Blea Moor Signal Box - renovation

[billio]

I was passing Blea Moor Signal Box yesterday and noticed the poor condition of the external woodwork. Bearing in mind that most of the other signal boxes on the Settle and Carlisle have been renovated, are the any plans to do the same for Blea Moor?
There was some work going on below ground level.

 

[yorksrob]

They've done Garsdale recently, so it wouldn't surprise me if Blea Moor was due an upgrade.

 

[karlos]

Trivia question: Is this the only signal box that's still heated by coal or are there others?

 

[Scotrail84]

Trivia question: Is this the only signal box that's still heated by coal or are there others?

Does it still get fresh water delivered by rail as well?

 

[billio]

Does it still get fresh water delivered by rail as well?

I don't know about that but the trackside workers were using a tank of water in the back of a small white van. (My original photo was cropped.)

 

[cin88]

The fresh bottled water still gets delivered, the tanker is for the sink/toilet water and currently isn't safe to drink. Or at least that's what the increasingly unwieldly part of the H&S meeting minutes devoted to the issue seems to say.

 

[Elecman]

The fresh bottled water still gets delivered, the tanker is for the sink/toilet water and currently isn't safe to drink. Or at least that's what the increasingly unwieldly part of the H&S meeting minutes devoted to the issue seems to say.

The water supply would be from an unmonitored spring so unless treated isn’t safe to be classed as potable water all water supplies are tested every 3 months to check that they remain to potable standards

 

[Monkeyhead]

Slightly OT, what's the story with the house next door to the signal box? Was it (is it) railway property, or just a coincidence? Can never figure out whether anyone actually lives there whenever I walk past

 

[John Webb]

Slightly OT, what's the story with the house next door to the signal box? Was it (is it) railway property, or just a coincidence? Can never figure out whether anyone actually lives there whenever I walk past

There were originally a pair of semi-detached Midland Railway houses built here. They were demolished around sometime after 1963.
The existing house was built at a later date to the first two, probably by the LMS; all were used to house signalmen and their families. The remaining house was sold off some years ago into private hands. I've no idea if it is still occupied or not.

 

[Gloster]

There were originally a pair of semi-detached Midland Railway houses built here. They were demolished around sometime after 1963.
The existing house was built at a later date to the first two, probably by the LMS; all were used to house signalmen and their families. The remaining house was sold off some years ago into private hands. I've no idea if it is still occupied or not.

Probably when working hours changed and the box required three regular signalmen, rather than two. The extra signalman (and family) would have to live somewhere and I don’t think the earlier houses were very large.

 

[John Webb]

Probably when working hours changed and the box required three regular signalmen, rather than two. The extra signalman (and family) would have to live somewhere and I don’t think the earlier houses were very large.

There is a photo of the two houses taken in 1963, together with the newer house, in "Stations and Structures of the Settle and Carlisle Railway" by V R Anderson and G K Fox. The older pair of houses are rather like the other two-storey Midland Cottages located at Garsdale and elsewhere on the S&C.