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Loss of Cornish semaphore outposts at Par, Lostwithiel and Truro in March 2024 leaves just two main line locations in the Royal Duchy that are mechanically-signalled. These are Liskeard, which I last featured in October 2023, and St. Erth, junction for the scenic St. Ives Bay branch line.

St. Erth is a delightful and immaculately-maintained Grade II Listed station, where semaphore signalling helps retain the historic air of this busy country station, yet one that is sadly mired in controversy as its historic footbridge is replaced by a rather less attractive modern structure.

Continue reading “Super St. Erth”

DINING ON THE LINE has long been one of my great pleasures and one that dates back to my first experiences in the early 1980s, when I was the only enthusiast aboard the last ever restaurant service from Waterloo to Bournemouth (2 October 1981) and, early in my journalistic career, a number of enjoyable business trips aboard the all first class Manchester Pullman.

Regular readers will have spotted that many of my trips to the South-West are rounded off with Pullman Dining aboard the 18.16 service from Plymouth to Paddington, but one missing experience, until now, has been the full dining now offered aboard certain Transport for Wales (TfW) services between Cardiff Central and Manchester Piccadilly.

Continue reading “Three course lunch on the Marches Line”

Two miles north-east of Gleneagles station on the route between Stirling and Perth, stands the 1895-vintage Auchterarder Signal Box, the third of four outposts of semaphore signalling on 20-miles of Scottish main line from remote Greenloaning near Dunblane, via Blackford and Auchterarder to Hilton Junction, just south of Perth.

While Gleneagles has long been the railhead for citizens of Auchterarder, and despite being some distance from the town, Auchterarder Signal Box is easy to find from the town’s lengthy High Street as there are prominent signs pointing the way to “Auchterarder Station” despite the station having closed in 1956!

Continue reading “HSTs and semaphores at Auchterarder”

SCOTLAND can boast many attractive railway locations where it is still possible to see 40+ year old HSTs passing historic semaphore signals and impressive signal boxes, but a place that stands out for me is Kingussie, one of two locations on the Highland Main Line with a listed and working signal box, as well as a listed station building.

Paying my first return to this pleasant small town, 11¾ miles south-west of Aviemore, for almost two and a half years (October 2021), my aim on 11/12 March 2024 was to photograph trains pausing and passing the listed station, its unusual signal box, six semaphores and a spectacular mountain backdrop.

Continue reading “Return to Kingussie”

After recent visits to Par and Truro is seemed only right to make a farewell trip on Friday, 9 February 2024 to the third Cornish signal box that will succumb to resignalling in early March 2024, the charming and listed Lostwithiel Crossing, which dates from 1893.

Lostwithiel is a very pleasant place and given its proximity to the town, and location at the eastern end of the down platform, there are hopes that the signal box could gain a new lease of life as a cafe, like those at Bodmin Parkway and Totnes.

Travel bargains, prompted by a seasonal slump in passenger numbers, are a feature of our national railway network at the start of each year, so when operator Northern advertised a “£1 flash sale” in early January it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, even for someone living in the South of England.

After a close call between the Settle & Carlisle and Cumbrian Coast routes I picked the latter, and planned a rather lengthy day out (6 February 2024) from Haslemere to Carlisle on the West Coast Main Line, before a £1.00 trip from there to photogenic Barrow-in-Furness and, after an hour’s break, another £1.00 ride from there to Lancaster, before returning to Euston and then home.

Another precious piece of our railway heritage will be lost at the end of this month (February 2024) when Truro Signal Box closes, as part of the Cornwall re-signalling project, after a working life stretching back 125 years to 1899.

Unlike the two other boxes to close, at Par and Lostwithiel, there is no Grade II listing to protect the attractive former Truro East box, so it remains to be seen whether it will disappear, or perhaps live on as a ghostly shell, like the former St. Austell Signal Box, which closed more than four decades ago (March 1980).

Time is almost up for the Grade II Listed 1879-vintage Great Western Railway signal box at Par in Cornwall, which will close in early March 2024, along with those at Lostwithiel (also Listed) and at Truro, as control of this section of Cornwall’s main line is transferred to Exeter Panel Signal Box. 

Stepping into this remarkable 144-year old time-capsule, it is easy to see why it earned its listed status, when it was commended for its intactness and for being a good example of what was once a standard GWR signal box: “Its extension in 1893, when it was doubled in size, provides evidence of its historical development, while the box retains the 57-lever frame that was installed in around 1913.”