Month: January 2024

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.”

Continue reading “Goodbye Par Signal Box”

Almost two years after my last visit I am tempted to pay a return to charming Abergavenny on 16 January 2024, where some great pictures I have seen posted online suggest that there is a promising vantage point south of the station from which to capture trains and semaphores.

So having spent time during my last visit (May 2022) on two bridges north of the station, my exploration this time takes me some way south to a major road junction where the rail line passes over a roundabout near the Marches Line’s southernmost semaphore signals. 

Continue reading “Another look at Abergavenny”

Four years after the final demise of mechanical signalling on the delightful Wherry Lines from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (February 2020), a continuing threat of replacement hangs over the last ten main line semaphores in East Anglia, controlled by the signal boxes at Whttlesea and Manea.

While it is well over a decade since the route from Ely to Norwich was resignalled, a total of seven signal boxes remain on the considerably busier Ely-Peterborough route, one of the very few lines on our national network where there seem to be almost as many freight workings as passenger services.

Continue reading “Last semaphores in East Anglia”