trains so that you have a safe walking route from the river banksides onto the moveable section to access the signal box. The signal box is manned 24 hours x 7 days a week including Christmas & New Year as shipping doesn,t stop. Before the steps was fitted on the outside of the bridge to access the signal / control box on top of the bridge the only access was via a vertical ladder on the railway side of the bridge structure.
 
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